JPH047174A - Printing controlling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent papers of different size from being mixed and discharged to an intermediate tray by detecting when a drawing/processing part is actuated whether the subject page is a front page or a rear page, and printing the page if it is a front page while the intermediate tray is made a paper discharging part, whereas connecting the current printing process to a waiting queue if it is a rear page by turning the intermediate tray to a paper feeding part and an external tray to a paper discharging part. CONSTITUTION:A drawing/processing part draws a figure in a page buffer. After the figure is drawn, a printing/processing part is activated sequentially for the first page, second page,... If the subject page is found to be an odd number with reference to a printing page consecutive numbering 116c, the page is printed and discharged to an intermediate tray. If the page is an even number, it is turned into the waiting state for printing on the rear surface and connected to a waiting area 116m for printing on the rear face. In the case where the subject page is of different size, similar to the case of printing of the page of an even number, it is turned into the waiting state for printing on the rear face, and connected to the area 116m. All the printing processes connected to the area 116m are released, so that the printing process for the page of the even number is started. After the previous page is completely discharged outside, the paper size or the like is changed to move to printing on the front page. Therefore, even when a printing command array of a text in which pages of different paper size are mixed is fed, the text can be printed on both faces without an error.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a printing system that receives a print command sequence transferred from a host computer such as a personal computer or a workstation, and performs double-sided printing using an intermediate tray. Regarding a control device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, double-sided printing in a printing apparatus having an intermediate tray that temporarily stores sheets that have been printed on one side and then refeeds the sheets has been performed as follows, for example. In other words, the host computer, which is a higher-level device, transfers the print command string twice: one transfers the print command string from the first page to the last page, and the other transfers the print command string from the last page to the first page. I do. Of these, one printing is an odd numbered page, which is ejected to the intermediate tray and stored. Then, at another time, double-sided printing is completed by printing even-numbered pages on the back side of the printed paper in the intermediate tray.

Alternatively, the host computer transfers the same print command sequence twice by having means for specifying page skip mode and front page print mode/back page print mode. Among them, when page skip mode and front page print mode are specified in the first transfer, among the print command strings to be printed, the print command strings for even-numbered pages are discarded, and the print command strings for odd-numbered pages are printed. is carried out, and is discharged and accumulated on the intermediate tray. Then, in another transfer, when page skip mode and back page print mode are specified, among the print command strings to be printed, the print command strings for odd pages are discarded, and the printed commands in the intermediate tray are Double-sided printing was performed by printing the print command sequence for even-numbered pages on the back side of the paper.

Here, the print command string is a command string used by the host computer to instruct the printing device to print the document, and includes character codes, text output commands, graphics output commands, image output commands, etc. .

In addition, related devices of this type include Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6
No. 0-5333, No. 63-247041, No. 63-2
Examples include those described in each publication of No. 47042 and No. 63-84954.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned conventional technology, when printing a document on one side of double-sided printing, that is, front-side printing, when printing a document in which the number of front-side printed sheets is greater than the number of sheets allowed to be stored in the intermediate tray, the intermediate tray is However, no consideration has been given to how to deal with this situation. Furthermore, when a host computer sends a print command sequence for a document containing a mixture of pages of different paper sizes, the sheets of different paper sizes are mixed and ejected to the intermediate tray during front-side printing.

Therefore, an abnormality may occur in the printer engine and cause the printer engine to stop, reducing operability and reliability.
There was a problem that usage efficiency was reduced.

Furthermore, if the last page of the document sent from the host computer is an odd number page, i.e. only the front page, the odd page will be ejected to the intermediate tray due to front side printing, and the back page corresponding to the ejected page, i.e. the even number page. Since there is no print command string, there is a problem that the final page of paper cannot be ejected from the intermediate tray. In addition, new treatment is required to discharge it.

Furthermore, when the page buffer becomes full during drawing processing, the processing is forced to wait until the page buffer becomes free, resulting in lower operability and usage efficiency. Here, page buffer full means that all page buffers are used for drawing or printing and are not empty.

Furthermore, with the technology in which the host computer transfers the print command sequence twice, there is a problem in that when a large number of print command sequences are sent, a large amount of time is required for the transfer, which places a burden on the host computer.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a print control device that can continue double-sided printing without any problem even if the number of single-sided printed documents is greater than the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray.

The second object of the present invention is to prevent paper of different sizes from being mixedly ejected to the intermediate tray when a print command sequence for a document containing pages of different paper sizes is sent from a host device. Our goal is to provide a printing control device that can.

A third object of the present invention is that when the last page of a document sent from a host device is an odd number, that is, only the front page, the document is not ejected mixedly into the intermediate tray and does not require special processing. An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device that can complete printing of the final page.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a print control device that can efficiently continue printing without having to wait for print processing when the page buffer becomes full.

A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a print control device that can shorten the transfer time and reduce the burden on the host computer by transferring a print command sequence from the host computer only once. be.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a print control device according to the present invention receives a print command string transmitted from a host device, and interprets and executes the print command string based on the result. A print control device that controls a printer engine unit and performs double-sided printing using an intermediate tray includes a page buffer for a plurality of pages, a drawing processing unit that performs drawing processing on the page buffer according to the print command string, and and a print processing section that performs printing processing based on the contents of the page buffer drawn by the drawing processing section, the drawing processing section performs drawing processing in page order, and sequentially starts the printing processing section for the pages that have been drawn. In response to the activation from the drawing processing unit, the print processing unit determines whether the page is a front page or a back page, and if it is a front page, immediately prints using the intermediate tray as a paper ejection unit, and prints the back page. If it is a page, the print process is connected to a queue, and in response to detection of a predetermined print wait cancellation condition, the print process connected to the queue uses the intermediate tray as a paper feed section and the external tray as a paper output section. It is designed to execute the following.

The fullness of the intermediate tray can be used as the print waiting release condition.

In this case, for example, use an intermediate tray storage sheet counter that increments by 1 when a front-side printed sheet is stored in the intermediate tray, and subtracts 1 when the reverse side is printed by feeding a sheet stored in the intermediate tray, and the value of the counter is When reaches a certain value, the print process is connected to the queue, and then the print queue is released.

Furthermore, detection of the last page of a document can also be used as the condition for canceling the print wait.

In this case, for example, if the last page of the document is the front page in double-sided printing, the print processing unit connects the print processing of the last page to the queue, cancels the print queue, and returns to the print queue state. Perform the back printing process,
After the back side printing process is completed, the final page is printed as one side printing.

Furthermore, detection of a change in paper size can also be used as the condition for canceling the print wait.

In this case, for example, a control table is provided that sets whether or not to change the paper size according to the paper size specification included in the print command string from the host device, and the print processing unit refers to the contents of the control table. If there is a paper size change, the print process for the page whose paper size has been changed is connected to the queue, the print queue is released, and the back side print process that was in the print wait state is performed. After all the sheets in the intermediate tray are ejected, the printing process shifts to the new paper size in which the paper size has been changed.

Furthermore, the detection that the drawing processing unit is unable to secure a page buffer corresponding to the paper size of the next page to be drawn can be used as the printing wait cancellation condition.

In this case, 1. For example, whether or not the drawing processing section can secure a page buffer corresponding to the paper size of the page to be drawn.
A control table is provided that sets the page to be disabled, and the print processing unit refers to the control table and, if the page buffer cannot be secured, connects the print process corresponding to the page to a queue, and then releases the print queue. do.

The various printing wait release conditions described above can be used together.

[Function] The present invention is capable of printing a document in which the number of pages to be printed on the front side is larger than the allowable number of sheets to be stored in the intermediate tray, and when the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray becomes full during front side printing, when printing is attempted at that time. The printing process for the page that was previously loaded is made to wait, and the process moves to the back side page corresponding to the page ejected to the intermediate tray, that is, the back side printing. If the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray becomes empty (that is, 0) during back-side printing, the process returns to front-side printing and restarts from the printing process of the page that was waiting for printing 6 Therefore, the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray For documents with more pages than the allowable number of pages, and for multi-page copies that print multiple copies of the same page.

Double-sided printing can be continued without any abnormality caused by the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray being full or empty.

For documents with mixed pages of different paper sizes.

After connecting the printing process for the page whose paper size has been changed to the queue, the process moves to back side printing by canceling the back side printing wait. Then, after the back side printing process of the page whose paper size has been changed is completely completed until the paper is ejected, the print processing of the page of the different paper size that has been awaited is started. Therefore, it is possible to prevent abnormalities in the printer engine unit from occurring due to pages of different paper sizes being mixedly ejected to the intermediate tray.

If the last page of the document is to be printed on the front side, the printing process for that page is made to wait, and then printing is started on the back side, and after the printing process on the back side is completely completed until the paper is ejected, the last page that was waiting is printed on the front side only. Perform as one-sided printing. Therefore, it is avoided that the paper is discharged to the intermediate tray, and furthermore, no special processing is required to discharge the paper.

Furthermore, if a full page buffer is detected during printing, the wait state for back side printing is canceled and the process moves to back side printing. Therefore, printing processing does not have to wait until the page buffer becomes empty, so it is possible to prevent a decrease in operability and utilization efficiency, and to perform double-sided printing efficiently.

Furthermore, as in the case of single-sided printing, the host computer only needs to transfer the print command sequence once, so the transfer time and processing load can be reduced.

(Hereafter, margin) [Example] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1(a) shows the overall system configuration of this device. This device includes a host computer 100, a print control device 11
0, and a printer engine section 120 having a double-sided printing mechanism using an intermediate tray.

The host computer 100 consists of a communication control section 101 and a command control section 102. The communication control unit 101 controls communication with the print control device 110, and transmits print command sequences and receives control information inside the print control device 110. The command control unit 102 creates a print command string to be sent to the print control device 110 and analyzes print control information received from the print control device 110.

The print control device 110 includes a communication control section 111, a command buffer 112 . Command processing unit 113, page buffer 117. It consists of a printer control section 118. Communication control unit 1
11 controls communication with the host computer 100;
It receives print command sequences and transmits control information and the like inside the print control device 110. The command buffer 112 stores the print command string received by the communication control unit 111.

The command processing unit 113 includes a drawing processing unit 114, a printing processing unit 115, a drawing processing unit 114, and a printing processing unit 115.
It consists of a print control table 116 used in The drawing processing unit 114 analyzes the print command string in the command buffer 112 and draws characters, characters, etc. according to the print control table 116.
Graphics and the like are written to the page buffer 117 as dot images.

The print processing section 115 includes a number checking section 1 for checking the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray.
15a, an intermediate tray storage number update section 115b, a paper size change flag check section 115c, and a document final page number confirmation section 115d.

Front side/back side mode setting section 115e, single side/double side printing specification changing section 115f, back side printing queue connection/solution MA section 1
15g, a page buffer reserve enable/disable check section 115h, and a print section 1151.

The print processing unit 115 is activated after the drawing processing unit 114 finishes rendering the dot image in the page buffer 117, and refers to the print control table 116 to instruct the printer control unit 118 to print.

The dot image data generated on the page buffer 117 is read by the printer control section 118, converted into a signal in a format that can be received by the printer engine section 120, and outputted to the printer engine section 120. The printer engine section 120 prints on paper according to the input signal using an electrophotographic printing mechanism or a wire dot printing mechanism.

Next, a description will be given with reference to FIG. 1(b) showing the system configuration of the command processing section 113 of this apparatus and FIG. 2 which is a drawing processing flowchart showing the processing of the drawing processing section 114.

The command processing unit 113 includes the drawing processing unit 11 as described above.
4. Print processing section 115. and a print control table 116. The drawing processing unit 114 includes a single-sided/double-sided printing command processing unit 114a, a page break processing unit 114b, a paper size specification processing unit 114c, and a document last page detection unit 11.
4d, and a drawing section 114e.

The print control table 116 includes a single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a, a front/back side printing specification area 116b, a print page serial number area 116C1, and a paper size area 116d.
, paper size change flag area 116e, front/back mode area 116f, intermediate tray storage number area 11
6g, document final page number area 116h, backside printing waiting flag area 1161, intermediate tray storage allowable number of sheets area 116j, page buffer reserve enable/disable flag area 116k, total number of copies area 116Q, backside printing queue area 116m, etc. . Here, when the system is initialized, the intermediate tray storage number area 116g is set to 01, and the front/back mode area 116f is set to front mode.

Note that this front/back side mode area 116f indicates whether the printing process is performing front side printing or back side printing. The page buffer 117 consists of multiple pages,
The drawing processing unit 114 sequentially performs drawing, and the printing processing unit 115 sequentially performs printing. The print control table 116 (including each item 116a to 116m) also includes a page buffer 117
Prepare multiple pages corresponding to each page. A plurality of print processing units 115 are also prepared and activated separately for each page on the page buffer 117.

Since the drawing processing unit 114 and the plurality of print processing units 115 can perform parallel processing, the throughput of the print control device and printer engine unit can be improved. The details are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 158481/1981 and Japanese Patent Application No. 164637/1999, both of which were previously proposed by the present applicant.

An example of the operation of this system will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

Assume that the host computer 100 specifies double-sided printing at the beginning of the first page of the document using the single-sided/double-sided printing designation command issuing unit 103, and transmits a print command string.

As shown in the drawing processing flow 200 of FIG. 2(a), the drawing processing unit 114 first calls command buffer read processing in order to read the print command in the command buffer 112 (201). In the command buffer read process 201, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the presence or absence of a print command in the command buffer 112 is checked (201).
a). If there is no print command, host computer 1
A print command string is sent from 00 to command buffer 1.
12 (201b). If there is a print command, it is read from the command buffer 112 (20
1c) Next, returning to FIG. 2(a), the read print command is analyzed (202) and it is determined whether it is a control command (203).

Here, the print commands include control commands such as single-sided/double-sided printing designation commands, paper size designation commands, and page break commands, and drawing commands such as character drawing, circle drawing, and polyline drawing.

If it is a drawing command, the drawing unit 114e develops dot images such as characters and figures into the page buffer 117 (204). If it is a control command, whether the content is a one-sided/double-sided print designation command (205), a page break command (207), a paper size designation command (209), or a document end designation command. (21
1) is checked, and if it is a one-sided/double-sided printing designation command, a one-sided/double-sided printing designation process is called (206). Figure 2 (
In the single-sided/double-sided print designation process 206 shown in c), the single-sided/double-sided print designation specified by the host computer 100 is set in the single-sided/double-sided print designation area 116a in the print control table 116 (206a).

Returning to FIG. 2(a), if the control command is a page break command, a page break process is called (208). In the page break process 208 in FIG. 2(d), first, the print control table 116
The odd/even numbers in the print page serial number area 116c are checked (208a). Print page serial number area 116
If c is an odd number, print on the front side; if c is an even number, print on the back side. Front/back side printing designation area 1 in print control table 116
16b (208b, 208c), and starts the print processing unit 115 (208d).In other words, the front/back side printing specification area 116b is used to specify whether the page stored in the print page serial number area 116c is the front side or the back side. This indicates whether or not the side must be printed.
When activated, the print processing unit 115 performs front side printing or back side printing with reference to the front/back side printing area 116c.

Returning to FIG. 2(a), if the control command is a paper size designation command, a paper size designation process is called (210).

In the paper size designation process 210 shown in FIG. 2(e), a paper size is set in the paper size area 116d in the print control table 116 (210a). Next, a comparison is made with the paper size area 116d for the previous page (210b),
If they are the same, no paper size change is set; if they are different, paper size change is set in the paper size change flag area 116e in the print control table 116 (210c, 210d).
).

Returning to Figure 2 (,), if the control command is a document end designation command, the print page serial number 1 of the last page
16c in the document last page number area 116h of the print control table 116 (212), single-sided/double-sided print designation command, page break command, paper size designation command,
If it is not a document end designation command, other control commands are processed (213). Next, after processing the previous command, the drawing processing unit 114 checks whether there is an error (211), and if there is no error, returns to the command buffer read process (201) and repeats the same process.

Next, the print processing unit 115 will be explained using FIG. 1(b) and FIG. 3 showing a flowchart of print processing.

Here, detection of a change in paper size is used as one of the conditions for canceling the wait for printing on the back side.

For example, a case will be described in which the host computer 100 transmits a print command sequence for a document with different paper sizes starting from the third page. For the first page,
The drawing processing section 114 sets control information in the print control table 116 of the corresponding order, performs drawing on the page buffer 117 of the corresponding order, and starts the print processing section of the corresponding order. The printing process is performed as follows while referring to the areas for pages in the corresponding order in the print control table 116. First, it is checked whether double-sided printing is designated by referring to the single-sided/double-sided printing designation area 116a (301), and since double-sided printing is designated, it is checked whether front-side printing is designated by referring to the front/back-side printing designation area 116b (302). Since front side printing is specified, check whether the last page number area 116h of one document and the print page serial number area 116c are the same (320).
. Since they are not the same, the paper size change flag area 11
Check whether 6e is ON (paper size changed) (304).

Since this flag is 0FF (no paper size change), move on to Figure 3 (Part 2), and move to the single-sided/double-sided printing designated area 116a.
to specify double-sided printing (330), or specify front-side printing by referring to the front/back printing specification area 116b (331).
), then it is checked whether the intermediate tray is full from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (340). Since the intermediate tray is not full, the intermediate tray storage area is 116g.
is added by 1 (349). Next, print (350)
, the machine waits for paper ejection to finish (351). Here, printing means
This involves checking and instructing the paper feed/discharge section of the printer engine section 120 and starting the printer control section 118. Waiting for completion of paper ejection is a state in which printing processing is on standby until the printed paper is output to the paper ejection unit. Next, the drawing of the second page is processed in the same manner as the first page, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated.

The printing process refers to the single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a to check whether one-sided printing is specified (301), and since it is a double-sided printing specification, it refers to the front/back side printing specification area 116b to check whether front-side printing is specified (302). ). This time, since back side printing is specified, the front side/back side mode area 116f is referred to check whether front side mode is selected (303). Since it is the front mode, it is checked whether the last page number area 116h of one document and the print page serial number area 116C are the same (311).
. Since they are not the same here, set the back side printing waiting flag area 1161 to ON (back side printing waiting) (31
2) Connect the main printing process to the back side printing queue area 116m (313).Next, the drawing of the third page is processed in the same way as for the previous page, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. . The printing process is performed in the same way as for the first page, and the paper size change flag area 116e is checked (304). In this example, this flag is ON (paper size has been changed), so the back side printing waiting flag is checked. Area 1
Check 161 (305).

Since the second page is waiting to be printed on the back side and the flag area 1161 is ON (waiting for printing on the back side), the front/back mode area 116f should be changed to the back mode (306), and whether or not there is a waiting time for printing on the back side. The flag area 1161 is turned off (307), and the main printing process is connected to the back side printing queue area 116m (308).

Next, all printing processes (second and third pages) connected to the back print queue area 116m are canceled (309). Then, the printing process for the second page, which was in the back side print waiting state, resumes after the back print queue connection process (313) that previously connected the print process for the second page to the back side print queue area 116m. and then move on to printing on the back side. First, paper size change flag area 11
Check whether 6e is ON (paper size changed) (304),
Since the paper size change flag area is 0FF (no paper size change), check whether double-sided printing is specified by referring to the single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a (330), and check whether front-side printing is specified by referring to the front/back side printing specification 116b. Check (331
). Since the printing process for this page specifies back side printing, it is checked whether the intermediate tray is empty from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (332). Here, the intermediate tray is not empty, so 1 is subtracted from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (3
39). Next, printing is performed (350), and the process waits for completion of paper ejection (351).

Then, the printing process for the third page is restarted from the process (309) in which all printing processes connected to the back side printing queue area 116m were canceled first. First, change the front/back mode area 116f to front mode (
310). Then, it is checked whether the previous page (second page) has been completely ejected (329), and if it has not been ejected,
Wait until it is completely ejected. When it is completely ejected, refer to the single-sided/double-sided printing designation area 116a and select whether to specify double-sided printing (3
30), Check whether front side printing is specified (331) with reference to the front/back side print designation area 116b, and check whether the intermediate tray is full from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (340).
. Since the intermediate tray is not full, 1 is added to the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (349). Next, printing is performed (350), and the process waits for completion of paper ejection (351). Thereafter, the fourth page, the fifth page, and so on are processed in the same way as the first and second pages.

As described above, the drawing processing section draws on the page buffers in the corresponding order one after another regardless of the front/front surface of the page, and when the drawing is completed, the printing processing section Start. Then, referring to the print page serial number 116C, if it is an odd number, it is printed and discharged to the intermediate tray, and if it is an even number, it is placed in a back side print waiting state and connected to the back side print queue area 116m. In the case of pages of different paper sizes, as with even-numbered pages, they are placed in a back-side print waiting state and connected to the back-side print queue area 116m.
All printing processes connected to the back side print queue area 116m are canceled and the printing process of even-numbered pages is started.

Then, wait until the previous page is completely ejected, change the paper size, etc., and proceed to front side printing. Therefore, even if a print command sequence for a document containing pages of different paper sizes is sent, double-sided printing can be performed without causing an error.

Note that the above-described processing for documents containing a mixture of different paper sizes may be performed as follows. In other words, when a page of a different paper size is detected, the back print queue area 1
Cancel the printing process connected to 16m, and set the printing process for pages of different paper sizes to ``hold printing on the back side''. Then, the "back side printing queue release" may be performed in the last printing process connected to the back side printing queue area 116m.

Specifically, the process is the same as that described above until the printing process in the order corresponding to the third page is started. The print process releases the print process (second page) connected to the back print queue area 116m from the print queue, and sets the print process to "end print on the back side". Then, the process moves to the second page connected to the back print queue area 116m, and that page is printed.

Then, before finishing the main printing process, "r" is performed, and the process moves to the third page, and then the fourth page, the fifth page, and so on.

Furthermore, the following processing may be performed. That is, when a page of a different paper size is detected, the print queue of the print process connected to the back side print queue area 116m is released. Next, print processing for pages of different paper sizes is set to "wait for completion of back side printing" and the process moves to back side printing processing. Then, when a page with a different paper size is detected during the back side printing process, the main printing process is connected to the back side print queue area 116m,
It is also possible to perform "cancellation of wait for completion of back side printing".

In this method, the printing process for pages of different paper sizes is made to wait for the back side printing to be completed, and the back side printing queue area 116m
The process is the same as that described above until the process moves to printing the second page connected to the page.

That is, in the printing process for the second page, the paper size change flag area 116e in the print control table 116 corresponding to this page is checked. Then, since the paper size is not changed, printing is performed and the process waits for the paper to be ejected. Next, print processing corresponding to the fourth page is started. The printing process is performed using the corresponding print control table 11 as in the case of the second page.
Check the paper size change flag area 116e in 6.

Since the fourth page is the back page of the third page, the paper size change flag area 116e indicates that the paper size has been changed, and the main printing process is carried out in the back print queue area 116e.
Connect to 6m and perform "Cancel wait for back side printing to finish". Then, the printing process moves on to the third page, and then the fifth page, the sixth page, and so on.

(Hereafter, margin) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. here.

In this embodiment, the detection of the last page of one document is used as one of the conditions for canceling the back-side printing wait state. First, the processing procedure when the print page serial number 116c of the last page of the document is an even number will be explained. The processing in this case will be explained assuming that the last page of the document is the fourth page. The embodiments after this embodiment are shown in FIG. 3 in combination with the first embodiment as a preferred embodiment.

The procedure until the print processing units in the order corresponding to the third page are activated is the same as the processing procedure for a document with mixed paper sizes. The printing process for the third page is performed in the same way as for the first page. Next, the drawing process for the fourth page is started, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process refers to the single-sided/double-sided printing designation area 116a to check whether double-sided printing is specified (301), and since double-sided printing is specified, it refers to the front/back-side printing designation area 116b to check if one-sided printing is specified (302). The fourth page is specified to be printed on the back side, so the front side
Referring to the back mode area 116f, it is determined whether the front mode is present (303). Since it is the front side mode, it is checked whether the document final page number area 116h and the print page serial number area 116c are the same (311).In this example, since they are the same, it is checked whether the back side printing waiting flag area 1161 is ON (back side printing waiting). 314). Since the back side printing waiting flag area 1161 is ON (back side printing waiting), the front/back mode area 116f should be changed to the back mode (315), and the back side printing waiting flag area 116
1 is turned off (316), and the main printing process is temporarily connected to the back side printing queue area 116m (317). Next, cancel all printing processes (2nd and 4th pages) connected to the back print queue area 116m.
18) Move on to the back side printing process. In the back printing process, the second
The page printing process operates, and it is checked whether the paper size change flag area 116e is ON (304). Since the paper size change flag area is OFF, refer to the single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a and check whether duplex printing is specified (330
), refers to the front/back side printing specification area 116b and checks whether front side printing is specified (331).Since back side printing is specified, check whether the intermediate tray is empty from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (332); since the intermediate tray is not empty, Subtract 1 from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (339).

Next, it prints (350) and waits for paper ejection to finish (3
51). Next, the printing process for the fourth page starts, and the front and
Change back mode 116f to front mode 319),
Process in the same way as the second page. By processing as described above, if the last page of the document is an even numbered page, double-sided printing can be performed without any problem.

Next, the processing procedure when the last page of the document is an odd numbered page will be explained. The processing in this case will be explained assuming that the final page of the document is the fifth page.

Until the print processing unit for the fourth page is started, the process is performed in the same way as when the last page of the document is an even page. The printing process refers to the 9 single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a to check whether duplex printing is specified (301), and refers to the front/back side printing specification area 116b to check whether front-side printing is specified (302).
. Then, it is checked whether the front side mode area 116f is the front side mode (303), and it is checked whether the document last page number area 116h and the print page serial number area 116c are the same (311). It's different here, so
The back side printing waiting flag area 1161 is turned on (back side printing waiting), and the main printing process is connected to the back side printing queue area 116m. Next, the drawing process for the fifth page, which is the final page of the document, is performed, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process refers to the single-sided/double-sided printing designation area 116a and checks whether double-sided printing is designated (301).
, refers to the front/back side printing designation area 116b and checks whether front side printing is designated. And document last page number area 1
It is checked whether 16h and print page serial number area 116c are the same (320). Since it is the same here, the back side printing presence/absence flag area 1161 is ON (back side printing waiting)
(321). The back side is waiting for printing, so the front side
Change the back mode 116f to the back mode 322),
Turn off the back side printing flag area 1161 (3
23), the main printing process is temporarily performed in the back side printing queue area 11.
Connect to 6m (324). Next, print processing (second page,
325),
Move on to the back side printing process. In the back printing process, the second page,
The fourth page is printed. Next, the printing process for the fifth page operates, and the single-sided/double-sided printing designation area 116a in the print control table 116 is changed to single-sided printing (326
). Then, the front/back mode area 116f is changed to the front mode (327), and then.

Adjust the paper size change flag area 116C (304
), the paper size has not changed, so refer to the single-sided/double-sided printing specification area 116a and check whether duplex printing is specified (330).
. Since one-sided printing is specified, print (single-sided printing) (35
0), the printer waits for paper ejection to finish (351). When the total number of copies has been printed, the process moves to FIG. 3 (part 3) and examines the single-sided/double-sided print designation area 116a (353). If one-sided printing is specified, the main printing process ends. When double-sided printing is specified or the last page of the document is an odd numbered page, the double-sided printing specification is changed to single-sided printing.If the single-sided printing specification is changed, the document last page number area 116h and the print page serial number area 1 are displayed.
Check whether 16C is equal (354). If they are equal, designate double-sided printing in the single-sided and double-sided printing designation area 116a (
355).

As described above, when the last page of a document is an odd number, the printing process corresponding to that page is placed in a back side print waiting state and connected to the back side print queue area 116m. Then, the back side printing queue area 116m is released, the back side printing is started, and even numbered pages are printed. Next, the last odd-numbered page was changed to single-sided printing so that it would be printed on one side. Therefore, if the last page of the document is an odd number, this last page does not need to be ejected to the intermediate tray, thereby speeding up the overall printing time.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

This embodiment relates to a case where double-sided printing is performed on a document in which the number of sheets to be printed on the front side is greater than the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray (1161), resulting in an intermediate train (full). Tray storage capacity 1
The explanation will be given assuming that 165 is 3. Here, detection of an intermediate tray full is used as one of the conditions for canceling the wait for printing on the back side. The same process can be performed for other cases where the actual allowable number of sheets is different.

The process until the print processing units in the order corresponding to the third page are activated is the same as the process for the document containing a mixture of different paper sizes. The printing process is performed in the same manner as the first page. Next, the drawing process for the fourth page is started, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process is performed in the same manner as the second page. Then, the process moves to the drawing process for the fifth page, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing unit in the corresponding order is activated. The printing process is performed in the same way as for the first and third pages, adding 1 to the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (309), printing (350), and waiting for the end of paper ejection (309). 351), at this time, the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray, 116g, is 3 (full).

Next, regarding the drawing process for the sixth page, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. Since this printing process specifies printing on the back side, it is processed in the same way as the second and fourth pages. Next, the drawing process for the seventh page is started, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process is performed in the same way as for the first page and the third page. Then, the intermediate tray storage permissible sheet number area 116j and the intermediate tray storage sheet number area 1
Check if the intermediate tray is full from 16g (3
40). Since the intermediate tray is full, change the 1 front/back mode area 116f to front mode (341), and check whether the back side printing wait status flag area 1161 is ON (34).
2). Since the back side is waiting for printing, turn off the front side print waiting status flag area 1161 (345), put the main printing process in the back side print waiting state, and return to the back side print queue area 1.
Connect to 16m (346). Then, 347
), move on to the back side printing process. In the back side printing process, the second, fourth, and sixth pages and the intermediate tray storage number area 116g are subtracted by 1 (339), and printing is performed (3
50), and waits for paper ejection to be completed (351). Next, the printing process for the seventh page starts, and the front/back mode area 11
6f to the front side mode (348), adds 1 to the intermediate tray stored sheet number area 116g (349), prints (350), and waits for the end of paper ejection (351). next,
It is processed in the same way as the 8th page, 9th page, and so on.

As mentioned above, when the intermediate tray becomes full (full),
The printing process that detected the intermediate tray full is placed in a back side print waiting state and connected to the back side print queue area 116m. Then, all printing processes connected to the back side print queue area 116m are canceled and the process moves to back side printing. Therefore,
Even when printing more documents than the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray (1165), double-sided printing can be performed without causing an error due to exceeding the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray.

Next, a case of multi-page copying in which multiple copies of one page are printed will be described.

The processing procedure in this case will be explained assuming that the number of copies to be printed is five. The first page is the intermediate tray storage number area 116
g is incremented by 1 (348), printing is performed (350), and the process waits for paper ejection to be completed (351). Then, the waiting state for the completion of paper ejection is released, and it is checked whether the total number of printed copies has been completed (352). Since the total number of printed copies has not been completed, printing is repeated until the total number of printed copies has been completed. Then, when the third copy is printed and the fourth copy is printed, it is checked whether the intermediate tray is full from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g and the intermediate tray storage permissible number area 116j (340), and the intermediate tray becomes full.
Change the front/back side mode area 116f to the back side mode (341), and check whether the back side printing waiting status flag area 1161 is ON (back side printing waiting) (342)
Since there is no waiting for back side printing, the back side printing waiting flag area 1161 is turned ON (343), and the main printing process is connected to the back side printing queue area 116m (344). Next, the printing process for the second page is started, and the process (331) to check whether front side printing is specified or not by referring to the front/back side printing specification area 116b indicates that back side printing is specified, so check whether the intermediate tray is empty or not from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g. Check (332
). Since the intermediate tray is not empty, subtract 1 from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g (339) and print (
350) and waits for paper ejection to end (351). Then, check to see if the wait for paper ejection to finish is canceled and the total number of copies printed has been completed (
352), the total number of printed copies is not completed, so printing is repeated until the total number of printed copies is completed. Then, three copies are printed on both sides, and when the fourth copy is checked from the intermediate tray storage number area 116g to see if the intermediate tray is empty (332), the intermediate tray storage number area 116g is 0 (intermediate tray empty), so the back side is printed. It is checked whether the waiting flag area 1161 is ON (back side printing waiting) (333). Since the back side is waiting to be printed, set the back side printing wait status flag area 1161 to O.
FF Nishiku 336), puts the main printing process into the back side print waiting state, and connects to the back side print queue area 116m (3
37). Then, the printing process (printing the fourth copy of the first page) connected to the back print queue area 116m is canceled (33B), and the process continues from printing the fourth copy of the first page.

As described above, double-sided printing can be performed without any problem even in multi-page copying.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present invention, none of the page buffers 117 is in an empty state, that is,
This relates to a case where all page buffers 117 are used for drawing or printing, and the processing procedure in this case will be described assuming that the number of page buffers is four. Here, detection of page buffer fullness is used as one of the conditions for canceling the wait for printing on the back side.

Until the printing process for the third page is started, the above
The processing procedure is similar to the processing procedure for documents containing a mixture of different paper sizes. The printing process is performed in the same manner as the first page. Next, the drawing process for the fourth page is started, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 in the corresponding order, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process is performed in the same manner as the second page. Then, the process moves to the drawing process for the fifth page, drawing is performed in the page buffer 117 used for the first page, and the print processing units in the corresponding order are activated. The printing process is performed in the same way as for the first page and the third page.

Next, the process moves to the drawing process for the sixth page. In this drawing process, the page buffer 117 (second page buffer) in the corresponding order is not printed because it is printed on the back side and remains drawn, so the main drawing process waits for the page buffer to become available. For that page buffer 117, page buffer reservation not possible is set in the page buffer reservation possible/impossible flag area 116k. Here, the fifth
The waiting state for the page printing process to finish discharging is released, and the waiting printing process for the fifth page resumes. The page buffer 117 used in the printing process
The page buffer reservation enable/disable flag area 116k in the print control table 116 in the order corresponding to the next page buffer is referred to (356). If the reservation is not possible, set the back side printing wait status flag area 1161 to 0FF (
357), cancel all printing processes (2nd page, 4th page) connected to the back side printing queue area 116m (358), move on to back side printing, and print the 2nd and 4th pages. and print processing is performed.

As described above, before the printing process ends, the control table 1
16, and if the page buffer is full and page buffer reservation is not possible, printing is performed on the back side.

Therefore, even if all the page buffers are used, the printing process does not have to wait until the page buffers become free, and the printing process moves to the back side, so it is possible to perform double-sided printing efficiently without reducing operability or usage efficiency. .

In the present invention, the main part of double-sided printing control is performed by the print processing section, but it can also be performed by the drawing processing section. However, the drawing processing section has a complicated structure in order to support multiple types of print command systems and several types of fonts. Therefore, when the drawing processing section executes the main part of double-sided printing control, a problem arises in that the drawing processing section becomes even more complex. Therefore, in this embodiment, the print control section executes the main part of the double-sided printing control.

Note that the print command system is determined by each printer manufacturer.
S.O.(International Organiz)
standardization)
It is a system of control commands and control language for printer control provided by .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the ejection of more sheets of paper into the intermediate tray than the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray and the mixed ejection of sheets of different paper sizes, so that the printer engine section can be Abnormalities can also be prevented, and double-sided printing can be performed without problems even when printing documents that exceed the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray or when printing documents that contain pages of different paper sizes.

Further, when the final page is an odd number, that is, when printing a document with only the front side, the final page is printed as one-sided printing, which prevents the document from being ejected to the intermediate tray and speeds up processing.

Furthermore, if the page buffer is used for drawing or printing and is completely full, the printing process is not made to wait until the page buffer becomes free, and the print process moves to the back side, so that double-sided printing can be performed efficiently.

Furthermore, since the host computer only needs to transfer the print command sequence once in double-sided printing as in the case of single-sided printing, the transfer time can be shortened and the burden on the host computer can be reduced.

Furthermore, even in multi-page copying in which multiple copies of the same page are printed, it is possible to prevent more sheets than the allowable number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray from being ejected to the intermediate tray, so double-sided printing can be performed without any problem.

Therefore, the reliability and operability of the system are improved, and efficient double-sided printing is possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1(a) is a system configuration diagram showing the device configuration of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1(b) is a system configuration diagram of the command processing section showing the configuration of the command processing section in the above embodiment, and FIG. 2(a) is a drawing processing unit flowchart showing the processing procedure of the drawing processing unit in the above embodiment, and FIG. 2(b) is a command buffer read processing flowchart showing the command buffer read processing procedure in the drawing processing unit in the above embodiment. Figure 2(c) is a flowchart showing the single-sided/double-sided printing designation processing procedure in the drawing processing unit in the above embodiment, and Figure 2(d) shows the page break processing procedure in the drawing processing unit in the above embodiment. FIG. 2(e) is a paper size specification processing flowchart showing the paper size specification processing procedure in the drawing processing section in the above embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a print processing unit shown in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100... Host computer, 101... Communication control unit, 102... Command control unit, 103... Single-sided/double-sided printing command issuing means, 110... Printing control device, 111... Communication control unit, 112... Command buffer, 113... Command control unit, 114... Command processing unit, 115... Drawing processing unit, 116... Print processing unit, 117... Print control table, 118...
Page buffer, 119...Printer control unit, 120
Printer engine department. Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd. (and 1 other person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Printing that receives a print command string sent by a host device, controls a printer engine section based on the result of interpreting and executing the print command string, and performs double-sided printing using an intermediate tray. The control device includes a page buffer for a plurality of pages, a drawing processing unit that performs drawing processing on the page buffer according to the print command string, and a printing processing unit that performs printing processing based on the contents of the page buffer drawn by the drawing processing unit. The drawing processing section performs drawing processing in page order, and sequentially activates the printing processing section for the pages for which drawing has been completed, and the printing processing section performs drawing processing in response to activation from the drawing processing section. If the page is a front page or a back page, it is immediately printed using the intermediate tray as a paper output unit, and if it is a back page, the printing process is connected to a queue and a predetermined printing process is performed. Depending on the detection of the wait release condition,
The intermediate tray is used as a paper feed section, and the external tray is used as a paper ejection section,
A print control device that executes print processing queued in the queue. 2. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate tray being full is used as the print waiting release condition. 3. When the front side printed paper is stored in the intermediate tray, 1
The number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray is increased, and when the paper stored in the intermediate tray is fed and printed on the back side, the number of sheets stored in the intermediate tray is decremented by 1. When the value of the counter reaches a certain value, the printing process is connected to the queue. 3. The printing control device according to claim 2, wherein the printing control device cancels the print waiting state after the printing is finished. 4. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein detection of the last page of the document is used as the print wait release condition. 5. If the last page of the document is the front page in double-sided printing, the print processing unit connects the print process of the last page to the queue, cancels the print queue, and prints the back page that was in the print queue. 5. The print control device according to claim 4, wherein the printing control device performs a printing process, and after completing the backside printing process, prints the last page as one-sided printing. 6. The printing control device according to claim 1, wherein detection of a change in paper size is used as the printing wait cancellation condition. 7. A control table is provided for setting whether or not to change the paper size according to the paper size specification included in the print command string from the host device, and the print processing unit changes the paper size by referring to the contents of the control table. If there is, the print process for the page whose paper size has been changed is connected to the queue, the print queue is released, the back side print process that was in the print wait state is performed, and the back side print process prints the page in the intermediate tray. 7. The print control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein after all of the sheets have been ejected, the print control apparatus moves to print processing for a new paper size in which the paper size has been changed. 8. The print control according to claim 1, wherein detection that the drawing processing unit is unable to secure a page buffer corresponding to the paper size of the next page to be drawn is used as the print wait release condition. Device. 9. A control table is provided for setting whether or not the drawing processing section can secure a page buffer corresponding to the paper size of the page to be drawn, and the print processing section refers to the control table to secure the page buffer. 9. The print control device according to claim 8, wherein if the page is not available, the printing process corresponding to the page is connected to the queue and then the print queue is released.