JPH0516497A - Printer with preset list-printing function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer capable of making a preset list easy to understand, from which all set information related to printing control and also the present set information can be known. CONSTITUTION:Printing control data composed of set items related to the printing control of a printer and selectable set information in those items are stored in ROM12. Also, set points for each set item selected by operation of respective switches 22-26, etc., of a switch panel 2 are stored in RAM13. When printing of a preset list is conducted, the printing control data in the ROM 12 are copied to a character buffer and codes for emphasizing characters are inserted before and behind a code part corresponding to the set points in the RAM 13 out of the printing control data. When the contents of the character buffer made in this manner are printed, all set information is printed and the present set information is printed emphatically.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has various setting items relating to print control, and at least one item has a plurality of setting information in the setting item, and it is possible to arbitrarily set and set the setting information. The present invention relates to a printer with a setting list printing function capable of printing a setting list indicating the status by character information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printers are capable of setting printing conditions such as LF (line feed) pitch, page length, and character type so that they can be used for various purposes. Various setting items relating to such print control have a plurality of setting information in the setting items, and desired values can be respectively selected and set.

It is known to display a set value on a display device such as a liquid crystal panel in order to confirm the set state, but only one to several set values can be displayed at a time. Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-123356.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5 publication, there is known one capable of printing out a setting list in which the current setting state is indicated by character information.

[0004]

However, the conventional print output is the one in which only the setting items and the current setting values are written together, and it is not clear what other selectable setting values are available. Therefore, for example, if one wants to consider the print layout with a value other than the current setting value and also consider the overall layout, first display one setting item and its selectable setting value on the display device, and then Select the desired setting candidate value of.

Then, the screen display is changed to the next setting item, and a desired setting candidate value is selected from among the setting items, so that the screen display is changed to display the selectable setting values within the setting item. There was the inconvenience of having to. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of creating an easy-to-understand setting list in which all setting information is known and the current setting information is also known, with the object of solving the above problems.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following constitution as a means for solving the problem. That is, among various setting items related to print control,
At least one item has a plurality of setting information in the setting item, and it is possible to arbitrarily select and set from among the setting information, and in a printer with a setting list printing function capable of printing a setting list showing the setting state by text information All the selectable setting information in each setting item is printed in the setting list, and the printing state of the setting information currently set among all the setting information is different from the printing states of other setting information. This is the configuration of a printer with a setting list printing function, which is characterized in that it is provided with a setting list printing control means for performing printing.

[0007]

In the printer having the setting list printing function of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration, the setting list printing means prints all selectable setting information in each setting item relating to print control, and all the setting information among the setting information. The currently set setting information can be emphasized and printed. for that reason,
From the printed setting list, not only the current setting information can be known, but also other setting information can be selected at a glance.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an electric system of a printer with a setting list printing function of this embodiment. The electronic control circuit 1 of this printer includes a well-known CPU 11, ROM 12, RA
An input / output circuit configured to have the M13 as the center of a logical operation circuit and to perform input / output with an external device such as a switch panel 2 for instructing various operations by a user and a print mechanism unit 4 for performing print output according to print data. 14 and the like are connected via a common bus 16.

The CPU 11 inputs an operation signal from the switch panel 2 through the input / output circuit 14 and outputs print data to the print mechanism 4 based on this signal and the data in the ROM 12 and the RAM 13 to perform print control. .. ROM12
Stored therein is print control data including setting items related to print control of the printer and selectable setting information in the items. For example, in the setting item called page length,
10 inches as selectable setting information in that item, 1
Four set values of 1 inch, 11.75 inch, and 12 inch are stored. The LF pitch stores three selectable set values of 1/6 inch, 1 / 7.5 inch, and 1/8 inch. Similarly, type of character, vertical /
Various setting items such as distinction of horizontal printing are stored.

FIG. 2 shows how the print control data is stored in the ROM 12 by taking the page length and the LF pitch as an example. The print data consists of a character code and a control code, and “09” in FIG. 2 is T
AB, “OD” are CR, “OA” is LF, and others are ASCII codes of characters.

As shown in FIG. 1, the switch panel 2 has a SEL switch 22 for switching the printer online / offline, an LED 21 which is turned on when the printer is online, and an LF switch for feeding a line of printing paper. 23, various setting switches such as a TOP switch 24 for inserting a printing paper or sending one page, an EJECT switch 25 for ejecting the printing paper, and a shift switch 26.

The shift switch 26 is used to cause the above-mentioned respective switches 22 to 25 to have another function. For example, in the present embodiment, the shift switch 26 is pressed while pressing S.
By pressing the EL switch 22, it is possible to print a setting list described later.

The NVR (not shown) in the RAM 13
Each switch 22 of the switch panel 2 described above is provided in AM.
Setting values for each setting item selected by operations such as ~ 26 are stored. FIG. 3 shows the data in the NVRAM. The setting value is held in 1 byte (8 bits) for each setting item. Explaining the relation with the print control data in the ROM 12 of FIG. 2 described above, regarding the page length shown at the top, The second bit from the left is "1", and the second bit from the left is "1" for the second LF pitch.
It is said that.

Next, the print control process for printing the setting list in the printer configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
The flowchart will be described. For easier understanding, the LF pitch in the print control data will be taken as an example, and the description will be given with reference to FIG. 5, which shows how the data relating to the LF pitch is printed. Proceed.

First, the setting list print is prepared. When the power is turned on, the printer is brought into the online state after the initialization operation, so the SEL switch 22 is pushed to bring it into the offline state (the LED 21 is turned off at this time). Then, the printing paper is attached to a predetermined place of the printing mechanism unit 4 and the TOF switch 24 is pressed to feed the paper. After that, by pressing the SEL switch 22 while pressing the shift switch 26, the printer enters the setting list print mode, and the printing control of the setting list is started.

When the print control is started, the print control data in the ROM 12 shown in FIG. 2 is first copied as it is to the character buffer in the RAM 13 (step 100,
Hereinafter, it is simply represented by S100. The same applies below. ). Taking the LF pitch as an example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the print control data of the LF pitch stored as a code in the ROM 12 is copied as it is to the character buffer in the RAM 13. That is, all the codes corresponding to the setting item LF pitch and all the setting values in the item are copied.

Next, the NVRAM in the RAM 13 is checked to detect the current set value, and character emphasis is performed before and after the code portion corresponding to the current set value in the print control data developed in the character buffer. Is inserted (S110). In the case shown in FIG. 3, with respect to the LF pitch, the first bit from the left is set to "1", and it can be seen that the leftmost value is set.

In this case, as shown in FIG.
The code string “31, 2F, 36, corresponding to the leftmost value
A shading start code "02" is inserted immediately before "22", and a shading end code "00" is inserted immediately after. Then, the image data is expanded in the image buffer according to the contents of the character buffer (S120). Figure 5
As shown in (c), the LF pitch of the setting items and the three setting values 1/6 inch, 1 / 7.5 inch, and 1/8 inch are all created as image data, and 1/6 of them are created. Only the setting value of inch is created as the data that is shaded.

When the development of the image data in the image buffer is completed in this way, the data is output to the printing mechanism unit 4 and printing is performed on a sheet or the like (S130). FIG. 6 shows a part of the setting list printed out. As can be seen from FIG. 6, all selectable setting information in each setting item related to print control is printed, and further, of all the setting information, the currently set setting information is emphasized ( In the present embodiment, it is shaded).

In FIGS. 5 (c) and 6, 11 inches of the page length item and 1/6 of the LF pitch item.
It is indicated that the area around the set value such as inch is surrounded by a square so that the area is shaded. Therefore, by looking at the printed setting list, not only the current setting information can be known, but also what other setting information can be selected at a glance. Therefore, for example, when it is desired to consider the overall layout for the subsequent printing, the display device is used as in the conventional case to change the screen display for each setting item and select a desired setting candidate value among them. There is no need for such trouble. In this way, it is possible to create a very easy-to-understand setting list.

The above-described method of emphasizing the selected set value may employ underline, inversion, bold, etc. other than the above-mentioned half-tone dot meshing. There are various conceivable methods for the switch operation of the switch panel 2 for activating the setting list print. It may be better to provide a dedicated switch to facilitate the operation, but it is more economical to use the switch together as in this embodiment.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0023]

As described above in detail, the printer with the setting list printing function of the present invention prints all the selectable setting information in each setting item related to the print control, and also prints out all the setting information currently. The set information that has been set can be emphasized and printed. Therefore, the printed setting list has an effect that not only the current setting information can be known but also what other setting information can be selected at a glance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an electric system of a printer with a setting list printing function which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of print control data stored in a ROM of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing selected set value data.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a setting list print control process.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of printing data regarding an LF pitch through a setting list print control process.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a setting list is printed out.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic control circuit 2 ... Switch panel 4 ... Printing mechanism part 11 ... CPU 12 ... ROM 13 ... RAM 22 ... SEL switch 26 ... Shift switch

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. At least one of various setting items related to print control has a plurality of setting information in the setting item, and the setting information can be arbitrarily selected and set from the setting information. In a printer with a setting list printing function capable of printing a setting list showing the state by text information, while printing all the selectable setting information in each of the setting items in the setting list, among all the setting information,
A printer with a setting list printing function, comprising a setting list printing control means for printing the currently set setting information differently from the printing states of other setting information.