JPH05193231A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use many kinds of printing apparatuses only by adding a simple function by providing an output means outputting document data judged not to ought to execute printing itself to the outside from an interface means. CONSTITUTION:Respective printing apparatuses receive the document data such as a character code or the like from host devices being host computers 101, 102, 103 from one of a plurality of interface connectors performing the giving and receiving of data with an external device through interface networks 104, 105, 106, 107 and judge the received document data to classify the same into data to be printed and data to be not printed itself and output the data to be not printed to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, the state of the external device connected to the other interface connector is read and the document data sent from the host devices being the host computers are outputted to the selected printing apparatus suitable for output.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system including a plurality of types of printing devices, in which document information including a character code and a control code is transferred from a host device such as a host computer to each printing device for printing. It is about the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of connections between a host computer of a conventional printing system and each printing apparatus.

In FIG. 2, 201, 202, 203,
Reference numeral 204 denotes a host device such as a host computer, 205, 2
06, 207 and 208 are network interfaces,
209 is a printing device capable of color output, 210 is a maximum of A
A printing device capable of outputting the fourth edition, a reference numeral 211 denotes a printing device capable of outputting the maximum A3 size, and a reference numeral 212 denotes a high-speed printing device. In FIG. 3, 301 and 302 are host devices such as a host computer, 303 and 304 are network interfaces, 305 is a control device for switching data output destinations, and 30
6 is a printing device capable of color output, 307 is a printing device capable of outputting at most A4 size, 308 is a printing device capable of outputting at most A3 size, and 309 is a high speed printing device.

As shown in the figure, when connecting a host device such as a host computer to a printing device in the related art, (1) document information including a character code and a control code is sent via the host device such as each host computer. Configuration (Fig. 2),
Alternatively, (2) a control device for switching the output destination of the document information including the character code and the control code transmitted from the host device is separately provided between the host device and the host device and the printing device. , A configuration (FIG. 3) in which the control device switches the output to each printing device is used.

[0005]

However, in the conventional example of the above (1), since the document information including the character code, the control code and the like is sent via each upper device, each upper device is burdened. It takes. Further, in the conventional example of (2), it is necessary to separately provide a control device for switching the output destination.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, reduces the load on a host device such as a host computer, and provides a printing system in which various printing devices can be used only by adding simple functions to the printing device. To do.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, a printing system of the present invention includes a plurality of types of printing devices, and a host device such as a host computer sends document information including character codes and control codes. A printing system for transferring to one of a plurality of types of printing devices for printing, wherein at least one of the printing devices transmits and receives data to and from an external device, and an interface unit for inputting data from the interface unit. The document information includes a determination unit that determines whether or not the document information should be printed by itself, and an output unit that outputs the document information determined by the document information that it should not be printed by the interface unit. At least one of the printing devices further comprises a reading means for reading the status of another printing device connected to the interface means, the output means selectively switching to another based on the read other printing device. The document information is output to the printing device.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a printing system of this embodiment. In the figure, 101, 102 and 103 are host devices such as a host computer, and 104, 105 and 1
06 and 107 are network interface devices, 10
8 is a printing device capable of color output, 109 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 110 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, and 111 is a high speed printing device.

Each printing apparatus uses one of a plurality of interface connectors for exchanging data with the external apparatus for document information including character codes and control codes from a host apparatus such as a host computer. It is received through the interface network. The received document information is judged and classified by itself into those to be printed and those not to be printed, and those not to be printed are output to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, it operates to read the state of the external device connected to the other interface connector, select the printing device suitable for output and output the document information sent from the host device such as the host computer.

For example, if the document information sent from the host device includes color information, the printing device that receives the document information will print it if it is capable of color printing, and otherwise print it. Transfer the data to another suitable printing device. Also, if the sent document information is of A3 size, if it cannot print by itself, it is transferred to a printing device capable of outputting A3 size. Also, if the amount of document information sent is enormous, it is convenient to transfer it to a high-speed machine.

However, if the printing apparatus that is judged to be most suitable for outputting the sent document information is working or if some trouble occurs, the optimum printing apparatus can print. Until that time, output is performed by another printing device that can output. For example, if the sent document information is in A4 size and a huge amount, but a high-speed printing device capable of A4 output is in the process of printing, if it can output the A4 version, it will print it. Or select and print A4 cassette with A3 machine. Further, it is possible to provide a command for designating the printer to be output in the document information, and when this command comes, the printing device does not judge but outputs according to the designated command. Needless to say.

Next, the transmission of document information from one printing device to another specific printing device will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 8, A, B and C are printers. When the printing apparatus A receives the print data from the host, the printing apparatus A determines whether or not the printing apparatus other than itself is connected, and since the printing apparatus B exists, status information (coloring machine Or outputable paper size, output speed, etc.). In response to the request from the printing device A, the printing device B determines whether or not the printing device A and the printing device other than itself are connected, and since the printing device C exists, the printing device C requests status information from the printing device C. To do. When the printing apparatus C determines that there is no printer connected to itself and the printing apparatus B, it sends its status to the printing apparatus B. The printing apparatus B sends the received status information and its own status information to the printing apparatus A.

Printing device A closest to the host
However, if it judges based on these status information, and if it judges that it will print with another specific printing device without printing, it adds the information designating this specific printing device to the data sent from the host, Flow data further downstream. The exchange of the status information and the processing related to the status information may be performed not only when the print data is received from the host, but also when the power of each printer is turned on or at a certain fixed interval and the update is stored.

Here, an example of a method for the printing apparatus to judge the document information will be described.

FIG. 5 shows, as an example of a method for the printing apparatus to judge the document information, a method of adding information for the printing apparatus to judge the document data to the head of the transmission data when transmitting the data to the printing apparatus. It is a thing.

In the figure, 501 is a command for designating whether the document data to be printed is monochrome or color, 502 is a command for designating the size of printing paper, and 503 is information on the number of prints. For example, if the command 501 for designating whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color designates color, it is output from the color printing machine. Further, the command 501 for designating whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color designates monochrome, and the print paper size designation command 5
If 02 is A3, it is output from the A3 machine. In addition, a command 50 that specifies whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color
When 1 designates monochrome, the printing paper size designation command 502 is A4, and the number-of-printed-sheets information 503 is an enormous number, the output from the high speed machine is sufficient. Of course, it is possible to arbitrarily set how to judge each command based on how many sheets are printed, such as output by a high-speed machine.

[0018]

[Other Embodiments] FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a printing system according to another embodiment.
Shown in.

In the figure, reference numerals 401, 402 and 403 are host devices such as a host computer, and 404, 405 and 4.
06 and 407 are network interfaces, 408 is a printing device capable of color output, 409 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 410 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 411 is a high speed machine, 412 is data Is a data buffer for storing.

Each printing device uses one of a plurality of interface connectors for exchanging data with an external device for document information including character codes and control codes from a host device such as a host computer. It is received through the interface network. The received document information is judged and classified by itself into those to be printed and those not to be printed, and those not to be printed are output to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, it reads the status of the external device connected to the other interface connector, and operates to select and output the printing device suitable for output, from the document information sent from the host device such as the host computer.

However, in the case where any printing device cannot output while working, the document data is temporarily stored in a data buffer such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device,
As soon as the work of the printing machine suitable for output is completed, the document data is taken out from the data buffer and printing is started. Also,
If the amount of document data sent is huge,
By storing the data collectively in the data buffer and sending the document data from the data buffer to a predetermined printing device, it is possible to reduce the time for which the host machine is bound to work for printing.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a simple configuration of the printing apparatus used in the printing system of this embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows a flow chart showing the interface control procedure.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 61 is a calculation / control CPU for controlling the entire printing apparatus, and 62 is a ROM for storing a control program of the CPU 61. Specifications of the machine (monochrome / color, paper size, allowable number of sheets, etc.) ) A storage unit 62a is included.
Reference numeral 63 is a RAM for auxiliary storage, which includes a specification and status (usable / unusable etc.) storage unit 63a of at least one other device. 64 is two connectors 64 connected to an external device
A selection unit that controls selection of a and 64b, 65 is an output control unit that controls print output, and 66 is a print mechanism unit that actually performs printing. The output control unit 65 and the print mechanism unit 66 do not operate when the command added to the received document information does not match the specification stored in the specification storage unit 62a, or when printing is impossible. Each printing device transmits the specifications and execution state of its own device stored in the specification storage unit 62a to the other device via the connectors 64a and 64b, and stores the received use and execution state of the other device in the storage unit 63a. ..

In FIG. 7, first, in step S71, the command at the beginning of the document information from the external device is waited for. Step S72
Then, this command is compared with the contents of the unit specification storage unit 62a. If they match and if the unit is operable, step S7
In step 3, print processing is executed. If the specifications do not match, in step S74, the other device having the print specifications of the command is checked in the other device specification / status storage section 63a to check if possible, and in step S75, the document information is sent to the optimum device. Is output. If it is not possible with another machine, it is checked if it is possible with this machine, and if possible, the printing process corresponding to the command is executed in step S77. If not possible, for example, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the document information is temporarily stored in the data buffer 412 in step S78, and is retransmitted after the predetermined machine becomes operable. Alternatively, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a print-disabled response is returned to the host that has output the document information at step S78.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the printing apparatus for inputting and printing the document information including the character information and the control code from the host apparatus such as the host computer prints the interface for exchanging data with the external apparatus. A function that has multiple connectors and judges the document information input from one of the above interface connectors, classifies it into those that do not print itself, and outputs those that do not print to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, by providing the printing apparatus with the function of inputting and determining the state of the external device connected to the other interface connector, the following effects can be obtained.

1. Even if information about which printing device is used to output is not necessarily sent, the printing device determines the sent data. Therefore, when outputting document information to the printing device, it is necessary for the operator to switch the output destination. There is no.

2. Even when the number of printing devices is increased to 2, 3, 4, ..., A separate control device for switching the connection of the printing devices is not required.

3. By providing a data buffer in the row of connected printing devices, if you need to output a large amount of document information, or if the printing device is working, etc., temporarily store the document data in the data buffer, By sending data from here to the printing apparatus, the time when the host machine is bound by the printing operation can be reduced.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing system which can reduce the load on a host device such as a host computer and can use various printing devices by simply adding a simple function to the printing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional example in which one printer is connected to one host machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional example in which a plurality of printing devices are connected from one host machine via a control device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of document information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a printing apparatus used in the present printing system.

7 is a flow chart showing a procedure of interface processing in the printing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of transmitting document information to another printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 102, 103 ... Host device such as host computer, 104, 105, 106, 107 ... Network interface device, 108 ... Printing device capable of color output, 109 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 1
10 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 111 ...
High-speed printing device, 201, 202, 203, 204 ... Host device such as host computer, 205, 206, 20
7, 208 ... Network interface device, 209
A printer capable of color output 210, a printer capable of outputting up to A4 size, a 211 a printer capable of outputting up to A3 size 212, a high-speed printer 301, 302 ...
Host device such as host computer 304, 304 ... Network interface device, 305 ... Control device for switching data output destination, 306 ... Printing device capable of color output, 307 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, Thirty
8 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 309 ... High-speed printing device, 401, 402, 403 ... Upper device such as host computer, 405, 405, 406, 407 ... Network interface device, 408 ... Color output possible Printing device, 409 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 410 ... Printing device capable of printing up to A3 size, 4
11 ... High-speed printing device, 412 ... Data buffer, 501
... A command for specifying whether the document data to be printed is monochrome or color, 502 ... A print paper size specification command, 50
3 ... Print number information, 61 ... CPU, 62 ... ROM, 62
a ... This machine specification storage section, 63 ... RAM, 63a ... Other machine specification / state storage section, 64 ... Selection section, 64a, 64b ... Connector, 65 ... Output control section, 66 ... Print mechanism section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising a plurality of types of printing devices, wherein document information including character codes, control codes and the like is transferred from a host device such as a host computer to one of the plurality of types of printing devices for printing. And at least one printing device, an interface device for exchanging data with an external device, and a judgment device for judging whether or not the document information input from the interface device should execute printing by itself. A printing system, comprising: an output unit that outputs the document information, which is determined not to be printed by itself, from the interface unit to the outside. 2. At least one of the printing devices further comprises reading means for reading the status of another printing device connected to the interface means, and the output means is based on the other printing device read. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the document information is selectively output to another printing device.