JPH0585013A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer which reduces the burden to a user in various kinds of setting operations of printer by registering a plurality of various kinds of set contents. CONSTITUTION:An operation panel 8 consisting of an LED display section 8-1 and an Lap display section 8-2 for displaying various kinds of situations of a printer, and a switch section 8-3 for carrying out various kinds of settings of printer, test printing and the like. Various kinds of settings such as a sheet cassette set by operating the switch section 8-3, external interface and page description, language or the combination of said settings can be registered in a plurality in a setting storage section 10 by a setting registration switch 8-4. One of a plurality of optional set contents registered in the setting storage section 10 is called by a setting call switch 8-5 and displayed on a call LED display section 8-1 and an LCD display section 8-2. When printing is started, printing can be carried out according to the set content on the display.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of various settings.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printing apparatus, for example, when a paper cassette is selected and various settings such as an external interface and a page description language are performed, various setting items are selected by an operation panel switch and the respective settings are performed.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since there are many setting items and the number of keys is smaller than this, many key operations are required every time various settings are made. As a result, it takes a long time to master a series of key operation methods required for switching between various modes and settings, which imposes a heavy burden on the user.

An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that reduces the burden on the user due to the above various settings.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a registration means for registering a plurality of various setting contents of a printing apparatus and an external instruction for a desired one of the registered various setting contents. And an instructing means for doing so.

[0006]

In the present invention, one of the desired setting contents registered by the registering unit is designated by the designating unit, and printing is executed in accordance with the designated setting content.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes input of document information, image data, a command for calling various setting conditions registered in the apparatus, or the setting information of the apparatus from the external device such as a host. It is an input / output control unit that outputs to an external device such as. Image data or the like input from an external device through the input / output control unit 1 is stored in the page memory 2 having a capacity of at least one page. The data stored in the page memory 2 includes image information, document information, control codes for designating emphasized characters and the like. When the document information stored in the page memory 2 consists of character code information, the character generator section 3 inputs the character code information and outputs the corresponding pattern data to the main control section 4. Reference numeral 9 is a bit map memory for developing bit data etc. patterned by the character generator 3.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a main control unit for controlling the entire printer, for example, a CPU 4-3 such as a microprocessor, a control program (a flowchart of FIG. 2 described later), a ROM 4-1 storing data, and a work area. RAM
It has 4-2.

A scan buffer 5 has buffers 5-1 and 5-2 for storing an image used for one-line scanning of a laser beam. The reason why there are two buffers is that one of them can store the data of the next line even when one of them is being output to the image forming section 7 by the parallel-serial converter 6. When the output of one line is completed,
This time, the other buffer is targeted for output, and the data of the next line will be transferred to the buffer that has already been output. After that, the processing is performed while alternately switching. In this way, the processing is speeded up.

An operation panel 8 has an LED display section 8-1 for displaying various states of the printing apparatus and an LCD display section 8-.
2 and a switch unit 8-3 for performing various settings of the printing apparatus, test printing, and the like.

A plurality of various settings such as a paper cassette, an external interface, a page description language set by operating the switch section, or a combination of these settings can be registered in the setting storage section 10. Registration and calling of combinations of various settings are performed by the setting registration switch 8-4 and the setting call switch 8-5, respectively.

The operation of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

Various settings set by operating the operation switch section 8-3 are displayed on the LED display section 8-1 and the LCD display section 8-2. When the setting registration switch 8-4 is pressed when the setting is completed (step S2), the contents of this setting are registered in the setting storage unit 10 (step S3). By repeating the above operation, a plurality of setting contents can be registered in the setting storage unit 10.

On the other hand, when the setting call switch 8-5 is pressed (step S4), one of the setting contents registered in the setting storage section 10 is displayed on the LED display section 4-1 or LCD display section 8-2 ( Step S5). By pressing the setting call switch until the desired setting content is displayed on the display section, the desired setting content can be selected.

Now, when the print data is actually sent while the connection with the host is online, printing is executed according to the setting contents displayed on the display unit at that time (step S7).

<Second Embodiment> In the above-described embodiment, registration or calling of various settings or a combination of those settings is executed by operating a setting registration switch or a setting call switch provided in the switch section. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

It is also possible to register or call various settings or a combination of those settings by a command from the host computer.

<Third Embodiment> A printing apparatus in which the function of the operation panel switch can be arbitrarily set will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a printing apparatus capable of arbitrarily setting the function of the operation panel switch.

Since the constituent elements other than the switch section 11 and the programmable switch 12 correspond to those in FIG. 1, the description thereof will be omitted here.

Various settings such as the paper cassette, the external interface, the page description language, etc. set by the operation of the switch section 11 or the host computer, or a combination of these settings are registered in the setting storage section 10 by the setting registration switch 11-1. .. At this time, the user can arbitrarily determine the correspondence between each registered content and the programmable switch 12 by also setting which programmable switch 12 is associated.

The setting contents registered in the setting storage unit 10 are
Programmable switch 12 corresponding to each content
It can be called by the operation of.

As described above, according to the present invention, frequently used setting conditions and the like are registered in the setting storage unit 10 so that a large number of key operations at the time of making various settings of the printing apparatus are unnecessary. The burden on the user due to the complicated setting method is reduced, and anyone can easily set the printing apparatus.

Although the laser beam printer has been described in the embodiment, the application of the present invention is not limited to this.

Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By registering frequently used setting conditions and instructing the registered setting contents, many key operations are not required when making various settings of the printing device, and the burden on the user due to complicated setting methods is eliminated. The effect is reduced, and anyone can easily set the printing apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control program in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram in the case where a programmable switch is provided in a switch section in an operation panel according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 and 3 4 Main control section 4-1 ROM 4-2 RAM 4-3 CPU 8 Operation panel 8-1 LED display section 8-2 LCD display section 8-3 Switch section 8-4 Setting registration switch 8- 5 Setting call switch 10 Setting storage section 11 Switch section 12 Programmable switch

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus that performs various settings and performs printing processing according to the set contents, and externally instructs a registration unit that registers a plurality of various setting contents and a desired one of the registered various setting contents. A printing apparatus comprising: an instruction unit, and performing printing according to the setting content instructed by the instruction unit.