JPH058516A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly cope with a trouble in a printer by printing out the status inside a printer controller at needed. CONSTITUTION:A simplified printing controller 8, that works independently from an ordinary printer controller 1, is provided and trouble information, etc., are stored in an internal memory 6 of the printer controller 1 when a trouble arises. An interrupt is made into the simplified printing controller 8 through an operator panel 7 when the trouble information is required. The simplified printing controller 8 is started by this interrupt, and an internal print data generator 9 generates print data according to the trouble information stored in the internal memory 6 of the printer controller 1 under the controls of the simplified printing controller 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device,
In particular, it relates to a process of printing out the state of the printer control unit when a failure occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in such a printer device, when an error occurs, data in the internal memory and data received are collected by using the processes of the editing unit and the printing unit of the printer control unit. .

[0003]

However, in this conventional method, when the printing for collecting the internal state is performed after the occurrence of the failure, the processing of the editing section and the printing section is performed, and the situation at the time of the failure occurs. In addition to being different from the above, if you have to reset the processor again due to a stall or the like, you will have to reset the editor and printer to collect the internal state, and you cannot actually collect the data. There was a problem that this situation occurred.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a novel printer apparatus capable of solving the above-mentioned problems inherent in the conventional art. It is in.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, a printer apparatus according to the present invention comprises an interface section for receiving data from a host apparatus, an editing section for editing print data into an internal code, and an internal code. When a failure occurs and the failure information is required, there is a simple print control unit that operates independently of the normal printing operation performed by the printing unit that expands the dot image and the device unit that prints the dot image on the paper. An interruption means for interrupting the simple print control means from the outside, a printer control internal memory for storing the trouble information, and print data based on the trouble information stored in the internal memory under the control of the simple print control means. And an internal print data generating means for generating the.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the print operation of the normal operation, the interface unit 2 receives data from the upper level and the editing unit 3 converts the received data into an internal code under the instruction of the printer control unit 1. After editing, the printing unit 4 develops the internal data into a dot image, and the device unit 5 prints this on paper.

Now, description will be given below of a case where the contents of the printer control internal memory 6 are printed and a memory dump (memory storage information) is collected in a stopped state due to a failure or the like.

When a failure occurs, the failure information is stored in the printer control internal memory 6 by the printer control unit 1.

To collect the memory dump, the operator gives an interrupt instruction from the operator panel 7 attached to the printer, and only the simple print controller 8 operates. By the control of the print control unit 8 based on the activation of the simple print control unit 8, the internal print data generation unit 9 rewrites the contents (fault information and the like) of the printer control internal memory 6 into the print internal code, and the normal print route is not passed. Instead, the device unit 5 outputs the data to the sheet through the simple print control unit 8. However, the simple print control unit 8 is inferior in functions such as printing speed and recovery of jam and the like compared to normal printing due to the limitation of the program capacity and the like.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a process including a reset process of the processor when the stall of the processor occurs in the normal printing operation.

Referring to FIG. 2, after the operator panel 7 resets the processor by H / W reset (for example, by NMI (unconditional interrupt switch)) to the processor in which the interrupt is stalled, the printer controller is restarted. Instead of passing control to 1, control is passed to the simple print control unit 8 and the internal print data generation unit 9 is used to convert the contents of the printer control internal memory 6 into print data for printing.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By having a simple print control unit that is different from the normal print processing sequence, it is possible to print out the necessary status in the printer control unit, and it is possible to take immediate action when a failure occurs.

According to the present invention, by combining with an NMI interrupt or the like, even in a stalled state of a processor, it is possible to perform dumping of a memory or the like while resetting the processor without destroying the state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow diagram when an NMI switch is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Printer control section 2 ... Interface section 3 ... Editing section 4 ... Printing section 5 ... Device section 6 ... Printer control internal memory 7 ... Operation panel 8 ... Simple print control section 9 ... Internal print data generating section

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 22, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

[Fig. 2]

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A print data editing unit edits data received from a host device through an interface unit into an internal print code, the print unit develops the data into a dot image, and the dot image is converted into a device. In a printer for sending to a printer for printing on paper, a printer control internal memory for storing failure information when a failure occurs, a simple print control unit operable independently of a normal printer control unit, and a failure When an error occurs and the failure information is required, an interrupt means for externally interrupting the simple print control means, and printing based on the failure information stored in the printer control internal memory under the control of the simple print control means A printer device having an internal print data generating means for generating data.