JPH0594266A - Down load processing system for output resources - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently execute the clown load processing of output resources. CONSTITUTION:On the side of a host system 1, a management table 15 is provided to manage the output resource information of the output resources down loaded to an output device 2 and stored without being erased and according to this management table 15, the host system 1 prevents the overlapped down load processing. On the side of the host system 1, a management table is provided to manage the residual/non-residual information of the output resources down loaded to the output device 2 and according to this management table, when erasing the output resources from the output device 2, the host system 1 prevents the re-down load processing of the output resources having the high frequency of use by erasing the output resources of non-residual display from the output device 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output resource download processing system for downloading output resources required for output processing of an output device to the output device, and more particularly to an efficient output resource download process. The present invention relates to a download processing method of an output resource that can be executed manually.

In a printing system, output resources such as character patterns and overlays required for print processing of print data are downloaded to a printer in advance, and the printer prints the print data according to the downloaded output resources. Is adopted. This output resource download process must be configured so that it can be executed at high speed in order to quickly start up the printing system.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing system, when a user job is started up, an output resource such as a character pattern or overlay according to a job control language (JCL) is output to an output control program of a host system which controls a download process. The output control program downloads the designated output resource to the printer in response to the designation. That is, in the conventional printing system, the designated output resource is downloaded to the printer each time the user job is started up.

In the conventional printing system, the printer stores the downloaded output resources in the memory in the download order, and the memory becomes full due to the startup processing of the user job several times. At times, a memory management method was adopted in which the memory is cleared all at once and the output resources downloaded from the beginning of the memory are stored again.

[0005]

However, if the configuration is such that the designated output resource is downloaded to the printer each time the user job is started up, the output resource already downloaded may be deleted. Will be downloaded again. Therefore, if the conventional technique is followed, there is a problem that the download process cannot be executed efficiently and that the memory on the printer side is wasted.

If the printer manages the output resources in the order of download and clears them all at once when the memory is full, the output resources stored before the clearing will be If it was needed again after clearing, the output control program of the host system had to download the output resource again.
Therefore, according to the conventional technique, there is a problem in that the download process for the output resource that is frequently used cannot be efficiently executed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when downloading output resources required for output processing of an output device such as a printer to the output device, the download processing of the output resource is performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new output resource download processing method that enables efficient execution.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration of the first invention of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the principle configuration of the second invention of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a host system having the present invention, and 2 is an output device such as a printer connected to the host system 1. The output device 2 is a download resource expanding unit 20 that expands output resources such as character resources used for output processing downloaded from the host system 1.
In addition, in response to an instruction from the host system 1, the expanded resource specifying unit 21 that specifies the output resource information expanded by the download resource expanding unit 20 and notifies the host system 1 of the expanded resource information.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a data processing unit included in the host system 1, which executes data processing for user tasks, and 11 is an output data file included in the host system 1, which is a data processing unit for outputting to the output device 2. 10 stores output data, 12 is an output resource library included in the host system 1, manages output resources used by the output device 2, 13 is an output control unit included in the host system 1, A control unit for controlling the data output process to the device 2, and 14 is a job control unit included in the host system 1.
The output control unit 13 stores parameter information about output resources to be downloaded in the output data file 11, and 15 is a download resource management table of the first invention provided in the host system 1, which is provided to the output device 2. It manages output resource information of output resources that have been downloaded and stored without being erased.

The output control unit 13 according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a download execution unit 131 for executing output resource download processing, a management table reference unit 132 for executing reference processing of the download resource management table 15, and download resource management. The management table updating unit 133 that executes the updating process of the table 15 and the management table initializing unit 134 that executes the initialization process of the download resource management table 15 are provided.

In FIG. 2, the same components as those described in FIG. 1 are designated by the same symbols. The output device 2 used in the second invention responds to an instruction from the download resource expanding unit 20 and the host system 1, and expands the output resource expanded in the download resource expanding unit 20 in units of output resource. And an erasing unit 22.

Reference numeral 16 is a download resource management table of the second invention provided in the host system 1. The output resource information of the output resource expanded in the download resource expanding section 20 of the output device 2 is stored as the output resource resident. It is managed together with the resident display information indicating whether or not it has the property of

The output control unit 13 according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a download execution unit 131 for executing a download process of output resources, a management table reference unit 135 for executing a reference process of the download resource management table 16, and a download resource management. The management table updating unit 136 that executes the updating process of the table 16 and the deletion resource instruction unit 137 that issues an output resource deletion instruction to the expanded resource deletion unit 22 of the output device 2 are provided.

[0014]

In the first aspect of the present invention, when activated, the management table initialization unit 134 of the output control unit 13 instructs the expansion resource specifying unit 21 of the output device 2 to download the resource expansion unit 2.
An instruction is issued to specify the output resource information expanded to 0, and the output resource information notified in response to this instruction is registered in the download resource management table 15. In this way, at the time of activation, the output resource information already expanded in the output device 2 is registered in the download resource management table 15. On the other hand, when there is a request to download the output resource upon activation of the output control unit 13, the download execution unit 131 downloads the output resource according to the parameter information of the output resource specified by the job control unit 14 stored in the output data file 11. Specify the output resource of.

When the output resource to be downloaded is specified, the download execution unit 131 causes the management table reference unit 132.
Is started to check whether or not the output resource to be downloaded is registered in the download resource management table 15. When it is determined by this check processing that the output resource is registered in the download resource management table 15, that is, when it is determined that the output resource has already been expanded in the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2, the output resource Process not to download. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output resource is not registered in the download resource management table 15, that is, when the output resource is not expanded in the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2, the output resource is downloaded to the output device 2. I will do it. Then, when this download is executed, the download execution unit 131 activates the management table update unit 133,
The output resource information of the downloaded output resources is registered in the download resource management table 15.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the output resource already downloaded to the output device 2 is processed so as not to be downloaded in duplicate. Therefore, the output resource downloading process is performed. Can be executed efficiently, and the use of the memory of the output device 2 is not wasted. Then, according to the initialization process of the management table initialization unit 134, the output resource deployed on the output device 2 before the activation of the output control unit 13 can also be the target of duplicate download prevention. The efficiency of can be ensured.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the output controller 13
When there is a request to download the output resource, the download execution unit 131 of FIG. 1 displays the output resource to be downloaded and the resident display of the output resource according to the parameter information of the output resource designated by the job control unit 14 stored in the output data file 11. Identify information and. When the output resource to be downloaded is specified, the download execution unit 131 activates the management table reference unit 135 and checks whether the output resource to be downloaded is registered in the download resource management table 16. When it is determined by this checking process that the output resource is registered in the download resource management table 16, the output resource is processed so as not to be downloaded. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output resource is not registered in the download resource management table 16, the output resource is downloaded to the output device 2. Then, when this download is executed, the download execution unit 131 activates the management table update unit 136, and outputs the output resource information of the downloaded output resource and the resident display information of the output resource to the download resource management table 16. I will register.

In this process, the download execution unit 1
The method of 31 adopts a method of collectively downloading output resources having a resident display at the time of startup so that the output resources are collectively resident in the memory area of the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2. It is also possible.

When the download resource expansion unit 20 of the output device 2 issues a request to delete the output resource when the output resource to be stored reaches the limit of the memory capacity at the time of executing this download processing, the deletion is performed. Resource instruction unit 137
Activates the management table reference unit 135 to specify the output resource information of the non-resident display registered in the download resource management table 16, and specifies the specified output resource information of the non-resident display to output the output device 2 The output resource erasing unit 22 issues an output resource erasing instruction. Then, when this erase instruction is issued, the erase resource instructing unit 137 causes the management table updating unit 13 to
6 is started, and the output resource information of the output resource targeted for deletion and the resident display information of the output resource are deleted from the download resource management table 16. On the other hand, the expanded resource erasing unit 22 of the output device 2 receives the erasing instruction from the erasing resource instructing unit 137 and erases the output resource having the erasing instruction from the download resource expanding unit 20.

As described above, according to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the output resource already downloaded to the output device 2 is processed so as not to be duplicated. The output resources to be downloaded to the output device 2 are managed separately as those which are made resident and those which are made non-resident. When the memory capacity of the output device 2 becomes full, the non-resident output resources are deleted. Since the above processing is performed, the inconvenience of erasing frequently used output resources does not occur, and the output resource download processing can be efficiently executed. Then, according to the processing of the download execution unit 131, by adopting a method in which the output resources having a resident display are collectively made resident in the memory area of the download resource expansion unit 20, fragmentation on the memory can be prevented. The efficiency of use can also be improved.

[0021]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples. First, the embodiment of the first invention of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 1 will be described, and then the second embodiment of the present invention described with reference to FIG.
Embodiments of the invention will be described.

As described with reference to FIG. 1, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the output device 2 has already been downloaded.
The download resource management table 15 for managing the output resources that have not been erased on the side is developed in the host system 1, and according to the download resource management table 15, the output resources already developed in the output device 2 are downloaded in duplicate. By not doing so, it is possible to improve the download efficiency of the output resource and prevent the useless use of the memory of the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2.

FIG. 3 shows an example of management data of the download resource management table 15 used in the first aspect of the present invention. In this figure, a character resource is assumed as an output resource. As shown in this figure, when a character resource is handled as an output resource, the download resource management table 15
The typeface name of the downloaded text resource (Mincho, etc.),
The character resource name of the downloaded character resource (consisting of the character pattern prepared in units of character size and the attribute information of the character pattern), and the downloaded character code range (from the character resource Character information within the range) and the code system of downloaded character resources (EBCDIC-Kana system etc.) are managed. The output control unit 13 can specify what the character resource downloaded to the output device 2 is, according to the management data of the download resource management table 15.

4 to 6 show an embodiment of a processing flow executed by the output control unit 13 of the first invention of the present invention. Next, the download processing according to the first aspect of the present invention will be described in detail according to these processing flows.
Here, the process flow shown in FIG. 4 is a process flow executed by the output control unit 13 at the time of startup, and the process flow shown in FIG. 5 is a process flow executed by the output control unit 13 at the time of a request to download the output resource. The process flow shown in FIG. 6 is a process flow executed by the output control unit 13 when the memory of the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2 is full.

When the output control unit 13 is activated, as shown in the processing flow of FIG. 4, first, in step 1,
The output resource specifying unit 21 of the output device 2 is queried for output resource information expanded in the download resource expanding unit 20. Then, in step 2, the output resource information notified from the expanded resource specifying unit 21 in response to this inquiry is registered in the download resource management table 15. If the output resource is a character resource, the character resource information as shown in FIG. 3 is sent, and this character resource information is registered in the download resource management table 15. When activated in this way, the output resource information already developed in the output device 2 is registered in the download resource management table 15.

On the other hand, when the output control section 13 receives a request for downloading the output resource upon activation, first, according to the parameter information of the output resource designated by the job control section 14 stored in the output data file 11, Specify the output resource to download. This parameter information is
It includes the same contents as the management data stored in the download resource management table 15. Next, as shown in the processing flow of FIG. 5, in step 10, the management data of the download resource management table 15 is referred to, and in the following step 11, the output resource to be downloaded is the download resource management table 15 according to this reference processing. It is judged whether or not it is registered in. That is, it is determined whether the output resource to be downloaded has already been downloaded to the output device 2.

When it is determined in step 11 that the output resource to be downloaded is already registered in the download resource management table 15, the output resource to be downloaded has already been expanded in the output device 2, and therefore the process is performed without performing the download process. To finish. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output resource is not registered in the download resource management table 15, the process proceeds to step 12, the output resource is downloaded to the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2, and the following step 13
Then, the output resource information of the downloaded output resource is registered in the download resource management table 15, and the process is ended.

When a notification that the memory of the download resource expanding section 20 is full is received from the output device 2 while executing this download processing, the output control section 13 shows the processing flow of FIG. So first of all,
In step 20, output resource information is designated and an output resource erase instruction is issued to the output device 2. When the output device 2 has the function of erasing the output resource according to the output resource unit as described with reference to FIG. 2, this erasing instruction designates a part of the developed output resource as the erasing target output resource. If it does not have such a function, it is performed by issuing a simple erasing instruction for erasing all output resources. And the following step 2
At 1, in response to the issuance of the deletion instruction, the output resource information of the deleted output resource is deleted from the download resource management table 15, and the process is ended.

In this way, in the first aspect of the present invention, the output resources that have already been downloaded to the output device 2 are controlled so as not to be downloaded, while the output resources are downloaded. Then, in response to this download process, the output device 2 outputs the output control unit 13
According to the specification of the output resource displayed in the output data sent from, the corresponding output resource is specified from the downloaded output resources and the output processing of that output data is executed. .. As described above, since the duplicate download process is avoided, the download process of the output resource can be efficiently executed, and the memory of the output device 2 is not wasted.

Next, an embodiment of the second invention of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 2 will be described. As explained in FIG. 2,
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the download resource management table 16 for managing the output resource information developed in the output device 2 and the resident display information for displaying whether or not the output resource has a resident property is provided. By deploying to the host system 1 and not issuing an erasing instruction to the output device 2 for the output resources of the resident display according to the download resource management table 16, only once for the output resources of high usage frequency. The download processing will be completed so that the download efficiency can be improved. Figure 7
The management data structure of the download resource management table 16 is shown in FIG.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an embodiment of the processing flow executed by the output control unit 13 of the second invention of the present invention. Next, according to these processing flows, the second aspect of the present invention will be described.
The download process of the invention will be described in detail. Here, the process flow shown in FIG. 8 is a process flow executed by the output control unit 13 at the time of a download request for the output resource, and the process flow shown in FIG. 9 is executed by the output control unit 13 in the download resource expanding unit of the output device 2. It is a processing flow executed when the memory of 20 is full.

When the output control unit 13 receives a download request for output resources upon activation, first, the output control unit 13 downloads the output resources according to the parameter information of the output resources designated by the job control unit 14 and stored in the output data file 11. Specify the output resource of. The parameter information includes resident display information indicating whether or not the output resource is to be made resident in the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2. Next, as shown in the processing flow of FIG.
In 0, the management data of the download resource management table 16 is referred to, and in the following step 31, the output resource to be downloaded is the download resource management table 16 according to this reference processing.
It is judged whether or not it is registered in. That is, it is determined whether the output resource to be downloaded has already been downloaded to the output device 2.

If it is determined in step 31 that the resource is not registered in the download resource management table 16, the process proceeds to step 32 to download the output resource to be downloaded to the download resource expanding section 20 of the output device 2, In the following step 33, the output resource information of the downloaded output resource and the resident display information of the output resource are registered in the download resource management table 16 and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined that the resource is registered in the download resource management table 16, the process proceeds to step 34,
By comparing the resident display information registered in the download resource management table 16 with the resident display information associated with the download request, it is determined whether or not there is a request to change the resident display information. If it is determined in step 34 that there is no request to change the resident display information, the process ends, and conversely, if it is determined that there is a change request, the process proceeds to step 35 to download the resource management table. The resident display information registered in 16 is rewritten, and the process ends. That is, when the resident display is displayed, the display is changed to the non-resident display, and when the non-resident display is displayed, the display is rewritten to the resident display, and the process is ended.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 10, when there is a download request for the overlay A of the output resource having the resident request, the output control unit 13 downloads the overlay A to the output device 2 and downloads it. When the output resource information of the overlay A of the resident display is registered in the resource management table 16 and then the download request of the overlay B of the non-resident request is made, the overlay B is downloaded to the output device 2 and the download resource management table 1
6, the output resource information of the overlay B of the non-resident display is registered, and subsequently, when there is a download request of the overlay C of the non-resident request, the overlay C is downloaded to the output device 2 and the non-resident display is displayed in the download resource management table 16. Register the output resource information of overlay C of. After this, when there is a download request for the overlay A again, the output control unit 1 has already been expanded to the output device 2.
3 does not perform any processing. Then, when there is a request to change the resident display information of the overlay C, the non-resident display of the overlay C registered in the download resource management table 16 is changed to the resident display.

When a notification that the memory of the download resource expanding section 20 is full is received from the output device 2 while executing this download processing, the output control section 13 shows the processing flow of FIG. So first of all,
In step 40, the output resource information of the non-resident display is specified by referring to the download resource management table 16. Next, in step 41, the expanded resource deleting unit 22 of the output device 2
In response to this, the output resource information of the non-resident display is specified and an instruction to delete the output resource is issued. Then, step 42.
Then, in response to the issuance of this erase instruction, the output resource information of the erased output resource is deleted from the download resource management table 16 and the process is terminated.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 10, when the memory for expanding the overlay of the output device 2 becomes full, the output control unit 13 leaves the overlays A and C of the resident display and displays the other non-resident display. The overlay is erased from the overlay memory of the output device 2.

As can be seen from the processing example of FIG. 10,
In the embodiment according to the processing flow of FIG. 8, fragmentation may occur in the memory of the download resource expanding unit 20 of the output device 2. That is, incomplete reuse of the vacant memory causes fragmentation. In order to prevent such an inconvenience, the output control unit 13 collectively downloads all the output resources of the resident display (overlay in the example of this figure) to the output device 2 at the time of startup, as shown in FIG. ,
All the output resources of the resident display are continuously expanded to the download resource expansion unit 20 of the output device 2, and other output resources of the non-resident display necessary for the output processing are downloaded at the time of the output request. Therefore, it is preferable to adopt a configuration in which these output resources for non-resident display are continuously expanded in the memory area. If such a processing configuration is adopted, as shown in FIG. 11, there is no vacancy in the memory part for expanding the output resource of the resident display, so that fragmentation does not occur in the memory of the download resource expanding part 20. Of.

As described above, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the output resources to be downloaded to the output device 2 are managed by dividing them into resident resources and non-resident resources, and the resident output resources are managed by the output device 2. The download process is executed while controlling not to delete. Then, upon receiving this download processing, the output device 2 selects the corresponding output resource from the downloaded output resources according to the designation of the output resource displayed in the output data sent from the output control unit 13. After specifying, the output process of the output data is executed. From now on, as shown in FIG. 12, when the output device 2 prints invoices, receipts, and invoices, an overlay commonly used for these output documents is resident in the output device 2. By downloading in such a manner that the overlays required for each document are downloaded to the output device 2 each time, it becomes unnecessary to download the commonly used overlays many times.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the data processing system including the host system and the output device, the download process can be efficiently executed when the output resources required for the output process of the output device are downloaded to the output device. Moreover,
The use efficiency of the memory of the output device for expanding the output resource can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a first invention of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of a second invention of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of management data of a download resource management table of the first invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a processing flow of the first invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of the processing flow of the first invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of the processing flow of the first invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of management data of a download resource management table of the second invention.

FIG. 8 is an example of a processing flow of the second invention.

FIG. 9 is an example of the processing flow of the second invention.

FIG. 10 is an example of a process of the second invention.

FIG. 11 is another example of the process of the second invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a process of the second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 host system 2 output device 10 data processing unit 11 output data file 12 output resource library 13 output control unit 14 job control unit 15 download resource management table 16 download resource management table 20 download resource expansion unit 21 expansion resource identification unit 22 expansion resource deletion Department

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Sumi Sugai 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor, Katsumi Fujisue 1015, Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Yoshio Shiromoto 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Shigeru Chiba, 1015, Kamedotachu, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A host system (1) and an output device (2) connected to the host system (1), wherein an output control unit (13) deployed in the host system (1) Output device
In contrast to (2), in a data processing system that has a configuration in which output resources required for output processing are downloaded prior to output data, download to the output device (2) according to the processing of the output control unit (13) above. The output control unit (13) has a configuration in which the host system (1) is provided with a download resource management table (15) that manages output resource information of output resources that are stored and not erased. Refers to the management data of the download resource management table (15) above when an output resource download request is made, specifies the output resource deployed in the output device (2), and Is an output device
Output resource download processing method characterized by processing so that it does not download to (2). 2. The output resource download processing method according to claim 1, wherein the output control unit (13) specifies the output resource loaded on the output device (2) at the time of start-up. A download processing method of an output resource characterized by processing to register the output resource information of the output resource in the download resource management table (15). 3. A host system (1) and an output device (2) connected to the host system (1), wherein an output control unit (13) deployed in the host system (1) Output device
In contrast to (2), the output device required for output processing is downloaded prior to the output data, and the output device (2) deletes the downloaded output resource according to the output resource unit. In a data processing system having a configuration having a function for displaying, output resource information of an output resource downloaded to the output device (2) is displayed as to whether or not the output resource is an output resource resident in the output device (2). By adopting a configuration in which the host system (1) is provided with a download resource management table (16) which is managed together with the resident display information, the output control unit (13) is configured to perform the download resource management when the output resource is requested to be downloaded. When it is detected that the output resource is not expanded in the output device (2) by referring to the table (16), the output resource is downloaded to the output device (2) and When the processing for registering the management data corresponding to the download resource management table (16) is performed, and when there is a request from the output device (2) to delete the output resource developed in the output device (2), the download resource is deleted. By specifying the output resource information of non-resident display by referring to the management table (16) and instructing the output device (2) to delete the output resource indicated by the specified output resource information, A download processing method for output resources, characterized by processing to delete corresponding management data in the download resource management table (16). 4. The output resource download processing method according to claim 3, wherein the output control section (13) collectively downloads all the output resources made resident in the output device (2) at the time of startup. The output resource download processing method is characterized in that the output resources to be made resident are processed in the memory area of the output device (2).