JPH06131129A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the printing system which lightens the load on a host computer and easily assures a printer, which employs any connection system, of the compatible output of a print. CONSTITUTION:In the printing system consisting of the host computer which generates print data and the printer which is connected thereto, the host computer has a means 3 which generates all pieces of print information consisting of the print data and data for printing control as one group of printing information data and a means 4 which transfers the printing information data to the printer by simple data transfer, and the printer has a means 6 which performs a printing process based on the transferred printing information data. This constitution reduces the load on the host computer and assures printers, connected by various systems, of the compatible 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 including a host computer for generating print data and a printing device connected to the host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the variety of connection methods between a host computer and a printer, FIG. 8 is a view showing a configuration example of a conventional printing system, and FIG. 9 is a connection method for a printing apparatus. It is a figure for explaining an example of composition of a writing program of a host computer in case of different.

With the recent development of computer and communication technology, as shown in FIG. 7, a computer 31 and a printing device 3 are provided.
Also regarding the connection methods of 3 to 36, the interface 41 adopting channel control, the interface 42 adopting LAN, the interface 43 adopting MODEM, and the interface 4 configured via another computer 32
Various connection schemes such as No. 4 are provided. The print data generated by the host computer 31 is of course configured to be output to any of the printing devices 33 to 36. However, if the connection method with each of the printing devices 33 to 36 is different, printing is performed. The control method of the devices 33 to 36 is also different. Therefore, the host computer 31 needs writing programs (writers) 51 to 54 corresponding to each connection method as shown in FIG. In addition, the printing device 33-
Also in 36, a print processing program corresponding to each connection method is required.

[0004]

As described above, the conventional printing system has the following two problems because the writing program and the print processing program are individually provided for each connection method.

One is to load print control information and output print data as shown in FIG. 9A.
If you want to output the print data generated for output to one printing device to another printing device, you need to convert the print data to a data format that is compatible with the connection method with the other printing device. Therefore, a great load is imposed on the host computer, such as reconstructing the print data based on the print control information as shown in FIG. 9B and outputting the print data.

The other is that the print control method differs depending on the connection method and the function, so that even when the same print data is output using the same print resource, as shown in FIG. The output results Q1 to Q4 from 36 are not always the same. That is, compatible output cannot be guaranteed.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, provides a printing system which can reduce the burden on the host computer and can easily guarantee compatible output of printing to a printing apparatus of any connection system. It is intended for.

[0008]

Therefore, according to the present invention, in a printing system including a host computer for generating print data and a printing device connected to the host computer, the host computer is configured to print data and print control data. And a means for generating all the print information as a group of print information data, and a means for transferring this print information data to the printing device in the form of simple data transfer,
The printing apparatus is characterized by having a means for performing a printing process based on the transferred print information data.

[0009]

In the printing system of the present invention, the host computer generates all the print information consisting of the print data and the print control data as a group of print information data, and the print information data in a simple data transfer form. Since the printing device has a means for performing a printing process based on the transferred print information data, it can be connected in various ways without imposing a great load on the host computer. It is possible to perform compatible output to a printing device.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of print information data used in the printing system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, in the host computer,
When the print data is created by the application program 1, the print data is registered in the queue of the spool file 2 together with the designated print control parameters. When the write program 3 reads the print data and the print control parameters registered in the queue of the spool file 2, the print control parameters are expanded from the print control parameters and the print data designated as the print data as shown in FIG. Configure the control data as a block of print information data,
The data is output to the I / F control circuit 4 in the form of data transfer.

As shown in FIG. 2, the print information data is composed of a plurality of print control data consisting of a print control data index, a length, and print control data, and print data following the print control data.

In the printing apparatus, when the data receiving program 6 receives the print information data as shown in FIG. 2 through the I / F control circuit 5, the print information data thus collected is separated into print control data and print data. Process and send it to the print controller 7.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a writing program of the host computer, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a data receiving program of the printing apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart of processing by the data processing unit of the writing program. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing by the data processing unit of the data reception program.

The writing program on the host computer is divided into a data processing unit 13 and an I / F control unit 14 as shown in FIG. 3, and when the data processing unit 13 reads print control parameters and print data from the spool file 11, In the case of a print control parameter, the print control data index, print control data, length, etc. are read from the parameter library 12 based on the print control parameter and set in a buffer, and the I / F control unit 14 is set to WRITE.
To do. In this way, the data processing unit 13 configures print control data designated as print data common to all connection methods into one block of print information data and outputs it in the form of data transfer, and the I / F control unit 3 The writing program on the host computer has a common interface with the data processing unit 14 although it differs depending on each connection method. Therefore, the data processing unit 13 and I /
Interfaces with the F control unit 14 are all PUT and W
The print information data, which is generated by a standard command such as RITE or SEND, and is composed of print data and print control data, is output from the I / F control unit 14 to the I / F control unit 14.
It is output to the / F control circuit 15.

The data receiving program of the printing apparatus is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the I / F control unit 22 and the data processing unit 23 are divided, and the I / F control unit 22 has a common interface with the data processing unit 5 although it differs depending on each connection method. Reference numeral 23 is common to all connection methods and processes print information data, which is a collection of print data and print control data, as shown in FIG. The I / F control unit 22 receives the print information data shown in FIG. 2 through the I / F control circuit 21 while interfacing with the host computer, and passes it to the data processing unit 23. The interface between the I / F control unit 22 and the data processing unit 23 uses the data reception interrupt and the GE regardless of the connection method.
It is done by standard commands such as T, READ, or RECIEVE. Therefore, if only the I / F control unit 22 and the I / F control circuit 21 are switched in the same model, any connection system can be supported.

Next, the flow of processing by the data processing unit of the writing program and the data processing unit of the data receiving program will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the data processing unit 13 of the writing program, first, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the spool file is opened (step S1), the print control parameters are detected, and the print control data index, print control data, and print control are detected. Set the data length in the buffer and write the buffer contents to the I / F control unit.
TE is performed (steps S2 to S6).

The process returns to step S2 until the control data is exhausted and the same process is repeated. When all the control data are processed (step S7), the print data index is set in the buffer and then the print data is set in the buffer. Then, the contents are written to the I / F control unit (steps S8 to S10).

The same process is repeated by returning to step S9 until there is no print data. When all the print data have been processed (step S11), the spool file is closed (step S12), and the process ends.

As described above, the data processing unit 1 of the writing program composes the print information data based on the print data output from the application program and the designated print control information, and then the WRITE command is given to the I / F control unit 2. To output print information data. The data processing program is common to all connection methods.

When the data processing unit 5 of the data receiving program receives the data as shown in FIG. 6 (step S21), the data is read and the data type index of the print information data shown in FIG. 2 is searched. It is determined whether the data is control data (steps S22 to S24).

In the case of control data, the corresponding control data processing program is called (step S25). If there is more control data, the next control data is read and the process returns to step S25 to repeat the same process (steps S26 to S27). When the process of the current control data is completed, the process returns to step S22 (step S26).

If it is not the control data in the judgment processing of step S24, the received print data is formatted and the data is output to the print control section (step S24).
28-S29). If there is more print data, the next print data is read, the process returns to step S28, and the same process is repeated (steps S30 to S31). If the print data is over, the process ends (step S3).
0).

As described above, the data processing section 5 of the data receiving program drives the print control section by performing the corresponding processing while recognizing the type of data.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the writing program outputs the print information data shown in FIG. 2 to the I / F control circuit while generating the print information data. However, a print information data registration means for generating and registering the print information data is provided on the output side of the application program. The print information data registration means is provided to generate print information data shown in FIG. 2 based on the print data output from the application program and the designated print control data, and the print information data is temporarily stored in the print queue of the spool file. It is also possible to perform compatible output by using the conventional writing program as it is by configuring so as to be registered in. In this case, since the print data and the print control data are simply combined, the load on the host computer can be reduced as compared with the conventional case where the print data is reconstructed.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the print data created by the host computer and the print control data are collected from the print control parameters, and the print information data is transferred. It is possible to perform compatible output to printers connected in various methods without imposing a large load on the printer. Therefore, it is possible to easily construct a printing system capable of compatible output from the printing apparatuses connected by various connection methods.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of print information data used in a printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a writing program of a host computer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a data receiving program of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a flow of processing by a data processing unit of the writing program.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing by the data processing unit of the data reception program.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a variety of connection methods between a host computer and a printer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional printing system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a writing program of a host computer when the connection method with the printing apparatus is different.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Application program, 2 ... Spool file, 3 ... Writing program, 4 ... I / F control circuit, 5
... I / F control circuit, 6 ... Data receiving program, 7 ... Print control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising a host computer for generating print data and a printing device connected to the host computer, wherein the host computer collects all print information consisting of print data and print control data as a group of print information. It has a means for generating it as data and a means for transferring this print information data to the printing device in the form of a simple data transfer, and the printing device has a means for performing a printing process based on the transferred print information data. A printing system characterized by the above. 2. A writing program on a host computer is separated into a data processing section and an interface control section,
The data processing unit is configured to generate print information data based on the print data output by the application program and the designated print control information, output the print information data to the interface control unit, and transfer the print information data to the printing apparatus. The printing system according to claim 1. 3. Based on print data output from an application program on a host computer and designated print control information, all print information necessary for printing is generated as a block of print information data and registered in a print queue. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising means. 4. An I / F for controlling an interface between a data reception program on a printing device and a host computer.
2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing system is separated into a control unit and a data processing unit, and the data processing unit processes the print information data.