JPH06149508A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten rising time when a power source is turned on. CONSTITUTION:An MPU 10 reads identification data showing emulation contents already stored in a flash ROM 18 from an EEPROM 22 and reads data showing the emulation contents from an EMC ROM 40 and when those data are not coincident, an emulation program is executed by reloading the identification data in the EEPROM 22 and down loading the contents of the EMC ROM 40 to the flash ROM 18. On the other hand, when both of identification data are coincident, the emulation program of the flash ROM 18 is immediately executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs a printing operation in response to control information sent from a host device, and in particular, it analyzes print control information output from a plurality of types of host devices. And a printing device having a function of executing a corresponding printing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as printers connected to host devices such as word processors and office computers,
Page printers are becoming popular. A printing device such as a page printer analyzes print control information output from a host device and executes a corresponding printing operation. It is configured to be connectable to equipment. That is, since various printing control information is output from various host devices, the printing apparatus must prepare a processing program that can operate in accordance with the information.

As described above, the emulation program is a processing program for receiving the specific print information output to a specific print device and performing the print processing equivalent to the printing by the specific print device. I am calling.

In a conventional printing device, this emulation program is used to support various host devices.
A method such as an emulation cartridge (EMC) is used. In other words, in EMC,
A control program for operating in response to the print control information sent from the host device is stored.

In the conventional printer, the main power source O
By N, the emulation program is once downloaded from the mounted EMC to the internal volatile memory, and then the program is executed.

[0006]

By the way, in a printing apparatus, various hardware checks are usually performed after the power is turned on. When no problem is found in this hardware check, the above-mentioned download from the EMC is executed. Therefore, it takes a long waiting time after the power is turned on until data can be received.

Generally, the shorter the time from when the power is turned on until data reception becomes possible, the easier it is to use, and therefore it is desired to shorten the rise time after the power is turned on.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of shortening the rising time after the power is turned on.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer according to the present invention is a printer which performs a printing operation in response to control information sent from a host device, and particularly, Non-volatile storage means for downloading the program stored in the memory cartridge from a memory cartridge that is detachable from the printing apparatus and stores the program for analyzing the control information; Identification means for identifying whether or not the program stored in the memory cartridge mounted on the printing device and the program stored in the non-volatile storage means match, and only when the identification means identifies the mismatch of the programs , The memory cartridge mounted in the printing device to the non-volatile storage means, the memory cartridge. It is characterized in that it comprises a download control means for downloading a program stored in.

[0010]

That is, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, when the power is turned on, it is discriminated whether the program stored in the memory cartridge mounted in the printing apparatus and the program stored in the non-volatile storage unit match. Then, as a result, only when the programs do not match, the program stored in the memory cartridge is downloaded from the memory cartridge to the nonvolatile storage means. That is, when the two programs match, the download is not performed, which leads to a reduction in the start-up time.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration thereof. The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a microprocessor (MPU) 10 and a DMA.
C (direct memory access controller) 12, decoder 14, system ROM 16, flash ROM 1
8, system RAM 20, EEPROM 22, CGRO
M24, video data conversion circuit 26, I / O control unit 2
8, an address bus 30, and a data bus 32. Further, when an emulation cartridge (EMC) is mounted in a slot (not shown), the emulation cartridge (EMC) is connected to the ROM 40 inside the EMC.

The MPU 10 controls each part in the printing apparatus according to a system management program stored in the system ROM 16. In this case, the MPU 10 includes a bus controller, an address latch and the like. In other words, an MP that can read / write data by outputting an address and a read / write signal.
It is a U block. Further, in the present embodiment, this M
It is assumed that the memory space of PU10 is 64 MB.

The DMAC 12 accesses the memory in a system different from that of the MPU 10. A counter is formed inside the DMAC 12, and once the operation is started, the memory is automatically accessed by the designated count number.

The decoder 14 decodes the address signals (A25 to A23) supplied from the MPU 10 or the DMAC 12 via the address bus 30, and the system ROM 16, the flash ROM 18, and the system RAM 2
0, EEPROM 22, CGROM 24, I / O control unit 28, and EMC_ROM 40 are selectively enabled.
With this decoder 14, the memory map viewed from the MPU 10 is as shown in FIG. The area where the device is mounted is the hatched portion in the figure.

The system ROM 16 is a read-only memory that stores a system program including a program for determining whether or not to download. That is, the MPU 10 executes the program from the address 0000000h.

The flash ROM 18 is a download memory for storing the downloaded emulation program and is a rewritable nonvolatile memory.

The system RAM 20 is a memory used for temporarily storing data received from the host device and creating image data. The image data created in the system RAM 20 is sent by the DMAC 12 to the video data conversion circuit 26 via the data bus 32.

The EEPROM 22 is a flash RO.
The identification data indicating the emulation content of M18 is stored, and as shown in FIG.
It is stored at 0h. In this embodiment, the identification data indicating the emulation content (A) (hereinafter abbreviated as EM (A)) is “1010”, and the identification data indicating EM (B) is “1011”.

The CGROM 24 stores character data such as Chinese characters, and this data is expanded in the system RAM 20 to form character image data.

The video data conversion circuit 26 is a system R
The image data from the AM 20 is converted into a video signal and transferred to a printer engine (not shown) to print on a printing paper.

The I / O controller 28 receives data from the host device through the Centro interface (I / F). This received data is the above MPU1
0 parses to form image data.

The EMC_ROM 40 has 2000000h
23 to 23FFFFFh stores emulation data, and 2400000h stores identification data indicating the emulation content. The identification data has the same definition as that described for the EEPROM 22.

The operation of such a configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the power of the system is turned on, the MPU 10
Executes the program of the system ROM 16 assigned to the address 0000000h.

First, after performing a predetermined hardware check, the contents of the flash ROM 18 and the EMC_ROM 4
EEPROM to determine whether the contents of 0 are the same
Address 180 in which identification data indicating the emulation content of the flash ROM 18 is stored.
The data of 0100h is read (step S1). Also,
The data at the address 2400000h, which stores the data indicating the emulation content of the EMC_ROM 40, is read (step S2). Then, the two data are compared to determine whether or not to download (step S3).

That is, the data content read from the EEPROM 22 is "1011" indicating EM (B),
In the case where the data contents read from the ROM 40 are different, such as “1010” indicating EM (A), the MPU 10 determines the address 180 of the EEPROM 22.
The identification data of 0100h is the data content read from the EMC_ROM 40, that is, "101" indicating EM (A).
It is rewritten to "0" (step S4). Then EMC_
Contents of ROM 40 (2000000h ~ 23FFFFF
h) flash ROM 18 (0800000h-0B)
FFFFFh), that is, downloaded (step S5). And when the download is finished,
The emulation program (EM (A)) is executed by executing the program from the address 0800000h of the flash ROM 18 (step S).
6).

On the other hand, when the power is turned on, the EEPROM 22
The identification data of the address 1800100h is EM (A)
“1010” indicating the identification data (1) indicating the identification data (EM (A)) of the address 2400000h of the EMC_ROM 40.
010 ”), the MP
U10 immediately executes the program from address 0800000h of flash ROM 18 (without performing the download operation) (step S6).

As described above, when the emulated model does not change when the power is turned on again, the start-up time is shortened because there is no download operation.

[0030]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a printing apparatus capable of shortening the start-up time after the power is turned on without requiring time for downloading after the power is turned on again when the EMC is not replaced.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a memory map viewed from the MPU in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... MPU, 12 ... Direct memory access controller (DMAC), 14 ... Decoder, 16 ... System ROM, 18 ... Flash ROM, 20 ... System RA
M, 22 ... EEPROM, 24 ... CGROM, 26 ... Video data conversion circuit, 28 ... I / O control section, 30 ... Address bus, 32 ... Data bus, 40 ... Emulation cartridge (EMC) ROM.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus that performs a printing operation in response to control information sent from a host device, wherein a memory cartridge that stores a program for analyzing the control information is detachable from the memory cartridge Non-volatile storage means for downloading the program stored in the memory cartridge, and the program stored in the memory cartridge installed in the printing device and the non-volatile storage means when the printing device is powered on. Identification means for identifying whether or not the program matches, and only when the identification means identifies the mismatch of the program, from the memory cartridge mounted in the printing device to the nonvolatile storage means, to the memory cartridge. Download control means for downloading the stored program and A printing device comprising: