JPH0619599A - Recorder and menu isplay method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recorder and the menu display method of the recorder by which a selection by an operator can be facilitated by storing whether or not a menu display item is displayed by a flag corresponding to each item, and determining the display item corresponding to each flag. CONSTITUTION:The menu display item is stored in an ROM 22, and flag information 300 for instructing whether or not the menu display item is displayed is stored in a nonvolatile RAM 30 corresponding to each menu display item. The display of the menu display item stored in the ROM 22 is controlled according to the stored flag information 300.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device such as a laser beam printer, and more particularly to a recording device capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu and a menu display method in the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the contents of an LCD display menu of a recording device such as a laser beam printer are peculiar to each model. For example, the LCD display contents related to the paper size of the laser beam printer for Japan are "A4" and "B".
5 ”, while those for overseas are“ LETTER ”and“ LEG ”
It was "AL", "A4", etc.

The formware for realizing the LCD display having different specifications of display contents have different specifications for each printer having different specifications, and the paper sizes supported by the printers are also different. In addition L
The CD display menu has a very large number of configurations, and even when the user makes one setting for each paper size, a large number of menu items that do not require setting changes have appeared on the LCD.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional example has the following drawbacks. (1) The paper size that can be used by the user is limited depending on the region or country where the printer is purchased. (2) Since the LCD menu structure is very complicated, the operation of setting the operation panel by the user is very complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and whether or not to display a menu display item is stored in a flag corresponding to each item, and the display item corresponding to each flag is displayed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device and a menu display method in the recording device that can be easily selected by an operator by making a decision.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following constitution. That is,
A recording device capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu, in which storage means for storing menu display items and flag information for instructing whether or not to display corresponding to each of the menu display items are nonvolatile. It has flag storage means for storing, and control means for controlling the display of the menu display items stored in the storage means in accordance with the flag information stored in the flag storage means.

In order to achieve the above object, the menu display method in the recording apparatus of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, it is a menu display method in a recording apparatus capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu, and stores flag information instructing whether to display corresponding to each of a plurality of menu display items in a nonvolatile manner. Then, the display of the menu display item is controlled according to the flag information.

[0008]

In the above structure, the menu display items are stored, and flag information for instructing whether or not to display corresponding to each of the menu display items is stored in a nonvolatile manner.
The display of the menu display items stored in the storage means is controlled according to the stored flag information.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a laser beam printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a host computer for outputting print data to the printer, and data from the host computer 10 is interface portion 11.
It is taken into the printer via. A control unit 12 controls the entire printer. An operation panel 14 is provided with a display unit 13 such as a liquid crystal display and various key switches operated by an operator. A printer engine 15 is described later with reference to FIG.

Next, the structure of the control unit 12 will be described.
Is a CPU such as a microprocessor, and the ROM 22
Various controls are executed in accordance with the control program stored in. A RAM 23 is used as a work area for the CPU 21, and temporarily stores various data. A display control circuit 24 controls display on the display unit 13.

Next, the structure of the laser beam printer of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the laser beam printer (LBP) 100 of this embodiment.
The P100 is configured to be able to register a character pattern and a fixed form (form data) from a data source (host computer 10 or the like).

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 100 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code) supplied from an externally connected host computer 10 or the like, form information, or a macro command. A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created according to the information in (1), and an image is formed on a recording paper, which is a recording medium. Reference numeral 14 is an operation panel on which various switches for operation, LED display 13 and the like are arranged, and 101 is an LBP10.
This is a printer control unit that controls the entire 0 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer. The printer control unit 101 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern to convert the laser driver 1 into a video signal.
02, and the control unit 12 described above is included here.

The laser driver 102 is the semiconductor laser 10.
3 is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 3, and switches the semiconductor laser on and off in accordance with the input video signal. The laser light 104 is swung in the left-right direction by the rotary polygon mirror 105 to scan the electrostatic drum 106. As a result, an electrostatic latent image having a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. The latent image is formed on the developing unit 107 around the electrostatic drum 106.
And then transferred to a recording paper. A cut sheet is used for this recording paper, and the LBP10 cassette recording paper is used.
The paper feed roller 10
It is taken into the apparatus by the 9 and the conveyance rollers 110 and 111 and is supplied to the electrostatic drum 106.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the display control circuit 24 shown in FIG. 1. The parts common to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their description will be omitted.

An input / output buffer 301 temporarily stores input / output data between the CPU 21 and the display control circuit 24. 302 is an instruction register, C
Instruction codes such as "clear display" and "cursor shift" input from PU21, and display RAM
Address information of 305 and character generator (ROM) 306 is recorded. An instruction decoder 303 decodes the instruction stored in the instruction register 302. An address counter 304 outputs addresses to the display RAM 305 and the character generator (RAM) 307.

Reference numeral 305 is a display RAM for storing display data to be displayed on the display unit 13, and 306 is a character generator (CG) composed of a ROM. A character generator (RAM) 307 stores a programmable rewritable character pattern. 308
Is a data register, which temporarily holds data to be written to the display RAM 305 and the character generator RAM 307, and temporarily stores data read from the display RAM 305 and the character generator (RAM) 307. A busy flag 309 indicates that it is in operation when it is "1", and in this case, the instruction from the CPU 21 is not accepted. Further, when the value of the flag 309 is "0", it indicates that the instruction can be accepted (ready).

A parallel-to-serial converter 310 converts parallel data (display data) into serial data. 31
A timing generating circuit 1 generates a timing signal for operating internal circuits such as the display RAM 305, the character generator (ROM) 306, the character generator (RAM) 307. A cursor blink circuit 312 displays a cursor on the display unit 13, and
The cursor can be displayed by blinking. Reference numeral 312 is a shift register, and 313 is a common signal driver. Reference numeral 315 is a latch circuit, 316 is a segment signal driver, and 314 is a shift register that shifts and outputs display data converted into a serial signal.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, a method of displaying on the display unit 13 in the case of setting the paper size used for printing will be described taking an overseas specification printer and a domestic specification printer as examples.

First, by displaying the usable paper size, the user is notified of the usable recording paper size. Here, a character code for displaying the paper size for overseas and a character code for displaying the paper size for domestic are stored in advance in the ROM 22, and as the paper size for overseas, for example, LETTER (letter Size), LEGAL (legal), A4 etc. on the other hand,
Paper sizes for domestic use include A4 size and B5 size. In this way, the respective character codes are stored so that the paper sizes of the two systems can be displayed.

The NVRAM 30 has a flag 3 indicating whether the printer is for overseas or domestic.
00 is provided. Since this flag 300 is rewritable and non-volatile, the printer power is turned on / off.
Even when turned off, the value of this flag 300 is stored.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the value of the flag 300 of the NVRAM 30 corresponding to the domestic specifications and the overseas specifications.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the power of the printer is turned on, the value of the flag 300 of the NVRAM 30 is checked, and if the value is "0", it is determined that this printer has the specifications for overseas. In this case, a message (letter code) (LETTER, LEGAL, A4) for displaying the paper size for overseas specifications is read from the ROM 22 and output to the display control circuit 24. In this way, the display unit 13 displays “LETTER” and “LE” as paper sizes.
"GAL", "A4", etc. are displayed to inform the user that these paper sizes can be set.

On the other hand, when the printer power is turned on, the NVR
When the value of the flag 300 of the AM 30 indicates “1”, the CPU 21 determines that the printer is for domestic specifications, and the display unit 13 displays “A” as the settable paper size.
Recording paper sizes such as "4" and "B5" are displayed.

This processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG. This process is started by turning on the power of the printer. First, in step S1, the contents of the flag 300 are judged,
It is determined whether or not the value is “0”, that is, whether or not the specification is for overseas. If the specifications are for overseas, the process proceeds to step S2, and as described above, the display data "letter size" or "legal" for overseas is displayed. On the other hand, flag 30
When the value of 0 is "1", the process proceeds to step S3, and the display data for domestic use is displayed. Thus, in step S4 and thereafter, normal processing is performed. The control program for executing this process is stored in the ROM 22.

The flag 3 provided in the NVRAM 30
00 may be composed of any number of bits, and may be a value indicating a region, country, etc. such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, not limited to specifications for overseas and domestic.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the first embodiment described above, in the printers having different specifications, 2 is set according to the flag value of the NVRAM 30.
Although the system paper size is displayed (however, the firmware inside the printer is designed to support all the paper sizes of two systems), but in the second embodiment, it is displayed on the display unit 13. A flag is provided corresponding to each item to be displayed (interface setting, paper size setting, serial communication protocol setting, etc.), and whether or not to display that item is determined according to the value of these flags. .

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of data in the NVRAM 30, and FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processing of the second embodiment.

The character codes of the display items on the display unit 13 shown in FIG. 6 are stored in the ROM 22. Step S10
When the power of the printer is turned on, the process proceeds to step S11, and the CPU 21 refers to the "LCD display flag value" set in the LCD display item of the NVRAM 30 to display each item on the display unit 13 or not. To decide.

In the example of FIG. 6, when the value of the LCD display flag is "0", the item is displayed, and when it is "1", the item is not displayed. Therefore, in FIG. 6, since the values of the flags "SCSI" in the interface and "B5" and "ENVELOPE" in the paper size are "1", these items are not displayed as a menu display. Here, "interface", "paper size"
When the flag value of a large item of such display items is “1”, the large item (for example, interface) and its small items (RS232C, Centronics, S
CSI) will not be displayed at all.

8 to 12 show the "LCD of the NVRAM 30.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a “display flag value” and an LCD menu structure.

The one corresponding to FIG. 8 is the menu structure of FIGS. 9 and 10, and the one corresponding to FIG. 11 is the menu structure of FIG. This simplifies the menu structure, and since the menu display items can be changed, the functions of the printer that are open to the user can be limited. That is, since the values of the flags corresponding to all the display items are “0” in FIG.
All items are displayed as shown in. On the other hand, in FIG. 11, since the flags corresponding to the serial communication of the interface and the baud rate of 9600 baud, the Centro interface, and the paper sizes A4 and B5 are “0”,
As shown in FIG. 12, the display items can be restricted.

The "LCD cover flag value" of the NVRAM 30 is rewritable and the printer power is turned on / off.
Even if it is turned off, the value of this flag is saved. Further, in this embodiment, the interface and the paper size have been described as examples of the display items, but the present invention is not limited to this.

As described above, according to this embodiment, L
By selecting the menu display item of the CD display by the flag value stored in the non-volatile, it is possible to control the setting items of the function open to the user by limiting the display items.

Further, a setting item for setting the print environment is made selectable corresponding to the information for determining whether to display on the display unit, thereby setting the hierarchical structure of the display menu. At the same time, the display / non-display of setting items can be changed.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, whether or not to display a menu display item is stored in a flag corresponding to each item, and the display item is determined corresponding to each flag. This has the effect of facilitating selection by the operator.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a laser beam printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a display control circuit of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a paper size and NVR in the first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure showing the relation with the value of AM.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process at power-on in the printer of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between LCD display items and display flag values in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a modified example of display menu items and flags according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a diagram showing the display contents for the display items and flags shown in FIG. 8 in a hierarchical structure.

10 is a diagram showing the display contents for the display items and flags shown in FIG. 8 in a hierarchical structure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a modified example of display menu items and flags according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a diagram showing the display contents for the display items and flags shown in FIG. 11 in a hierarchical structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 host computer 11 interface section 12 control section 13 display section 14 operation panel 15 printer engine 21 CPU 22 ROM 23 RAM 24 display control circuit 30 NVRAM 300 flag

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording device capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu, and a storage means for storing menu display items, and indicating whether or not to display corresponding to each of the menu display items. Flag storage means for storing flag information in a non-volatile manner, and according to the flag information stored in the flag storage means,
And a control unit that controls the display of the menu display items stored in the storage unit. 2. A recording device capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu, comprising: storage means for storing at least setting items and interface conditions of a printing environment; and the setting items stored in the storage means. In accordance with each of the interface conditions, a flag storage unit that stores flag information instructing whether to display the setting item and the interface conditions in a nonvolatile manner, and according to the flag information stored in the flag storage unit,
Display means for displaying the setting items and interface conditions stored in the storage means; and control means for setting the printing environment or interface conditions according to the designation when the items and conditions displayed on the display means are designated. A recording device comprising: 3. A menu display method in a recording apparatus capable of setting various recording conditions according to a displayed menu, wherein flag information indicating whether or not to display corresponding to each of a plurality of menu display items is nonvolatile. Remember
A menu display method characterized by controlling display of menu display items according to the flag information.