JPH06208441A - System for controlling printing environment of printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to normally execute mutual printing even at the time of interrupting other printing data during the processing of a certain printing data and to easily control the temporary use interruption and restoration of various registering data. CONSTITUTION:This control system includes a receiving interface part 1 for receiving transmission data from a master device, an editing part 2 for analyzing the transmission data and preparing a printing image, a printing part 3 for printing out the image, a working storage part 5 for storing information necessary for printing operation, a saving storage part 6 for saving the contents of the storage part 5, and a reset part 4 for setting up the printing environment of the inside of the device. At the time of receiving a saving command based upon an interruption command outputted from the editing part 2, the reset part 4 saves the contents of the storage part 5 to the storage part 6, and at the time of receiving a restore command from the editing part 2, restores finally saved printing environment information from the storage part 6 to the storage part 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device printing environment control system, and more particularly to a printer device printing environment control system which is commonly used by a plurality of host devices to control the internal environment of the printer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer device commonly used for a host device usually uses one of two methods for connection with the host device, one of which is one of the outputs of a plurality of host devices. Is provided with a connecting device for inputting to the printer device, and the other one is a host device in which the printer device is provided with an interface section having a plurality of ports, and the interface section itself switches the port to receive the output. It is to connect to the device. In any of these connection methods, when the host device changes, the printer device is reset. If there is unprinted data in the device, the unprinted data is lost and the internal The printing environment is either returned to the factory setting or the printing environment stored in the non-volatile memory in the device is adopted.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional printer device printing environment control method, when another host device interrupts during data transmission from one host device, the data on the interrupted side is received. Since the reset is performed before, when the interrupted host device restarts data after printing the transmission data on the interrupted side, control data such as print format and unprinted data are lost. There is a problem that the printing result becomes abnormal. Also, when one host device occupies and uses the printer device, if it becomes necessary to temporarily not use format registration, foreign event registration, or macro registration, the host device deletes them once and then registers them again. There is a problem that you have to do it.

[0004]

A printer device printing environment control system of the present invention is a printer device printing environment control system for controlling an internal environment of a printer device commonly used by a plurality of host devices. Analysis means for receiving an interrupt command indicating a print request from the transmitted print data, outputting a save instruction, and outputting a return instruction upon receiving an interrupt end command indicating the end of print data, and information necessary for print processing. And a storage means for storing the information, and when the evacuation instruction is received from the analyzing means, the information stored in the working storage means is saved in a saving storage section provided in advance to reset the working storage means, When it receives a return instruction from the analysis means, it has a reset means for returning the information saved in the save storage section to the work storage section.

[0005]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a plurality of host devices are connected via a connection device
The case where printing data is input to one input port of the printer device is shown, and the receiving interface unit 1 that receives the printing data from the higher-level device, the work of receiving and storing the printing data from the receiving interface unit 1 The print control data is received from the work storage unit 5 and the reception interface unit 1, the control data is analyzed, and the print data stored in the work storage unit 5 is edited using the work storage 5 as a work area. Editing unit 2, printing unit 3 for printing edited print data, an instruction output by an interrupt command from the host device analyzed by editing unit 2, or an instruction from switch unit 8 to control the printing environment. An instruction from the reset unit 4, a save storage unit 6 that saves or restores the data in the work storage unit 5 according to an instruction from the reset unit 4, and an instruction from the reset unit 4 Configured with a display unit 7 for performing status of the printing environment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the reset unit 4. The operation of the reset unit 4 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The editing unit 2 receives the control data from the host device, and when the control data is a print request interrupt command, gives an evacuation instruction to the reset unit 4.
When the reset unit 4 receives this evacuation instruction or the evacuation instruction given by the operator from the switch unit 8, it first checks whether the instruction is an evacuation instruction (step 101). All of the stored data are saved in the save storage unit 6 and the work storage unit 5 is initialized (step 102). Next, one of the unlit lights of the display unit 7 is turned on (step 103). On the other hand, if it is not the save instruction in step 101 but the return instruction given from the editing unit 2 or the switch unit 8 as well, it is checked whether or not there is saved data in the save storage unit 6 (step 10
4) If there is saved data, the last saved data is restored from the save storage unit 6 to the work storage unit 5 (step 105), and then the last lighted one on the display unit 7 is turned off (step 105). Step 106). Note that step 104
If there is no data saved in step 3, normal initialization is performed assuming that no save instruction was issued in the past (step 10).
7).

4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. First, when the first printing data is transmitted to the reception interface unit 1 after the printer device is started up, the editing unit 2 stores the control data necessary for the work in the work storage unit 5 and the work storage unit. 5 is used to edit the print data, and the print unit 3 is caused to print the edited print data. The state inside the printer device at this time is referred to as a first printing environment. At this time, the display unit 7 is maintained in the reset state, and all are in the off state as shown in the content of the display unit 7 in FIG. In the middle of the first print data, the connected device receives a print request due to an interrupt from another higher-level device, and when this print request is input to the editing unit 2 via the reception interface unit 1, the editing unit 2 The reset instruction of 1 is given to the reset unit 4. The reset unit 4 saves the first printing environment of the work storage unit 5 in the first area of the save storage unit 6. After that, the working storage unit 5 is initialized and the display unit 7 is turned on as shown in FIG. Then, the second printing data is transmitted to the reception interface unit 1,
Printing is performed in the same manner as the first printing data. The state in the printer device at this time is referred to as a second printing environment. next,
Further, in the middle of the second print data, the connected device receives a print request by an interrupt from another higher-level device, and when this print request is input to the editing unit 2 via the reception interface unit 1, the editing unit 2 Gives a second evacuation instruction to the reset unit 4. The reset unit 4 saves the second printing environment of the work storage unit 5 to the second area of the save storage unit 6. After that, the work storage unit 5 is initialized as in the previous time, and the display unit 7 is displayed as shown in FIG.
It lights up as shown in (c). Then, the third printing data is transmitted to the reception interface unit 1 and printing is performed as in the previous time. The state inside the printer device at this time is referred to as a third printing environment. When the interruption end command is input to the editing unit 2 after the printing by the third printing data is completed, the editing unit 2 gives the reset unit 4 a first return instruction. The reset unit 4 restores the last saved data of the save storage unit 6 to the work storage unit 5, and sets the third printing environment to the second printing environment. After that, when the second print data is transmitted, it is not affected by the third print data, and when the control data is not included and only the print data is included, the print is continued as the previous print. Is performed.
When the interrupt end command is input to the editing unit 2 after the end of the second print data, the editing unit 2 causes the second printing data to be output to the second
Is issued to the reset unit 4, and the second printing environment is changed to the first printing environment. When the first print data is transmitted, printing is performed without being affected by the second and third print data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of FIG. 2 shows a case where the interface unit of the printer device has a plurality of ports for connecting to the upper device, and the reception interface unit 1 of the embodiment of FIG. Each port has a port connected to it, and while receiving print data via one port, if a print request is received from another port with a high priority interrupt command, the receive port is switched and saved. The reset unit 4 of FIG. 1 receives the save instruction and the restore instruction from the editing unit 1 to the reception interface unit 11 which directly outputs the instruction and receives the interrupt end command to switch based on the receiving port and directly outputs the restore instruction. Instead, the reset unit 41 received from the reception interface unit 11 causes the editing unit 2 of FIG. 1 to interpret the interrupt command of the print request from the control data. Besides being changed respectively to the editing unit 21 which does not require is the same as the embodiment of FIG.

Therefore, the operation of generating the printing environment in the embodiment of FIG. 2 is completely different from the one in which the output position of the save instruction and the restore instruction given to the reset section is changed from the editing section to the receiving interface section. It is the same as the case of 1.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, while the printing data of one host device is transmitted, when the printing data from another host device is interrupted by the printing data of the host device, the interrupting host device is The previous data is saved before sending the printing data, and the previous data can be restored after the interrupting printing data is completed. Even if the subsequent data is transmitted subsequently, the print result is not affected. In addition, even if you temporarily stop various types of registration such as format registration, external character registration, macro registration, etc., print, and then want to use it again, you can easily save and restore temporarily by using the interrupt command and end command. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation of a reset unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11 Reception interface section 2, 21 Editing section 3 Printing section 4, 41 Reset section 5 Working storage section 6 Evacuation storage section 7 Display section 8 Switch section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer device printing environment control method for controlling the internal environment of a printer device commonly used by a plurality of host devices, wherein an interrupt command indicating a print request is received from print data transmitted from the host device. Outputting an evacuation instruction to output a return instruction in response to an interrupt end command indicating the end of print data, a working storage means for storing information necessary for printing processing, and an evacuation instruction from the analyzing means. When the information is received, the information stored in the working storage means is saved in the saving storage part provided in advance to reset the working storage means, and when the return instruction is received from the analyzing means, the saving storage part is stored. A printer device printing environment control method, comprising: reset means for restoring the saved information to the working storage means.