JPH06270495A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print a suitable form in an automatic execution form printing and to improve operability. CONSTITUTION:Form data for automatic execution form printing is stored together with various ID in a RAM 14. Print data received from a host computer 24 is also stored in the RAM 14. A CPU 12 compares the ID of the form data with that of the print data, and judges whether the form is developed or not during the automatic execution form printing. The ID of the form data is, for example, a version, compared with a version belonging to a form data development instruction command, and not developed if the version of the form is old.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a printing device used in a digital PPC device such as a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing apparatus that receives print data from a host computer and prints the print data, a form is registered in advance, and the registered form is automatically overlay-printed on every page (hereinafter referred to as automatic execution form printing). ) Some have functions. Conventionally, the form data in this automatic execution form printing is managed only by the number.

[0003]

When the form data is managed only by the number as described above, for example, even if the form is changed, the version is not known, so that the old form may be expanded. There was a problem. In addition, when the form to be expanded differs depending on the type of emulation, the type of emulation cannot be identified on the form side, which causes a problem that the process of expanding the form according to the type of emulation becomes complicated. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a printing apparatus capable of printing an appropriate form in automatic execution form printing and improving operability. .

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus including a storage unit for storing form data for automatic execution form printing and attribute information of the form data, and a storage unit for inputting print data. A judgment means for comparing predetermined information with the attribute information of the form data to judge whether or not to expand the form data, and a printing means for expanding and printing the form data judged to be expanded by the judgment means. It is equipped with. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the attribute information includes form version information, and the determination means compares the version information with the version specified by the form expansion command. It is to determine whether to expand the form data. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the attribute information includes emulation type information, and further, a recognition unit that recognizes the emulation type based on the escape sequence of the print data, and an emulation type. And a selection unit for selecting a form corresponding to the type of emulation recognized by the recognition unit, using the type information. A printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the printing apparatus according to the third aspect, further including setting means for setting the type of emulation to be recognized by the recognition means. A printing apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, further including display means for displaying whether or not a form for automatic execution form printing is set. A printing apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, further including a prohibition unit that temporarily prohibits automatic execution during automatic execution form printing.

[0005]

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the storage means stores the form data for automatic execution form printing and the attribute information of the form data, and the judging means stores the predetermined information in the input print data. Is compared with the attribute information of the form data, it is determined whether or not the form data is developed, and the form data determined to be developed is developed and printed by the printing unit. In the printing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the determination means compares the version information of the form in the attribute information with the version designated by the form development command to determine whether or not to expand the form data. In the printing apparatus according to claim 3, the recognition unit recognizes the emulation type from the escape sequence of the print data,
The form corresponding to the recognized emulation type is selected by the selection means. In the printing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the setting unit can set the type of emulation to be recognized by the recognition unit according to the third aspect of the invention. In the printing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the display means displays whether or not a form for automatic execution form printing is set. In the printing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the prohibition unit can temporarily prohibit the automatic execution during the printing of the automatic execution form.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This printing device includes a host computer 24
The print control device 10 receives print data from the print control device 10 and processes the print data, and an operation panel 21 and a printer engine 22 connected to the print control device 10.

The print controller 10 is a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) connected to each other by a bus 11.
12, read only memory (hereinafter, referred to as ROM) 13, random access memory (hereinafter, RA)
Write as M. ) 14, font character generator (hereinafter referred to as font CG) 15, non-volatile RAM
(Hereinafter, referred to as NV-RAM) 16, operation panel interface (hereinafter, the interface is referred to as I / F)
17, an engine I / F 18, an option I / F 19 and a host I / F 20. Operation panel I / F1
7, an operation panel 21 is connected to the engine I / F 18
The printer engine 22 is connected to the
An optional device 23 is connected to F19, and a host I / O
A host computer 27 is connected to F20.

In this printing apparatus, the CPU 12 receives the control code from the host computer 24 through the host I / F 20 and operates according to the program in the ROM 13. In addition, the print control device 10 has an operation panel I /
The panel operation is performed through F17, and the engine I / F18
Through this, processing such as transmission and reception of signals from the printer engine 22 and video signals to and from the printer engine 22 is performed. Further, the print control device 10 receives data from the option device 23 such as a font cartridge through the option I / F 19. The font data is stored in the font CG 15, and the NV-RAM 16 is used to store the status such as program registration. Also,
The RAM 14 mainly includes an intermediate code buffer (character descriptor (CharacterDescriptor).
r) Area: Hereinafter referred to as a CD area. ) 31, a frame buffer (bitmap) 32, and a reception buffer 3
It is used for 3rd grade.

Further, the form overlay data (hereinafter, simply referred to as form data) for automatic execution form printing, together with various identification codes (hereinafter, referred to as ID) as attribute information of the form data, is stored in the RAM 14.
Stored in. Print data is also stored in the RAM 14. Then, the CPU 12 compares the ID of the form data with the ID of the print data to determine whether or not the form is developed during the automatic execution form printing.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described. In the following, a case where the ID of the form data includes information about the version of the form and information about the type of emulation will be described as an example. Figure 2
3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the printing apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in this figure, in the printing apparatus of this embodiment, first in step (hereinafter referred to as S) 101, the received data from the host computer 24 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 33 and then converted into an intermediate code. Then, the print image is stored in the CD area 31, and the print image is developed in the frame (bitmap 32) using the font CG 15.
Next, in S102, it is determined whether or not there is a control command from the host computer 24, and if there is no control command (“N”), S is determined.
If there is any ("Y"), the process proceeds to S117 to determine the emulation determination type in S103.

The emulation determination type can be set by the user via the operation panel 21, and here, the case where the set emulation determination types are A and B will be described. When it is determined in S103 that the emulation determination types are A and B, it is determined in S104 whether the control command is the emulation A command. If the control command is the emulation A command (“Y”), In S105, AN + 1 is newly set as AN and the process proceeds to S109. On the other hand, if the command is not an emulation A command in S104 ("N"), S
At 106, it is determined whether or not the control command is the emulation B command. If it is the emulation B command (“Y”), BN + 1 is newly set as BN at S107, and the process proceeds to S109. If the command is not an emulation B command ("N") in S106, NN + 1 is newly set as NN in S108 and the process proceeds to S109.

In S109, it is judged whether or not the discharge condition is satisfied,
If it is not the discharge condition ("N"), the process returns to S101, and if it is the discharge condition ("Y"), it is determined in S110 whether there is an automatic execution form. Is S1
If it is determined that the automatic execution is prohibited (S <b> 111), the process proceeds to S <b> 19. Then, when the automatic execution is prohibited (“Y”), the process proceeds to S119, and when the automatic execution is not prohibited (“N”), the process proceeds to S112. It should be noted that the prohibition of automatic execution can be set by inserting an automatic execution prohibition code in the print data or by an interrupt key or the like. When the automatic execution prohibition code is inserted, the form is not expanded on the page, and when the interrupt key or the like is used, automatic execution is temporarily prohibited.

In step S112, AN, BN, and NN are compared with each other to determine whether AN has a certain ratio or more. If yes (“Y”), the emulation A is determined in S113, EM = A is set, and the process proceeds to S117. On the other hand, when AN is not higher than the fixed ratio (“N”), it is determined in S114 whether BN is higher than the fixed ratio. If there is (“Y”), it is determined to be emulation B in S115,
Set EM = B and proceed to S117. In addition, S114
If BN does not exceed a certain ratio (“N”), S116
Then, set EM = -1 and proceed to S117. In S117, it is determined whether the emulation ID in the form matches the value of EM. If they do not match ("N"), the process proceeds to S119, and if they match ("Y"), the form data is expanded into a frame in S118 and the process proceeds to S119.
In S119, the data expanded in the frame is sent to the printer engine 22 as a video signal, printed, the paper is discharged, and the process returns to S101.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of S118 in FIG. In this operation, when the expansion instruction command is received, first in S121, the form data of the specified form number is searched. Next, in S122, it is determined whether or not the form data exists. If it does not exist (“N”), an error message “No form” is displayed in S123, and the process ends. On the other hand, S1
If the form data exists in 22 (“Y”), S
At 124, "A = version specified by expansion command" is set. Next, at 125, "B = version in form data" is set. Next, in S126, A ≦
Judge whether it is B or not. If A> B (“N”), S1
At 27, the error message "version is old form" is displayed and the process ends. On the other hand, if A ≦ B (“Y”)
Registers the form number as an automatic expansion form in S128, stores the form number in the operation panel display buffer in S129, and ends the process.

Further, the printing apparatus of this embodiment has a function of stopping the automatic execution form overlay when new form data is registered.

As described above, in this embodiment, since various IDs are given to the form data, an appropriate form can be printed in the automatic execution form printing and the operability can be improved. In particular, a version ID is given to the form data, and it is determined whether or not to expand by comparing with the version attached to the expansion command code (see FIG. 3).
As a result, when a unified form is used, such as when a form is provided by a card, when changing the forms all at once, there is no mistake of deploying the old form.

An ID indicating the type of emulation
Is added to the form data, the type of emulation is automatically recognized from the escape sequence of the transfer data, and the form to be expanded is selected (S104 of FIG. 2).
108, S112 to 117). Therefore, when the printing device is connected to a LAN (local area network), the print data is once stored in the spooler of the printer server and then printed out. It is possible to solve the problem of not being able to confirm. Further, since whether or not the automatic execution form is set is always displayed (see S129 in FIG. 3), it is possible to prevent printing without knowing whether or not the form is automatically expanded.

In addition, in the case of automatically recognizing the type of emulation, the user can set the type to be recognized (see S103 in FIG. 2), and when new form data is registered, the automatic execution form is registered. A function to stop the overlay is provided, and even during automatic execution, the function that does not expand the form on the page by inserting the automatic execution prohibition code in the print data, or the automatic execution is temporarily prohibited by the interrupt key etc. The printing function is improved by providing the function (see S111 in FIG. 2).

[0019]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the form data for automatic execution form printing and the attribute information of the form data are stored, and the predetermined print data in the input print data is stored. Since the information and the attribute information of the form data are compared to determine whether or not to expand the form data, it is possible to print an appropriate form in automatic execution form printing and improve operability. There is an effect. In addition, claim 2
According to the invention described above, since it is determined whether to expand the form data by comparing the version information of the form in the attribute information with the version specified by the form expansion command, in addition to the above effect There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the old form from being expanded. According to the third aspect of the invention, the emulation type is automatically recognized from the print data escape sequence, and the form corresponding to the recognized emulation type is selected.
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, when the printing device is connected to the LAN, the print data is once stored in the spooler of the printer server and then printed out, so that the problem that the transfer order cannot be determined is solved. There is an effect that can be.

According to the invention of claim 4, when the type of emulation is automatically recognized, the user can set the type to be recognized.
In addition to the effects of the invention described, there is an effect that the printing function can be further improved. According to the invention of claim 5, since it is displayed whether or not a form for automatic execution form printing is set, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, the form is automatically There is an effect that it is possible to prevent printing without knowing whether or not is expanded. According to the invention of claim 6, the automatic execution can be temporarily prohibited during the printing of the automatic execution form. Therefore, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, the printing function can be further improved. The effect is that you can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the printing apparatus of the above.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of expanding form data during operation of the printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 print control device 12 CPU 13 ROM 14 RAM 21 operation panel 22 printer engine 24 host computer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing form data for automatic execution form printing and attribute information of the form data, and comparing predetermined information in input print data with attribute information of the form data. A printing apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not to expand the form data; and a printing unit that expands and prints the form data that is determined to be expanded by the determination unit. 2. The attribute information includes form version information, and the determining means compares the version information with the version specified by the form expansion command to determine whether to expand the form data. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The attribute information includes emulation type information, and further, recognition means for recognizing the emulation type from an escape sequence of print data, and recognition by the recognition means using the emulation type information. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit that selects a form corresponding to the type of emulation performed. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising setting means for setting the type of emulation to be recognized by the recognition means. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying whether or not a form for automatic execution form printing is set. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a prohibition unit that temporarily prohibits automatic execution during printing of the automatic execution form.