JPH068532A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sufficiently exhibit performance of a novel engine and to operate it even if an old type host computer or word processor is connected even in the case of replacing with the novel engine. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 21 of a control substrate 2 stores a main program fed from a host computer 4 in a RAM 24. Then, the CPU 21 converts print data sent from the computer 4 into a print code according to the main program, and then sends it to a subCPU 6 through a page memory 25. The subCPU 6 decides whether the sent print code matches specifications of an engine 1 or not, sends it to a mechanism control substrate 1b as it is in the case of matching, or so converts the print code as to match the specifications of the engine 1 in the case of mismatching, and then sends it to the substrate 1b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device in which program information for controlling printing is downloaded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printers of this type include laser beam printers and the like, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a typical internal configuration thereof. The printer device performs a communication operation with a host computer 4 and an engine 1 composed of a printer mechanism unit 1a for printing and a mechanism control board 1b for controlling the printer mechanism unit 1a, a print code creation operation, and the like. And a control board 2 for controlling the movement. The control board 2 is connected to the engine 1 via a signal line 3, and stores a CPU 21 that executes control operations, an interface 22 that performs data communication with the host computer 4, an initialization program of the CPU 21 and various data. It has a ROM 23, a RAM 24 for storing a main program downloaded from the host computer 4, a page memory 25, a gate array 26, and the like.

The host computer 4 transmits the main program to the control board 2 of the printer device via the cable 5 and then transmits the print data. The CPU 21 of the control board 2 stores the main program received via the interface 22 in the RAM 24, and thereafter performs a control operation according to the main program. Thereafter, the CPU 21 converts the print data sent from the host computer 4 into a print code in a form accepted by the engine 1, and stores the print code in the page memory 25 via the gate array 26. The gate array 26 reads the print code in the page memory 25 and sends it to the mechanism control board 1b of the engine 1 via the signal line 3. The mechanism control board 1b controls the printer mechanism section 1a in accordance with the print code sent to print on a sheet (not shown).

As described above, the main program is sent from the host computer 4 to the control board 2 of the printer device.
When the host computer 4 is newly designed, the download method is advantageous in that the software function of the printer device can be improved in accordance with the new design. However, the printer device of this type is useful for updating the software function,
In order to download the main program including control of the engine 1 and control of the control board 2 as described above,
When replacing the engine 1 with a newly developed engine or using an engine of another company, the connected host computer 4 may not be able to download the main program corresponding to the newly developed engine. In such a case, there is a drawback that the interface specifications of the control board 2 and the engine 1 do not match and printing cannot be performed. Therefore, when the engine 1 is newly developed in the conventional printer device, it is necessary to make specifications so that an old type host computer or word processor cannot be connected, or to limit the function of the new engine to the old function. In the former case, the versatility of the newly developed printer device is limited, and in the latter case, the newly developed printer cannot fully exhibit its functions.

[0005]

As described above, the printer device of the type in which the main program for controlling the printer is downloaded from the host computer or the connected word processor has the advantage that the software function of the printer device can be updated. As described above, in order to download the main program for controlling the engine 1 and the control board 2, when replacing the engine 1 with a newly developed one or using an engine of another company, the connected host computer 4 is In some cases, the main program corresponding to the newly developed engine cannot be downloaded. In such a case, there is a drawback that the interface specifications of the control board 2 and the engine 1 do not match and printing cannot be performed. Therefore, when the engine 1 is newly developed in the conventional printer device, it is necessary to make specifications so that an old type host computer or word processor cannot be connected, or to limit the functions of the new printer to the old functions. In the former case, the versatility of the newly developed printer device is limited, and in the latter case, the newly developed printer cannot fully exhibit its functions.

In view of the above, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and when the engine is replaced with a new engine, the new engine can be sufficiently operated even if a conventional host computer or word processor is connected. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device capable of performing the above.

[0007]

According to the present invention, after converting print data sent from a host device into data in a form indicated by program information loaded from the host device,
In a printer device that sends this to the engine unit and executes it, a determination unit that determines whether or not the form of the data converted according to the instruction of the program information matches the specifications of the engine unit, and the determination unit If it is determined that the form conforms to the specifications of the engine unit, the data is sent to the engine unit in this form as it is, and the form of the data does not conform to the specifications of the engine unit by the determining unit. If judged,
Data conversion means for converting the form of the data to meet the specifications of the engine part and sending the data to the engine part.

[0008]

In the printer of the present invention, the determination means determines whether or not the form of the converted data conforms to the specifications of the engine section according to the instruction of the program information. When the determination unit determines that the form of the data conforms to the specifications of the engine unit, the data conversion unit sends the data to the engine unit as it is, and the determination unit determines the form of the data. Is determined not to meet the specifications of the engine unit, the data format is converted to match the specifications of the engine unit and sent to the engine unit.

[0009]

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 block diagram showing an embodiment of a printer device of the present invention. An engine 1 performs an operation of printing characters, figures, etc. on a sheet, and is composed of a printer mechanism section 1a and a mechanism control board 1b. 2 is a host computer 4
A control board that creates a print code according to the main program loaded from the control board and controls the entire apparatus. Reference numeral 4 is a host computer that loads the main program onto the control board 2 or sends print data. Board 2
A cable 6 for connecting the sub-CPU and a sub-CPU 6 for converting the form of the print code sent from the control board 2 into a form accepted by the engine 1 as necessary.
RO that stores programs and data for operating 6
It has a register 62 for converting M61 and serial data into parallel data, or converting parallel data into serial data. 7 is a signal line connecting the control board 2 and the sub CPU 6, 8 is a signal line connecting the mechanism control board 1b and the sub CPU 6, and the control board 2
Is a CPU 21 that executes control operations, an interface 22 that performs data communication with the host computer 4, and a CP
It has a ROM that stores the initialization program of the U21, various data, and the like, a RAM 24 that stores the main program downloaded from the host computer 4, a page memory 25, a gate array 26, and the like. Also, as the sub CPU 6, a one-chip microcomputer including a ROM 61 and a register 62 may be used.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The host computer 4 transmits the main program to the control board 2 of the printer device via the cable 5 and then transmits the print data. The CPU 21 sends the main program received via the interface 22 to the RA
It is stored in M24, and thereafter the control operation according to this main program is performed. After that, the CPU 21 converts the print data sent from the host computer 4 into a print code accepted by the engine 1 and converts the print code into a page memory 25.
To store. The gate array 26 sends the print code in the page memory 25 to the sub CPU 6 via the signal line 7. The sub CPU 6 determines whether or not the print code sent is in conformity with the specifications of the engine 1, and if the print code is in conformity, the print code is used as it is for the signal line 8
It outputs to the mechanism control board 1b via. When the sub CPU 6 determines that the print code sent from the control board 2 does not meet the specifications of the engine 1, the sub CPU 6 uses the program in the ROM 61 to change the print code to meet the specifications of the engine 1. At the same time as the conversion, the signal form (parallel data or serial data) is checked. If the signal does not meet the specifications of the engine 1, the converted print code is registered in the engine 1 using the register 62.
The signal form is adjusted to meet the specifications of, and this is output to the mechanism control board 1b through the signal line 8. Control board 1b
According to the print code sent to the printer mechanism section 1a
By controlling the, characters and figures are printed on a sheet (not shown).

The print code conversion operation in the sub CPU 6 will be described in more detail. Engine 1 of this example
Is operated, for example, by accepting a print code as shown in FIG. However, since the connected host computer 4 is an old model, the main program downloaded to the control board 2 displays the print data in FIG.
When the print code is converted into the form shown in FIG. 2B, the sub CPU 6 converts the print code input from the control board 2 into the form shown in FIG. Further, although the engine 1 is designed to receive the print code in the form of parallel data in the form of FIG. 2A, when the main program creates the print code in the form of serial data, the sub CPU 6 causes the sub CPU 6 to The print data converted into the form of A) is converted into the form of parallel data using the register 62, and this is transmitted to the mechanism control board 1b of the engine 1 via the signal line 7.

According to this embodiment, the form of the print code sent from the control board 2 to the engine 1 is changed to the sub CPU.
6 checks, and if the form conforms to the specifications of the engine 1, the print code is printed as it is in the engine 1
If it does not match, the form of the print code is converted to meet the specifications of the engine 1 and then sent to the mechanism control board 1b. Therefore, the performance of the host computer 4 is downloaded in the old model. Even if the print code created by the program does not meet the specifications of the engine 1, the performance of the engine 1 can be sufficiently exhibited to perform printing. Therefore, even if the old host computer 4 which is commercially available is connected to the new host computer 4 which matches the performance of the engine 1, it is possible to perform the printing operation exhibiting the original performance. Therefore, even when the engine 1 is replaced with a newly developed engine, it is possible to perform the printing operation that sufficiently exhibits the performance of the engine 1 without deteriorating the versatility of the apparatus.

[0013]

As described above, according to the printer apparatus of the present invention, when the engine is replaced with a new engine, the performance of the new engine can be sufficiently exhibited even if a conventional host computer or word processor is connected. Can work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a print code created by the control board shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional printer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Engine 1a ... Printer mechanism part 1b ... Mechanism control board 2 ... Control board 4 ... Host computer 5 ... Cable 6 ... Sub CPU 7, 8 ... Signal line 21 ... CPU 22 ... Interface 23 ... ROM 24 ... RAM 25 ... Page memory 26 ... Gate array 61 ... ROM 62 ... Register

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer device for converting print data sent from a host device into data in a form instructed by program information loaded from the host device, and then sending the data to an engine unit for execution Determination means for determining whether or not the format of the data converted according to the instruction of the information conforms to the specifications of the engine section, and the determination section determines that the format of the data conforms to the specifications of the engine section. In this case, the data is sent to the engine unit in the form as it is, and when the determining unit determines that the form of the data does not match the specifications of the engine unit, the form of the data is set to the engine unit. A printer device, comprising: a data conversion unit that converts the data to meet the specifications and sends the data to the engine unit.