JPH07115510B2 - Page printer - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improving throughput in a page printer.

(Problems to be Solved by Prior Art and Invention) In a page printer that prints received data on one page, after printing the received data for one page into an intermediate code for printing, printing is performed. Done. Until the conversion is complete, the print engine will
Continue to wait. When the conversion is completed, the paper is fed, and the paper is waited for until it reaches the printing means to print. Therefore, there is a wasteful time required to convey the paper from the end of conversion to the start of printing. Therefore, when printing a large amount of data at high speed, this wasteful time is accumulated and cannot be ignored.

On the other hand, in a line printer that prints line by line, character printing is performed even during data processing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a page printer with high throughput.

(Means for Solving Problems) A page printer according to the present invention includes a communication unit that receives a code of information to be printed and a conversion unit that converts the data received by the communication unit into an intermediate code different from the received data. A code storage means for storing the intermediate code converted by the conversion means, an output control means for reading the intermediate code from the code storage means and exposing it on the photoconductor, and a latent image on the photoconductor on a paper. After the printing means for printing by the photographic process, the feeding means for supplying the paper to the printing means, and the conversion means for converting the received data for one page into the intermediate code, the paper is preliminarily waited in the vicinity of the printing means. A print control means for carrying the paper to the position by the carrying means, and carrying it to the printing means by the carrying means after the conversion is completed. It is characterized by having.

(Operation) When print data is generated, paper feed is performed, the paper is conveyed to a predetermined position, and during the signal conversion process, it stands by at that point. Upon completion of the print data conversion process, the paper is conveyed from the standby position to the printing means and printing is performed.

(Examples) Examples of the present invention will be described below in the following order with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Configuration of electrophotographic printer b. Flow of bitmap control c. Flow of interface control d. Flow of electrophotographic control e. Flow of print head control The embodiment part particularly related to the present invention is described in section (a). other,
Section (b) and processing of steps # 110 to 114 (FIG. 9),
These are the processing of steps # 212 to 213 (FIG. 1) in section (c) and the advance processing of steps # 307 to 319 (FIG. 14) in section (d).

(A) Configuration of Electrophotographic Printer FIG. 2 is a configuration of a processing system by a printer system 10 capable of graphic drawing which is an embodiment of the present invention.

Data from the general-purpose data processing device 1 is stored in the file buffer 2 and then output to the printer system 10 in order to improve the throughput of the data processing device 1.

The printer system 10 comprises a bitmap data processing device 3, a print engine 4 using an electrophotographic process and a laser, and an auxiliary device such as an external paper feeding unit 5 and a sorter 6.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the control of the printer system 10.

The bitmap data processing device 3 includes a bitmap control unit 30 (see FIG. 4), a BM-RAM 32 for bitmap,
The BM-RAM 32 comprises a bitmap writing 31 (see FIG. 5) for drawing and a font section 33. The connection with the print engine 4 is made by a bus B3 for control data (number of sheets, accessory control, etc.) and a bus B4 for image data.

The print engine 4 is mainly composed of three controllers. First, the interface control unit 40 processes the control data from the bitmap control unit 30, controls the display panel, and controls the timing of the entire printer 4 through the internal bus B5. Electrophotographic control unit 41 (see FIG. 7)
Controls the electrophotographic process unit 45 according to the data sent from the interface control unit 40 through the internal bus B5.

The print head control unit 42 (see FIG. 8) receives the image data sent via the bitmap writing unit 31 and the internal bus B4 from the interface control unit via the internal bus B5.
Print head unit 43 according to the information sent from 40
(See FIG. 8) The semiconductor laser 431 is controlled by the semiconductor laser 431 (see FIG. 8) and the polygon motor 432 is controlled.
Control the rotation of.

The external paper feeding unit 5 and the sorter 6 are also controlled by the interface controller 40 via the internal bus B5.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the bitmap control unit 30.
The bitmap control unit 30 is connected by the internal bus B301,
It consists of several blocks. The BM-CPU 301 is a central control unit of the bit map type data processing device 3, communicates with the data processing device 1 through the data processing device interface 308, converts print data, and outputs a bitmap writing unit interface. The bitmap writing unit 31 is controlled through 30 and the print engine 4 is controlled through the print engine interface 307. The SYS-ROM 302 stores the program of the BM-CPU 301. The SYS-RMA303 is a working storage area of the BM-CPU301 and is used for storing the stack and basic flag.

The R-buffer 304 is a buffer for communication with the data processing device 1, and is intended for asynchronous communication between the processing program of the BM-CPU 301 and the data processing device 1.

The P-RAM 305 stores the attributes of each font loaded from the font unit 33 by the bitmap writing unit 31 and the data processing device 1.
Store the data as an intermediate code converted from font attributes for printing.

The print engine interface 307 is an interface with the print engine 4, and exchanges job information such as the number of prints and job control commands such as print commands with the interface of the print engine 4 through the bus B3.

FIG. 5 shows a detailed block diagram of the bitmap writing unit 31. The functions of the bitmap writing unit 31 are roughly divided into BM-RAM3
It is divided into a drawing function for 2 and a function for outputting the data of BM-RAM 32 to the print engine 4 at the time of printing.

The function of drawing to BM-RAM32 is further divided into two,
It is composed of line and circle drawing performed by the graphic image writing unit 316 and font drawing performed by the font image writing unit 311. Both are bitmap controller 3 via bitmap controller interface 317.
Although it is a logic unit that operates with the intermediate code sent from 0, most of the processing of the graphic image writing unit 316 is
While the parameters in the intermediate code are analyzed and drawn in the BM-RAM 32, most of the processing of the font image writing unit 311 is read from the font unit 33 through the font unit interface 314 according to the data in the intermediate code. Draw the font image in BM-RAM32.

On the other hand, the function of outputting data at the time of printing is performed by the print head controller interface 315. That is, when the print start code sent from the bitmap control unit 30 via the interface 317 is received,
The data of the BM-RAM 32 is output to the print head control unit 40 according to the synchronizing signal sent from the print head control unit 42 (see FIG. 8) of the print engine 4 through the bus B4.

FIG. 6 is a detailed block diagram of the interface control unit 40 of the print engine 4. Interface control unit
40 is IFC using a one-chip microcomputer
-Is configured around the CPU400, via the bus B401 expanded by the interface 404 of the IFC-CPU400,
An external ROM 407, RAM 408, and an interface 409 with the bitmap control unit 30 are connected. External ROM407
Can be replaced by a socket, and IFC-CPU40
A standard program is stored in the internal mask ROM 403, whereas a different program is stored in the external ROM 407 depending on the destination.

The IFC-CPU 400 includes a CPU 401, a RAM 402, a ROM 403, a serial input / output unit (SIO) 405 for serial communication, and a parallel input / output unit (PIO) 406. The SIO 405 is a bus for controlling the electrophotographic control unit 41 and the print head control unit 4.
Control B5. The PIO 406 is used to control the display panel 44.

FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram of the electrophotographic control unit 41.
The electrophotographic control unit 41 is controlled by a one-chip microcomputer MC-CPU410 similar to the IFC-CPU400. CPU4
RAM 413 and ROM 414 are connected to 11. Unlike the interface control unit 40, only the standard program is not expanded. The serial input / output unit (SIO) 412 communicates with the interface control unit 40 via the bus B5. The parallel input / output unit (PIO) 415 is used for input / output of process control.

FIG. 8 is a detailed block diagram of the printhead controller 42. The print head control unit 42 controls the rotation of the polygon motor 432 of the print head unit 43 according to the data sent from the interface control unit 40 through the bus B5, and the bus from the bitmap type data processing device 3 to the bus. The image data sent through B4 controls the light emission of the semiconductor laser 431 in synchronization with the signal from the laser scanning scan detector (SOS) 433.

The print head control unit 42 is mainly composed of the one-chip microcomputer PHC-CPU 420 like the electrophotographic control unit 41, and the serial input / output unit (SIO) 422 communicates with the interface control unit 40. Bus B5 is connected. The parallel input / output unit (PIO) 425 responds to the polygon motor driving unit 427 that drives the polygon motor 432, the scanning detector (SOS) 433, and the image data from the bitmap data processing device 3. A printhead control circuit 426 is connected to control the emission of the semiconductor laser.

The image data sent through the bus B4 is in the parrelel format, and the printhead control circuit 426 mainly performs parallel-serial conversion for causing the semiconductor laser 431 to sequentially emit light according to the image data. A timing signal for synchronizing the image data transfer is generated with respect to the print head controller interface 315.

(B) Flow of Bitmap Control With this, the operation of the present system will be described with reference to the flowchart.

9 to 11 are flowcharts showing the processing of the bitmap control unit 30. In FIG. 9, when the power is turned on (step # 100), internal initialization is performed (step # 101), and the BM-RAM which is a print image area.
32, P-RAM 305 for storing the value obtained by converting the data received from the data processing device 1 into an intermediate code, the JOBACT flag indicating the printing operation, and the BM-WRITE flag indicating the writing state of the BM-RAM 32 are reset ( Step # 102),
Then, the font attributes are read from the font section 33 (step # 103). As described in section (d), the electrophotographic control unit 41 controls the temperature of the fixing unit and starts the cooling fan (step # 301, standby mode 1).

Next, the reception data processing loop is entered. The first processing is processing of received data. First, it is checked whether or not there is a free space in the P-RAM 305 (step (104).
By the interrupt processing routine shown in the figure, the R-buffer 304
The received data is taken out from the data processing device 1 stored in (step # 105, step # 106) and processed (see FIG. 10) corresponding to the code (step # 107).

FIG. 10 shows the contents of the received data processing (step # 107). Received data includes print engine related code,
JOB control code, format control code and print code 4
There are types. Of these, the print engine related code is output to the interface control unit 40 (step #
151, step # 152). There are two JOB control codes, a PAGE EJECT code used to separate pages and a JOB START code used to separate jobs (one page group). The JOB control code is stored in the P-RAM 305 as a corresponding flag (step # 153 to step # 156). In the case of format control code (step # 157), BM-RAM32 of the next character
Change the write address to (step # 158). The other received data is regarded as a character code, converted into an intermediate code to be output to the bitmap writing unit 31, and converted into P-RA.
Write to M305. The format of the intermediate code includes a font address (step # 159), a write address to the BM-RAM 32 (step # 160), and a write mode (step # 161). After that, the write address of the next font to the BM-RAM 32 is changed according to the font size and the like (step # 162). However, it does not change when drawing lines or circles.

Returning to FIG. 9, the intermediate code written in the P-RAM 305 is
If the BM-RAM 32 is not being used for printing (NO in step # 108) and is not in multi-printing (NO in step # 109), it is output to the bitmap writing unit 31 (step # 116). . However, while the previous character is being drawn (YES in step # 110), the next drawing cannot be performed. When writing the first data (BM-WRITE
Flag = 0) (steps # 111, 112), the BM-WRITE flag is set to 1 (step # 113), and a paper advance command PFCMD for advancing preparations such as paper feeding to the print engine 4 is sent to the interface controller 40. Output (step # 114). As a result, when the preparation for printing of the bitmap type data processing device 3 is completed (step #
305-311), laser exposure to the photoconductor becomes possible immediately, and the throughput is improved corresponding to the paper feed time.

Output from the P-RAM 305 to the bitmap writing unit 31 is sequentially performed as long as there is intermediate code data.
When the EJECT code is detected (YES in step # 115), 1
Since the signal conversion for the pages is completed, the printing operation is started. First, to prohibit writing to BM-RAM32, JOBACT
The flag is set, the update of BM-RAM32 is prohibited (step # 117), and the printhead controller interface 315
Is set to a printable state (step # 118), and the print command PRNCMD is output to the interface controller 40 (step # 119). As a result, the printhead controller interface 315 causes the printhead controller 42 to
BM synchronized with the pulse sent from the control circuit 426 of
-RAM32 data is output via bus B4.

During the print operation, the operation check of the print head controller interface 315 is YES at step # 108, so the received data is converted to P for the next print.
-Only the process of outputting to RAM 305 (steps # 104 to 107) is performed.

When printing is completed, the JOBACT flag is still set, so the process proceeds from step # 109 to step # 120, and the exposure end command EXPEND from the interface controller 40 is sent.
(Step # 413) Wait. This is because the interface controller 40 controls the number of sheets in the case of multi-printing. If the JOBEND flag, which is a parameter of this command, is set (step # 12
1), reset the JOBACT flag, clear the BM-RAM 32 (step # 122), and start preparation for printing the next page. If multi-print is not completed, the same BM-
Start the next print with the RAM data (step # 118 and below).

FIG. 11 shows a flow when the data processing device 1 interrupts data transmission. When there is an interrupt, the data is read from the data processing device 1 (step # 181) and written in the R-buffer 304 of the bitmap control unit 30 (step # 182). Then return.

(C) Interface Control Flow FIG. 1 is a processing flow of the interface control unit 40. In the interface control unit 40, after the power is turned on and after the internal initialization is performed (step # 201), the electrophotographic control unit 4
1, a start signal is sent to the print head controller 42, the sorter 6 and the external paper feeding unit 5 through the bus B5 to initialize the entire system of the print engine 4 (step # 202). Then, PFENB that indicates permission to feed paper first
The initial value 1 of the flag is set (step # 203), and the following processing loop is entered.

In the processing loop, first, the bitmap control unit 30 waits for a first-out command (PFCMD, see step # 114) (step # 204). When the first-out command is received and the first-out command is permitted (PFENB = 1) (step # 205), a paper feed request signal (FEEDRE) is sent to the electrophotographic controller 41 via the bus B5.
Q) is output (step # 206). As a result, the electrophotographic control unit 41 starts the activation of the electrophotographic process unit 45 for feeding and printing. However, the paper is in a standby state (“first-out” state) at a predetermined position. However, when the external paper feeding unit 5 is designated, the electrophotographic control unit 41 only activates the electrophotographic process unit 45, and paper feeding is performed by the external paper feeding unit 5. The standby position of the paper is the same.

Then, the interface control unit 40 waits for the print command (PRNCMD) (step # 211), and at the same time, sets a temporary value 1 to the PFENB flag indicating permission for advance print of the next print, and starts a predetermined timer T (step S21). # 207). This timer T has two functions. First, one is BM-RA in the bitmap control unit 30.
When drawing on M32 takes a long time, electrophotographic process section 4
In order to prevent 5 from remaining in the operating state and shortening the life of the photosensitive drum and each part of the electrophotographic process, the STANDBY signal is sent (step # 209) at the end of timer T (step # 209) to print. The engine 4 is stopped (standby mode 2). As a result, the reduction in the life of the image forming process unit is greatly improved. When the standby mode 2 is entered, the next paper feeding and activation of the image forming process are performed after the conversion of the received data into the intermediate code is completed. Another function indicates the next advance permission
By resetting NPFENB (step # 210),
It is to prohibit the advance of the paper at the time of the next printing. This is because the same type of information is usually printed frequently in one job (for example, graphic data is continuously printed), so this is predicted, and there is an effect of preventing a reduction in life. With this method, the throughput will decrease, but even if the paper feed-out is prohibited once, at the next printing, if the print command PRNCMD is input before the timer T expires, NPFENB is set. Since it is left as it is, it will be put out first in the next print. (Usually, the paper is “first out” before the data conversion is completed and the timing roller keeps it on standby, so the throughput does not decrease.) With the above two functions, it is possible to improve the throughput and at the same time prevent the wasteful decrease of the service life. Become.

In the interface control unit 40, the print command PRNC
When the MD is received (step # 211) and the paper is not fed first (PFENB = 0) (step # 212), the paper feed request signal (FEEDREQ) is output (step # 213), and PFENB of the next print is output. Update the flags (step # 2
14). That is, when print data is generated, paper feeding is executed (step # 304, step # 321, step 321,
In steps # 307 to 311), the paper is conveyed to a predetermined position.

Further, the STANDBY signal is turned off (step # 215), that is, the standby mode 2 is released, and the MCRDY signal indicating that the image forming process unit of the electrophotographic control unit 41 is stable is sent from the electrophotographic process unit 45. Come (step # 216),
The EXPENB signal indicating exposure permission is output (step # 21).
7). As a result, the actual exposure is performed by the print head controller 42.
Done in. When the exposure is completed, the print head controller 42 outputs the EXPEND signal (see step # 413). When this is detected by the interface control unit 40 (step # 218), E is sent to the bitmap control unit 30.
Output the XPEND command (step # 219), then PFCM again
D waits.

FIG. 12 shows a timing chart of printing. here,
X is the time from the activation of the main motor of the electrophotographic process unit 45 to stabilization, and Y is the time required from the start of paper feeding to the arrival at the timing roller (standby position). In the past (lower side), after the data processing was completed, the main motor was started to start feeding, so an extra waiting time was required for at least the X and Y times. In the example (upper side), the main motor is started during the data exchange to start the paper feeding, and thus the printing is completed faster. In the figure, Z indicates the time during which the paper is waiting at the timing roller in order to synchronize with the image forming process.

Although the printer is started when the print data is generated, the display panel may notify that the printer is selected.

FIG. 13 shows the operation timing of the image forming process unit in this embodiment in comparison with the conventional example. As shown in the figure, when the data conversion time takes a long time (when the timer T times up), the main motor stops and the standby mode 2
And At this time, the main charger and the phenomenon bias voltage are sequentially stopped before the main motor is stopped.
In addition to the above control, the interface control unit 40 controls communication in the print engine 4, and the bus B5
Through the exchange of data with each control unit through, the relay function for communication between each control unit is also provided. Since it is not directly related to the present invention, detailed description will be omitted.

The effect of the advance timing control in the present embodiment has been described with respect to the conversion time from the received data to the intermediate code, and the drawing time in the bitmap writing unit 31 is long. Even if it is short, the same effect can be obtained when the transmission time from the data processing device 1 or the file buffer 2 is long.

Further, in the present embodiment, the throughput is prioritized,
The paper advance control is performed, but switching means for selecting whether or not to perform the paper advance control may be provided, and in the case of graphic processing, the drawing processing may be prioritized and the advance control may not be performed.

(D) Flow of electrophotographic control FIG. 14 is an operation flow of the electrophotographic control unit 41. In the electrophotographic control unit 41, after the power is turned on (step # 300), the internal initialization is performed (step # 301), and then the activation signal (see step # 202) from the interface control unit 40 waits for input (step ##). 302).

When the start signal is detected (step # 302), the command PFCMD (see step # 114) is received from the interface control unit 40, and the FEEDREQ signal is output (step # 304), the standby mode is kept in the standby mode (step # 304). 303)
Becomes In the standby mode 1, the main motor and the drum are not rotated, and only the temperature control of the fixing unit and the turning on of the cooling fan are performed.

When the FEEDREQ signal is received (step # 304), the image forming process section is started for printing, the main motor is turned on (step # 305), and the MCRDY signal indicating that the preparation is completed is output to the interface control section 40. (Step # 3
06) and paper feeding is started (step # 307).

A predetermined timer T ₁ is set at the same time as the feeding is started (step # 308), and when the timer T ₁ ends and the paper approaches the predetermined standby position (step # 309), the print head controller 42 is controlled. On the other hand, the PRDY signal indicating that the preparation of the paper is completed is output (step # 310), and the paper is stopped (step # 311).

Usually, the print command (PRNCMD) is immediately output from the bitmap control unit 30 (see step # 119), and then the paper restart signal TRON signal is output from the print head control unit 42 (see step # 411), By detecting this signal in the electrophotographic control section 41 (step # 318), the paper is restarted from the position of the timing roller (step # 319), and the image on the photosensitive drum is transferred to the paper. After that, the electrophotographic control unit 41 further sets a predetermined timer T ₂ (step # 320) and waits for the next FEEDREQ signal (step # 320).
321), when a signal is input, the next paper feeding is started (step # 306). If no signal is input by the end of timer T ₂ (Y in step # 322), standby mode 1
Return to (step # 303).

If the TRON signal is not output from the print head control unit 42 because the processing time in the bitmap control unit 30 or the transmission time from the data processing device 1 is long (the bitmap control unit 30 prints to the interface control unit 40). If the command is not output), the interface control unit 40 or the STANDBY signal is output (see step # 209). When the electrophotographic controller 41 detects this signal (step # 312), it sends an MCR to the interface controller 40.
The DY signal is turned off (step # 313) and the standby mode 2 is entered (step # 314). In this mode, all processes including the main motor are stopped, and the paper is in the waiting state at the waiting position. This is to prevent the life of the printer from being unnecessarily shortened. After that, the bitmap control unit 30
Signal conversion processing at the
When the STANDBY signal is turned off at 40, the electrophotographic control unit 41 detects this (step # 315), restarts the image forming process unit (step # 316), and the interface control unit 4
The MCRDY signal is output again for 0 (step # 31).
7).

(E) Print Head Control Flow FIG. 15 shows a processing flow in the print head controller 42. In the print head control unit 42, after the power is turned on (step # 400), internal initialization is performed (step # 401), and similarly to the electrophotographic control unit 41, a start signal from the interface control unit 40 (see step # 202). After detecting (step # 402), the processing loop is entered.

In the processing loop, first, the print start waits.
There are two conditions for starting printing. One is the laser exposure permission signal EXPE from the interface controller 40.
NB (step # 406) and interface control unit 4
It is output from 0 (see step # 217). The other is
This is a PMLOCK signal indicating that the polygon motor 432 has reached a predetermined rotation speed. The polygon motor 432 is controlled at the same timing as the main motor (step # 403),
While the electrophotographic control unit 41 is in the standby mode 1 or the standby mode 2 and the main motor is stopped, in order to extend the life of the polygon motor 432, the polygon motor 432 rotates at half the normal rotational speed (half speed). In step # 405), when printing is started and the main motor is turned on, the full speed state (step # 404) is reached, which is the normal rotation speed. Then, a PMLOCK signal indicating that the rotation speed is stable in the full speed state is output from the polygon motor drive unit 427. If the two conditions are satisfied (YES in step # 406 and step # 407), a start signal is sent to the print head control circuit 426 to start exposure (step # 408). As a result, the print head control circuit 426 sequentially requests the image data from the bitmap writing unit 31 and controls the light emission of the laser diode 431 according to the received data.

Further, the print head controller 42 starts two predetermined timers T ₁ and T ₂ at the same time when the exposure is started (step # 409). T ₁ is a fixed timer that does not depend on the paper size and restarts the paper at the standby position to control the registration timing. Timer T ₁
When step S410 ends (step # 410), a TRON signal is output to the electrophotographic controller 41 (step # 411).

Further, T ₂ is for synchronizing with the bitmap control unit 30, and is variable depending on the paper size. Timer T ₂
Ends (step # 412), the EXPEND signal is output to the interface controller 40 (step # 41).
3).

(Effect of the Invention) In the page printer of the present invention, after the conversion of the code of the information to be printed into the intermediate code is started, the paper is conveyed in advance to the standby position. It suffices to carry the paper more for printing, and printing can be performed immediately after the conversion is completed. Therefore, by this amount, the time from the reception of the data to be printed to the completion of printing is shortened, and the throughput is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the operation of the image forming process unit. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of the electrophotographic printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a bitmap type data processing device and a print engine. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the bitmap control unit. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the bitmap writing unit. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the interface controller. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the electrophotographic control section. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the print head control unit and the print head unit. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the operation of the bitmap control unit. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the operation of received data processing. FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the operation of reception interrupt. 12 and 13 are timing charts of the operation of the image forming process section, respectively. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the operation of the electrophotographic control unit. FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the operation of the print head controller. 1 ... Data processing device, 3 ... Bitmap type data processing device, 4 ... Print engine, 10 ... Printer system, 30 ... Bitmap control unit, 31 ... Bitmap writing unit, 40 ... Interface Control unit, 41 …… Electrophotographic control unit, 43 …… Print head unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication means for receiving a code of information to be printed, a conversion means for converting the data received by the communication means into an intermediate code different from the received data, and the intermediate code converted by the conversion means. Code storage means, output control means for reading an intermediate code from the code storage means and exposing it on the photoconductor, printing means for printing a latent image on the photoconductor on paper by an electrophotographic process, and printing means for paper After the start of conversion of the received data for one page into the intermediate code by the transfer means for supplying the paper to the intermediate code, the paper is previously transferred by the transfer means to a predetermined standby position near the printing means, and after the conversion is completed. A page printer, comprising: a print control unit configured to convey to a printing unit by a conveyance unit.