JPH07237323A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control distribution of printing information to respective printing parts to reduce a difference of an output load between the respective printing parts and enhance a printing efficiency by providing a simulating means for predicting a printing progress status when specific printing information is printed by a specific printing part. CONSTITUTION:In a host computer H, an operating system or the like is read out from a main program 2 and started by a CPU 1 after a power source is turned on and a printing control program is executed for conducting printing. Namely, the CPU 1 interprets a printing code and reads printing information from a printing information memory 44 in accordance with the interpreted printing code. In addition, when a plurality of printing information are outputted, a simulation prediction is performed to prevent unevenness of a printing load. The prediction is carried out using the kind of printing information and a required printing time rate (printing speed) per printing part read from a simulation information memory 46. In accordance with the result of the prediction, a ratio of distributing respective printing information is controlled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer in which print information and print control information are used as print codes and the print codes are converted into bit patterns for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, a printer system interprets a print code for controlling and printing the printer and develops a bit pattern memory for expanding print information into a bit pattern and a bit pattern memory. 2. Description of the Related Art There is a printer system in which portions for processing and printing are independent of each other and a plurality of printing portions exist.

[0003]

However, in the prior art, since the information about the print residue of each printer cannot be known by the host computer, when the difference in the output load of each printer becomes large, the print load of a particular printer becomes large. Becomes too large, and the efficiency of the overall print output decreases.

The printer of the present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a printer system capable of efficiently operating a plurality of printer printing units.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a printer system characterized by comprising a simulation means for predicting a print progress situation when specific print information is printed on a specific print portion. The present invention further provides the required print time ratio (print speed) for each type of print information and each printer.
A means for storing the data of the above, and a configuration for performing the simulation based on this data,
Depending on the simulation result of the printing status of each printing unit,
It is provided with a means for controlling the print information distribution ratio to each print section.

[0006]

Since the printer system of the present invention is provided with the simulation means for predicting the printing progress situation when the specific printing information is printed on the specific printing portion, the printing of the printing portion is performed according to the result of the simulation. By predicting the remaining state, the print unit to be output can be switched to control the print information distribution ratio, so that the load on the print unit can be dispersed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, (1) is a CPU,
(2) is the main program used by the host computer, such as the operating system of the host computer,
(3) is a main memory used by the operating system and the like.

(4) is a print control section,
It can be built in by installing it in the expansion slot of the host computer. Reference numeral (41) is a print control program, which has a function of interpreting a print code for controlling the printer and performing printing and expanding print information (information necessary for printing such as a format and font) into a bit pattern. Reference numeral (42) is a printing unit selection unit (print information distribution control unit), which is composed of a printing simulation program, a printing unit selection program (422), and the like.

Print simulation program (42
1) has a function of predicting the print progress situation when the specific print information is printed on the specific print portion, and storing it in the simulation information memory (46). The print section selection program (422) has a function of calling the result of the simulation prediction from the simulation information memory (46) and distributing the specific print information to the specific print section based on the result of the prediction.

(43) is a bit pattern memory,
Multiple storage areas (431), (432), ... (43
m), and stores different print information developed in the bit pattern by the print control program (41). Reference numeral (44) is a print information memory, which has a memory (441) that stores a label format, character fonts, and the like, and an input buffer memory (442) that stores information to be printed in a code form, for example.

Reference numeral (45) is a print output status memory including a print information output memory (451) and a print output history memory (4).
52). Print information output memory (451)
Is a memory that stores to which printing unit the bit pattern stored in each bit pattern memory is output. The print output history memory (452) is a memory for storing data such as how many kinds and amount of bit patterns each printing unit has processed in what time. It is used as data for simulation prediction if necessary. The simulation information memory (46) is a memory for storing data of required print time (print speed) for each printer for each type of print information.

Reference numeral (47) (47A, 47B ...) is a communication interface, and the printing section selection program (4
According to 22), the contents of a specific memory of the bit pattern memory (43) are output to a specific printing section. (4
8) is a data bus line. In the above configuration, the memories (41), (42), (441) are fixed memories, for example, ROM, and the memories (43), (4)
42), (45) and (46) are variable memories, for example RA
Although it is preferable to use M, it is not limited to this.

Reference numeral (5) is a printer printing section, which comprises a plurality of printing sections (5A), (5B), .... In each printing unit, (51) is a communication interface, which receives data output from the printer control unit (4) and outputs it to the print processing unit. Reference numeral (52) denotes a print processing unit, which is composed of a print data storage memory, a program for outputting data to the print head, and the like.
Reference numeral (53) is a print head for printing the data sent from the print processing unit (52).

Next, an outline of the operation of the device of the present invention will be described. 1) First, the host computer starts CP after power is turned on.
U (1) reads the operating system and the like from the main program (2) and starts it, so that various application programs can be executed. When printing is performed, the print control program is executed from the operating system or the like. The print control program interprets the print code. The print information is read from the print information memory (44) according to the interpreted print code.

Next, after the read print information is developed into a bit pattern, a bit pattern memory is selected and stored in this. After storing in the bit pattern memory, the bit pattern is output to the printer printing unit (5) via the communication interface (47). At this time, the print information output memory (451) stores which printing unit the contents of the bit pattern memory are output.

On the other hand, the printer print section (5) outputs the received bit pattern to the print processing section (52). The bit pattern processed by the print processing unit is transferred to the print head (5
Print with 3). The printer control unit (4) includes a plurality of communication interfaces (47A) and (47B), and a plurality of printers can be connected to each of them.

3) When outputting a plurality of print information, simulation prediction is performed so that the print load is not biased. FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of the simulation, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the result of the simulation. In the simulation prediction, first, the type of print information, the number of prints, and the required print time ratio (print speed) for each print unit are read from the simulation information memory (46).

Next, when performing simulation prediction,
As a constraint condition for printing, when printing a specific document on a specific printer print part, when printing a specific document at a specified time, when printing documents in a specified order, when specifying a document with a specific printer Conditions such as when printing in the specified order are conceivable, and one or a combination of these conditions is specified to execute the simulation.

The simulation prediction result is such that the vertical axis shows the elapsed time and the time based on the current time, and the horizontal axis shows the printer number. Indicated in hours. When the simulation result is not satisfied, the constraint condition for printing can be changed and the simulation prediction can be performed again.

Further, as the timing for executing the simulation, at the time of completely printing, when a specified fixed time has elapsed, when a specified time has come, when one document with a specific printer has finished printing,
There is timing such as when a specific printer finishes printing a specific document, and by specifying one or more of these conditions in combination, simulation prediction can be executed when the conditions are met. You can

[0021]

According to the present invention, the distribution of print information to each print section is controlled by performing a simulation prediction according to the situation regarding the print residue of each printer, and the output between each print section is controlled. The difference in load can be reduced, and thus the printing efficiency as a whole can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic system configuration diagram.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of simulation execution.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a result of simulation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Main Program Storage Section 3 Main Memory 4 Printer Control Section 41 Print Control Program Storage Section 42 Print Section Selection Section (Print Information Distribution Control Section) 421 Print Simulation Program 422 Print Section Selection Program 43 Bit Pattern Memory 44 Print Information Memory 45 Print output status memory 451 Print information output status memory 452 Print output history memory 46 Simulation information memory 47 Communication interface 48 Data bus line 5 Printer printing unit 51 Communication interface 52 Print processing unit 53 Print head H Host computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer system comprising a simulation means for predicting a print progress situation when specific print information is printed on a specific print portion. 2. A means for storing data of a required printing time ratio (print speed) for each type of print information and each printer,
The printer system according to claim 1, wherein the simulation is performed based on the data. 3. The printer system according to claim 1, further comprising means for controlling a print information distribution ratio to each printing section according to a simulation result of a printing condition of each printing section.