JPH07290794A - Printing device and control thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To not only confirm the form being stored but also confirm necessary information to carry out the information administration. CONSTITUTION:When one of forms is selected through an operation panel 105 and an indication of confirmation is imparted, a reading address of form information is obtained by making reference to a form control table 109a. Then the form information is read out of a form information storage sphere 109b in accordance with the address and a form image reduced by a fixed magnification are developed on a frame buffer 109c. Then a character row image indicating an ID of the form, a name of the form and a using emulator obtained from a form control table is developed on the frame buffer 109c and the same is made to print by a printer engine 103.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a printing apparatus capable of overlay printing of form information and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, frequently used form information is registered in advance in a printing apparatus, one of them is selected as needed, and it is combined with the print information and printed. There is.

The form information mentioned here is information that generally includes a format in the form of a fixed format, a company name, etc., and is overwritten by data with a print request or overwritten with the data of a print request. Or, it is something to superimpose.

[0004]

When printing is performed using the above printing apparatus, there are the following problems.

Usually, the form information is managed by an identification number or the like. Therefore, it is necessary for the operator who gives a print instruction on the computer to know in advance the correspondence between the layout of the form registered in the printing apparatus and the identification number. If you set your own identification number and register, and if the number of registrations is small, the burden on the operator is small,
When the number of registrations increases, the management becomes difficult.
In particular, the registration form is not limited to one person, and it is quite possible that the form is registered by an unspecified number of people. Also, in some cases, it may be possible to use a form registered by another person.

Therefore, when the number of registrations is large or when a form registered by another person is used, in order to confirm whether or not the form is actually intended,
I had no choice but to confirm by printing only the form.

For this reason, the setting person needs not only a high degree of knowledge about the printing apparatus and the host, but also the work itself is complicated and difficult to understand, and there is a problem that a great deal of labor and skill is required.

Further, in the case of a printing apparatus having an emulation function of a plurality of printer control languages, different forms may be registered for each language. Even if only a form is printed, it is registered in any language. It was difficult to know if there were any.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and not only confirms a stored form but also management information necessary for using the form. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus and a control method thereof that enables confirmation of

In order to achieve this object, for example, the printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it is a printing device that synthesizes an image based on print data sent from a higher-level device and an image based on pre-stored form information and prints on a predetermined recording medium, and confirms the stored form. And a reducing means for reducing the form image at a predetermined magnification when the form confirmation instruction is given by the instructing means, the form image reduced by the reducing means, and the margin generated by the reduction. An output unit that combines a portion with an image based on the form management information corresponding to the form and prints it out is provided.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the instructing means indicates one of the registered forms. According to this, it becomes possible to immediately print only the form that the operator wants to check and its management information.

The instructing means may instruct confirmation of all registered forms. In this case, it is possible to confirm what kind of registered form exists with one operation.

Further, it is preferable that the form information and the form management information are stored in a predetermined removable storage medium. As a result, it is possible to print using the target form simply by mounting the storage medium on another device.

Further, the output means includes a detection means for detecting the size of the set recording medium, and a pair of the reduced form image and the form management information is detected in the size detected by the detection means. If you judge that you will exceed one sheet of recording paper, you will print out the image that has been expanded up to immediately before, and you will put a pair of reduced images of other forms and images based on that form management information in order in the margins. It is desirable to do. According to this, the recording medium can be effectively utilized, and it is not necessary to care about whether or not a recording medium of a specific size is mounted.

Further, it is desirable that the instruction means gives an instruction from an operation panel provided on the apparatus. This allows confirmation even if another person is already operating on the host device.

Further, it is preferable that the form management information includes form identification information and printer language information used when forming the form. This makes it possible to know the form identification information and the language used when using the form, and to prevent the form from being used using the wrong language.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Description of First Embodiment> FIG. 5 is a structural sectional view of a laser beam printer according to the embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a laser beam printer main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code), form information, macro commands, etc. supplied from an externally connected host computer. A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created according to the information in (1), and an image is formed on a recording paper, which is a recording medium. 105 is a switch for operation and L
Operation panel with CD display etc., 101 is L
A printer controller (hereinafter simply referred to as a controller) that controls the entire BP 740 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from a host computer. The controller 101 mainly converts character information corresponding to character information into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 602.
The laser driver 602 is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 603, and switches on / off the laser light 604 emitted from the semiconductor laser 603 according to an input video signal. The laser beam 604 is swung in the left-right direction by the rotary polygon mirror 605 and scans the electrostatic drum 606. As a result, an electrostatic latent image such as a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 606. This latent image is developed by the developing unit 607 around the electrostatic drum 606 and then transferred to the recording paper. A cut sheet is used for this recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is a paper cassette 6 mounted on the LBP100.
08, and the paper feed roller 609 and the delivery roller 6
It is taken into the apparatus by 10 and 711 and supplied to the electrostatic drum 606. Then, the toner image attached on the electrostatic drum 606 by the developing device 607 is transferred to the conveyed recording paper. After that, the recording paper is fixed to the fixing device 6.
The toner is conveyed in 12 directions, the toner is fixed, and finally discharged by the discharge roller 613.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of a controller 101 of the laser beam printer of the above embodiment. The controller 101 mainly inputs print information from an external device 102 such as a host computer, creates image data such as a corresponding character pattern in accordance with the information, and outputs the image data to the printer engine 103 as a video signal, An image is formed on the recording paper or OPH sheet which is a recording medium by the engine 103 (see FIG. 6).

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 104 is an input interface for receiving color print data from a host computer, and 105 is an operation panel on which switches and a display (such as a liquid crystal display) for operation are arranged. .
Reference numeral 106 is a system bus for communication inside the controller. Reference numeral 107 is a CPU that controls the entire apparatus including the printer controller 101, and 108 is a CP
The ROM stores the operation procedure of U107 and font data. Reference numeral 109 is a RAM used to store a work area of the CPU 107, a frame buffer described later, and the like. An output interface 110 transmits image data to be formed to the printer engine 103.

As shown in the figure, the RAM 109 stores a form management table area 109a for storing information about a registered form, such as a form name and a pointer indicating a storage location of the form information, and the form information. Form information storage area 109b and a frame buffer 109c for storing image data to be output to the printer engine 103.

FIG. 2 shows the form management table area 109.
In the figure showing the format of a, a number for form management, a pointer to an address where the substance of form information is stored, a form name and additional information, etc. are stored. The flag that indicates which emulator can use the corresponding form can be associated with the actual emulator name by using a correspondence table (not shown), and even if the form can be used by multiple emulators. Considered. For example, although 0x41, 0x01, 0x20, etc. are shown in the figure, the emulation name and the storage address of the emulator program corresponding to each are separately stored.

The following is a brief description of the outline of the operation in the case of giving an instruction to confirm the registered form, which is the main part of the embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration. Since the operation during normal printing is not directly related to the present invention, that part will be omitted.

Now, it is assumed that the operator tries to confirm the contents of the form registered in the printer, inputs an instruction to that effect on the operation panel 105, and inputs the desired form management number. Incidentally, such an instruction is given on the operation panel 10
It is assumed that when a predetermined button provided in 5 is pressed, it is performed interactively while watching the menu displayed on the display.

Now, when a specific form is selected, the embodiment does not print the form as it is,
Frame buffer 1 with a form image reduced by a predetermined magnification
First, it is generated at 09c to create a blank portion. Then, the relevant information about the form is added to the margin and printed.

An example of this will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 40 is a form image, and reference numeral 41 is an output example when the confirmation print instruction of the form is instructed.

As shown in the figure, the form image is reduced, the management ID number is shown in the upper part of the margin, the form name and the language name of the emulation used are shown in the lower part.

As a result, for example, the form management can be facilitated only by managing the output result as a file, for example. Moreover, when the form is used, it becomes clear at a glance which printer language should be used to send the print data.

The operational processing of the CPU 107 of the embodiment for carrying out the above processing is specifically shown in the flow chart of FIG.

The process is started by obtaining the form number to be output from the operation panel 105 (step S3).
01).

In step S302, the address of the form information corresponding to the form number requested to be output in the form management table 109c is obtained, the size of the form data is reduced, and the frame buffer 109c
To a predetermined area of. The emulator used at this time follows the contents of the emulator flag.

In step S303, the name of an emulator that can use this form is obtained from the available emulator flag in the form management table.

In step S304, step S303
Information such as the emulator name, the form management number, and the form name obtained in step S3 is expanded at a predetermined position in the frame buffer 109c, and output in step S305 to finish.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when it is confirmed what the registered form is, information useful for using the form is not simply printed. To print together. This allows the operator to be provided with sufficient information to properly use the form.

<Description of Second Embodiment> The above-mentioned embodiment (first embodiment)
In the example), when a specific form is selected, the contents of the selected form and information useful for using the form are printed. An example of printing the registration form will be described.

The apparatus configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and only the operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Of course, ROM
A program based on the flowchart of FIG. Further, in the present embodiment, all forms are printed, and it is sufficient for the operator to obtain the contents and necessary information. Therefore, the form is made smaller than that in the first embodiment (for example, 1 / 5)) Many forms and their significant information are printed on one sheet of recording paper.

This process is started when a request to output a list of all registered forms is made by the operation 105 (step S501). However, prior to the start of this processing, the size of the recording paper loaded at that time is detected, and a frame buffer for image expansion corresponding to the detected recording paper size is secured.

In step S502, it is checked whether all the forms have been expanded, and if completed, step S5.
At 08, the contents of the frame buffer are output, and the process ends. If there is unexpanded form data, proceed to the next step.

In step S503, it is checked whether or not there is room to expand new form data on the current page. If there is no room, the contents of the frame buffer 109c are output in step S504, and the page is changed (printing process). Start and discharge).

In any case, the process is step S505.
Then, the next form is reduced and expanded on the frame buffer 109c at a predetermined ratio.

In step S506, the name of an emulator that can use this form is obtained from the available emulator flag in the form management table.

In step S507, step S506
Information such as the emulator name, the form management number, and the form name obtained in step S4 is expanded in the frame buffer, and the process returns to step S502 to determine whether to continue the process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing what kind of result is obtained by the processing shown in FIG. This is the result of reducing the layouts of a plurality of forms on one sheet of output paper and printing them together with their management information. If all the forms cannot fit on one sheet of paper, the same layout will be developed and output on the second and subsequent sheets. As shown in the figure, the printed contents are the same as those of the first embodiment described above, and the management ID number of each form, its form name, and the emulator name that can be used are shown.

The reduction ratios of all the forms are the same. This also makes it possible to compare the sizes of the forms relatively. When printing all forms, the number of forms printed on one page is determined by printing the form list according to the size of the recording paper loaded at that time. Depends on the size of. Further, since the form is printed according to the size of the recording paper, it is not necessary to carry out an operation such as loading a recording paper of a specific size. The method of detecting the recording paper size itself is publicly known, and its description is omitted.

<Description of Other Embodiments> Generally, when comparing a memory element and a rotary storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device, the former is advantageous in terms of speed, but the cost for the memory amount is the latter. Is more advantageous.
Therefore, when managing a large number of forms, it is better to connect an external storage device to the printer device and store and manage each form information. In this case, RAM1
This can be achieved by storing the information corresponding to the form management table area and the form information storage area in 09 in the external storage device as a file.

When the form is registered and managed in the external storage device, it is desirable that the external storage device or the storage medium be removable. The reason is, for example, when you try to print using the registered form, even if the computer is being operated by another person, you can just attach the storage medium to the storage device of another printer and immediately This is because it is possible to respond.

In each of the above embodiments, the printer engine 103 may have a double-sided printing function. In this case, the form information or the list thereof can be printed on the front and back of one sheet, which is convenient for creating a form catalog. Further, by printing the form information on the front side and the form management information on the back side, it is not necessary to reduce the size of the form.

In the present embodiment, the example of the laser beam printer was explained, but the present invention is not limited to this, and in the case of a printer of another printing system such as an ink jet printer or a thermal transfer printer. Can also be applied to.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the form is output by the instruction from the panel, but the form may be output by a predetermined control command from the host computer or the like to the printing apparatus. However, it is desirable that the operation panel on the printing apparatus side can be used for instructing. The reason is that in order to check the form, you have to operate it on the computer one by one, and when the computer is being operated by another person, the work has to be completed or interrupted. Because.

The present embodiment may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. The present invention can also be applied to the case where the invention is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

Further, in addition to the above-described embodiment, when the printing apparatus is made to download a new form, step S302 based on the first embodiment is automatically executed regardless of whether or not there is an instruction to confirm the form automatically. The subsequent steps may be executed. According to such processing, a catalog is automatically constructed every time a new form is registered, and form management becomes easy.

The book may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a printing device that allows easier operation when selecting a form, and reduce the burden on the user regarding the use of the form overlay function.

[0055]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block structure of a controller of a laser beam printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a format of a form management table area in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure when there is a form output request in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between a form and an output result when the form output request is received in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a structural cross-sectional view of the printer in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing for a form list output request in the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an output result when a form output request is received in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Printer Controller 102 Host Computer 103 Printer Engine 104 Input Interface 105 Operation Panel 106 System Bus 107 CPU 108 ROM 109 RAM 109a Form Management Table Area 109b Form Information Storage Area 109c Frame Buffer 110 Video Interface

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A printing device for synthesizing an image based on print data sent from a higher-level device and an image based on pre-stored form information and printing the composite image on a predetermined recording medium. Instructing means for instructing confirmation of the form, and when the instruction for confirming the form is made by the instructing means,
A reduction means for reducing the form image by a predetermined magnification, the form image reduced by the reduction means, and a blank portion generated by the reduction are combined with an image based on the form management information corresponding to the form and printed out. A printing device comprising: 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit instructs one of the registered forms. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit issues an instruction to confirm all registered forms. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the form information and the form management information are stored in a predetermined removable storage medium. 5. The output means includes a detection means for detecting the size of a recording medium that is set, and a pair of a reduced form image and the form management information is sequentially added to the size detected by the detection means. After storing, a pair of reduced images of other forms and images based on the form management information are sequentially stored in the margins, and when it is determined that one sheet of recording paper is exceeded, the developed image up to immediately before is printed out. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the printing apparatus is a printing apparatus. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit gives an instruction from an operation panel provided on the apparatus. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the form management information includes form identification information and printer language information used when forming the form. 8. A method of controlling a printing device, which combines an image based on print data sent from a higher-level device and an image based on pre-stored form information, and prints on a predetermined recording medium. A step of instructing confirmation of the stored form, a step of reducing the form image at a predetermined magnification when the form confirmation instruction is issued in the step, and a form image reduced in the step A method of controlling a printing apparatus, comprising: combining the margin portion with an image based on the form management information corresponding to the form, and printing out. 9. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the instructing step is to instruct one of registered forms. 10. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the instruction step issues an instruction to confirm all registered forms. 11. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the form information and the form management information are stored in a predetermined removable storage medium. 12. The output step includes a step of detecting the size of a recording medium that has been set, and a pair of a reduced form image and the form management information is stored in order in the size detected in the detecting step. , A pair of reduced images of other forms and images based on the form management information are sequentially stored in the margin, and when it is determined that one sheet of recording paper is exceeded, the image developed immediately before is printed out. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: 13. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the instructing step is an instruction from an operation panel provided on the apparatus. 14. The control method of a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the form management information includes form identification information and printer language information used when forming the form. .