JPH0740634A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a termination of a job (a printing request unit) being presently printed. CONSTITUTION:Data with the addition of data for starting/completing a job transmitted from a printer driver 1.2 of a host device is received by a reception buffer 1.3. A job termination instruction to data stored on the reception buffer and data of a job under reception is inputted from an input part 1.6. In this manner, if data of a present job is all stored on the buffer 1.3, only the data of the present job is read, and the processing is continued from data of a next job. If data of a present job is under reception, the data on the reception buffer 1.3 is all read, data further transmitted from the host device and written on the reception buffer 1.3 are sequentially read, and the processing is continued from data of a next job.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When data is transmitted from a host device to a printer for printing, in the conventional printer, the data transmitted from the host to the printer is data that the printer can perform sequentially. The information on the start and end of the job requested by the host device is not included, and it is not possible for the printer side to recognize where the job is for the host or the application.

[0003]

In such a conventional printer, the data cannot be manipulated on a job-by-job basis on the printer side with respect to the received data. Therefore, 1. A job once sent from the host device cannot be canceled on the printer side unless the host cancels the job (stops data transmission).

2. All the data once stored and held in the printer's receive buffer is analyzed and either the print control is performed according to the analysis result, or all the data in the receive buffer is deleted. However, there is a problem that only the data of the current job in the buffer can be deleted to cancel the job currently being processed, and the data being received cannot be ignored until the end of the current job.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that solves the above problems.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a storage means for receiving and storing data to which job start and end data is added, data on the storage means, and Request input means for requesting the operation of each job for the data of the job being received, analysis means for analyzing the data stored in the storage means, and printing of the data based on the analysis result by the analysis means. It has a control means to control. As a result, the printing can be stopped for each job on the printer side.

[0007]

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In the host device, the print request requested from the system 1.1 is converted into a printer control code by the printer driver 1.2 and transmitted to the printer. In the printer, this transmission data is stored and held in the reception buffer of 1.3 and sequentially read by the data analysis unit of 1.4. The result analyzed by the data analysis unit 1.4 is transmitted to the print control unit 1.5, and the requested printing operation or the like is performed. An input unit 1.6 is an input unit provided in the printer for canceling printing on a job basis.

In order to realize the control of the printer in the present invention, 1. 1. The system provides the job start / end information to the printer driver. 2. The printer driver provides job start and end information to the printer. It is necessary for the printer to be able to recognize the command indicating the start and end of the job received from the printer driver. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the printing process can be performed when all of these conditions are satisfied and when any one of them is based on the conventional method.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the process of the printer driver 1.2 shown in FIG. The procedure shown in this flowchart is stored in the memory in the host device, and is executed by the CPU in the host device. When a print request is generated in the host device, the system sends data to the printer driver. For simplicity, the data passed from the system in 2.1 shall be passed in the smallest unit that can control the printer. The process of the printer driver of FIG. 2 is repeatedly started every time print data is sent from the system.

When the system sends data indicating the start and end of a job (2.2, 2.3), the printer driver converts the data into commands indicating start and end (2. 4, 2.6), and sends it to the printer (2.7). At this time, these commands have no effect on the printer in the conventional method so that the printer can operate in the conventional method. Other data is converted into a printer control command (2.5) and transmitted (2.7). In this way
The data transmitted to the printer has a form in which the data indicating the boundary of the job is inserted into the conventional data as shown in FIG.

When the system does not send job start / end information to the printer driver, the printer driver sends data in a form that does not recognize a conventional job.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of processing in the data analysis unit 1.4 of FIG. The data analysis unit 1.4 has a ROM that stores the procedure shown in FIG. 4, a RAM that has a temporary storage area for data, and a CPU that executes this. The data analysis unit is activated with unprocessed data existing in the reception buffer. For simplicity, the data read from the reception buffer can be taken out for each command (including parameters, if any) that is the smallest independent unit for the printer to control. The input unit 1.6 of FIG. 1 can input a command to cancel a job currently being processed, in addition to a function that a conventional printer can perform, such as off-line, erasing data on a reception buffer, and the like. F
LAG1 is data indicating an instruction to stop printing, and is a variable that the printer internally has. The initial value is OFF and 1.
ON when there is a job cancel input from the input section of 6
Is set to. FLAG2 is a variable that is set when the data sent from the host is sent in the command format for recognizing the job, and the initial value is OFF.

In 4.1, FLAG1 is checked. When it is OFF, if there is unprocessed data in the reception buffer (4.
2) Read the data (4.3), and if the data indicates the start of the job (4.4), set FLAG2 to ON (4.
6) Return to 4.1. If the read data is data indicating the end of the job (4.5), set FLAG2 to OF.
Set to F (4.7) and return to 4.1. If neither, it is regarded as a printer control code, and the printer is controlled based on the result of analysis (4.8) (4.9), 4.
Return to 1. This process is repeated until there is no unprocessed data in the receive buffer. When there is no more data in the buffer, the process ends, but each FLA
The value of G is stored.

If the FLAG1 is ON in 4.1, the print end processing such as paper discharge is performed (4.10). And FLAG
2 is checked (4.11), and if it is ON, the data in the reception buffer is skipped until a job end command arrives (4.12, 4.13, 4.14). When there is no unprocessed data in the receive buffer (4.1
2), the value of each FLAG is stored, and the process ends. If the end command is read (4.14), FLAG
1. Turn off FLAG2 (4.15, 4.16),
Return to 4.1. FLAG1 is ON and FLAG2 is OFF
In the case of (4.1, 4.10, 4.11), since data in a format in which the job cannot be recognized is being received, the current data in the reception buffer is erased (4.17), and FL is set.
Turn off AG1 (4.16) and return to 4.1.

In this way, when the job cancel instruction is input on the printer side, it functions as follows.

When the job is being received in a format that can be recognized: When the data of the current job is all in the buffer, only the data of the current job is discarded and the processing is continued from the data of the next job. . When the data of the current job is being received, all the data in the receive buffer is read out, and when the data sent from the host is written in the receive buffer, it is read and discarded one after another, and the data of the next job is read. Continue processing.

When the job is being received in a conventional format that cannot be recognized: The current print processing is stopped and the data on the current print buffer is erased. This corresponds to the reset function of the conventional printer.

[Other Embodiments] 1. The job start and end command addition by the printer driver and their command processing in the data analysis unit in the above-described embodiment can be realized as printer control command specifications.

2. The output of the printer driver may be a system or a print spooler.

3. In a system that performs print spooling, the above job start and end commands are added to the output of the print spooler, and the same effect can be achieved.

4. In addition, in a system that performs print spooling, since the start and end of a job are more clear, the command addition function of the printer driver in the above embodiment may be performed by the print spooler.

[0023]

As described above, it is possible to cancel a job currently being printed in the printer in a form that can coexist with the conventional method.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing by a printer driver.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating data transmitted by a printer driver.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of a data analysis unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1.1 System 1.2 Printer Driver 1.3 Receive Buffer 1.4 Data Analysis Section 1.5 Print Control Section 1.6 Input Section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for receiving and storing data to which data of start and end of a job is added, and a request for requesting an operation on a job basis for the data on the storage unit and the data of the job being received. A printer comprising: an input unit, an analyzing unit that analyzes data stored in the storage unit, and a control unit that controls printing of the data based on a result of analysis by the analyzing unit.