JPH0761054A - Card printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a card printer executing specific data printing processing even off-line. CONSTITUTION:A printing part and a control part are provided in a printer having a slot in which a soft card 3 is inserted in a freely detachable manner and an operation display part 4 provided to the front thereof and predetermined printing is applied to paper to discharge printed paper to a paper discharge tray part by a paper discharge roller. The soft card 3 has an ROM 3a and an RAM 3b built therein and the ROM stores printing data classified by items, a searching table and a program for printing and data documents by items. A CPU 12 reads the program of the ROM and searches the searching table on the basis of the classifying item inputted in the conversation system with an operator to know the address stored in the item data concerned and reads a data document from the address of the printing data of the ROM to execute original printing processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card printer device which executes a specific information printing process even when it is offline.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer device is connected to a host computer and performs a printing operation simply in accordance with print designation information sent from the host computer, or print information sent from the host computer to a storage device. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a printer device or the like having a local print function of accumulating and designating the number of prints from an operation unit on the printer device side to print a desired number of copies only on the printer device side.

In any case, the information to be printed is generated on the host computer side, and the printer device simply receives the generated information and converts it into corresponding image data, and prints the image data on paper. It had only the function of doing.

[0004]

As described above, since the printer device has only a passive function, the printer device alone is useless without a large-scale system such as a host computer. That is, unless application software compatible with the host computer is prepared, desired print data is created using the application software, and the print data is sent to the printer device side, the printer device side cannot perform print processing at all. Therefore, not only is it troublesome to perform printing using the printer device, but the use of the printer device is limited because it depends on the host computer. As described above, since the use of the printer device is limited, the printer device is also an expensive device, and there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the use, and some improvement in usability has been demanded.

In view of the above conventional circumstances, the present invention has a normal page printer function for connecting to a host computer to perform a printing process, and independently prints information on the printer side regardless of information from the host computer. The object of the present invention is to provide a printer device having an offline printer function capable of outputting, and more specifically, to insert desired information into a printer device by inserting various information retrieval cards that are detachably mountable in the printer device main body. An object of the present invention is to provide a card printer device capable of automatically and quickly printing by the device itself.

[0006]

The structure of the printer apparatus according to the present invention will be described below. The present invention is premised on a card printer device including a printer unit that prints out based on print information read from a memory card that is replaceably attached to the device body.

In the card printer device of the present invention, the storage means is built in the memory card and stores a plurality of print information for each classification item. The means is, for example, a ROM (Read-On
ly-Memory), RAM (Random-Access-Memory), and the like.

The designation input means designates and inputs the classification items of the plurality of print information stored in the upper storage means. The means comprises, for example, an operation display unit provided with an input key and a display device.

The selecting means selects, from the classification items designated by the designation inputting means, an address at which the print information corresponding to the classification item is stored. The reading means is
The information to be printed stored at the address selected by the selection means is read.

The print control means controls the printer means to print out the information to be printed read by the reading means. The selecting means, the reading means, and the print control means are composed of, for example, a CPU (Central-Processing-Unit), a system ROM, a subsystem dedicated to image data processing, and the like.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a plurality of print information are stored for each classification item by the storage means built in the memory card. When this memory card is installed in the card printer and the classification item is designated and input by the designation input means, the printing information corresponding to the classification item is stored from the designated classification items by the selection means. Selected address is selected. Then, the print information stored at the selected address is read by the read means, and the print control means controls the printer means to print out the read print information.

As a result, even if the printer is offline, it is possible to automatically print the desired information by inserting the various information retrieval cards into the printer body.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a card printer device according to an embodiment. As shown in the figure, the card printer device 1 is provided with two upper and lower card slots 2a and 2b on the right side of the front surface of the device. A software card (memory card) 3 containing application software for independently performing special printing by disconnecting the card printer device 1 from the connection of the host computer can be freely inserted into these card slots 2a and 2b. It is installed. Further, the card printer device 1 is provided with an operation display unit 4 which will be described later in detail on the upper front portion thereof, and a paper cassette insertion slot 5 at the center of the front surface. A paper discharge roller 6 for discharging printed paper is provided at the back of the upper part of the apparatus, and a paper discharge tray section 7 for mounting the discharged printed paper is provided in front of it.
Are formed. Inside the main body of the apparatus, a printing unit including a paper feeding device, a printing device, a conveying device, a fixing device, and the like, which are not particularly shown, and a control unit described later are provided.

The user freely inserts a paper cassette (not shown) into the paper cassette insertion slot 5 and inputs data according to the interactive input display from the operation display section 4 to input the desired data to the card printer device 1. Information can be printed. The card printer device 1 performs predetermined printing on the paper stored in the paper cassette, and ejects the printed paper onto the paper ejection tray section 7 by the paper ejection roller 6.

Next, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a control unit provided inside the card printer device 1. As shown in the figure, the operation display unit 4 described above is provided on the bus line 11 of the card printer device control unit 10.
And slots 2a and 2b are connected. The bus line 11 further includes a CPU (central processing unit) 12, a system ROM (ROM: read only memory, the same applies hereinafter) 13, a system RAM (RAM: random access memory, apply similarly below) 14, a CG memory. 15, FRA
An M16 and a printer I / F (I / F: interface; hereinafter the same) 17 are connected, and this printer I / F1
A printer engine 18 is connected via 7. Hereinafter, these configurations will be described.

The operation display unit 4 displays operation information keyed in to execute printing processing of various information in the CPU 12.
Then, under the control of the CPU 12, the information to be notified to the user in response to the above operation is displayed.

A soft card 3 is installed in the slot 2a, and the soft card 3 includes a ROM 3a and a RAM.
Built in 3b. The ROM 3a stores an application program for the card printer apparatus 1 to perform special print processing independently without using a host computer, and a large amount of information to be selected and printed out by the user. The RAM 3b stores information used in the print processing unique to the card printer device 1 that is created in advance by a user's key operation of the operation display unit 4, for example, designated item data, if necessary.

Although not shown in the figure, a software card including a CG memory storing special font data is attached to the slot 2b as needed, and a large number of print fonts are exchanged by exchanging the software card. Variations can be obtained.

The system ROM 13 stores a basic program for normally operating the card printer device 1 in cooperation with the host computer.
Based on the program read from the system ROM 13, the print processing control based on the print information sent from the host computer is executed.

The system RAM 14 has an application program area, and temporarily stores the application program read from the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 until the special printing process unique to the card printer device is completed. Further, a storage area used as a work area is provided, and key operation information input from the operation display unit 4 and C
Intermediate data and the like generated during processing by the PU 12 are temporarily stored. Further, a memory having a page buffer area for one sheet of paper, which is to be accessed in order to read out individual processing designation information, that is, print information, which is executed based on a result obtained by the CPU 12 analyzing the key operation information ( Processing designation information called an intermediate code or an internal code composed of addresses of the ROM 3a or the RAM 3b) is stored in the printing order.

The CG memory 15 is a ROM that stores character pattern data (character data or font data) corresponding to the character code included in the print information, and stores different types of font data.

The FRAM 16 is a frame memory having a capacity for accumulating pattern data for one sheet. C
When the PU 12 recognizes that the FRAM 16 is in the pattern data expandable state, the above-mentioned stem RAM 1
The intermediate code is read from the page buffer area of No. 3, analyzed, and based on the obtained result, pattern data is generated by the CG memory 15 or the CG software card installed in the slot 2b, and the pattern data is generated by the FRAM1.
6 is sequentially written on a predetermined address and expanded. Then, when the expanded pattern data reaches the amount to be printed,
Transfer to the printer engine 18 via the printer I / F 17.

The printer engine 18 constitutes the printing device of the printing section described in the explanation of FIG. 1, and drives a print head such as an LED print head or a laser print head according to the transferred pattern data. Optical writing information is generated, the photosensitive member is exposed by the optical writing to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member, the electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to a sheet,
It is configured by an electrophotographic print processing unit that prints by thermally fixing the toner image on the paper.

A host I / F 19 for connecting a host device such as a personal computer to the bus line 11 when the card printer device 1 is used as a normal printer device.
Are connected. The host I / F 19 includes a serial I / F for connecting a small host device such as a personal computer or a workstation, and a parallel I / F for connecting a large host device such as a large computer.

The reception buffer 20 temporarily stores and stores print information input from the host device during normal print processing based on the print information sent from the host device. The CPU 12 sequentially reads the print information from the reception buffer 20 for each processing unit, analyzes the print information, generates an intermediate code, and sequentially stores the intermediate code in the page buffer area of the system RAM 13 described above.

Next, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 described above. As shown in the figure, the ROM 3a includes an application program 3a-1 which is a dedicated program for printing application data (history information in this example) as print information stored in the soft card 3, and this application. It comprises history document data 3a-2, which is history information printed by a program, and a data search table 3a-3 for extracting desired information from the history document data 3a-2. Historical document data 3a-
2 consists of a number of article documents that describe historical matters, and each article document contains an article number. (Article number) is added. Data retrieval table 3 above
Reference numeral a-3 is an article search table for searching an arbitrary one of these article documents.

FIG. 4A shows the structure of the article search table (data search table) 3a-3. As shown in the figure, in the article search table 3a-3, one record shown in one horizontal row corresponds to one article N.
o. , Article name, date, period name, and geography, and a document data storage address in which the article document is stored.

The above-mentioned document data storage address is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), each article document is composed of a start address and an end address. In addition, in these article documents, for example, an outline of the article document is stored at the beginning.

The user can specify any desired article document from a large number of article documents by inputting any of the above-mentioned five classification items, whereby the desired article document can be printed out. Can be made.

FIG. 5 is a detailed external view of the operation display unit 4 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 for inputting this classification item. As shown in the figure, the operation display unit 4 is provided with a horizontally long display 4-1 in the upper part, a power key unit 4-2 and an instruction key unit 4-3 in the center, and one left side surface below the center. The character key section 4-4 and the ten-key section 4-5 are provided on the right side.

The display 4-1 is composed of a liquid crystal display device and is configured to perform interactive display, and corresponds to the input operation of each key arranged in the central portion and the lower portion of the operation display portion 4. Display the data. Thus, the history information search items to be output by the card printer device 1 can be specified externally by a key input operation.

The function of each key is that the "ON" key of the power key section 4-2 turns on the power when operated, and the "OFF" key of the same section turns off the power. The "ON-LINE" key of the instruction key unit 4-3 switches the connection with the host computer alternately on and off each time it is operated.

When the "MENU" key in the same section is operated, a menu for selecting an operation of the card printer device 1, such as a telephone, a business card, a memo, a schedule, a calendar, an option card, etc., is displayed 4-1. To display.

Each time the "SELECT" key in the same section is operated, the card print mode, which is a mode in which the printing process is performed by the card printer 1, is switched on and off alternately. However, the card printer device 1 recognizes that the soft card 3 is previously mounted in the card slot 2a or 2b when the power is turned on, and automatically sets the card print mode by recognizing this.

The "GO" key of the same section is a key for executing the operation of the card printer device 1 based on the information input from the operation display section 4. When the "STOP" key of the same section is operated, the operation of the card printer device 1 currently being executed is interrupted.

The "←", "→", "↑", and "↓" keys in the same section are used to move a cursor for instructing a menu or the like displayed on the display 4-1 or scroll the display. Is the key.

The character key section 4-4 is provided with kana character keys for displaying the Japanese syllabary for inputting phonetic characters, and each key is changed into an alphabetic character and a symbol input key by operating the "alphabet" key described later. The function switches. It is also possible to input Roman characters by using the English character and symbol input keys. The shift key at the lower left end of the same portion is a key for selecting the function of an instruction key which will be described later and has the same color as this key.

The numeric keypad section 4-5 has "0", "1"-
A numeric keypad such as "9", "・", "=" is provided in the center,
Surrounding them, from the lower left to the lower right, clockwise, "release", "quarter corner", "alphabet", "hirakata", "time date", "function", "symbol", "Character memory", "Single Kanji", "No conversion", "Conversion", "-",
It is provided with 13 instruction keys of "execute". Most of the instruction keys have at least two types of functions. For example, the function of the “non-conversion” key is switched to the “katakana conversion” key by operating the shift key described above.
Furthermore, the "no conversion", "conversion", "-", and "execute" keys are "÷" when calculating with the numeric keypad,
The function is switched to each of the "x", "-" and "+" keys.

The "cancel" key cancels the input of input information, the "1/4" key is a readable lowercase letter, the "alphabet" key is a switch from the Japanese syllabary key to the alphabet and symbol input keys, and " The "hirakata" key is a key for instructing the alternate switching of the hiragana and katakana characters.

The "time date" key is a key for setting the date and time, and by the setting, the date and time of the day is automatically displayed when the menu of the schedule or the calendar is selected. . The "function" key is a key for displaying a more detailed function menu when executing the selected menu. The "symbol" key is a key for calling an external character and various symbols. "Character memory" is a key for calling a user-registered short sentence. The “single kanji” is a key for displaying and selecting a single kanji corresponding to the reading. The "non-conversion" key is a key for fixing the input reading as it is as a kana character. The “conversion” key is a key for converting the input phonetic characters into batch kanji.

When the "-" key is operated, a hyphen is displayed for an alphabetic character, and a long sound symbol is displayed by operating the shift key for Japanese display. And the "Run" key
It is a key for confirming the input information.

Next, the print processing operation in the card / card printer device mode according to the present embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
Also, description will be made with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 6 and the flowchart of FIG.
Symbols A and B are connected to each other. Further, this processing is performed by the instruction key unit 4-3 of the operation display unit 4 shown in FIG.
When the "ON-LINE" key is operated to turn off the connection with the host computer, and then the "SELECT" key of the instruction key section 4-3 is also operated to enter the card card printer device mode, Alternatively, when the soft card 3 is already installed in the slot 2a or 2b and the card card printer device mode is automatically set when the power is turned on, the soft card 3 is stored in the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 by the CPU 12 shown in FIG. The application program is read out, and based on this program, information from the host computer is not used, that is, a so-called self-printing process unique to the card printer 1 independent of the host computer is executed. In addition, in this processing, the ROM 3a of the soft card 3
The application program stored in
And the software dedicated to historical information illustrated in FIG.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, first, the mounting state of the soft card 3 is determined (step S).
1). Then, when the soft card 3 is not attached (S1, N), the attachment is waited. In this case, inquiry display processing for the operator is performed.

When the mounting of the soft card 3 is detected (S1, Y), the application program stored in the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 is read and loaded into the system RAM 13 (step S2).

Then, the execution of the application program loaded in the system RAM 13 is started (step S3). To start executing the application program, first, the display 4 of the operation display unit 4 shown in FIG.
The display processing of the menu screen requesting to input the designation of the print mode is performed at -1 (step S4). This process is a process for allowing the operator to select whether the card printer device 1 performs its own printing or other printing.

Then, the operator waits for a key input operation by an operator who designates printing unique to the card printer 1 or other printing (step S5). As a result, the operator makes a key input for menu selection on the display screen. With this key input, the operator may input the menu number on the display screen to select it, or may select it by operating the cursor key and the execution key. This also applies to subsequent menu selections.

If the menu designated by the operator's key input is the printing by the card printing apparatus 1 by the soft card 3, the processing of the print designation item input routine described below is performed.

First, display processing of a search mode designation screen for allowing the operator to select the search mode based on which category item is used to search the article document (step S6). As a result, all classification items, for example, FIG.
The article number of the article search table shown in (a). , Name,
Five classification items consisting of date, period name, and geography
A menu is displayed on the display 4-2 of the operation display unit 4.

When the search mode (classification item) is selected from the menu display by the key input by the operator, the selected classification item is set in the system R.
It is stored in a predetermined area of the AM 13 (step S7). As a result, the above article No. , A person's name, a date, an era name, and geography are set as a search mode indicating a search method.

Next, a display process is carried out for instructing the operator which item among the designated classification items to retrieve and print out (step S8). In this process, for example, if the "person's name" category is selected and specified in the search mode (category item) selection, the "person's name" items such as "Odanobunaga", "Tokugawayeyasu" in history List the names of people in. Also, for example, if "geography" is selected, a list of place names related to historical cases such as "Kamakura", "kyoto", "nara" is displayed as an item in "geography". In these list displays, scroll the desired display location to display 4
-1 can be displayed.

Subsequently, when an item is selected from the list display by the key input by the operator, the item designated by this selection is stored in a predetermined area of the system RAM 13 (step S9).

Then, the article document data 3a-2 is searched based on the document data storage address corresponding to the designated item in the article search table 3a-3 (see FIG. 4 (b)).
After displaying the outline of the article document corresponding to the specified item read out by this search (step S10), display processing is performed to display "Print?" On the display 4-1 (step S11). In this display process, the input of the execution key and the clear key (or the release key) may be made to correspond to the response of Yes (No) or No (No), or the operator may input the numeric key or the cursor. With the above display, "1. Yes", "2.
A message such as "No" may be displayed.

Subsequently, the operator waits for a response to the above-mentioned display by key input (step S12). If the key input is not accepted (S12, N), in this case, the display 4-1 indicates " Do you want to continue searching? "Is displayed (step S13). The key input of the response from the operator to this display is also performed in the same manner as described above.

Then, the operator waits for a key input indicating whether or not this display is permitted (step 14). If the key input from the operator is acceptable (S14,
Y), subsequently, it is determined whether or not the article search table 3a-3 has been searched up to the final address (step S15), and if the final address has not been searched yet (S15,
N), returning to the above step S10, step S10
Step S12 or steps S10 to S15 are repeated. Thus, the search is repeated until the desired article document in the designated items is displayed.

In step S11, the outline of the desired article document is displayed, and in the next step S12, if there is a key input by the operator (S12, Y), the above-mentioned outline permitted to be printed by this key input is displayed. The article document being displayed
System R from the corresponding address of article document data 3a-2
The article pattern is read in the page buffer area of the AM 13 (step S17), and the read article document is subjected to a character pattern by the same processing as the normal print information processing based on the CG memory 15 or the CG software card mounted in the slot 2b. The data is converted into data, and the conversion of the converted character pattern data into the FRAM 16 is started (step S1).
8).

Then, the development of the character pattern data for one page is completed (step S19), and the printing process is performed (step S20). If the article document output from the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 extends over multiple pages,
The above steps S19 and S20 are repeated to automatically perform a page break to print the entire article document.

Then, the process returns to the display process of the menu screen in step S4 described above. If the last address has been searched in step S15, display processing is performed on the display 4-1 as "No desired information?" (Step S16), and the process returns to step S4. If the key input is not accepted in step S14 (S14, N), the process immediately returns to step 4.

In the above embodiment, steps S7 to S1.
At 0, only one item as a search key is input, but steps S7 to S10 are repeated to input a plurality of arbitrary items from upper items to lower items to further limit the search range. Good.

Further, the data input such as the person's name and geography is input in katakana, but it is not limited to katakana, and it may be input in kanji. In this embodiment, input data is input by operating each key of the character key section 4-4 and the ten-key section 4-5 provided in the operation display section 4 shown in FIG. 5 of the card printer device 1 shown in FIG. A kanji dictionary memory is provided internally so that it can be input as kanji data. These are constructed using well-known word processing technology.

Further, the application program in the ROM 3a of the soft card 3 is once loaded into the application program area of the system RAM 14 and then the application program is read from the system RAM 14 to execute the processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, the processing may be executed while directly accessing the ROM 3a.

Further, although the data of the soft card 3 is used for the historical article document, the data is not limited to this. For example, as the ready-made data stored in the soft card 3, sports,
Specific documents such as cooking, parenting, animal and plant pictorial books, academics, lyrics,
If you prepare various information data such as guide maps, sheet music, form paper, etc., and select the software card that stores each of them to perform the printing process, you can perform a wide variety of printing work without a host computer. It is very easy to implement and has many possible applications.

In the above embodiment, the soft card incorporating the semiconductor memory device is used as the storage medium for storing the print information and the program for controlling the printing operation, but the present invention is not limited to this. Any storage medium can be used by adopting a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like as the medium and incorporating a driver device for reading and writing information in these storage media in the printer body.

[0063]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a soft card which is detachably attached to the card printer main body is simply inserted into the card printer.
Since the desired special information can be automatically and quickly printed out by the card printer itself, an inexpensive and multifunctional printing system can be easily realized, and the operation of the host computer is not required for the printing process, and therefore high performance is achieved. The printing cost is reduced and the power consumption is reduced without using an excessively expensive host computer. In addition, a wide variety of changes in the printing process can be handled simply by exchanging the soft card installed in the card printer main body, so there is no need to use difficult software for the host computer, and therefore printing work is troublesome. It is convenient and does not take.

In addition, since the software card which is detachably attached to the card printer device main body stores all the information to be printed by the card printer device and the control information for selectively printing the information, The newly developed processing function can be easily dealt with by simply installing the soft card, and therefore, the function of the card printer device is infinitely expanded, which improves the cost performance of the card printer device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a card printer device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a card printer device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of a ROM in a soft card.

4A is a diagram showing a configuration of an article search table having a ROM data configuration in a soft card, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a configuration of article document data of the same.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation panel of the card printer device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (No. 1) for explaining the processing operation by the CPU based on the application program in the soft card.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (No. 2) for explaining the processing operation by the CPU based on the application program in the soft card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Card Printer 2a, 2b Card Slot 3 Soft Card (Memory Card) 3a ROM (Read Only Memory) 3a-1 Application Program 3a-2 Application Data 3a-3 Data Search Table 3b RAM (Random Access Memory) 4) Operation panel 4-1 Display 4-2 Power key section 4-3 Instruction key section 4-4 Character key section 4-5 Numerical key section 5 Paper cassette insertion slot 6 Paper ejection roller 7 Paper ejection tray section 12 CPU (center) Arithmetic processing device) 13 system ROM 14 system RAM 15 CG memory 16 FRAM 17 printer I / F 18 printer engine 20 reception buffer

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Kobayashi 2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo Casio Electronics Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card printer device comprising a printer means for printing and outputting based on print information read from a memory card that is exchangeably mounted in the main body of the device, the card printer device being built in the memory card and classifying a plurality of print information. A storage unit that stores the items, a designation input unit that designates and inputs the classification items of the plurality of print information stored in the storage unit, and a classification item that is designated by the designation input unit. Selecting means for selecting an address in which print information corresponding to the print information is stored, reading means for reading the print information stored in the address selected by the selecting means, and print information read by the read means. A card printer device comprising: a print control unit that controls the printer unit to print out.