JPH0796647A - Printer and printer controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer for automatically printing print data on a record sheet folded by doubling. CONSTITUTION:A frame memory 102 stores print data for one page by splitting, and a conveying process 130 conveys it to a record sheet folded by doubling. A drum process 120 prints print data stored in the memory 102 on the sheet folded by doubling and conveyed by the process 130 to print the sheet of twice as large as a conveyable record sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a printer device that automatically prints print data on a half-folded recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the size printable by a printer device has been in accordance with the physical capability of the carrying process of the printer device.

[0003]

However, in the conventional printer device, it is necessary to make the developing process and the carrying process large corresponding to the recording paper size allowed by the printer device. Has a problem in that it requires a large installation space and is costly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device which automatically prints print data on a half-folded recording paper.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In order to solve the above problems, a data storage unit that stores print data for one page in two halves, a half-folded recording sheet that is folded in half, and a recording sheet conveying unit that conveys the folded recording sheet, A printing unit that prints the print data stored in the data storage unit on the double-folded recording sheet transported by the recording sheet transporting unit.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a second aspect of the present invention is to provide print data storage means for storing print data for one page by dividing the print data into front and rear parts and storing the print data in the front half. First data transfer means for reading out the print data of the above and transferring it to the printer device, and the first data transfer for reading the print data for the latter half of the second half stored in the print data storage device with an offset and transferring it to the printer device. Means and are provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in addition to the printer device according to the first aspect, in a printer device having a plurality of paper feed trays, a first paper feeding device in which recording paper is mounted is provided. When the paper tray, the second paper feed tray in which the folded recording paper is loaded, and the recording paper are designated, the first paper feeding tray is selected, and the folded recording paper is designated And a control means for selecting the second paper feed tray.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the frame memory is 1
The print data for one page is divided into two and stored, and the conveyance process conveys the half-folded recording paper. The drum process prints the print data stored in the frame memory on the double-folded recording paper conveyed by the conveyance process, thereby printing on the recording paper twice the size of the recording paper that can be conveyed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the print data memory stores the print data for one page by dividing the print data into front and rear. The control unit reads the first half print data stored in the print data memory and transfers it to the printer device, and after the printer device prints the first half print data of one page,
The latter half of the print data stored in the print data memory is read with an offset and transferred to the printer device, and the printer device prints the print data of the second half of one page, thereby reducing the capacity of the frame memory of the printer device. Cut in half

According to another aspect of the invention, the controller has a first paper feed tray on which the recording paper is mounted and a second paper feed tray on which the half-folded recording paper is mounted. If it is specified, the first paper tray is selected, and if double-folded recording paper is specified, the second paper tray is selected. To prevent.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) First, the system configuration of the printer will be described. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention (claim 1).

As shown in FIG. 1, a page printer 100.
Is a printer which, after determining the character arrangement for one page, prints on a cut sheet at high speed in units of one minute. The controller unit 101 controls the capacity of one A3 size page. The frame memory 102 develops print data into a bitmap on the memory. The host I / F (interface) connects the printer 100 to the host computer 2
This is an interface for connecting with 00. The engine control unit 110 prints the print data developed on the frame memory 102 according to the operation command issued by the controller unit 101 on the recording paper of A4 size by the drum process 120, and folds the print data into A4 size by the conveyance process 130. The conveyance of the recorded recording paper is controlled. The drum process 120 prints A4 size recording paper. The transport process 130 transports a recording sheet obtained by folding an A3 size recording sheet into an A4 size.

The host computer 200 transfers the print data to the printer device 100 and controls the printer device 100. The application 201 is an arbitrary software program used by the operator, and has a program for generating print data and controlling the printer. Printer I / F
An (interface) 202 is an interface that can be electrically connected to a printer device. Control unit 203
Controls the entire host computer programmatically. The print data memory 204 is used by the application 2
The print data generated by 01 is stored.

Further, according to the present invention, two modes, a double-sided printing mode and a normal printing mode, are prepared. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a recording paper size and a print size used in the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the recording paper having the size S1 obtained by folding the recording paper of the size S2, which is twice the size of the size S1, into two is conveyed by the conveying process 13.
0, and the drum process 120 prints a recording sheet of size S1. First, the recording paper surface PS1 is printed, and then the recording paper surface PS2 is printed. At that time, the sheet is conveyed so that the origin on the printing coordinates comes to the recording sheet edge PE1 of the folded recording sheet. After the recording paper surface PS2 is printed and ejected, the recording paper edge PE2 on the broken line side of the recording paper is set in the paper feed tray so that the origin on the printing coordinates comes.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of bit map expansion of the frame memory 102 used in the printer apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, data Da of S2 size transferred from the host computer 200
The ta1 (S2) is received and expanded in the frame memory 102. When the expansion is completed, the data on the frame memory 102 is divided into two and divided into data 102-a and 102-b. At this time, each of the data 102-a and 102-b is S1 size data which is one half of the S2 size data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which printing is performed by the printer device according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, first, a folded folding recording sheet is conveyed by a conveying process 130, A1 size Data1 is printed on the PS1 surface by the drum process 120, and then discharged. The recording paper is set in the paper discharge tray so that the origin on the print coordinates comes to the PS2 surface on the broken line side, and the divided A2 size Data2 in the frame memory 102 is set to the drum process 1
After printing on the PS2 side by 20, the paper is discharged. When the discharged recording paper is spread, the same printing as A3 size can be obtained.

Next, the operation will be described. Page printer 1
At 00, the half-folded recording paper shown in FIG. 2B is set in the paper feed tray T1. The host computer 200 sets the double-sided printing mode in the page printer 100, and selects the above-mentioned paper feed tray T1 as the paper feed tray. The host computer 200 transmits data of S2 size (S2) to the page printer 100 and expands it in the frame memory 102. When memory expansion is completed, the data is
The data is divided into data 102-a and data 102-b. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, data 102-a, 102-b
Is S1 size data that is half the size of S2.

Next, the engine control unit 110 transfers the Data1 (A4) stored in the frame memory 102 to the drum process 120. Next, the transport process 130
Is conveyed so that the origin on the print coordinates comes to the open side (PE1 side) of the recording paper folded in two, and the drum process 12
The data 102-a above 0 is printed and then discharged. An example of the printing state at this time is shown in FIG. At this point, the page printer 100 is suspended. Next, the recording paper is set in the paper feed tray T1 so that the origin on the printing coordinates comes to the recording paper edge PE2 side, and the paused state of the page printer 100 is released. Next, the engine control unit 110
Of the Data2 (A stored in the frame memory 102
4) is transferred to the drum process 120. Next, the recording paper edge P of the recording paper folded in half by the conveyance process 130.
The sheet is conveyed so that the origin on the print coordinates comes to E2, the data 102-b on the drum process 120 is printed, and then the sheet is discharged. An example of the printing state at this time is shown in FIG.

Next, the operation will be described based on the flow chart shown in FIG. The half-folded recording paper shown in FIG. 2B is set in one of the paper feed trays of the page printer 100. At this time, the half-folded recording paper is printed on the PS1 side,
In addition, the recording paper is set in the paper feed tray so that the origin on the print coordinates comes to the recording paper edge PE1 of the recording paper (process S1). The controller unit 101 determines whether the double-sided printing mode has been set from the host computer 200 to the page printer 100 (process S2). When the double-sided printing mode is set for the page printer 100, the tray T1 containing the above-mentioned folded-fold recording paper is selected as the paper feed tray (process S).
3). A3 size print data is transmitted from the host computer 200 (process S4) and waits until the data reception is completed (process S5). Print data (A3) of A3 size is received from the host computer 200 and expanded in the frame memory 102. When the expansion into the frame memory 102 is completed, the data is divided into data Data1 (A4) and data Data2 (A4) for A4 size.
Divide (process S6). The engine control unit 110 transfers Data1 (A4) stored in the frame memory 102 to the drum process 120. Next, transfer process 1
30 conveys the folded recording paper, and the drum process 12
0 prints Data1 (A4) and then discharges the paper (FIG. 4). At this point, the printer is put into a temporary stop state (step S7). In order to print on the PS2 surface of the recording paper discharged in step S7, the recording paper edge PE2 is set in the discharge tray so that it is at the origin on the print coordinates, and the temporary stop state of the printer is released (step S8). ). Engine control unit 110
Of the Data2 (A stored in the frame memory 102
4) is transferred to the drum process 120. Next, the transport process 130 transports the folded-two recording paper, the drum process 120 prints Data2 (A4), and then discharges the paper (FIG. 4) (process S9). When the recording paper discharged in step S9 is unfolded, printing equivalent to A3 size printing is obtained (FIG. 4).

The effects of the present invention will be described below. The frame memory stores print data for one page by dividing the print data into two, and the transport process transports the half-folded recording paper. The drum process prints the print data stored in the frame memory on the double-folded recording paper conveyed by the conveyance process, so that the maximum size of paper that can be conveyed by the printer device is 2
It is possible to print up to double the recording paper.

(Embodiment 2) This embodiment (Claim 2) can be applied to the printer apparatus described in FIG. 1 as in Embodiment 1. In this embodiment, a characteristic part of the present invention (claim 2) will be specifically described. FIG. 5 shows a host computer 20.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of a print data memory 204 in which print data existing inside 0 is stored.

In FIG. 5, an area indicated by xy coordinates from the first origin O1 is print data for one page. Second
The origin O2 of is set by the program at a position that bisects Ly. First, the host computer 200 transfers half the data of one page from the origin O1 to the page printer 100 as in the area A shown in FIG. When the page printer 100 finishes printing the area A, the host computer 200 next transfers the data of the latter half of one page from the origin O2 to the page printer 100, as in area B shown in FIG.

First, the operation will be described. When processing print data, the host computer 200 first processes half the data of one page, transfers it to the page printer 100, prints it, and then discharges it, as in area A shown in FIG. At this time, the host computer 200 suspends the output of print data. Similar to the first embodiment, the paper is set on the paper feed tray T1 so that the PS2 surface is printed. The host computer 200, like area B shown in FIG.
Transfer the remaining half of the data, print it, and then eject it.

At this time, unlike the printing on the original paper size, the y coordinate of the printing coordinate is offset by Ly / 2, and the data is transferred with the point O2 as the origin. next,
The operation will be described based on the follow chart shown in FIG. The half-folded recording paper shown in FIG. 2B is set in the paper feed tray T1 of the page printer 100. At this time, the bi-fold recording paper is printed on the PS1 surface and is set in the paper feed tray so that the origin on the printing coordinates comes to the recording paper edge PE1 of the recording paper (process S21). Controller unit 101
From the host computer 200 to the page printer 10
It is determined whether the double-sided printing mode is set to 0 (step S22). When the double-sided printing mode is set for the page printer 100, the tray T1 containing the above-mentioned folded-fold recording paper is selected as the paper feed tray (step S23). The host computer 200 determines whether or not the double-sided printing mode is set (step S24). If the double-sided printing mode is set, the host computer 200 analyzes the print data and displays the area A shown in FIG. The minute print data is transferred (step S25). The page printer receives the print data and expands it in the frame memory 102. Next, the engine control unit 110 transfers the print data for the area A stored in the frame memory 102 to the drum process 120.
Next, the transport process 130 transports the half-folded recording paper, and the drum process 120 transfers the data for area A to PS.
After printing on one side, the sheet is discharged as shown in FIG. 4 (step S26). After the recording paper discharged in step S26 is turned upside down, it is set in the paper feed tray T1 so that the PS2 side becomes the printing side (step S27). Next, the host computer 2
00 transfers the data for area B to the page printer 100. At this time, in the print data memory 204 existing inside the host computer 200, as shown in FIG. 5, an offset of Ly / 2 is added at the y-coordinate and transferred (process S28). The page printer 100 waits until the data reception is completed (step S29). The page printer 100 receives the print data, prints it on the PS2 side, and discharges it (step S29).

The effects of the present invention will be described below. The print data memory stores print data for one page by dividing the print data into front and rear. The control unit reads the first half of the print data stored in the print data memory and transfers it to the printer device. After the printer device prints the print data of the first half of one page, the second half of the print data stored in the print data memory is printed. The print data of is printed with offset added and transferred to the printer, and the printer prints the print data of the latter half of one page, which halves the frame memory capacity of the printer and is economically effective. is there.

(Third Embodiment) This embodiment (Claim 3) can be applied to the printer apparatus described in FIG. 1 as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, a characteristic portion of the present invention (claim 3) will be specifically described. First, the operation will be described.

The printer 100 includes a plurality of paper feed trays T1.
It is assumed that Tn exists and the folded-fold recording paper is set only in one of the trays Tm. When the printer is set to the double-sided printing mode by the host computer 200, the tray Tm is automatically selected and the other trays are locked so that they cannot be used. When the normal print mode is set, this lock is released.

The effects of the present invention will be described below. It has a first paper feed tray on which recording paper is loaded and a second paper feed tray on which half-folded recording paper is loaded, and when the controller specifies recording paper, the first paper feed tray When the tray is selected and the double-folded recording paper is designated, the second paper feed tray is selected to prevent an error caused by the manual selection of the paper feed tray.

[0029]

Since the print data is automatically printed on the double-folded recording paper folded in half, it is possible to print up to twice the maximum recording paper size that can be conveyed by the printer, and the capacity of the frame memory of the printer. Therefore, it is possible to provide a printer device that can reduce the number of times, and prevent a mistake caused by artificial selection due to selection of a paper feed tray in printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a printer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a recording paper size and a print size used in the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of bit map expansion of a frame memory 102 used in a printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which printing is performed by the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram showing a state of a print data memory in which print data existing inside the host computer 200 is stored. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 page printer 101 controller unit 102 frame memory 103 host I / F 110 engine control unit 120 drum process 130 transport process 200 host computer 201 application 202 printer I / F 203 control unit 204 print data memory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A data storage means for storing print data for one page by dividing it into two parts, a half-folded recording sheet folded in half, and a recording sheet conveying means for conveying the folded recording sheet.
A printer device comprising: a printing unit that prints the print data stored in the data storage unit on the folded-two-fold recording paper transported by the recording paper transporting unit. 2. A print data storage means for storing print data for one page by dividing the print data into two parts, and first half print data stored in the print data storage means and transferred to a printer device. And a first data transfer means for reading the second half of the print data stored in the print data storage means by adding an offset and transferring the read print data to the printer device. apparatus 3. In a printer device having a plurality of paper feed trays, a first paper feed tray on which recording paper is loaded, a second paper feed tray on which half-folded recording paper is loaded, and recording paper are designated. 2), select the first paper feed tray, and
2. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that selects the second paper feed tray when a tri-fold recording paper is designated.