JPH08234945A - Printer capable of setting menu by host computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To display and change all setting states of print conditions held in the printer by the host computer which is connected to the control panel of the printer without operating the control panel. CONSTITUTION: A printer driver 3 informs the printer 6 of a request to enter the reverse transfer (data transmission from peripheral equipment to host) mode of a bidirectional centronics interface 5 with an interface signal, and the data reception part 9 of the printer 6 detects it as an interruption signal and sends it to the printer driver 3 to make a menu control part 8 generate menu data. The menu data that the menu generation part 8 generates are transmitted by a data transmission part 7 to the host computer 1 in the reverse transfer mode. The sent data are displayed as a menu setting display on the screen of a CRT 2 and after setting states are changed on a keyboard 4, the data are sent to the printer 6 by command transmission.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer menu setting method, and more particularly to a printer for performing menu setting by a host computer connected to the printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional printer menu setting method is one in which menu settings are displayed on a panel display (LED, LCD, etc.) by a switch on the control panel for confirmation and change, and all setting states are set by a printer. Those that can be output are general.

[0003]

In this conventional menu setting method, the function of printing out the setting state is used in order to know the current menu setting state of the printer, or the complicated operation of the control panel switch which is different for each printer. It is necessary to check and change each item individually, and in any case, it is necessary to learn how to operate the printer panel, which is bothersome and time consuming. Under the environment where a printer is used with multiple personal computers in an office, etc., it is possible to know the print conditions of the connected printer and to know the print conditions without easily going to the place where the printer is installed in a short time. You cannot change it. Since a low-cost printer has a small number of switches in order to make the control panel inexpensive, the menu control for changing the printing conditions of the printer tends to be difficult to understand and troublesome.

[0004]

According to a menu setting method of a printer by a host computer of the present invention, menu data indicating print conditions is requested from the printer, received and displayed as a menu setting screen, and a keyboard and a mouse are also displayed. Change the print conditions displayed in, and send the changed print conditions to the printer in the command format. Printer driver and printer driver menu data transmission request is detected, or the menu sent from the printer driver to the printer. A data reception unit that controls the bidirectional Centronics interface that receives and decodes a setting command and a parameter group that represents the printing conditions that follow as menu setting data, and a host computer that also controls the bidirectional Centronics interface. When the printer driver sends a menu data transmission request to the printer driver to send the current print conditions as data to the printer, the current print conditions are read from the non-volatile memory and the data to be sent is read. So that the printer operates according to the print conditions reset / sent by the printer driver according to the menu setting data received and decoded by the data receiver.
A menu control unit is provided for controlling the printer such as initializing the printer and storing it in a non-volatile memory according to the content of the command.

[0005]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration for realizing the present invention. The host computer 1 is connected to the printer 6 through the bidirectional Centronics interface 5, and can send and receive data to and from both. The printer driver 3 installed in the host computer 1 operates the host computer 1 to perform a signal operation for requesting the data receiving unit 9 of the printer 6 to transmit menu data.

The data receiving unit 9 detects this and causes the menu control unit 8 to read the currently set print condition from the non-volatile memory and create menu data to be transmitted. After creating the menu data to be transmitted, the menu control unit 8 instructs the data transmission unit 7 to transmit the data. In the reverse transfer mode of the bidirectional Centronics interface, the data transmission unit 7 notifies the host computer 1 that there is no data to be transmitted after transmitting all the menu data. As a result, the host computer 1 confirms that all the menu data has been sent from the printer side, and ends the reverse transfer mode. The contents of the sent data are displayed on the screen of the CRT 2 so that the printer condition items of the printer and all the states thereof can be confirmed, and if necessary, they are changed by the input device such as the keyboard 4 in that state.

When the setting of all the print conditions is confirmed on the host computer 1, the printer 6 transmits in the command format shown in FIG. 2 which can be recognized as new menu setting data in accordance with the operation of the host computer. The printer 6 receives and decodes the data by the data receiving unit 9, and passes the data in a data format that the menu control unit 8 can recognize. The menu control unit 8 initializes the printer system in a state in which the printer operates under the print condition received from the printer driver 3, stores the print condition in a non-volatile memory according to the content of the command,
Restore factory settings.

Next, an embodiment of a command format for the printer driver 3 to transmit the menu setting data to the printer 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and Table 1.

FIG. 2 shows the command format of the menu setting data sent by the host computer 1 to the printer. The printer control command sequence FS (1
CH) and 0 (6FH) to recognize this command are recognized as a menu setting command, and P1 to P that follow
The parameter 33 is the set value of the print condition that allows the printer shown in Table 1 to be changed. [(1CH), (6
H in (FH) indicates that 1C and 6F are hexadecimal numbers]
Regarding the command function of P1, an example of some command functions is shown below.

P1 = omitted or0 print condition P2
It is changed according to the following parameters and is not stored in the non-volatile memory. It is valid while the printer is powered on. P1 = 1 The print conditions are changed according to the parameters after P2 and stored in the non-volatile memory. It is effective even if the printer is turned off and then on again.

P1 = 2 The printer condition is set to the factory shipment setting and stored in the non-volatile memory.

P2 to P5 are switches each of which has 8 bits.

Each of P6 to P9 has a 1-byte parameter, and a number assigned for each selection condition is stored.

An example of selecting "Kanji code table" in P7 is shown below.

P7 = 0 (30h) JIS78 P7 = 1 (31h) JIS83 P7 = 2 (32h) JIS90 As described above, the parameters P1 to P33 are set to P2.
Other than the switches such as P5 to P5, a number assigned to each selection of each print condition item is used, or a suction position of the paper is used, such as P33, it is stored as a 3-byte ASCII code.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the host computer side connected to the printer receives the printer condition held in the printer as data, and thus the printing is performed from the personal computer which is easily operated. It is possible to grasp the print conditions of the printer and set the print conditions for each print job.

Further, when such a printer is used as an example and a peripheral device connected by a bi-directional Centronics interface becomes common, the number of parts relating to panel control can be reduced by implementing the present invention in menu operation, and It has the effect of reducing the cost of.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a menu data transmission command from a host computer (printer driver) of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of command parameters and printer conditions corresponding thereto.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Host Computer 2 CRT Display 3 Printer Driver 4 Keyboard 5 Bidirectional Centronics Interface 6 Printer 7 Data Transmission Section 8 Menu Control Section 9 Data Reception Section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printer menu setting system capable of storing print conditions in a non-volatile memory, wherein the stored contents of the non-volatile memory are transmitted to a connected host computer, and the stored contents are currently set in the printer. Is displayed as a menu setting on the screen, and the print condition displayed on the screen is transmitted as a new setting condition to the printer after being changed by at least one of the keyboard and the mouse. , A printer for setting a menu by a host computer characterized by recognizing it. 2. A data transmission method of a format in which a host computer transmits new print conditions to a printer, and for the data indicating the print conditions to be transmitted, whether or not the data is stored in a non-volatile memory is provided. A printer for menu setting by the host computer according to claim 1.