JPH08249145A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a printer capable of preventing a printing command from being disconnected on the way at the occurrence of an error or the interruption of printing operation due to a user's instruction and always obtaining a normal printing result without requiring the reexecution of printing at the time of restarting the printing operation. CONSTITUTION: The printer is provided with a printing data/command receiving means 12 for receiving printing data and a printing command, a printing data storing means 14 for storing the received printing data, a printing control instruction generating means 16 for generating a printing control instruction from the received printing command, a received data printing means 20 for printing out the data stored in the means 14 on a paper sheet 18 and carrying the paper sheet 18, a printing operation stopping means 24 for stopping the operation of the means 20 when an error detection means 22 detects the occurrence of an error, and a receiving operation stopping means 26 for stopping receiving operation when the means 12 receives a printing command for requesting the start of printing after detecting the occurrence of the error and clearing the contents stored in the means 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer which receives print data from a host and outputs the print data while accumulating the print data.

As the speed of a host computer increases, it is required that the processing capacity of a printer be greatly improved. Therefore, the operation of receiving and storing print data from the host and the operation of printing out the stored data are performed in parallel.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A host computer sends print data and print commands to a printer, and the printer receives print data and print commands sent by the host computer and stores the print data in a line buffer or page memory.

Each time a print command is received from the host computer, the command is analyzed, and the accumulated data is printed out or the paper is conveyed according to the result of the command analysis.

Here, when the printer detects an error such as a paper shortage or a paper jam, it immediately becomes offline, and the print data sent by the host computer,
Stop receiving print commands. The host computer waits until the printer is ready for printing and then resumes sending data and commands.

[0006]

Many programs used in the host computer restart the print data and print command code transmission from the code transmitted immediately before the printer goes offline.

Therefore, depending on the timing when the printer goes off-line, printing is resumed from the middle of the print command (printer control code), and the subsequent print results are often disturbed. Will be needed.

[0008] Similarly, the user adjusts the printing position while printing on a continuous form with a serial printer (during printing, the user operates the switch on the operation panel to take the printer offline and operate the platen knob thereof). , When printing is restarted by operating the switch of the panel), it often occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to completely avoid an illegal printing operation at the time of restarting printing regardless of occurrence of an error or interruption of printing due to a user instruction. To provide a printer.

[0010]

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION In FIG. 1, the printer according to the first invention is a print data / command receiving means 12 for receiving print data and a print command from a host 10.
A print data storage means 14 for storing the print data received by the print data / command receiving means 12, and a print control instruction generation for generating a print control instruction from the print command received by the print data / command receiving means 12. Means 1
6 and a received data printing unit 20 that prints out the data stored in the print data storage unit 14 onto the paper 18 and conveys the print paper 18 according to the control instruction generated by the print control instruction generation unit 16. An error detection unit 22 for detecting an error occurrence, a printing operation stopping unit 24 for stopping the operation of the received data printing unit 20 when the error detection unit 22 detects an error occurrence, and an error occurrence detection When a print command requesting the start of printing is received by the print data / command receiving means 12 after the error detection means 22 has been executed, the receiving operation of the print data / command receiving means 12 is stopped and the print operation is performed. And a reception operation stopping means 26 for clearing the contents stored in the data storage means 14.

In FIG. 2, the printer according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a print data / command receiving means 12 for receiving print data and a print command from a host 10, and a print data / command receiving means 12.
Print data storage means 14 for storing the print data received by the command reception means 12, print control instruction generation means 16 for generating a print control instruction from the print command received by the print data / command reception means 12, and printing In accordance with the control instruction generated by the control instruction generation means 16, the data stored in the print data storage means 14 is printed out on the paper 18 and the received data printing means 20 for carrying the print paper 18 and the user operation. And an operation stop control instruction generating means 28 for generating a print stop control instruction, and a print operation for stopping the operation of the received data printing means 20 when the operation stop control instruction generating means 28 generates a print stop control instruction. Stop means 24 and operation stop control instruction generation means 28
When a print command requesting the start of printing is received by the print data / command receiving means 12 after the print stop control instruction is generated by, the receiving operation of the print data / command receiving means 12 is stopped, and A reception operation stopping means 26 for clearing the contents stored in the print data storage means 14.

[0012]

In the printer according to the present invention, when the printing operation is stopped by the occurrence of an error or the user's instruction, the receiving operation is continued until a line feed or page break command (which is treated as a print command requesting the start of printing). After receiving the command, it goes offline.

Therefore, the receiving operation and the printing operation are not restarted from the middle of the control code, and therefore, the illegal printing operation at the time of restarting the printing is completely avoided regardless of the occurrence of the error or the interruption of the printing by the user's instruction. , The printing operation resumes normally from the beginning of the next line or the next page.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 3, a computer 30 sends print data and a print command, and a communication section 32 of a printer (serial printer: the present invention is also applicable to a page printer) is a print data and print command sent by the computer 30. To receive.

The printer includes a command analysis section 34, a line buffer 36, a print execution section 38 (including a print head and its driver), a paper transport section 40, and an error detection section 4.
2. An operation panel 44 is also provided.

The command analysis unit 34 determines whether the code received by the communication unit 32 from the computer 30 is print data or print command, and if it is print data, it is stored in the line buffer 36.

When the communication unit 32 receives a print command (a print command requesting the start of printing) from the computer 30, the command analysis unit 34 causes the line buffer 36 to output print data (characters, dots) in the storage order. .

The print execution unit 38 prints out the print data output by the line buffer 36 on a sheet (not shown). Further, when the communication unit 32 receives a print command relating to the conveyance of the paper, the paper conveyance unit 40 conveys the print paper according to the output of the command analysis unit 34.

The paper transport unit 40 sends a print command to the communication unit 3
2 is received or when the print position reaches the end of the line, the line feed of the paper is performed, and when the print position reaches the end of the page, the page feed of the paper is performed according to the output of the command analysis unit 34. You can do it.

Further, the error detecting section 42 is provided with a sensor for detecting the occurrence of an error such as paper shortage or paper jam,
The error detection unit 42 reports the error content to the command analysis unit 3
Notify 4.

The operation panel 44 is provided with a plurality of button switches operated by the user, and the operation panel 44 gives an instruction to the command analysis section 34 according to the user operated button switches.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flow charts for explaining the operation during the printing operation of this embodiment.
When the communication unit 32 receives the print data or the print command from (step 400), the command analysis unit 34 determines whether the print data or the print command is received (step 402).

When it is confirmed that the print data is received by the communication unit 32 (YES in step 402), the command analysis unit 34 determines whether or not the position to be printed has reached the end of the line (step 404). When the position to be printed does not reach the end of the line (NO in step 404), the print data received by the communication unit 32 is stored in the line buffer 36 (step 406).

When the position to be printed reaches the end of the line (YES in step 404), it is determined whether this line is the last line of the page (step 408), and the line containing the position to be printed is included. Is not the last line of the page (NO in step 408), the line buffer 36
After printing all the data stored in the print execution unit 38, the print position is returned to the leading end of the line, and the paper conveyance unit 40 conveys the paper to move the print position to the next line ( Step 410).

When it is confirmed that the line including the position to be printed is the last line of the page (YES in step 408), all the data stored in the line buffer 36 is printed out to the print execution unit 38. After that, the print position is returned to the leading end of the line, and the paper is conveyed by the paper conveyance unit 40 to move the print position to the first line of the next page (step 412).

When it is confirmed that the communication unit 32 has received the print command (NO in step 402), the command analysis unit 34 analyzes the print command (step 4).
14), processing according to the result of the analysis (step 416)
I do.

When the communication unit 32 receives a print command, for example, all the data stored in the line buffer 36 is printed out by the print execution unit 38, the print position is returned to the leading end of the line, and the paper is conveyed. The sheet is conveyed to the section 40 and the printing position is moved to the next line.

Further, the command analysis section 34 is connected to the communication section 32.
It also sets the mode, print range, line feed pitch, character spacing, font, character size, print color, etc., according to the print command received by.

Here, the error detection unit 42 runs out of paper,
When an error such as a paper jam is notified (step 4)
If YES in step 18, or if the user instructs the stop of the printing operation by operating a predetermined button switch on the operation panel 44 in order to adjust the printing position (YES in step 420), the command analysis unit 34 Immediately stops the operations of the print executing unit 38 and the sheet conveying unit 40 (step 500).

Then, the communication unit 32 is made to receive the next print data and print command (step 502).
When the print data is received by the printer, it is determined whether the print position is the line end or the page end (step 50).
4, 506), when the communication unit 32 receives the print command, it is determined whether this command is a print command (step 508).

When the communication unit 32 receives print data and the print position has not reached the line end or page end (NO in steps 504 and 506: advance logical print position to the next), or communication When the unit 32 receives the print command and this command is not the print command (NO in step 508), the communication unit 32 receives the next print data and print command (step 50).
2).

Therefore, the printer of this embodiment continues to receive the print data and the print command until the current print position reaches the end of the line or the end of the page, or until the print command is received.

After that, when it is confirmed that the current print position has reached the end of the line or the end of the page, or that the communication unit 32 has received the print command (step 504,
If YES at 506 and 508), the command analysis unit 34 prohibits the receiving operation of the communication unit 32 and notifies the computer 30 via the communication unit 32 that the printer is in the off-line state (step 510).

After the line buffer 36 is further cleared (step 512), the printer waits until the printer is ready to print (the user recovers the error and operates the button switch) (step 514).

When it is confirmed that the printer is ready for printing (YES in step 514), the command analysis section 34 notifies the computer 30 of this, and the receiving operation of the communication section 32 is enabled again (step). 51
6).

As described above, according to this embodiment, when an error occurs or when the user gives an instruction to stop the printing operation, the current print position reaches the end of the line or the end of the page, or Since the printer goes off-line after receiving the print command, the print command is not interrupted at that time, and therefore a normal print result is always obtained when the printer operation is restarted.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the print command is not cut off midway when an error occurs or the printing operation is interrupted by a user instruction, the printing is performed regardless of the error occurrence or the user-instructed printing interruption. It is possible to completely avoid an illegal print operation at the time of restart, and therefore, a normal print result is always obtained when the printer operation is restarted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the second invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 computer 32 communication unit 34 command analysis unit 36 line buffer 38 print execution unit 40 paper transport unit 42 error detection unit 44 operation panel

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A print data / command receiving means for receiving print data and a print command from a host, a print data storing means for storing print data received by the print data / command receiving means, and a print data / command receiving means. The print control instruction generating means for generating a print control instruction from the print command received by the print control instruction generating means and the data stored in the print data accumulating means are printed on the paper according to the control instruction generated by the print control instruction generating means. However, when the error data is detected by the received data printing unit that conveys the print paper, the error detection unit that detects the error occurrence, and the error detection unit,
When a print operation stopping means for stopping the operation of the received data printing means and a print command requesting the start of printing after the occurrence of an error is detected by the error detecting means, are received by the print data / command receiving means. A receiving operation stopping means for stopping the receiving operation of the print data / command receiving means and clearing the stored contents of the print data accumulating means. 2. A print data / command receiving means for receiving print data and a print command from a host, a print data storing means for storing print data received by the print data / command receiving means, and a print data / command receiving means. The print control instruction generating means for generating a print control instruction from the print command received by the print control instruction generating means and the data stored in the print data accumulating means are printed on the paper according to the control instruction generated by the print control instruction generating means. Then, the received data printing means that conveys the print paper, the operation stop control instruction generation means that generates the print stop control instruction by the user operation, and the print stop control instruction is generated by the operation stop control instruction generation means. Sometimes, the print operation stop means for stopping the operation of the received data print means and the print stop control instruction by the operation stop control instruction generation means When a print command requesting the start of printing after the display is generated is received by the print data / command receiving means, the receiving operation of the print data / command receiving means is stopped and the content stored in the print data accumulating means is stopped. A receiving operation stopping means for clearing the printer, and a printer characterized by: