JPH0830410A - Output device, preview system, and confirming method for output image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately display a print preview screen. CONSTITUTION:A host computer 3000 sends a preview command for sending an expanded image back to the host computer after image expansion to a printer 1500. The printer 1500 once receiving the preview command expands following sent image data consisting of codes into image data of a dot image and sends them back to the host computer 3000. The host computer 3000 displays the received image. AN operator specifies printing over look at the image. A user who uses the host computer 3000 when confirming a preview of the print image sends the preview command and image information to the printer through application software and then confirms the expanded image sent back from the printer 1500 to preview the accurate print image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output device such as a printer connected to a host computer via, for example, a bidirectional interface, a method for preliminarily confirming an output image using the device, and a preview system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, prior confirmation of a print image output from an output device has been performed by an MPU in a host computer creating a print image and displaying it on a display device.

[0003]

However, the graphic related data such as a font referred to when the host computer creates an image and the graphic related data such as a font referred to when the output device creates an image are the same. When it is not, the preview image created by the host computer for the preliminary confirmation does not completely match the image actually output from the output device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object thereof is to provide an output device and a preview system for generating a preview image which is not different from an image actually output, and a method for confirming the output image. To do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a preview command is sent from the host computer to the printing apparatus to cause the image development and then return the developed image to the host computer. When the printer receives the preview command, it expands the image data of the code that is continuously sent to the image data of the dot image, and then returns it to the host computer. The host computer displays the received image.
The operator looks at it and specifies printing.

[0006]

With this configuration, when the user of the host computer wants to confirm the preview of the printed image, the preview command and the image information are transmitted to the printing apparatus via the application software, and the expanded image returned from the printing apparatus is returned. By checking the data, it is possible to accurately preview the printed image.

When shifting to the printing operation after preview, the user issues a preview image print command to the printing apparatus via the application software on the host computer. Since the printing device has already stored the developed image in the internal memory, it is possible to quickly perform print output.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, the structure of a laser beam printer suitable for applying the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Needless to say, the printer to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the laser printer, and may be a printer of other printer type.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a laser beam printer (LBP) of this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1500 is the LBP body,
Input and store the printing device (character code etc.) and form information or macro command etc. supplied from the externally connected host computer, and create the corresponding character pattern and form pattern according to that information, An image is formed on a recording paper, which is a recording medium.

Reference numeral 1501 denotes a switch and an LED for operation.
An operation panel on which a display device is arranged, 1000 is L
A printer control unit for controlling the entire BP main body 1500 and analyzing character information and the like supplied from the host computer. The printer control unit 1000 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs it to the laser driver 1502. A laser driver 1502 switches on / off a laser beam 1504 emitted from a semiconductor laser 1503. The laser beam 1504 is swung left and right by the rotating polygon mirror 1505, and the electrostatic drum 15
06 is exposed by scanning. As a result, the electrostatic drum 150
An electrostatic latent image of a character pattern will be formed on 6. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 1507 arranged around the electrostatic drum 1506 and then transferred to a recording paper. A cut sheet is used as this recording sheet, and the cut sheet recording sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 1508 mounted on the LBP 1500, and is taken into the apparatus by a sheet feeding roller 1509, a conveying roller 1510, and a conveying roller 1511, and electrostatically discharged. It is supplied to the drum 1506.

Further, the LBP main body 1500 is provided with at least one or more card slots (not shown) so that an optional font card and a control card (emulation card) having a different language can be connected in addition to the built-in font. There is.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of the printer control system of this embodiment. Here, a laser beam printer (FIG. 1) will be described as an example. It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a single device, a system including a plurality of devices, and a system in which processing is performed via a network such as a LAN.

In FIG. 2, a host computer 3000 executes document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on programs stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3. CPU1
CP for each device connected to the system bus 4
U1 has overall control.

The ROM 3 is a program ROM.
3 stores the control program of the CPU 1 as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
In M, font data and the like used in the above document processing are stored.

A RAM 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, an image memory, a display memory, etc. of the CPU 1.

5 is a keyboard controller (KBC)
Then, key input from the keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown) is controlled.

Reference numeral 6 is a CRT controller (CRTC),
Controls the display on the CRT display (CRT) 10.

A disk controller 7 controls access to an external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy disk (FD) for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edit files and the like. A printer controller (PRTC) 8 executes a communication control device with the printer 1500 via a predetermined bidirectional interface 21.

The bidirectional interface 21 is, for example, a Bi-directional Parallel proposed by IEEE.
This is the ECP mode of the Peripheral Interface. The interface can transfer at 2 Mbytes / second, and can transfer the binary bit image data of A4 paper size 300 dpi in about 0.5 seconds.

The CPU 1 executes a process of developing an outline font in the display information RAM set on the RAM 2, for example. Further, the CPU 1 opens various windows registered based on a command designated by a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 10 and executes various data processing.

In the printer 1500, a printer CPU 12 includes various devices connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14. Access is collectively controlled, and image information as output information is output to the printing unit 17 controlled via the printing unit interface 16.

Further, the program ROM of the ROM 13
A CPU control program and the like as shown in the flowchart of FIG. ROM for ROM13 ROM
M stores font data and the like used when generating the output information.

The CPU 12 can perform communication processing with the host computer 3000 via the input unit 18.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a RAM which functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 12, and is constructed so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown).

The external memory 14 such as a hard disk (HD) or IC card is a disk controller (DKC) 2
Access is controlled by 0. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, emulation programs, form data and the like. Also,
18 is a switch for operating the operation panel and LE
D display etc. are arranged.

The above-mentioned external memory 14 is not limited to one,
At least one or more may be provided, and in addition to the built-in font, an option card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages may be connected. Also, NVRA not shown
It is also possible to have M and store the printer mode setting information from the operation 1501.

In the thus configured host computer 3000 and printer control circuit 1000, the CPU 1 of the host computer of this embodiment executes the procedure of FIG. 3 stored in the ROM 3, and the printer ROM 13
4 is stored in the program ROM of FIG. Next, the preview method of the present invention will be described with reference to these flowcharts.

First, the operation of the host computer 3000 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. (Step S1) First, the user uses a host computer application to instruct a preview operation. For this purpose, for example, it is usual to display a menu by an application and let the operator designate it with a pointing device or the like. (Step S2) The application software, when given a command, decodes the command and sends a preview command to the printer 1500 via the interface 21,
It waits for a response from the printer 1500. (Step S3) When the CPU 12 in the printer 1500 decodes the preview command and informs the host computer via the interface 21 that the image processing operation is possible, the host computer receives the image information and previews the image information to be previewed. Transfer to. The information transmitted here is code information indicating a character code, a typeface, a size, and the like. (Step S4) After that, the printer creates a preview image and waits for transmission. (Step S5) When the CPU 12 of the printer finishes developing the image information, it returns the developed bit image data to the host computer via the interface 21. In step S5, the image is received and displayed by the CRT 10.

Next, the operation of the printer 1500 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. (Step S401) When a command is received from the host computer, the command is analyzed and if it is a preview command, the process proceeds to step S402, and if not, the process according to the command proceeds. (Step S402) If it is a preview command, it is checked from the resource usage status whether image processing is possible. (Steps S403, S407) The result checked in the previous stage is returned to the host computer. (Step S404) When the response is “image processing is possible”, the image information is sent from the host computer, so that it is received and stored in the RAM. (Step S405) ROM based on the received image information
13 or a bit image is drawn in the RAM 19 while referring to font information of the IC card or the like. RAM19
When the capacity of is insufficient, the bit image data may be saved to the hard disk. (Step S406) The developed image is transmitted to the host computer.

Of the above processes, the acquisition of image information, the writing of bit image data to the RAM, and the returning of data may be performed in parallel. When the RAM 19 and the hard disk have a small capacity, the developed image data may be returned directly to the host computer without being held in the printer. If the image data is held in the memory in the printer, when a print command for the same image data is issued later, the image data that has already been expanded remains, so it is possible to immediately shift to the print output operation. It will be possible.

Further, by including an option of expanding only a specific portion in the preview command, it is possible to reduce the load on the printer side and preview only the necessary image portion in a short time.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, the output device, the preview system, and the output image confirmation method according to the present invention are
It is possible to generate and display a preview image that is not different from the image that is actually output. Further, the previewed image can be promptly printed out to the printer.

[0034]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a laser beam printer of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer control system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the host computer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printer according to the embodiment.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An output device bidirectionally connected to a data source, comprising: receiving means for receiving code information from the data source; developing means for developing the code information received by the receiving means as an image; Control means for controlling an output destination of the image information expanded by the expanding means according to the code information received from the receiving means, and the image information expanded by the expanding means based on the control by the control means. An output device comprising: a means for transmitting to a data source; and means for printing out the image information expanded by the expanding means under the control of the control means. 2. An information processing apparatus having code output means for outputting a control code together with code information, image receiving means for receiving image data, and display means for displaying the image data received by the image receiving means, A code receiving means for receiving code information from the information processing device, an image generating means for generating image data based on the code information, and an output destination of the image data generated by the image generating means are provided by the code receiving means. Control means for controlling based on the received control code, means for transmitting image data to the information processing device under control of the control means, and printing means for printing out image data under control of the control means And a printing device having: 3. A method of confirming an output image in an output device bidirectionally connected to a data source, comprising a receiving step of receiving code information from the data source, and developing the code information received by the receiving step as an image. And a control step of controlling the output destination of the image information expanded by the expanding step according to the code information received from the receiving step, and the expanding step by the expanding step based on the control by the control step. Confirmation of an output image, comprising: a step of transmitting the generated image information to the data source; and a step of printing out the image information expanded by the expanding step under the control of the control step. Method.