JPH08314650A - Printer device and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent unwanted print processing due to misselection of recording paper by selecting recording paper specified by an instruction changing recording paper when there is the instruction at the time of the switching of an interface, and selecting preset recording paper and printing received print data on the selected recording paper unless there is the instruction. CONSTITUTION: It is judged whether or not an I/F 131 or 132 which receives print data is switched according to data inputted through the I/F. When the processing interface is the same as the last interface, print processing is performed by using a paper feed part 121 or 122 set by a printer engine 120. When the interface is switched, on the other hand, it is judged whether or not there is a switching instruction for the paper feed part. When there is the instruction, the paper feed part 121 or 122 is selected according to the instruction. When there is not the instruction, on the other hand, the paper feed parts 121 or 122 is selected according to default setting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a printing apparatus having a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device and a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording papers used for printing processing. And its control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a printing apparatus having a plurality of sheet feeding means and an interface.
The control unit 110 is a block that controls the operation of the entire printing apparatus 100. The I / Fs 131 and 132 are interfaces for connecting to the host computers 141 and 142, respectively. The printer engine 120 is
This block forms a permanent visible image on a recording sheet based on the print data received via the F 131 or 132, and includes sheet feeding units 121 and 122. Paper feeder 1
Reference numerals 21 and 122 are a cut sheet feeder, a paper feed cassette, and the like. The control unit 110 uses the I / F 131 or 1
When print data is received from the host computer 141 or 142 via 32, the printer engine 120 forms a permanent visible image on the recording paper supplied from the paper supply unit (121 or 122) designated at that time. Control.

In the above configuration, for example, A4 size recording paper is set in the paper feed unit 121, and the paper feed unit 1
A3 size recording paper is set in 22 and the printing process is executed while switching the recording paper as needed. In addition, the switching of the paper feeding unit 121 or 122 is performed by the host computer 141 or 1 via the I / F 131 or 132.
This is performed by a paper feed unit switching command or the like which is supplied from 42.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems. For example, the interface is switched to the I / F 132 when the print processing of the print data supplied from the host computer 141 via the I / F 131 is being performed using the paper feeding unit 121, or after the print processing is performed. / F132
It is assumed that the paper feeding unit is switched to the paper feeding unit 122 by inputting a paper feeding unit switching command via the.
In this case, print data is received again from the host computer 141 via the interface 131,
When the print processing is executed based on the print processing, the user of the host computer 141 intends to perform the print processing using the paper feeding unit 121, but the print processing is executed using the paper feeding unit 122. The problem occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent an unintended printing process due to an erroneous selection of recording paper.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

In order to solve the above problems, the printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device,
A printing apparatus having a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording paper to be used in a printing process, the determination unit determining whether or not there is a command to change the recording paper when the interface is switched, and the command. Selection means for selecting the recording paper specified by the command, and selecting a preset recording paper if the command is not received, and receiving from the external device using the selected recording paper. It is possible to prevent an unintended printing process due to an erroneous selection of a recording sheet, which is characterized by printing the generated print data.

Further, another printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus having a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device and a sheet feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording sheets used for printing processing, Determination means for determining the presence or absence of an instruction to change the recording paper when the interface is switched; first selection means for selecting the recording paper designated by the instruction when the instruction is given; and the first Holding means for holding information specifying the recording paper selected by the selecting means in association with the interface in use, and recording paper corresponding to the interface in use based on the held information when there is no command. A second selection unit for selecting the print data and printing the print data received from the external device using the selected recording paper.
It is possible to prevent unintended print processing due to erroneous selection of recording paper.

A method of controlling a printing apparatus according to the present invention is a method of controlling a printing apparatus having a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device and a sheet feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording sheets used for printing processing. If there is a command for changing the recording paper when the interface is switched, and if there is the command, the recording paper designated by the command is selected, and if there is no command. And a selection step of selecting a preset recording sheet, and controlling the printing device to print the print data received from the external device using the selected recording sheet. It is possible to prevent unintended print processing due to erroneous selection of

Further, another control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of interfaces connected to an external apparatus,
A method of controlling a printing apparatus, comprising: a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording paper to be used for a printing process, the method comprising: determining whether there is a command to change the recording paper when the interface is switched; When there is an instruction, a first selecting step of selecting a recording sheet designated by the instruction and information for specifying the recording sheet selected by the first selecting step are held in association with the interface in use. A holding step and a second selecting step of selecting a recording sheet corresponding to the interface in use based on the held information when there is no command, the external device using the selected recording sheet. The printing device is controlled so as to print the print data received from the printer, and it is possible to prevent unintended print processing due to erroneous selection of recording paper.

[0010]

【Example】

[First Embodiment] A preferred first embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the control unit 110 according to this embodiment. In the printing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, 121 and 122 are provided as paper feed units and 131 and 132 are provided as interfaces with the host computer, but this is for convenience of description, and the present invention is not limited to this. It is not limited to. That is, it is easily understood from the following description that the number of interfaces with the paper feeding unit and the host computer is not limited to two, and the invention can be widely applied when the number of interfaces is three or more.

Further, in this embodiment, the control unit 110
Is provided with a CPU for executing the processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, a ROM storing a processing program describing a procedure of the processing, and a RAM used as a work area of the CPU.

First, in step S201, the I / F
Based on the data input via 131 or 132, it is determined whether the I / F that receives the print data has been switched, that is, whether the print data supply source has been switched. The presence / absence of this switching is, for example,
When print data is received by the I / F 131 or 132, the determination may be made using a method of generating an interrupt unique to each I / F to the CPU. Then, when the interface to be processed is the same as the immediately preceding interface, the process proceeds to step S202, and the set sheet feeding unit (12) is set in the printer engine 120.
1 or 122) to execute the printing process. on the other hand,
If the interface is switched, step S
Proceed to 203.

In step S203, it is determined whether or not there is a paper feed unit switching command (hereinafter referred to as a switching command) included in the received print data. It should be noted that this switching command is attached to, for example, the head portion of the print data (information to that effect when there is no switching command), and the C
The instruction may be analyzed by the PU. Judgment result,
If there is a switching command, the process proceeds to step S204, and the sheet feeding unit 121 or 12 is operated in accordance with the switching command.
Select 2. Hereinafter, after passing through step S201, the printing process is executed in step S202.

On the other hand, if there is no switching instruction,
In step S205, the paper feeding unit 121 or 122 is selected according to the default setting (for example, if the default setting is 121, 121 is selected). Thereafter, similarly to the above, the print processing is executed in step S202 after passing through step S201.

In this embodiment, the I / F 121
Or during the period when print data is not received via 122,
The steps S201 and S202 are repeatedly executed. However, since there is no data to be printed, step S202 simply passes.

By controlling the printing apparatus 100 as described above, an interface (host computer)
It is possible to prevent an unintended print process from being executed by switching the print mode. That is, when the interface is switched, if the print data includes a paper feed unit switching command,
Also, if the switching instruction is not included, by resetting the paper feed unit according to the default setting,
The print process can be executed using a desired paper feed unit without being affected by the setting of the paper feed unit in the immediately preceding print process related to another host computer. [Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, the paper feed unit is reset every time the interface (host computer) is switched. However, in the present embodiment, the paper feed unit immediately before corresponding to each interface is set. The setting is stored and the printing process is executed based on the setting under a predetermined condition.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control procedure by the control unit 110 according to this embodiment. First, in step S201, based on the data input via the I / F 131 or 132, whether the I / F that receives the print data has been switched, that is, whether the print data supply source has been switched. To judge. The presence / absence of this switching may be determined by using the above-described method or the like. When the I / F is the same as the immediately preceding I / F,
In step S202, the printer engine 120 executes the printing process using the set paper feed unit (121 or 122). On the other hand, if the I / F has been switched, the process proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, it is determined whether or not there is a switching instruction. As a result, when the switching command is included in the print data, the process proceeds to step S204, and the sheet feeding unit 121 or 12 is operated according to the switching command.
Select 2. In step S206, the previous step S
An interface (I / F 121 or 122) that is currently processing the information indicating the paper feed unit selected in 204
The data is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM (not shown) in association with the above. Hereinafter, the information of the selected paper feeding unit is referred to as selection information.

On the other hand, if the switching command is not included in the print data, the process proceeds to step S207, the selection information corresponding to the I / F currently being processed is read from the predetermined area of the RAM, and in step S208 the selection information is read. The paper feed unit 121 or 122 is selected based on the selection information. As is clear from the above description, the selection information holds whether the paper feed unit used in the immediately previous print processing is 121 or 122 for the same interface, and the same interface after that. This is information for using the same paper feed unit in the print processing related to.

By controlling the printing apparatus 100 as described above, the above-mentioned unintended printing process is performed without supplying the switching instruction of the sheet feeding section from the host computer (141 or 142) every time the interface (host computer) is switched. To solve the problem.

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.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent unintended print processing due to erroneous selection of recording paper.

[0023]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a printing apparatus including a plurality of sheet feeding units and an interface.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by a control unit 110 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by a control unit 110 according to the second embodiment.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device; and a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording paper used for printing processing, wherein the recording paper is changed when the interface is switched. Determining means for determining the presence or absence of an instruction, and selecting means for selecting the recording paper designated by the instruction when the instruction is given, and selecting a preset recording paper when the instruction is not given. And a printing device that prints the print data received from the external device using the selected recording paper. 2. A printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device; and a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording papers used for print processing, wherein the recording papers are changed when the interface is switched. Determining means for determining the presence or absence of an instruction, a first selecting means for selecting the recording paper designated by the instruction when the instruction is given, and a recording paper selected by the first selecting means Holding means for holding information in association with the interface in use; second selection means for selecting the recording paper corresponding to the interface in use based on the held information when there is no command. A printing device, comprising: a printing paper selected from the external device and printing the printing data received from the external device. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the command is a command issued by the external device, and further comprising a receiving unit that receives the command. 4. A method of controlling a printing device, comprising: a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device; and a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording papers used for printing processing, wherein recording is performed when the interfaces are switched. A determination step of determining the presence / absence of an instruction to change the paper; when the instruction is given, the recording paper designated by the instruction is selected; when the instruction is not given, a preset recording paper is selected. A control method comprising: a selecting step; and controlling the printing device to print the print data received from the external device using the selected recording paper. 5. A method of controlling a printing device, comprising: a plurality of interfaces connected to an external device; and a paper feeding unit corresponding to a plurality of types of recording papers used for printing processing, wherein recording is performed when the interfaces are switched. A determination step of determining whether or not there is an instruction to change the paper; a first selection step of selecting the recording sheet designated by the instruction when the instruction is given; and a recording sheet selected by the first selection step. A holding step of holding the information identifying the information corresponding to the interface in use, and a second selection for selecting the recording paper corresponding to the interface in use based on the held information when there is no command A control method comprising: controlling the printing device to print the print data received from the external device using a selected recording paper. . 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the command is a command issued by the external device, and further comprising a receiving step of receiving the command.