JPH08337018A - Data outputting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To efficiently complete the output of interruption data and data which has been cut off by a method wherein when an interruption signal is generated during an output of data, the output of the data is cut off, and the output of another data is interrupted, and after the output of the interruption data is completed, the output of the data which has been cut off is resumed. CONSTITUTION: While a printer output routine is executed in a host computer 17, if an interruption signal is input to a CPU 1, an interruption program is started, and a BUSY signal is set at the H level in order to prohibit the transmission of next data. Then, the data for 1 character being input in an input/ output interface 15 is read, and the data is stored in an input buffer 31, and the leading data address, the final end data address and the data length, etc., of the input buffer 31 are updated. Then, a negative pulse, and an inversion ACK signal for an active row are output to the host computer 17, and when an empty region exists in the input buffer 31, the receiving permission for the next data is notified to the host computer 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data output device capable of interrupting and outputting another file data while outputting one file data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent printers are provided with large-capacity input buffers so that a host computer can continuously transmit a certain amount of data regardless of printing operation and reduce the transmission waiting time.

When a printer having such an input buffer is used, the host computer transmits all of the one file data to be printed to the input buffer, and then waits for another job without waiting for the completion of the printing operation. Can be executed. As described above, when the capacity of the input buffer is large, there is an advantage that the operation efficiency of the host computer is good.

[0004]

However, while one file data is being printed, it may be urgently desired to print another file data. However, since the conventional printer does not have the interrupt printing function, the input buffer is not available. If the capacity of is large, it was necessary to wait for a long time until all the data stored in the input buffer was printed. For this reason, if you need an emergency, turn off the printer power during printing.
There was no way to forcibly cancel the printing operation and print other file data. Therefore, there is a problem that the usability of the printer is poor and the work efficiency is reduced.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and makes it possible to interrupt the data output operation by a simple operation to enable the interrupt output of other data, and at the same time, the interrupt data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data output device capable of efficiently outputting the data and the interrupted data.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, when an interrupt signal is generated by the interrupt signal generating means during data output, the output of the data during the output processing is output interrupt means. The interrupt data is interrupted by the interrupt data output device, and another data is interrupted by the interrupt data output device. Even if the interrupt signal is turned off during the output of the interrupt data, the interrupt data is interrupted. Output is continued, and after the output of the interrupt data is completed, the data output restarting means restarts the output of the data interrupted by the output interrupting means.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical construction of the printer according to the embodiment.

A central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as "CPU") 1 constituting a control device of the printer P is provided with a ROM 2, a RAM 3, input / output interfaces 4, 5 and 6 via an address bus, a data bus and a control bus. It is connected. The ROM 2 stores a print control program including various function processing routines, a font pattern, and the like. The RAM 3 also has a FIFO for temporarily storing input data.
An input buffer 31 of (First In First Out) configuration, a line buffer 32 for creating a character pattern for one line, an interrupt flag 33 for detecting an interrupt signal and setting the printer P in an interrupt print mode, and printing Format data memory 3 for storing the current format data of file data whose operation is interrupted
And 4 are provided.

Further, driving devices 7, 8 and 9 are connected to the input / output interfaces 4, 5 and 6, respectively, and each driving device is equipped with an LF motor 10 for feeding paper and a print head. CR motor 1 for moving the carriage
1. Print solenoid 12 that drives the impact wire
Are connected to each other.

Further, the input / output interface 6 is connected to an interrupt switch 13 which constitutes an interrupt signal generating means and an interrupt display lamp 14 which indicates that the interrupt print mode is in effect.

The input interface 15 of the printer P is also provided.
Is the input / output interface 1 on the host computer 17 side
RA connected to the host computer 17 side
The print data stored in M18 is the host computer 1
7 is sent to the printer P, stored in the input buffer 31, and the data is printed by the processing of the CPU 1 of the printer P.

Next, the processing procedure of the CPU 1 of the printer P will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. 2, the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4, and the memory map of the input buffer of FIG.

When the power of the printer P is turned on or reset, the main program shown in FIG. 4 is started. Step 2
0 (hereinafter referred to as "S20". The same applies to the following steps)
Then, along with various initial settings, the input buffer 31 is cleared and the interrupt flag 33 is initialized to OFF, and the BUSY signal of active high is set to L level in the next S21. That is,
In the timing chart of FIG. 2, the BUSY signal becomes L level at time t1, the printer P becomes NOT BUSY, and data can be received from the host computer 17.

Next, in S22, the input buffer 31
It is determined whether or not there is data. Since there is no data in the input buffer 31 in the first execution cycle, S
The determination result of 22 is NO, and the process returns to S21. In the first execution cycle, BUSY signal is already at L level, BU
Once set, the signal level of the SY signal is latched until it is set again. Therefore, the processes of S21 and S22 are repeated until the printer P is powered on and data is received from the host computer 17.

On the other hand, when the printer output routine is executed in the host computer 17, the BUSY signal level is determined in the printer output routine. When the BUSY signal is at the L level, it means that the printer P is ready to receive. At time t2, it is detected that the BUSY signal is at the L level and the 8-bit parallel DATA signal is output. At t3, an active-low inverted DATA STROBE signal that gives the read timing of the signal is output.

When the active-low inverted DATA STROBE signal is input to the input / output interface 15, the inverted DATA STROBE signal is input to the CPU 1 as an interrupt signal, and the interrupt program shown in FIG. 3 is executed.

At time t3 when S1 is executed, the BUSY signal is set to the H level in order to prohibit the transmission of the next data from the host computer 17. Then, in the next S2, it is determined whether or not the interrupt flag 33 is turned on. However, since the interrupt flag 33 is turned off in the first execution cycle, S2 is set.
The determination is NO and the process proceeds to S3. In S3, the data for one character input to the input / output interface 15 is read, and the data is stored in the input buffer 31, and in the next S4, the FIFO of the start data address, end data address, data length, etc. of the input buffer 31 is read. Parameters are updated.

Next, in S5, in order to notify the host computer 17 of confirmation of data reception, the inverted ACK signal is set to L level at time t4 when S5 is executed, and S6
At time t5 when is executed, the inverted ACK signal is set to the H level. Eventually, a negative pulse and an active-low inverted ACK signal are output to the host computer 17 via the input / output interface 15.

Then, in S7, it is judged whether or not there is an empty area in the input buffer 31, but since there is an empty area in the input buffer 31 in the first execution cycle, S8 is executed.
In order to notify the host computer 17 of permission to receive the next data, the BUSY signal is set to the L level via the input / output interface 15 at time t5 when S8 is executed, and the processing of this interrupt program ends. To do. When the interrupt program ends, the CPU 1 returns to the loop of S21 and S22 of the main program of FIG.

On the other hand, when the host computer 17 detects that the BUSY signal has become L level and there is transmission data, the next 8-bit parallel DATA signal is output at time t6, and the inverted DATA signal is output at time t7. The STROBE signal is output to the printer P. And CPU1 reverses it
By the DATA STROBE signal, the interrupt program of FIG. 3 is executed again, and the data reception process is performed. in this way,
By repeating the processes of S1 to S8 of the interrupt program, as shown in FIG.
All the data of file A to be printed is stored.

Next, returning to FIG. 4, when the data is input to the input buffer 31 and the determination in S22 is YES, S23.
Then, it is determined whether the interrupt flag 33 is off or not.
Since the interrupt flag 33 is off in the first execution cycle of S23, the determination in S23 is YES and the process proceeds to S24, where one line of data is read from the input buffer 31 and that line of one line is read. The print pattern of is formed, and the printing process for one line is performed. And the next S
The one-line print data printed in 25 is deleted from the input buffer 31, the FIFO parameter of the input buffer 31 is updated in the next S26, and it is determined in the next S27 whether the interrupt switch 13 is on. When the interrupt switch 13 is not operated to be turned on, it is determined that the interrupt switch 13 is off, the process returns to S22, and the printing process of the next line is sequentially executed by the above process. As the printing process progresses, the input buffer 31
As shown in FIG. 5B, in the memory map of FIG. 5B, the print completed data is deleted from the input buffer 31, and the area is opened to the empty area.

In this way, when the data of the file A input to the input buffer 31 is being printed,
When the interrupt switch 13 is operated, the determination in S27 is YES.
Then, in the next step S28, the interrupt display lamp 14 blinks to indicate that the interrupt switch 13 has been accepted. Then, in S29, it is determined whether the data of the file A has been printed up to the end of the page. The interrupt switch 13
The on / off state of is inverted at each operation, and the on / off state is latched until the next operation. If the data in file A has not been printed to the end of the page, S
Returning to step 22, the above-mentioned printing process is continued and the interrupt lamp 14 is blinking until the printing is completed up to the end of the page in S29.

In S29, it is determined that the printing is performed up to the end of the page,
In the next step S30, it is determined whether or not the empty area of the input buffer 31 is equal to or larger than a predetermined capacity enough for interrupt printing. Printing is continued until the end of the page, and the interrupt lamp 14 is blinking.

If the empty area of the input buffer 31 exceeds the predetermined capacity, the determination in S30 is YES and S3.
Move to 1. In S31, the interrupt display lamp 14 is turned on, and in the next S32, the head data address, data end address, and data length of the file A stored in the input buffer 31 at that time are stored. In S33, the current data of the file A is stored. The format data is stored in the format data memory 34. At this time, the memory map of the input buffer 31 is shown in FIG.
In the state shown in (c), the empty area of the input buffer 31 is defined as a subbuffer for inputting the data of the file B for which interrupt printing is performed in S34, and the head data address, end data address, etc. of the subbuffer are defined. The subbuffer FIFO parameters are initialized. Then, the interrupt flag 33 is set to ON in S35, and S2
Return to 3.

At this time, since the interrupt flag 33 is set to ON in S35, the determination in S23 is NO, and the process proceeds to 36. In S36, it is determined whether or not there is data in the sub-buffer, but since there is no data in the sub-buffer in the first execution cycle, the determination in S36 is NO,
In step S37, it is determined whether the interrupt switch 13 is off. If the interrupt switch 13 is not off, the process returns to step S21, and the BUSY signal is set to L level. Then, until it is determined in S36 that the data is input to the sub-buffer,
S21, S22, S23, S36 and S37 are repeatedly executed.

During this time, since the BUSY signal is at L level,
When the data of the file B can be transmitted from the host computer 17 and the data is transmitted from the host computer 17, the interrupt program of FIG. 3 is started in synchronization with the inverted DATA STROBE signal. In FIG.
The BUSY signal is set to H level in S1, and the interrupt flag 3 is set in S2.
It is determined whether or not 3 is on. At this time, the interrupt flag 3
Since 3 is on, the process proceeds to S9 and the data received by the input / output interface 15 is stored in the sub-buffer, and the FIFO parameter of the sub-buffer is updated in the next S10. Then, the process goes to S5 and below, and the above-mentioned inversion is performed.
The ACK signal is output, and the BUSY signal is set to the L level to receive the next data.

In this way, the sub-buffer is shown in FIG.
As shown in (d), the data of the file B is stored. When the data is input to the sub-buffer, the determination in S36 of the main program in FIG. 4 becomes YES, the process proceeds to S38, and the one-line printing process of the data in the sub-buffer is executed as in S24. Then, in the next S39, FIG.
As shown in (e), the one-line print data printed from the sub-buffer is deleted, and the FIFO parameter of the sub-buffer is updated in S40. Next, in S41, it is determined whether or not the sub-buffer is at the data end. If not, the process returns to S36 and the printing process of the file B input to the sub-buffer is continued as described above.

When it is determined in S41 that the sub-buffer is at the data end, the process proceeds to S40 and it is determined whether the interrupt switch 13 is off. If the interrupt switch 13 is not turned off, it is further considered that there is a file C to be interrupt-printed following the file B, and S34 and S are executed as described above.
After performing the process of 35, it returns to S23. Then, as described above, S23, S36, S37, S21, S22.
The steps of are repeated. If the data of the file C is input from the host computer 17 during this time, the data of the file C is printed in the same manner as the data of the file B described above.

On the other hand, during printing of file B or file C
Waiting to receive the data of (S23, S36, S37, S2
1, while executing S22), the interrupt switch 13 is turned off, S42 after printing is completed or S3 waiting for data reception.
The determination of 7 is YES, and the process proceeds to S43. In S43, the input buffer 3 for the file A saved in S32
The FIFO parameter of No. 1 is restored, and at S44, S33 is restored.
The format data at the time of the interruption of the stamp of the file A saved in the format data memory 34 is restored. Then, the interrupt display lamp 14 is turned off in S45, the interrupt flag is turned off in S46, and the process returns to S23. At this time, the memory map of the input buffer 31 is as shown in FIG. 5 (f), and the interrupt flag 33 is turned off in S46, so the determination in S23 is YES, and the above S24 and thereafter are executed. That is, the printing of the data of the file A remaining in the input buffer 31 is restarted, and the input buffer 31 is displayed in FIG.
As shown in, the data of the file A is sequentially erased from the input buffer 31 as the printing progresses.

If the interrupt switch 13 is turned on again after the printing of the file A is restarted, another file can be interrupt-printed again.

In the above embodiment, since all the data of the file A is input to the input buffer 31 at once, the host computer 17 has already finished the printing program of the file A during the printing operation. Therefore, the interrupt switch 13
Since it suffices that the host computer 17 execute the printing program for the other file B after the operation of, there is no need to notify the host computer of the on / off state of the interrupt switch 13.

However, if the on / off state of the interrupt switch 13 is notified to the host computer 17, the host computer 17 detects the on state of the interrupt switch 13 and suspends the execution of the print program of the file A. Since the printing program of the file B can be executed, it is not necessary to send all the data of the file A to the input buffer 31 at once.

The interrupt signal generating means for setting the interrupt print mode may be composed of means for transmitting an interrupt command from the host computer 17. In this case, the input data may be discriminated when one character data is input by the interrupt program shown in FIG. 3, and the interrupt print mode may be set when the interrupt command is received.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the interrupt switch 13 is turned on and the data to be interrupt printed is input, the first file data stored in the input buffer 31 is read from the start address of the input buffer 31. Alternatively, the sub-buffer may be rearranged and an empty area may be formed thereafter.

As described above in detail, in the present embodiment, even if the interrupt switch 13 is turned off during the printing of the file B, the data of the file A is restored after the printing of the interrupt data is completed. If the interrupt switch 13 is turned off after confirming the start of printing B, the printing of the file B and the printing of the file A can be automatically completed.

Therefore, it is not necessary for the operator to wait until the printing of the file B is completed to turn off the interrupt switch 13 to start the printing of the file A, and the working efficiency of the operator can be improved.

[0038]

According to the present invention, when an interrupt signal is generated during the output of data, the output of the data is interrupted, the output of another data is interrupted, and the interrupt is output during the output of the interrupt data. Even if the interrupt signal is turned off, the output of the interrupt data is continued, and the output of the interrupted data is restarted after the output of the interrupt data is completed. Therefore, when outputting one file data, Not only can the output of the file data be temporarily interrupted and other file data can be output by interruption, but the output of interrupt data and interrupted data can be performed without the operator waiting for the completion of output of interrupt data. It has the effect that it can be completed efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a printing apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing data input to the printer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a CPU used in the printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a CPU used in the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory configuration of an input buffer.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory configuration of an input buffer according to another modification.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P Printer 1 CPU 3 RAM 13 Interrupt switch 14 Interrupt display lamp 15, 16 Input / output interface 17 Host computer 31 Input buffer 32 Line buffer 33 Interrupt flag 34 Format data memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data output device for outputting another data by interrupting the data being output, and an interrupt signal generating means for generating an interrupt signal, and an interrupt signal generated by the interrupt signal generating means. An output interruption means for interrupting the output of data during output processing based on an interruption signal; an interruption data output means for interrupting the other data after interruption by the output interruption means; and the interruption signal generation means A data output resuming means for resuming the output of the data interrupted by the output interrupting means based on the off state of the interrupt signal generated by
While outputting the interrupt data, the data output device continues to output the interrupt data regardless of the off state of the interrupt signal.