JPH09226186A - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the execution of a normal printing even under the state that expansion processing is too late for printing by effectively utilizing finite memory. SOLUTION: Data stored in a receive buffer 203 are fetched in succession and analyzed so as to be converted in intermediate data favorable for bit map expansion. On the basis of image positions generated by the intermediate data, the converted intermediate data are stored respectively in one corresponding to the generated image position of bans buffers, which are partitioned in advance in a page buffer 205. After the completion of the storage of the intermediate data by one page, on the basis of the intermediate data in the first band buffer, bit map expansion is performed in a frame buffer so as to be outputted to a printing mechanism part 209 when the recording timing of a band, in the buffer of which the intermediate data are stored, is realized. When the bit map expansion is not yet completed even under the condition that the recording timing is realized, the image recording of the portion, the bit map expansion of which is not completed, is abandoned. When a series of image recording come to an end, whether the band, the printing of which is not completed, is present or not, is judged. When the above-mentioned band is present, a recording paper is taken again in this printing equipment, so as to start again the printing of the band, the printing of which has been not completed.

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 more particularly to a printing apparatus for printing an image on a predetermined printing medium based on print data from a host apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the case of a page printer, a bitmap memory for one page is prepared and printing is started when the development of the bitmap data for one page is completed.

However, recently, the printing resolution is increasing, and the bitmap memory is inevitably required to have a large capacity.

Therefore, it is proposed to adopt a method in which the bitmap data for one page is divided (created) into a plurality of pieces so that the bitmap is expanded in units of division and then transferred to the printing mechanism in order. Has been done. According to this method, the bitmap memory may have a capacity of a fraction of the capacity of one page, and the memory can be effectively used.

[0005]

Generally, in a page printer, once the recording paper is started to be conveyed in the printing mechanism, the electrostatic latent image is formed by the printing section (electrostatic drum in the electrophotographic system). Once started, the printing process cannot be stopped midway.

Therefore, although there is no problem in the bit map expansion processing of each division unit if the image formation time for each divided area is in time, if it is very complicated, the image formation time comes before the expansion is completed. Will be lost. This makes it impossible to form an image correctly.
At best, the error is notified or the printing is interrupted.

Therefore, in general, the speed originally possessed by the printing mechanism is lowered to some extent, and in most cases, the expansion processing is adjusted in time.

However, even with this, the possibility that the expansion process will not be in time is not zero, and the fundamental problem cannot be solved. Further, even if the processing is relatively light, such as only text, since it is not operating at the speed originally possessed by the printing mechanism, there is a problem in this sense as well.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can effectively use a limited memory and perform normal printing even if the image development processing cannot be completed in time. It is intended to provide a printing device.

In order to solve this problem, for example, the printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, based on the print data from the host device, the image data is developed for each small area unit, and the developed image data for each small area is sequentially output to a predetermined image recording unit to print an image on a print medium. The image data of each small area is expanded in accordance with the speed of the image recording means, whether the expansion processing of the image data of the small area of interest meets the print timing for the small area of interest. If it is determined that the image data of the small area of interest has not been processed in time by the determination means for determining, the storage means for storing the information for identifying the small area of interest and the series of printing operations, And a print resuming unit that re-executes printing on the corresponding small area according to the information stored in the storage unit.

[0011]

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

In the present embodiment, a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LBP) will be described as an example of the printing apparatus.

Before describing the configuration of this embodiment, the configuration of the LBP applied to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code) supplied from an externally connected host computer (from a host device), form information, or a macro command. At the same time, a corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created according to the information, and an image is formed on a recording sheet that is a storage medium. 300 is a switch and LC for operation
Operation panel with D, LED display, etc. 10
A printer control unit 1 controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from a host computer. The printer control unit 101 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs it to the laser driver 102. Laser driver 102
Is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 103, and switches on and off the laser light 104 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 according to the input video signal. The laser light 104 scans on the electrostatic drum 106 while being swung in the left-right direction at the multifaceted boundary 105. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 107 around the electrostatic drum 106 and then transferred to a recording sheet.

A cut sheet is used as the recording sheet, and the cut sheet recording sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100, and the sheet feeding roller 109 and the conveying roller 1 are used.
It is taken into the device by 10, 111 and supplied to the electrostatic drum 106. Then, the toner image attached on the electrostatic drum 106 by the developing device 107 is transferred to the conveyed recording paper. After that, the recording paper is the fixing device 1.
The toner is conveyed in 12 directions, the toner is fixed, and finally discharged by the discharging roller 113.

In normal printing, the discharge flapper 114 is in the illustrated state, and the recording paper fixed by the fixing device 112 is discharged toward the discharge roller 113, but the discharge flapper 114 is illustrated. By rotating counterclockwise by a predetermined angle with respect to the rotation axis, the fixed recording paper can be taken into the apparatus again and supplied again to the electrostatic drum 106 via the conveyance path 115. The printer control unit 101 controls the rotation of the paper discharge flapper 114.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of the control system (mainly the printer control unit 101) of the LBP which is the printing apparatus of the present invention.

The LBP control system includes print data 211 including character codes sent from the host computer 201 which is a source of image information, external character font or form information or macro registration information, and various control commands. Is input, and the document information is controlled to be printed page by page.

Reference numeral 202 denotes an input unit (generally a parallel interface or serial interface) for inputting various information from the host computer 201, 203
Is a reception buffer for temporarily storing various information input via the input unit 202, and 214 is an external storage device 21 such as a host computer 201 or a hard disk device from the LBP.
5 is an output unit that outputs various kinds of information to 5. Reference numeral 210 includes a ROM that stores pattern information corresponding to a character code in a character pattern generator and a read control circuit thereof, and also has a code conversion function that calculates the address of the character pattern according to the code when the character code is input. Have

Reference numeral 204 denotes a CPU for controlling the entire LBP control system, which controls the entire apparatus according to a control program stored in the ROM 206b. RAM206
a is used as a work area of the CPU and also as a storage area of a band table described later.

Reference numeral 212 is an analysis unit for analyzing the data received according to the control program of the ROM 206b, 213 is a development unit for developing the information analyzed by the analysis unit into a bit pattern, and 205 is intermediate data information (bits analyzed by the analysis unit. It is a page buffer that stores intermediate code information for efficient map expansion). As shown in FIG. 5, the page buffer 205 is divided and managed into a plurality of horizontal bands (which are equally divided into eight in the drawing). In the following, each band area in the page buffer 205 will be referred to as a band buffer.

Reference numeral 207 is a frame buffer that stores pattern information expanded into character patterns in correspondence with a print image. In this embodiment, the frame buffers are frame buffers 207a and 207b as shown in FIG.
And are used alternately for printing, and each of the frame buffers 207a and 207b has a capacity obtained by dividing a bitmap for one page into eight equal parts.

An output interface unit 208 is a frame buffer 207 (frame buffers 207a, 20a
7b), a signal corresponding to the pattern information is generated as a video signal, and interface control with the printing mechanism unit 209 is executed. Printing mechanism unit 209
Is as shown in FIG. 1, and the output interface unit 2
It is a printing mechanism unit that inputs a video signal from No. 08 and prints image information based on this video signal. A timer 217 counts the set time. Also, 300
Is the operation panel described in FIG.

The operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described below. 6 to 13 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the embodiment, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the outline of use of bands in the print processing in the present embodiment. The program corresponding to each flowchart is stored in the ROM 206.
stored in b.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

Basically, in the present embodiment, the reception buffer 20 which is a temporary storage means for the information data (print data) input from the host device (host computer or the like).
Processing for storing in the page buffer 2 and analysis of print data in the reception buffer and translation into intermediate data,
Processing to store in the band buffer at the corresponding position of 05,
Further, based on the intermediate data stored in each band, the frame buffers 207a and 207b which are empty at that time
Of these (one of which is being output), and these operate asynchronously.

<Reception Processing> FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the reception processing in the embodiment.

When data is supplied from the host device to the input section 202, the input section 202 outputs an interrupt signal to the CPU 204.

Upon receiving the interrupt signal, the CPU 204 first reads the data latched in the input section 202 (step S601), and writes the input data as it is in the reception buffer 203 (step S60).
2). After writing the data, it is confirmed whether or not the storage capacity of the reception buffer 203 is full (hereinafter referred to as buffer full) (step S603), and if it is determined that the buffer is not full, this processing is ended (data transfer is possible). The signal indicating is kept output). If the buffer is full, the data in the reception buffer 203 is used, and a signal indicating that processing is being performed from the input unit 202 (for example, a busy signal is output) so that the host device does not transfer the data until some space becomes available. Is returned (step S604). Since the host device monitors the state of the input unit 202 and then transfers the data, no data is received thereafter until a signal indicating data transfer permission is output.

Although the interrupt process of the CPU 204 is described here, the input unit 204 may be provided with a certain degree of intelligence so that the input unit 204 performs the above process.

<Data Analysis Processing> Next, the data analysis and print processing that operates asynchronously with the write processing to the reception buffer 202 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the analysis processing, it is first confirmed whether or not there is unprocessed data in the reception buffer 203 (step S60).
5) If there is no data, wait until the data is stored.
If the data exists in the reception buffer 203, the data is read (step S606), the data is analyzed (step S607), and the analyzed data is stored in the page buffer 205 as intermediate data (intermediate language data) (step S608). In the present embodiment, since printing is executed by dividing into eight bands, the page buffer 205 also has one
It has 8 band buffers per page. Therefore,
Based on the analysis result, the position of the page buffer 205 to be stored in the band buffer is determined, and the band buffer is stored in the corresponding band buffer.

Next, it is confirmed whether the receiving buffer 203 is in the buffer full state (step S609). If the receiving buffer 203 is in the buffer full state, it means that the appropriate received data has been analyzed by the above processing. This means that an empty area has occurred in the reception buffer 203 by the amount. Therefore, the status output signal from the input unit 202 is set to the standby state, that is, the print data receivable state (step S6).
10). If it is on standby, the host device transfers data. Finally, it is determined whether or not the storage of the intermediate data for one page, that is, one page received in the eight band buffers is completed (step S611), and when it is determined that the intermediate data is not completed, step S606. Return to. Also,
When it is determined that the storage process of the intermediate data for one page is completed, this process is temporarily terminated and the process shifts to the printing process. The end of the creation and storage of the intermediate data for one page is determined by whether or not the page break command (or page end command) is read from the reception buffer 203.

<Band Table Creation Process> When the above data analysis process and intermediate data creation process are completed, information suitable for developing into bitmap data is stored in each band buffer in the page buffer 205. However, in this embodiment, the band table is created prior to the actual bitmap expansion processing. This process will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
The band table is previously secured in the RAM 206a built in the CPU 204. The same applies to the variable B shown below.

First, the band table is initialized (step S701 and the state of reference numeral 1001 in FIG. 14), and "1" is assigned as an initial value to the variable B for managing the processing order (step S702). Next, the data of the part for managing band 1 in the table is updated (step S703), and the part which is described as "NG" (or data meaning that) in the initialization is "OK" (or that). Meaning data).

Next, the band buffer indicated by the variable B in the page buffer 205 (hereinafter simply referred to as band buffer B
That is, the timer process for managing / limiting the time required for the expansion into the frame buffer based on the above) is set not to operate (step S704). This means that the bitmap expansion based on the first band buffer does not require a time limit (however, a limit can be set as described later). Then, the data is expanded to the frame buffer 207 based on the data in the first band buffer (step S705).

The expansion process of step S705 will be described below with reference to FIG.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the frame buffer 207 is provided with memories (reference numerals 207a and 207b in the figure) for expanding the bitmaps for two bands. Confirm whether to expand in the buffer.

First, the frame buffer 207a is checked (step S801), and if it is free, the frame buffer 207a is determined. If the frame buffer 207a is not empty, it is determined to use the frame buffer 207b (step S802). Then, the intermediate data is read from the band buffer indicated by the variable B to the determined frame buffer and subjected to expansion processing, and which frame buffer was expanded, for example, "F1" or "F"
The management data such as "2" is stored in the table (step S804, the state of reference numeral 1002 in FIG. 14). When the expansion processing for one band is completed, it is confirmed whether the timer processing is operating, and if so, it is interrupted (step S8).
05, step S806).

As described above, since there is no time limit on the bit map expansion for the first band, it means that the timer is not operated in step S805.
The process of step S806 is not performed. If it is determined in step S805 that the timer is in operation, it means that the bitmap expansion processing for the band is in time, so the processing in step S806 is performed.

Returning to FIG. Now, when the expansion process for the first intermediate data in the band buffer is completed, it is possible to start the actual printing, so the printing mechanism unit is activated using a control signal (step S706). Next, "1" is added to the variable B (step S707), and the data for managing the next band (the second band at this stage) in the table is updated ("OK" as in the case of band 1). Rewriting) (step S708).

When the printing mechanism unit is activated, the recording paper is fed from the paper cassette and conveyed to the electrostatic drum. However, the time available for developing the next band (band 2) depends on the printing mechanism unit. Recording paper is supplied (conveyed) to the electrostatic drum from startup,
It is the time until the data in the frame buffer 1 is converted into the video signal and sent to the laser driver, so in order to manage the time, the time limit data is set and the timer process is activated (step S709).

The timer process also operates asynchronously with the printing process and measures time. Performs processing to generate an interrupt when the set time (time limit) has elapsed. This processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Note that the flowchart shown in the figure is started when a value to be timed is set, and in step S806 in FIG. 10 described above, processing for interrupting this timer interrupt is performed.

After starting the timer processing, the intermediate data is read from the band buffer (= band buffer B) having the same number as the variable B in the page buffer 205 and the data is expanded in the frame buffer (step S71).
0). Since the variable B is 2 here, the second band image is expanded to the frame buffer 207b which is empty at that time. The expansion process is the same as the process described in step S705.

Since the printing mechanism continues to move even while the data is being developed, when the recording paper is conveyed to a certain place, the bitmap data in the frame buffer 207a or 207b is output as a video signal. start.
This operation also operates asynchronously with the print processing, and the processing will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

In the process of outputting the data of the frame buffer 207, since the order of outputting the data is managed, N
Variable is used.

First, the variable N is initialized to 1 (step S9
01), then check the management data in the table with the same number as N and check if it is "OK" (step S902). If "OK", check another management data in the same table. Then, it is confirmed which frame buffer the data has been expanded to (step S903).

If the management data is "F1", the data in the frame buffer 207a is output, and if the management data is "F2", the data in the frame buffer 207b is output (steps S904, S905). When the output of data for one band (frame buffer) is completed, the management data in the table having the same number as N is rewritten from "OK" to "SKIP" (step S906). Although details of this "SKIP" will be described later, it means that it is unnecessary in the next recording operation, that is, the printing process is not performed.

When the management data in the table is other than "OK", at least the bit map expansion of the band indicated by the variable N has not been completed, so the print data is not output. That is, all blank data for one band (for one frame buffer) is transferred (step S907).

Further, in this step S907, regardless of whether the data is transferred from the frame buffer 207 or the blank data, it takes a constant and the same time depending on the transfer speed of the storage paper.

Next, after the data transfer is completed, it is confirmed whether the data N is 8 (step S908). If the data N is 8, it means that the output of the data is completed for one page, and the output process is completed. Yes, if not, N is updated (step S909) and the process is continued.

Returning to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 again. After the expansion processing (step S710) is completed, it is confirmed whether the variable B is 8 (step S711). If it is 8, it means that all bands, that is, one page of bands have been expanded, and another processing is performed. Move. If not, the expansion processing for the next band is performed, but since only two frame buffers exist in this embodiment, the data for the next band cannot be expanded unless either data transfer is completed. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the vacancy of the frame buffer (step S712). Of course, if there is no free space in the frame buffer, you will have to wait until then.

When the frame buffer becomes empty, the timer process is started (step S713), but here, the time available for developing the next band is calculated from the position of the recording paper and set in the timer. However, when using a continuous band, that is, at the present time, the time that can be used for the expansion processing of the next band (band 3) and thereafter is the time to transfer the data of one frame buffer by video,
The data of that time is set in the timer.

Next, the variable B is updated (step S71
4) Check the management data of the table having the same number as the variable B (step S715), and if the management data is other than "NG", return to step S714 and check the next table (step S716). The processes of steps S715 and S716 are necessary for skipping the data of the bands that have already been printed at the time of the second and subsequent printing operations described later (the table of the bands that have been successfully printed after the first time is It has been rewritten as "SKIP", so it will be skipped).

If the management data of the table is "NG",
The management data is updated from "NG" to "OK" (step S717). Then, the process returns to step S710 to develop the next band (here, band 3).

In this manner, while sequentially checking the empty state of the frame buffer, the data up to the last band (B = 8) is expanded in the frame buffer and transferred to the printing mechanism section.

Here, the operation when the interruption of the timer processing occurs during the expansion processing, that is, when the expansion processing does not catch up with the movement of the recording paper (when the synchronization cannot be achieved) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. To do.

When a timer processing interrupt occurs during the expansion processing, the management data "OK" in the table for managing the expanded band is rewritten to "NG" indicating that the processing was not in time (step S910). ). Furthermore, the expansion process is forcibly interrupted (step S91).
1). Since "NG" is written in the table of the band in which the expansion process is forcibly interrupted, blank data is output to the position of the band in the above-described frame buffer data output process. (Step S
902, step S907).

Returning to FIG. 9, if it is determined in step S711 that the development has been completed up to the eighth band for the time being, the process proceeds to step S718, all the management data in the table are confirmed, and whether there is a band updated to "NG". Check (step S718). If "SKIP" is set for all bands, it means that printing has been performed for all bands. That is, it indicates that the image recording is performed on the entire one page by one recording operation. Therefore, in this case, since the printing process for the target page has been completed, the sheet is ejected from the sheet ejection roller 113 to the outside.

On the other hand, if there is at least one band "NG", it means that there was a band that could not be printed at this time. For example, reference numeral 401 in FIG. 4 indicates a state in which the expansion processing of bands 2 and 6 has failed.

Therefore, in order to print again, the paper discharge flapper 114 is rotated to convey the recording paper again toward the electrostatic drum via the conveying path 115.

In this reprinting process, similarly to the first printing, when the recording paper is conveyed to a certain place, the data in the frame buffer starts to be output as a video signal. For example, in the case of FIG. , The time required for the recording paper to reach the predetermined position is calculated, the calculated data is set, and the timer process is started (step S720). Furthermore, the same numerical value (here, 2) as the band with the first “NG” found in the table is set in the variable B for managing the order (step S
721), the processing from step S717 described above is continued.

Reference numeral 402 in FIG. 4 indicates that the bitmap expansion of the remaining bands is completed during the second printing. Therefore, by combining the first printing process and the second printing process, complete printing of one page as indicated by reference numeral 403 is performed.

The band to be subjected to the expansion processing at the time of the second printing can also be free from the time constraint like the first band at the time of the first printing.

As a result of the above, the bitmap expansion for at least the first band of the second and subsequent printing processes has a time margin or can eliminate a time constraint, and therefore must be performed without fail. Therefore, even with complicated bitmap development, the printing process is surely completed at the third or fourth time.

In addition, when printing a general sentence or the like, since the processing is performed by printing once in most cases, the original function of the printing mechanism of the printer can be exhibited. That is, it is not necessary to slow down the speed of the printing mechanism in order to perform complicated printing.

<Description of Other Embodiments> In the above embodiment, one page is divided into eight bands, but even if it is divided into several bands, only two frame buffers are set. The same effect can be obtained by setting more than one.

Further, in the embodiment, a blank is transferred instead of the data of the frame buffer of the band which becomes "NG", but the data of the frame buffer up to the point of interruption is output to the printing mechanism section instead of the blank. Even if the same effect is obtained. In this case, each band buffer in the page buffer 205 may be provided with a pointer indicating the extent to which the bitmap expansion processing has been performed, and the bitmap expansion may be performed from the position indicated by the pointer for the second and subsequent times.

By doing this, the time required for at least the second bit map expansion processing can be shortened, and as a result, the number of times of printing can be reduced.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, if there is a band in which the expansion process is delayed and becomes "NG" no matter how many times printing is performed without discharging the paper, the recording paper is temporarily stopped in the conveyance path 115. Then, the same effect can be obtained even if all the bands are printed by expanding the band of "NG" in the frame buffer and then moving the recording paper again.

Further, in the above embodiment, the expansion processing of each band is performed by the movement of the printing mechanism (recording paper conveying speed, etc.).
It may be realized in one printing process by previously determining whether or not the process is possible within the time calculated from the above, and if each band falls within that time, the control by the timer process is eliminated. .

In this case, as shown in FIG. 15, the time required for each expansion is predicted from the capacity of the band buffer in the page buffer 205 (= approximately proportional to the expansion time) (step S111). Then, if all bands are possible (assuming that the threshold has a threshold value that can be determined to be certainly possible), one page is printed by one printing without control by the timer processing (step S1).
12) If not, first, it is confirmed whether the processing can be printed in time if the recording paper is continuously moved (step S113), and if so, the recording paper is continuously moved a necessary number of times and the timer processing is performed. Also, printing is performed (step S114). For the band whose expansion process is still not in time, the expansion process is executed by stopping the recording paper every time in the transport path 115 for one band (step S1).
15), the same effect can be obtained.

Further, in addition to the above-mentioned embodiment, when it is judged that the expansion processing time of the data in each band is not in time as a result of the calculation, one band data is transferred to the printing paper as shown in FIG. The data is divided in a direction parallel to the direction (1 band is further divided into 5 in FIG. 16), and the amount of the divided data is set to a size that the expansion process can be done in time. To explain with FIG. 16, the band 11 is →
Band 21 → band 31 ... Band 81 are developed and output (output to the printing mechanism section) in this order, and in the next printing, band 12 → band 22 ... Band 82 are developed and output.
In this way, printing is performed on the same recording paper 5 times and then discharged. Even with such a control method, the same effect can be obtained.

Even if the amount of data to be divided in the direction parallel to the printing paper conveyance direction is a predetermined size, the same effect can be obtained.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
When the bitmap expansion for one page is divided into multiple bands and printed by the page printer, when the bitmap expansion of each band is not in time for the operation of the printing mechanism, such as complicated printing or a large amount of information. Even if there is, it is possible to finally output a normal print result.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, in order to make the printing result invalid, to lower the printing quality (decrease the resolution), to interrupt the printing due to an error state, or to obtain a normal result. Therefore, there is no need to add storage means (RAM or the like).

It is also possible to maximize the printing capability of the printing mechanism.

Although the laser beam printer has been described as an example in the embodiment, the present invention is limited to the printing method described in the above embodiment since it can be applied to other types of page printers such as an LED printer. Not a thing.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the printer has been described as having a means for transporting the recording paper to the recording position again. However, in some cases, such a configuration is not always necessary. For example, when an imperfect printing is performed and ejected, a message or the like notifying that the ejected recording paper should be set again may be output to the display unit provided in the operation unit. However, as in the above embodiment, if it can be automatically performed, it does not confuse the user, and
Since it is possible to surely carry out superimposed recording on one recording sheet a plurality of times, it is desirable to provide a re-conveying unit.

[0080]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively utilize the limited memory and to perform normal printing even if the image development processing is not in time.

[0081]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional structure diagram of a printing apparatus to which an embodiment is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship among a page buffer, a frame buffer, and a printing mechanism unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing an outline of multiple printing in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a page buffer in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a print data receiving process in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an analysis process in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating print processing according to the exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating print processing according to the exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a developing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing timer interrupt processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an image data transfer processing procedure in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a process when the interrupt of FIG. 11 occurs.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of transition of a band table in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in another embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a recording unit in another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 host computer 202 input unit 203 reception buffer 204 CPU 205 page buffer 206a RAM 206b ROM 207 frame buffer 208 output interface 210 character pattern generator 211 print data 212 analysis unit 213 development unit 214 output unit 215 external storage means

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A print medium is developed by developing image data for each small area unit based on print data from a higher-level device and sequentially outputting the developed image data for each small area to a predetermined image recording means. A printing apparatus for printing an image, wherein when expanding image data of each small area in accordance with the speed of the image recording means, the image data expansion processing of the small area of interest is a print timing for the small area of interest. And a storage unit for storing information for identifying the small region of interest, when the image data of the small region of interest has not been expanded by the determination unit. After the operation, according to the information stored in the storage means, a printing restart means for performing printing on the corresponding small area again is provided. Printing device to collect. 2. The image recording means is provided with means for re-conveying a print medium, which is about to be discharged in one image recording process, to an image recording portion of the image recording means. The printing device according to item 1. 3. The small area is a horizontal area obtained by dividing one page into a plurality of areas.
The printing device according to the item. 4. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is an electrophotographic page printer. 5. The image recording is performed on the image data of the portion where the development is completed when the determination unit determines that the development processing of the image data of the small area is not completed by the print timing. The printing apparatus according to any one of items 1 to 3. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit that changes a size and a dividing position of the small area. 7. An image is printed on a print medium by developing image data for each small area based on print data from a host device and sequentially transferring the image data for each small area to a predetermined image recording means. A printing device for analyzing the print data to generate intermediate data which is easy to develop an image, determines which small area the intermediate data corresponds to, and stores the intermediate data in a corresponding position of a predetermined storage unit. When the analysis means for storing and the analysis for one page are completed by the analysis means,
A decompressing unit that energizes the image recording unit and sequentially develops image data in the order of the small areas to be recorded by the image recording unit; , Determining means for determining whether or not the image recording timing of the target small area is in time, and when the determining means determines that the image data development processing of the target small area is not in time, the target small area is specified. Storage means for storing information, and, after a series of printing operations, if there is a small area judged by the judgment means that the expansion processing was not in time, the output print medium is conveyed to the recording portion of the image recording means. Means and control means for restarting the printing process for the small area stored in the storage means for the print medium conveyed by the conveying means. A printing apparatus comprising: 8. The small area is a horizontal area obtained by dividing one page into a plurality of areas.
The printing device according to the item. 9. The printing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8 is an electrophotographic page printer. 10. The image recording is performed on the image data of the portion where the development is completed, when the determination unit determines that the development processing of the image data of the small area is not completed by the print timing. 7th
The printing apparatus according to any one of items 1 to 9. 11. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a changing unit that changes a size and a dividing position of the small area.