JPH09309250A - Controlling device for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize a memo in accordance with constitution of a system by making arbitrarily a reprinting function switchable to effective or invalid after a trouble is solved when the trouble occurs during printing operation. SOLUTION: When a jam recovery switch 208 is ON, the jam recovery flag FLG in an RAM 203 is made ON to make a reprinting function during the jam occurs effective and when it is OFF, the jam recovery flag FLC is made OFF to make the reprinting function during the jam occurs invalid. When the jam occurs, a jam indicator 207 is turned on and off and the number of sheets of retained papers is received from a printing mechanism part 220 and the number of sheets of papers to be transferred again is returned back from the present outputting point of a page control unit to require to reprint the page status. Then, a jam reset switch 206 is pushed and a light is turned off and the processing is finished. The page control unit is made to be an unused empty page and as page turning back processing is finished immediately, reprinting is not practically performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control method for a print mechanism section that prints print information from a host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of apparatus, when a printing error such as a jam (paper jam) or a malfunction of the printing mechanism occurs, it is detected and the printing is automatically restarted. However, for this reprinting, it is necessary to retain the already printed data for a certain period of time, and a part of the memory capacity of the apparatus is allocated for retaining the data for that purpose. Particularly, in a page printer or the like which operates in page units, the storage memory has a large capacity. Further, recently, since the image data is also handled, in a laser beam printer or the like having a high recording density, the memory size of the storage memory is enormous.

On the other hand, on the side of the host computer to which this type of printing device is connected, the capacity of the built-in memory and the memory capacity of the external storage device have been gradually increased. The printing device side tends to allocate the memory to the area for downloading the character pattern or the like to effectively use the memory.

On the other hand, on the other hand, host computers having a low cost and having a small memory capacity have become widespread.
In some cases, the printing device must support reprinting when a printing error occurs.

[0005]

As described above, although the necessity of automatic reprinting at the time of printing cannot be uniquely determined depending on the printing contents and the target host computer, the conventional printing is performed. The device uniquely stores the reprint data in the memory of the printing device, and has become unsuitable for a device that constitutes a highly flexible system.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, provide a printing control method capable of setting the validity / invalidity of a so-called reprint function in accordance with the system configuration, and enable a highly flexible system configuration. It is to provide a print control method capable of measuring the effective use of the memory of the printing apparatus.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is designed so that, when a failure occurs from the host computer during the printing operation in the printing mechanism section, after the failure is cleared,
A step of inputting a command for selecting whether to restart printing from a damaged page or to restart printing from a page following a damaged page, storing print information output from the host computer page by page A step of storing the print information stored in the storage means, a step of outputting the print information stored in the storage means to be printed by the printing mechanism unit, and a printing of one page in the output step based on the command input in the input step. After outputting the information, a step of determining whether to retain the print information of the page in the storage unit until the print operation of the print information of the page ends, or to release the print information before the print operation ends, And having.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an internal configuration of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LBP) for carrying out an embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes an LBP main body which converts character information supplied from an externally connected host computer into a corresponding character pattern and forms an image on a recording medium such as paper. A printer control unit 101 controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer. Printer control unit 10
1 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs it to the laser driver 102. The laser driver 102 is a circuit for driving and controlling the semiconductor laser 103, and switches on / off the laser light 104 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 according to an input video signal. The laser beam 104 is oscillated in the left-right direction by the rotary polygon mirror 105 and irradiated on the electrostatic drum 106, and a latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is transferred to a sheet after being developed by a phenomenon unit 107 around the electrostatic drum 106. A cut sheet is used as a sheet, and the cut sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100, taken into the apparatus by a sheet feeding roller 109 and conveying rollers 110 and 111, and supplied to the electrostatic drum 106.

Reference numerals 112 and 113 are jam (paper jam) sensors to which general optical sensors are applied. With these sensors, first, whether the paper taken into the apparatus by the paper feed roller 109 reaches the jam sensor 112 within a certain fixed time, and whether the paper sent by the conveyance roller 111 to the phenomenon unit is within a certain constant time. Has reached the jam sensor 113, and then the entire sheet of paper has reached the fixing roller 11
4. The paper discharge roller 115 checks whether the paper has been completely discharged after passing through the jam sensor 113. And
If the paper gets stuck somewhere, immediately stop the printing mechanism,
The number of staying sheets is calculated from the number of times of feeding by the jam sensor 112, the timing, the number of times of passing by the jam sensor 113, and the timing.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic embodiment of the present invention in a block diagram. In the figure, 200 is LB
It is a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) that controls the entire P100 and analyzes character information. An input interface circuit 201 receives data from the host computer. CPU 2 shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 described later
ROM 20 for storing the printer control program of 00
2. A RAM that provides a work area used in a process executed according to a program in the ROM 202
Reference numerals 203 and 204 denote page buffers configured by a general RAM. Input data input from the host computer is sent to the CPU 20 via the input interface circuit 201.
When 0 is input and data analysis is performed, the character information in the input data is edited page by page and stored in the page buffer 204 together with the print format control information.

Reference numeral 205 denotes C at a cycle of, for example, 100 ms.
It is a timer unit that outputs a timer interrupt signal S01 to the PU 200. The timer interrupt signal S01 activates the timer interrupt processing routine of the printer control program of the multitask processing system incorporated in the CPU 200. Reference numeral 206 denotes a jam reset switch composed of a general push button switch. When a jam occurs, the jammed paper is removed and the LBP 100 restarts printing by pressing the main switch. Reference numeral 207 is a jam indicator composed of a general LED, which blinks when a jam occurs.

Reference numeral 208 denotes a jam recovery switch composed of a general ON / OFF lock type push button switch. When the switch is pushed and locked (ON), the automatic reprint function of the jam target data is effective, and the switch is pressed again. When the lock is removed (OFF), the automatic reprint function is disabled. The validity and invalidity are registered in the flag area FLG of the RAM 203.

The functions set by the switches 206 and 208 are realized by the CPU 200 executing the printer control program stored in the ROM 202. 209 converts the character information received from the page buffer 202 line by line into a print signal of a character pattern,
It is a character generator that outputs to the output interface circuit 210. The output interface circuit 210 includes the printing mechanism unit 2
20 is a circuit that transmits various control commands S02 and print signals S03 to the printer 20, and receives status S04 from the print mechanism unit 220.

In response to a print start command from the CPU 200, the print mechanism unit 220 is activated, and at the same time, a series of print controls such as paper feeding, rotation of the electrostatic drum 106, and activation of the laser driver 102 are performed. The CPU 20
In response to a status request command from 0, the status S04 of the printing mechanism unit 220, such as no paper or no toner, is displayed in the CPU 20.
Returned to 0. Further, when a jam occurs, the number of staying sheets counted by the printing mechanism unit 220 is returned to the CPU 200 as a status S04.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal data structure of the page buffer 202. LBP100 used in this embodiment
Since the electrophotographic printing method is adopted, once the printing operation is started, it cannot be temporarily stopped until the printing of one page is completed. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare at least one page of print data on the page buffer 204 in advance and then activate the print mechanism unit. Also, because of the reprint function when a jam occurs, the paper after printing is LBP110.
It is necessary to hold the print data on the page buffer 204 until the paper is completely discharged to the outside. In the apparatus of the present embodiment, a maximum of three sheets of stagnant paper is generated when a jam occurs, so extra pages for smooth page switching are added to hold page data for a maximum of five pages on the page buffer 204. For this purpose, page buffer 20
4 is a data buffer 30 that stores data in page units
3 and has a page control table 302 composed of page control units 400 of # 1 to # 5 for independently managing data in page units in the data buffer 303.

A page control unit 400 outputs an output page pointer 300 to read print data.
Is indicated by At the same time, some other page control unit 400 is pointed to by the input page pointer 301 for writing print data from the host computer. The output page pointer 300 is a pointer indicating the number of the page control unit 400 corresponding to the page data being printed out or the page data to be printed next, and the input page pointer 300 is the page data storage area in which data input is being executed or , A pointer pointing to the page control unit corresponding to the page data storage area to be subjected to the next data input processing.

FIG. 4 shows a page control unit 400.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of FIG. Page control unit 4
In 00, various management information relating to 1-page data is stored. Input data from the host computer is linked to any page control unit 400 and edited in page units. At the same time, the print data is linked to one of the page control units 400 and output in page units. In the figure, 401 is a status flag indicating the state of the page control unit 400, which is "empty", "inputting", "waiting for output",
It holds the status of either "outputting" or "waiting for release". The status of "vacant" indicates that the page control unit 400 is unused. "Entering"
Indicates that the page control unit 400 is receiving the input data and is in the process of editing the page. The status of "waiting for output" indicates a state in which the page control unit 400 is waiting for the start of printing. The status of "outputting" indicates that the printing operation is being executed for the page data corresponding to the page control unit 400. The status of "waiting for release" indicates that the printer is waiting for the timing of erasing this page data after printing is completed. The data erasing timing is immediately after the paper which receives the print page is completely ejected out of the LBP 100 when the reprint function for the jam is valid, and immediately after the printing is completed when the reprint function is invalid. . This erasing timing is controlled by the page release counter 404 described later.

Reference numeral 402 is a page control unit 40.
Data buffer 30 for 1-page data managed by 0
3 is a data address pointer indicating an address on
A data length 403 stores the length of one page of data stored on the data buffer 303. 404 indicates that the page status 401 is “waiting for release”
This is a page release counter for giving a page erasing timing to the specified page.

When the reprint function at the time of jamming is effective, the page release counter 404 of the page to be printed is set to LBP1.
The time required from paper feed to paper discharge calculated by the length of the paper transport path of 00 and the paper transport speed which is constant is set in terms of the number of timer interrupts. If the reprint function at the time of jam is invalid, the page release counter 404 of the page is set to 0.

Then, the page status is "outputting",
During the "waiting for release", in the timer interrupt processing by the timer unit 205, the page release counter 404 is incremented by "1" every time the timer interrupt occurs, and when the page release counter 404 becomes 0, the page status 401 is "released". Waiting Page Control Unit 400 Page Status 4
The page is erased by setting 01 to “vacant”.

The mechanism of recovery control when a jam occurs in the LBP 100 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. The printer control program is a multi-task processing system program including a main task 500 which is a main program and an input task which edits a page of input data, and task management is performed by a timer interrupt by the timer unit 205.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the main task executed immediately when the LBP 100 is powered on.
First, the entire LBP 100 is initialized in step S501, and the jam recovery switch 208 is checked in step S502. Jam recovery switch 208
When is ON, the process proceeds to step S503, and the jam recovery flag FLG in the RAM 203 is turned ON to make it as a flag for the reprint function at the time of jam. When the jam recovery switch 208 is OFF, in step S504, the jam recovery flag FLG is turned OFF, and the flag for invalidating the reprint function at the time of jam is set. Next, in step S505, the input task is activated to start data input, analysis, and page editing.

Next, in step S506, the printing mechanism unit 22 is
The status of 0 is checked, and if a jam occurs, the jam processing 700 of step S507 is executed, and if other errors, the error processing corresponding to each is executed in step S508, and then the status check of step S506 is returned to again. If the status check in step S506 is normal, the process proceeds to the next step, and in step S509, it is checked whether the page indicated by the output page pointer 300 is waiting for output. When waiting for output, output processing 60 in step S510
Proceed to 0 to start printing this page. Next, in step S511, the page release process is performed, and the page status 4
When 01 is "waiting for release", the process proceeds to step S512, and when the page release counter 404 is 0, step S513.
Then, the page status 401 is set to "vacant" and the page is erased. After that, steps S506 to 513 are repeated to continue page output.

Next, FIG. 6 shows details of the output processing shown in step S510. First, in step S601, a printer activation command is output to S02 to activate the printing mechanism unit 220, and in step S602, it waits for the activation command acceptance status S04 from the printing mechanism unit 220 to be returned. When the status is returned, the process proceeds to step S603 and the page status 4 of the page pointed to by the output page pointer 300.
01 is output, and the above-mentioned value is set in the page release counter 404 in step S604. And step S
At 605, the print data on the page buffer 204 is sent to the character generator 209 for printing. When all the print data has been transferred to the character generator 209, the flow advances to step S606 to set the output page status 401 to "wait for release". In step S607, the jam recovery flag FLG is set.
If it is OFF, that is, if the reprint function at the time of jam is invalid, the page release counter 404 is set to 0 again in step S608 so that the page release is executed immediately. Next, in step S609, the output page pointer 300 is advanced to the next page, and the output process is ended.

Now, FIG. 7 shows a detailed flow chart of the jam processing 700 in step S507, and the details of the jam recovery will be described. First, in step S1, the jam indicator 207 is blinked, and in step S702, the number of retained sheets due to a jam, that is, the number of pages to be retransmitted for reprinting is received from the printing mechanism unit 220 as status S04. Next, in step S703, the number of retransmitted sheets is used as a loop counter, and in the following steps S704 to 708, the number of retransmitted sheets is traced back from the current position of the output page pointer 300 of the page control unit 400.

First, at step S4, the output page pointer 300 is returned to the previous page, and at step S705, 1 is returned.
Check the page status 401 of the previous page. The page status 401 is "waiting for release",
If the data is still stored, the flow advances to step S706 to update the page status of this page to "waiting for output" to indicate that reprinting is requested. Then, in step S707, the loop counter i is updated, and in step S7
This loop counter i is checked at 08, and the above is repeated until it becomes 0. In step S705, if a page whose page status 401 is not "waiting for release" is found,
Since this page has already been printed and ejected, or the data for this page has not been saved, the page is traced back here, and the output page pointer 300 is lowered too much in step S709. Turn back and get out of this loop.

After the output page is returned in this way, the process waits for the jam reset switch 206 to be pressed at step S710, and the process proceeds to step S711 to turn off the jam indicator 207 and finish the jam process. When the reprint function is invalid, the page release counter 404 is 0, and the "waiting for release" page is set to the "empty" page. Therefore, in the page status check of step S705,
The page retrace process ends immediately, so reprinting is not actually performed.

Although the present embodiment is an example of application of the present invention to a laser beam printer which analyzes and edits data page by page and prints, the present invention is not limited to this, and an ink jet printer or a serial dot matrix printer. And the like, can be applied to printing apparatuses of various printing methods. Further, in the present embodiment, the failure to be reprinted is limited to the jam, but in addition to this, various printing failures such as a printing error due to a temporary malfunction of the laser and a power failure of the printing mechanism unit during printing can be applied.

In the above description, the reprint function is valid.
Although the invalidity is selected by the switch, in the present invention, this is defined as an instruction and is input from the connected host computer. As a result, depending on the capability of the host computer and the content of the print data, it is possible for the host computer side to select the reprint function valid / invalid appropriately and in a timely manner.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively use the memory according to the system configuration by making it possible to arbitrarily switch the reprint function between valid and invalid. Further, according to the present invention, depending on the capability of the host computer and the content of the print data, it is possible to select the reprint function valid / invalid on the host computer side appropriately and at a proper time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit of a printer to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of a laser beam printer that carries out an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an internal data structure diagram of a page buffer.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a page control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the main program of the control program on the printer control unit.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of output processing.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a jam treatment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 ... Laser beam printer (LBP) 101 ... Printer control unit 112, 113 ... Jam sensor 204 ... Page buffer 205 ... Timer unit 206 ... Jam reset switch 207 ... Jam indicator 208 ... Jam recovery switch 209 ... Character generator 210 ... Output interface circuit 220 ... Printer mechanism section 300 ... Output page pointer 301 ... Input page pointer 302 ... Page control table 400 ... Page control unit 401 ... Page status area 402 ... Data address pointer 404 ... Page release counter

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] February 21, 1997

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Name of invention

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Title: Image forming apparatus control device

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0001

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an image forming apparatus that receives data output from a host device and outputs the data to the image forming apparatus.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0006

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example. When a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus, the number of pages lost due to the failure can be controlled by simple control without imposing a load on the host apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a control device for an image forming apparatus that can convert page data traced back to image data into image data and retransmit the image data to the image forming apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the control device of the image forming apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, the first storage means (corresponding to the page buffer 204 in the embodiment) capable of storing the data output from the host device for each page, and the data for each page stored in the first storage means are waiting for output. Second storage means (corresponding to the page control unit 400 in the embodiment) for storing identification data indicating whether or not the page data for which the identification data stored in the second storage means indicates output waiting. An output unit (corresponding to the processing of 605 in FIG. 6 in the embodiment) that converts the read image data from the first storage unit and outputs the image data to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus when a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus. If there is a failure in the image forming apparatus and the receiving means (corresponding to the processing of 702 in FIG. 7) for receiving the number of undischarged sheets, the identification data of the second storage means. Means for rewriting the data indicating the output waiting back number of pages based on the non-discharge of the sheet count data up (in the example, 704-7 of FIG. 7
(Corresponding to the processing of 08)).

[Procedure Amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0029

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus, the load is not applied to the higher-level apparatus and, for example, even when the jam cover is used, the same operation as the normal printing is performed. Since the page data whose identification data indicates output waiting can be converted to image data and processed,
With simple control, there is an effect that image data can be retransmitted to the image forming apparatus from a page that is traced back by the number of pages lost due to a failure.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When a failure occurs from the host computer during the printing operation in the printing mechanism section, after the failure is cleared,
Inputting a command for selecting whether to restart printing from a damaged page or to restart printing from a page following a damaged page, storing print information output from the host computer page by page Storing the print information in the storage unit, outputting the print information stored in the storage unit to be printed by the printing mechanism unit, and printing one page in the output step based on the command input in the input step. After outputting the information, a step of determining whether to retain the print information of the page in the storage unit until the print operation of the print information of the page ends, or to release the print information before the print operation ends, A printing control method comprising: 2. The printing control method according to claim 1, wherein the printing operation in the printing material structure section includes a discharging operation of a recording medium on which print information is recorded.