JPH0991104A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent difference from being generated in the printed results between the case of printing with a regular printer and the case of printing with a test printer. SOLUTION: When a printer receives a printing request from a host computer connected by a network (S1), the received printing request is analyzed by an image extension language (S2) and it is discriminated whether the image extension is finished or not (S3). When the image extension is not finished, it is discriminated whether a character font is required or not (S4). When the character font is required, the character font is extracted out of a storage part (S5) and the image extension of the printing request is performed (S6) by executing the extracted character font or a plotting instruction analyzed in the S2. When the image extension is finished, the extended image is translated into the image printing command of a designated printer (S7) and the image printing command prepared in the S7 is executed by the designated printer (S8).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus system, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus of a transfer destination designated by a print request from the host computer in a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a host computer by a network. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus system capable of transferring data according to the above conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a conventional printing apparatus system, in which 1 is a host computer and 2, 2, 2
Is a printing device, and 3 is a network that connects the host computer 1 and a plurality of printing devices 2, 2, 2 ...

FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining the printing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 7, 4 is a printing section for printing on paper, 5 is a storage section for storing character fonts and information of other printing apparatuses, 6
Is a control unit that controls the printing unit 4 and the storage unit 5.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the conventional printing apparatus system, a host computer 1 and a plurality of printing apparatuses 2, 2, 2 ... Are connected by a network 3, and each printing apparatus 2 is , Received a print request from the host computer 1 and executed printing.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining a printing operation of the conventional printing apparatus system. When the printing device 2 receives a print request from the host computer 1 connected by the network 3 (S21), the received print request is analyzed by the image development language (S2).
2), it is determined whether the image development is completed (S2)
3). If the image development is not completed, it is determined whether or not a character font is required (S24). If the character font is required, the character font is taken out from the storage unit 5 (S2).
5) The extracted character font and the drawing command analyzed in (S22) are executed to develop the image of the print request (S26). When the image development is completed, the printing unit 4
To print the image-developed contents on paper (S
27).

The printing device 2 is divided into a test printing device and a formal printing device. The test printing device and the formal printing device have the following characteristics, respectively.
Due to reasons such as the setting location and running cost, we used different printing devices for test printing and formal printing. (1) Characteristics of the test printing device: It is installed near the user. Low running costs, such as toner and ink costs. Advanced image deployment, for example languages such as Postscript are not available. Fonts are not well implemented. Low resolution. The price of the device is low. (2) Characteristics of official printing device: Since it is shared with many people, it is installed in a common space. Running costs, such as toner and ink charges, are high. Advanced image deployment, for example languages such as PostScript can be used. Rich fonts are implemented. High resolution. The price of the device is high.

[0007]

In using the test printing device and the official printing device, the following features are provided.
There were the following problems. (1) The performance of each of the test printing device and the official printing device,
For example, the print results of the test printing device and the official printing device may differ due to differences in the mounted fonts, differences in the image development language, and the like. (2) When the resolutions of the test printing apparatus and the official printing apparatus are different, if the image developed by the test printing apparatus is printed, the printing result as if printed by the official printing apparatus cannot be obtained due to the difference in resolution. (3) When the test printing is performed, if the printing device of the transfer destination cannot print, for example, if the printer runs out of paper, runs out of toner, or runs out of ink, cancel the printing request to the printing device, The operation is difficult because a new operation of designating another printing device capable of printing is required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in a formal printing apparatus, a print request from a host computer is developed into an image so as to be printed by a designated test printing apparatus, and then designated. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent a difference between the printing results when printed by the official printing device and when printing by the testing printing device, and when printing by the testing printing device.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising a printing section, a storage section for storing character fonts, and a control section, the control section being connected to a host computer via a network. In a printing apparatus system in which a plurality of printers are connected via the network, another printing apparatus, which is designated based on a command from the host computer, specifies a print request including a character code or a graphic code received from the host computer. Characterized in that it has a transfer means for transferring to the printer and requests printing, expands the received print request into an image, and requests the other printing device to print the expanded image through the transfer means. Therefore, by performing the process until the image development of the print request with the official printing device, the official printing device and the official printing device are registered. It does not occur difference in the print result of the device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, there is provided resolution setting means for setting the resolution of the other printing apparatus, and the designated other printing apparatus set in the resolution setting means. Based on the resolution, the print request is developed into an image in accordance with the resolution of the other designated printing device, and the image is developed in accordance with the resolution of the test printing device. A printing result as if printed by a printing device is obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided state detection means for detecting the state of the other printing device, and the other printing device designated by the state detection means cannot print. When it is detected, the expanded image is requested to be printed to another designated printing device, and when the state of the designated transfer destination printing device is unprintable, Since the printing can be continued by automatically switching to the next printing device, the operator does not need to switch the printing device, which simplifies the operation of the operator.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the third aspect of the invention, there is provided rank setting means for setting the rank of the other printing apparatus, and based on the rank of the other printing apparatus set in the rank setting means. When the designated other printing device cannot print by the above, the printing of the expanded image is requested to the further designated printing device, and the rank information of the other printing device is set. Only the test printing device can be selected on the basis.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining an embodiment of the printing operation of a printing apparatus system according to the present invention. In the printing apparatus 2 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the printing apparatus 2 receives a print request from the host computer 1 connected by the network 3 (S1), the received print request is analyzed by the image development language. Then, it is determined whether the image development is completed (S2) (S3). If the image development is not completed, it is determined whether or not a character font is required (S4). If a character font is required, the character font is extracted from the storage unit 5 (S5), and the extracted character font or (S2). The drawing command analyzed in step S4 is executed to expand the image of the print request (S6). When the image development is completed, the developed image is converted into an image print command of the designated printing device (S7), and the designated printing device performs (S7).
Execute the image print command created in 7) (S
8).

As described above, the invention of claim 1 receives a print request from the host computer 1, develops an image, converts the developed image into an image print command of a designated printing device, and creates the image print command. The command is executed for the specified printing device.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining another embodiment of the printing operation of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the information content stored in the printing device according to the present invention. The printing devices 2, 2 connected to each other by the network as shown in FIG. The information of 2 ... is the name of the printing apparatus, the rank of the printing apparatus, and the resolution of the printing apparatus.

Printing device 2 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
At step S2, the printing apparatus 2 receives a print request from the host computer 1 connected by the network 3 (S
1) and the name of the designated printing device to be transferred from the stored information as shown in FIG. 3, and the resolution of the printing device is extracted (S9). The received print request is analyzed by the image development language (S2), and it is determined whether the image development is completed (S3). If the image development is not completed, it is determined whether or not a character font is required (S4). If a character font is required, the character font is extracted from the storage unit 5 (S5), and the extracted character font or (S2). Execute the drawing command analyzed in step (S
An image of the print request is developed according to the resolution extracted in 9) (S6-1). When the image deployment is completed,
The expanded image is converted into an image print command for the designated printing device (S7), and the designated printing device
The image print command created in (S7) is executed (S8).

According to the second aspect of the invention, as described above, in the first aspect of the invention, the print request from the host computer is image-developed at the resolution of the designated printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flowcharts for explaining still another embodiment of the printing operation of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the invention of claim 3, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in the invention of claim 2, the image printing command created in (S7) is executed to the designated printing device (S8). Then, it is checked whether or not the state of the designated printing device is normal (S10), and if it is normal (printed), the process ends. If the state of the designated printing device is abnormal, as shown in FIG. By selecting the next printing device of the designated printing device according to the stored information and reprocessing this printing device as the designated printing device from (S11) and (S9), the printing device is switched. It was done.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining still another embodiment of the printing operation of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

According to the invention of claim 4, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, in the invention of claim 3, if the state of the designated printing apparatus is abnormal, the stored information as shown in FIG. The rank information of the printing device is taken out, and it is judged whether or not the rank of the printing device is "test" (S13). If it is not "test", the process returns to (S12), and the printing device with the selected rank "test" is selected. , As the designated printing device (S14),
By performing the re-processing from (S9), the printing device is switched.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a printing device comprising a printing unit, a storage unit for storing character fonts, and a control unit, the control unit being connected to a host computer via a network, is provided with the network. In a printing apparatus system in which a plurality of printers are connected via a print request including a character code and a graphic code received from the host computer, the print request is transferred to another printing apparatus specified based on a command from the host computer. The present invention is characterized by having a transfer means for requesting printing, expanding the received print request into an image, and requesting the other printing device to print the expanded image through the transfer means. By executing the image development of the request with the official printing device, the print connection between the test printing device and the official printing device is completed. It is possible to ensure that does not occur difference to.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, there is provided resolution setting means for setting the resolution of the other printing apparatus, and the specified other printing apparatus set in the resolution setting means. Based on the resolution, the print request is developed into an image in accordance with the resolution of the other designated printing device, and the image is developed in accordance with the resolution of the test printing device. It is possible to obtain a printing result as if printed by a printing device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided state detection means for detecting the state of the other printing apparatus, and the other printing apparatus designated by the state detection means cannot print. When it is detected, the expanded image is requested to be printed to another designated printing device, and when the state of the designated transfer destination printing device is unprintable, Since printing can be continued by automatically switching to the next printing device, the operator does not need to switch the printing device, and the operator's operation can be simplified.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the third aspect of the invention, there is provided rank setting means for setting the rank of the other printing apparatus, and based on the rank of the other printing apparatus set in the rank setting means. When the specified other printing device cannot print, the printing of the expanded image is requested to the other specified printing device. According to the invention of claim 3, When the next printing device is selected, the official printing device may be selected even though the test printing device is specified.However, according to the present invention, the test is performed based on the rank information of other printing devices. Only the printing device can be selected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining an example of an operation at the time of printing of a printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining another embodiment of the operation at the time of printing of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of information content stored in the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining still another embodiment of the operation at the time of printing of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining still another embodiment of the operation at the time of printing of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining still another embodiment of the operation at the time of printing of the printing apparatus system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printing apparatus system.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram for explaining the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an operation at the time of printing of the conventional printing apparatus system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Host computer, 2 ... Printing device, 3 ... Network, 4 ... Printing unit, 5 ... Storage unit, 6 ... Control unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing unit, a storage unit for storing character fonts, and a control unit, wherein the control unit is connected to a host computer via a network and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected via the network. In the printing device system, a transfer unit that transfers a print request including a character code or a graphic code received from the host computer to another printing device designated based on a command from the host computer to request printing is provided. A printing apparatus system comprising: expanding the received print request into an image and requesting the other printing apparatus to print the expanded image through the transfer unit. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising resolution setting means for setting a resolution of the other printing apparatus, and based on the resolution of the other printing apparatus designated by the resolution setting means, the other printing specified. The printing apparatus system according to claim 1, wherein the print request is developed into an image according to the resolution of the apparatus. 3. A printing apparatus comprising: a state detection unit for detecting a state of another printing apparatus, and when the state detection unit detects that the designated other printing apparatus cannot print, printing the expanded image is performed. The printing device system according to claim 2, wherein the printing device system requests to another designated printing device. 4. A rank setting unit for setting the rank of another printing device is provided, and the designated other printing device cannot print based on the rank of the other printing device set in the rank setting unit. 4. The printing apparatus system according to claim 3, wherein the printing apparatus system further requests the designated printing apparatus to print the expanded image.