JPH10119391A - Composite printer with plural printer mechanisms and is controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a composite printer capable of disposing abnormality a suitable to printer mechanisms and printing sheets having different functions, in the composite printer equipped with a plurality of printer mechanisms, and a method for controlling it. SOLUTION: The composite printer 1 comprises a thermal printer state detector 65 and wire dot printer state detector 65 for detecting abnormal state of a thermal printer mechanism 10 and wire dot printer mechanism 20 carried in the composite printer 1. Further, printer mechanism deciding unit 71 judges the mechanism selected from information of a sheet. Thus, since an abnormality disposition deciding unit 72 can grasp an abnormal state at each printer mechanism and can judge operating printer mechanism, the abnormality disposition suitable to the printer mechanism can be rapidly conducted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the control and configuration of a composite type printer equipped with two or more printer mechanisms.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If a cover is opened for paper exchange or the like during printing by a printer, subsequent printing processing cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, conventionally, the status of the printer has been transmitted to a host device such as a personal computer by a busy signal indicating that processing of the transferred data cannot be guaranteed. Specifically, in many printers, the data transfer ready signal (DTR) signal is inactive (inactive) to indicate that the printer is busy. Since there is no assurance that printing can be continued when the cover is opened on the printer side, error processing such as stopping printing when printing of one line is completed is performed.

[0003]

In recent years, composite printers equipped with two types of printer mechanisms as shown in FIG. 3 have been developed. The multifunction printer 1 includes, for example, a thermal printer mechanism 10 of a non-impact type and a wire dot printer mechanism 20 of an impact type, and further, based on data transferred from the host device, the printer mechanisms 10 and 20. And a control circuit 30 having a function of controlling The thermal printer mechanism 10 includes a thermal head 11, a paper feed roller 13 for feeding thermal paper (roll paper) 12 to the thermal head 11, a paper feed motor 14 for driving the paper feed roller 13, and a reduction gear 15. . The wire dot printer mechanism 20 is disposed at a position facing the platen 21 with the ribbon 22 interposed therebetween, and has a print head (wire dot head) 24 that is moved left and right by a carriage 23 driven by a motor (not shown); A paper feed roller 26 for feeding slip paper 25 to 24, a slip paper feed motor 27 for driving the paper feed roller 26, and a wheel train are provided.

In such a composite printer 1, receipt printing can be performed on the rolled thermal paper 12 using the thermal printer mechanism 10, while slip paper such as slips and checks can be printed using the wire dot printer mechanism 20. 25 can be printed. Therefore,
A single printer can print two types of documents, and is a useful printer as a POS terminal or the like. In addition, the thermal printer mechanism 10 is used for journal printing for storing as a sales record of a store, and the wire dot printer mechanism 20 is also used for so-called validation printing for performing authentication printing. In this case, one printer is used. Can perform four types of printing.

In a composite printer having such two printer mechanisms, it is necessary to newly develop a control method for abnormal processing. For example, it may be desirable to change the abnormal processing when the cover 19 of the thermal printer mechanism 10 is opened to replace the paper and when the cover 29 of the dot printer mechanism 20 is opened to replace the ribbon 24. .

For example, in the thermal printer mechanism 10, the paper is transported by rotating the platen. Therefore, if it is detected that the cover is opened and the paper is separated from the platen, printing is immediately stopped. Is desirable,
In the wire dot printer mechanism 20, even if the cover open is detected, printing can be continued for a short time, so that it is desirable to end printing of the line being printed from the viewpoint of data protection.

Further, when the cover is closed again after printing is stopped by opening the cover, the cueing operation cannot be performed before the printing is resumed in the thermal printer mechanism 10 because the roll paper is normally used. In the dot printer mechanism 20, when slip paper is used, it is desirable to set the slip paper 25 at a position where printing is continued after the cueing process, and then restart printing.

In a multifunction printer equipped with two printer mechanisms, if a busy signal is output by opening a cover of one of the printer mechanisms as in the prior art, even if one of the printer mechanisms can be used, the multifunction printer can be used. On the other hand, data cannot be transferred from the host device. Therefore, in order to efficiently use a plurality of mounted printer mechanisms, it is desirable to output a busy signal according to each state of the mounted printer mechanisms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism and a control method suitable for a multifunction printer having a plurality of printer mechanisms, that is, a mechanism and a control method capable of quickly performing an abnormality process suitable for each printer mechanism. And It is still another object of the present invention to provide a composite printer which can efficiently utilize a composite printer equipped with a plurality of printer mechanisms and can prevent troubles such as loss of data transferred from a host device, and a control method therefor. .

[0010]

Therefore, in the present invention, attention is paid only to the state of the printer mechanism selected by the host device, and the processing of the entire printer is not hindered by the states of other printer mechanisms. . That is,
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs print processing based on data received from a host apparatus, includes first and second printer mechanisms each having an independent print head and performing printing on different types of recording media, and First and second state detection means for detecting the states of the first and second printer mechanisms, respectively, and printer mechanism selection means for selecting one of the first and second printer mechanisms based on the data State determining means for determining a state of the printing apparatus based on the state of the one printer mechanism selected by the printer mechanism selecting means; and a state of the printing apparatus determined by the state determining means, And a status notifying means for notifying the user.

As a result, the status of the printer mechanism selected by the host device via the data is notified to the host device. Therefore, the operation of the host device is affected by the status of the printer mechanisms other than the selected printer mechanism. Never.

In this case, the state determining means includes:
If the states of the first and second printer mechanisms do not conflict with each other, it is desirable to determine the state of the printing apparatus based on the states of the first and second printer mechanisms.
As a result, the host device can accurately recognize the status of each printer mechanism, so that the host device can perform appropriate processing as needed based on the judgment of the host device.

[0013] In these cases, the printer mechanism selecting means may select a printer mechanism to perform a printing process based on the data. By notifying the host device of the state of the printer to be subjected to print processing, if the print processing is delayed, the host apparatus can immediately perform appropriate processing such as stopping the transmission of print data, thereby ensuring data security. The performance is improved. In this case, it is desirable that the notification to the host device be made by an interface circuit that indicates offline / online. As a result, real-time processing by hardware becomes possible, and data integrity becomes more complete.

On the other hand, the data includes a first command for selecting a printer mechanism to perform a printing process, and a second command for selecting a printer mechanism to be notified of a status. The mechanism selection means may select a printer mechanism based on the first and second commands. As a result, the printer mechanism for performing the printing process and the printer mechanism for notifying the status can be independently selected, so that the host device can know the status of the other printer mechanisms even during the printing process. Therefore, the state of other printer mechanisms can be taken into account when deciding the next printing process, so that efficient job allocation can be performed. In this case, it is preferable that the printer mechanism selecting means selects a printer mechanism based on the last command received from the first and second commands. This is for convenience of processing inside the printer.

Further, in the present invention, the host device performs an abnormal process according to the printer mechanism selected to perform the printing process. That is, the printing device of the present invention performs the printing process on the data received from the host device. In a printing apparatus that performs printing processing based on the first and second printer mechanisms, each of which includes an independent print head and prints on a different type of recording medium, and an abnormal state of the first and second printer mechanisms. First and second abnormality detecting means for detecting each of them, and the first and second printer mechanisms,
A printer mechanism selecting means for selecting a printer mechanism to perform a printing process based on the data; and a printer mechanism selecting means for selecting the one printer mechanism based on the abnormal state of the one printer mechanism selected by the printer mechanism selecting means. Abnormality processing means for performing an abnormality processing in accordance therewith. As a result, when an abnormality occurs in the printer mechanism that is performing the printing process, it is possible to quickly perform the abnormality processing suitable for the printer mechanism. Further, even if the printer mechanism which is not submitted to the printing process is in an abnormal state, the abnormal process is not immediately performed. As a result, interruption of the print processing is prevented, and efficient print processing can be realized.

In the above invention, the data includes a command for selecting the recording medium, and the printer mechanism selecting means determines a correspondence between the printer mechanism and the recording medium to be printed by the printer mechanism. Having a correspondence table to be stored, when a recording medium to be printed by the first printing mechanism is selected by the command,
It is preferable to select the first printing mechanism and select the second printing mechanism when a recording medium to be printed by the second printing mechanism is selected by the command. This makes it possible to maintain command-level compatibility with conventional printing devices that used a single printer mechanism, and allows the host device to control the printing device without being aware of differences in the printer mechanism. It can be carried out.

As described above, the present invention has been outlined as an apparatus invention, but the present invention can also be expressed as an invention of a control method, and the same operation and effect can be obtained.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to a composite printer 1 having a thermal printer mechanism 10 and a wire dot printer mechanism 20 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the composite printer 1 of the present embodiment is connected to a host 2 and operates based on data transferred from the host 2. The multifunction printer 1 has an interface 51 connected to the host 2. When data is received by the interface 51, an interrupt occurs, and the data receiving unit 52 extracts the data from the interface 51. The data extracted from the interface 51 is transmitted to the real-time command analyzer 53 in the same interrupt processing.
After the real-time command is analyzed by passing through, the received command is stored in the reception buffer 54.

When the real-time command analyzer 53 recognizes a real-time command included in the data sent from the data receiver 52, it performs a preset process based on the command. That is, when a real-time command is transmitted from the host 2, it is analyzed before being transferred to the reception buffer 54 and is processed according to the real-time command. The data can be transmitted to the host device via the data transmission unit 56.

The data stored in the reception buffer 54 through the real-time command analyzing unit 53 is taken out one by one by the command analyzing unit 55, and after the data code is analyzed, if it is a control command, the control unit 57 outputs the data. Processing according to the command is performed. On the other hand, if the result of the analysis is not the control command but the print data, the print data is shown in Table 1 based on the type of paper such as slip paper or receipt paper selected by the paper selection command received from the host 2 in advance. The printer mechanism is specified by using the recording medium-printer mechanism correspondence table, is developed into print image data by a known configuration such as a character generator, and is stored in a print buffer of the printer mechanism. For example, when data to be printed on receipt paper appears in the reception buffer 54, the data is stored in the print buffer 61 of the thermal printer mechanism 10, and when data to be printed on slip paper appears in the reception buffer 54, a dot printer is used. It is stored in the print buffer 63 of the mechanism 20.

[0021]

[Table 1]

When the above expansion and storage reach a predetermined amount,
The control unit 57 controls the thermal printer mechanism 10 or the printer mechanism 62 or 64 of the dot printer mechanism 20 to print the data of the respective print buffers 61 or 63. Here, each printer mechanism includes a well-known configuration such as a print head, a paper transport mechanism, a paper cutter, and an inking device.

In the present embodiment, a print buffer is prepared for each printer mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As described later, print processing by each printer mechanism is performed in parallel. However, as shown in FIG. 2, this can be realized even by using a common print buffer 67. That is, until the printing process of one printer mechanism is completed, the printing process using the other printer mechanism is in a waiting state including the development of the print data. In addition, since different printer mechanisms usually have different specifications of the print head, especially the number of dots forming one character, it is desirable to prepare the above-described character generator for each printer mechanism. In FIG. 2, the thermal printer mechanism 10 includes a character generator 68,
Further, the impact dot printer mechanism 20 includes a character generator 69, and is used when developing character data into image data.

At this time, the control unit 57 also notifies the abnormal processing determining unit 72 as an abnormal processing unit and a state determining unit, which will be described later, that printing is being performed. The notification is performed, for example, by setting a predetermined flag. In the composite printer 1 of the present embodiment, the thermal printer mechanism 10 and the dot printer mechanism 20 are controlled so that the printing process is not performed simultaneously to minimize the power supply capacity.

The composite printer 1 of this embodiment further includes a thermal printer state detector 65 and a wire dot printer state detector 66 for detecting the respective states of the thermal printer mechanism 10 and the dot printer mechanism 20. . Thermal printer state detector 65 for detecting the status of thermal printer mechanism 10
For example, the opening / closing of the cover 19 of the thermal printer mechanism 10, a mechanism error such as a paper jam, and the near-end detection sensor 18 shown in FIG. Further, the wire dot printer state detection unit 66 for detecting the status of the wire dot printer mechanism 20 is configured to open and close the cover 29 of the wire dot printer mechanism 20, cause a paper jam or abnormal heating of the print head 24, etc., as shown in FIG. The paper sensor 28 can detect slip paper, and the ribbon sensor 22a shown in FIG. 3 can detect the end of the ribbon.

These detection results are stored as status information in a predetermined storage area such as a RAM as shown in Tables 2 to 4. Table 2 shows a continuous paper status byte for continuous paper to be printed by the thermal printer mechanism 10,
Tables 3 and 4 show slip paper status bytes and validation paper status bytes for slip paper and validation paper to be printed by the wire dot printer mechanism 20, respectively. In Table 2, bits 2 and 3 of the continuous paper status byte indicate a so-called near-end detection state of journal paper and receipt paper, respectively. "1" indicates a near-end state, and "0" indicates a state of sufficient roll paper. Each is shown. Bits 5 and 6 indicate whether or not these sheets are present. Also,
In Tables 3 and 4, bit 3 indicates waiting for insertion of each sheet, and bits 5 and 6 indicate the presence or absence of a sheet.

[0027]

[Table 2]

[0028]

[Table 3]

[0029]

[Table 4]

Table 5 shows an off-line factor status byte indicating the factor that caused the printer to go offline. Bit 2 indicates the open / closed state of the covers of the printer mechanisms 10 and 20. As will be described later, the printer goes offline according to the state of the cover corresponding to the selected printer mechanism. The state of the cover corresponding to the selected printer mechanism is displayed. Bit 3 indicates whether or not the sheet is being fed in response to an operator's switch operation. This bit is also set to "1" when the selected printer mechanism is performing the sheet feed. Is done. Bit 5 indicates that printing has stopped due to the lack of paper, and a state corresponding to the selected printer mechanism is displayed. Further, the bit 6 is set to "1" when an abnormality relating to the paper jam or the movement of the carriage for carrying the print head has occurred. In this example, the abnormality of the selected printer mechanism is displayed. However, in the case of an abnormality that does not depend on the printer mechanism, for example, in the case of a drop in power supply voltage, it is always “1”
Is set to

[0031]

[Table 5]

The status information is transmitted to the host device in response to a request from the host device or based on a predetermined status change. That is, the continuous paper status byte and the receipt paper status byte prepared for each printer mechanism are transmitted in a state corresponding to each printer mechanism, and the offline factor status byte that may conflict between the printer mechanisms is, in principle,
The status corresponding to the selected printer mechanism is transmitted. When the printer indicates that the printer is in the off-line state, an unprocessed control command remains in the reception buffer 54, and a status request command from the host may not be able to be executed. In this case, the host device 2 issues a status request using the above-described real-time command. As a result, the above status transmission is immediately executed regardless of the contents of the reception buffer 54.

When the statuses of the respective printer mechanisms 10 and 20 change due to these sensors and the like, the state detection units 65 and 66 transmit the information to the abnormality processing unit 7.
2 Further, the abnormality processing unit 72 can determine the printer mechanism selected by the printer mechanism determination unit 71. Therefore, the abnormality processing unit 72 can grasp the status of each of the printer mechanisms 10 and 20 for each of the printer mechanisms, and can also determine whether or not the printer mechanism is printing based on the notification from the control unit 57. An abnormal process to be performed in the composite printer 1 of the example can be determined. The abnormality processing unit 72 of this example performs the following abnormality processing according to the printer mechanism selected when the cover open is detected by any of the printer mechanisms 10 or 20, for example.

When the cover open is detected in the thermal printer mechanism 10, the thermal printer mechanism 1
0 is selected and the printing process is in progress, that is, when the printer mechanism determining unit 71 selects the thermal printer mechanism 10 based on the data of the receipt paper, the processing of the data in the print buffer 61 after the cover is opened. Cannot be continued, and the processing of the data received in the reception buffer 54 does not proceed. Therefore, the busy signal generator 7
3 outputs a busy signal to urge the host 2 via the interface 51 to stop data transfer. Hereinafter, this processing is referred to as offline processing. At the same time, when the printing of one line during printing is completed, the printing process is stopped. And
When the cover is closed, printing is automatically restarted from the line being printed as an automatic return error, and online processing, that is, processing for clearing the busy signal is performed.

The above processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. If an error condition that the cover is opened is detected in ST10, the above error processing is performed in ST13, and an error flag corresponding to the thermal printer mechanism is set in ST14. And ST
If it is detected at 10 that the cover has been closed and the error state has been recovered, a recovery process of restarting printing is performed at ST11, and the error flag is reset at ST12.

The above-described offline processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the printer mechanism is determined in ST1. If the thermal printer mechanism has been selected, a thermal error flag is checked in ST3. If the flag has been set, the above-described offline processing is performed in ST5. On the other hand, if the error flag has been reset in ST3, the offline state is released in ST4, that is, the online state is set.

On the other hand, when the cover open is detected in the wire dot printer mechanism 20, the printing process is in progress in the wire dot printer mechanism 20, ie,
When the printer mechanism determining unit 71 selects the wire dot printer mechanism 20 based on the slip sheet data, the print head 24 is pressed by the platen 21 due to the cover open, so that printing is immediately stopped and the print head 24 is stopped. Must be retracted to the standby position. Also,
Even if the platen is not affected by the cover open, it is desirable to stop the printing process immediately after the printing of the line is completed in order to ensure the printing process.
Therefore, the processing of the data in the print buffer 63 cannot be continued thereafter, and the processing of the data received in the reception buffer 54 does not proceed. For this reason, a busy signal is output as in mode 1 to urge the host 2 via the interface 51 to stop data transfer. In addition, since the wire dot printer mechanism 20 prints on slip paper, it is necessary to confirm the positioning of the print location. Therefore,
Even if the cover is closed, automatic recovery is not performed. When a return command is transmitted from the host device as a recoverable error, printing is restarted and the busy signal is cleared.

The above-described abnormal processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, when an error state of cover open is detected in ST21, the above-described error processing is performed in ST26. Then, an error flag is set. This flag is referred to in the offline processing described later. If a cover close is detected in ST21, a well-known recovery process such as detection of a carriage reference position is performed in ST22. And ST
In step 23, the host waits for an error recovery command to be transmitted from the host device. After receiving the command, printing is restarted in ST24, and the error flag is reset in ST25.

The above-described offline processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the printer mechanism is determined in ST1. If the wire dot printer mechanism has been selected, an error flag is checked in ST2. If the flag has been set, the above-described offline processing is performed in ST5. On the other hand, if the error flag has been reset in ST2, the offline release is performed in ST4. That is, it is set online.

As is apparent from the flowchart of FIG. 4, even if an error flag is set in an unselected printer mechanism, the state is not notified to the host apparatus as being offline. That is, the thermal printer mechanism 10 or the wire dot printer mechanism 20
If the cover mechanism is detected and the printer mechanism 10 or 20 is not selected even if the error flag is set, the busy signal is not output in the composite printer 1 of this embodiment.

Note that the busy factor for generating the busy signal from the busy signal generator 73 is not limited to the above.
In the multifunction printer 1 of this example, factors such as the reception buffer full are supplied via the control unit 57, and in this case, a busy signal is output to the host device via the interface 51 regardless of the selection of the printer mechanism. It has become.

In the above example, the printer mechanism is selected based on a control command for selecting a recording medium on which printing is to be performed and a table storing the correspondence between the recording medium and the printer mechanism. However, in this case, while printing is performed using one printer mechanism, the host device cannot know the status of the other printer mechanism.
Therefore, in another example described below, the printer mechanism to be notified of the status is selected using a second recording medium selection command different from the selection of the recording medium to be printed.

An example of a control command for selecting a recording medium on which printing is to be performed will be described.

ESC c 0 n Here, “ESC c 0” indicates the function of the control command, and “n” indicates the recording medium to be selected. Receipt paper when n = 0, journal paper when n = 1, slip paper when n = 2,
Validation papers are indicated by n = 4. When detecting the code “ESC c 0”, the command analyzer 55 selects a recording medium on which printing is to be performed in accordance with the value of “n” following the code. Then, the printer mechanism is selected according to the procedure described above. The state of the selection is stored in a storage unit such as a RAM, and is referred to as necessary thereafter.

An example of the second recording medium selection command for selecting a printer mechanism to be notified of the status is shown below.

ESC c 1 n Here, “ESC c 1” indicates the function of the control command, and “n” indicates the recording medium to be selected. The value of “n” is the same as above, and the description is omitted. The printer mechanism selected by this control command is also stored, and is referred to when notifying status information to the host device. That is, in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the setting is referred to in ST1, and an error flag is checked according to the stored printer mechanism. This control command can also be used to set a control amount such as a line feed amount for each recording medium. Thus, while printing is performed on one recording medium, the host device knows the state of the other recording medium and the state of the printer mechanism that performs printing on the recording medium, and sets or changes the control amount based on the state. Can be.

Further, the selection of the printer mechanism to which the status is to be transmitted can be performed by both of the above control commands. In this case, the printer mechanism selected in response to the last executed control command is set as the printer mechanism for which status transmission is to be performed and stored. Thus, when the recording medium on which printing is performed is selected, the status of the corresponding printer mechanism is set to be notified at the same time, and the status of the printer mechanism that is not printing even during printing can be notified. Become.

As described above, in the composite printer 1 of the present embodiment, the status is detected for each installed printer mechanism, and the printer mechanism in the operating state is determined, so that the abnormality processing suitable for the printer mechanism can be performed quickly. You can do it. Therefore, problems peculiar to the printer mechanism, such as burnout of the print head, can be prevented beforehand, and abnormal processing optimal for print paper can be performed.

Further, in the composite printer 1 of this embodiment, a printer mechanism which causes a busy signal can be selected, and the receipt paper is determined by the printer mechanism judging section 7.
1, when a busy factor occurs in the thermal printer mechanism 10 with the thermal printer mechanism 10 being selected, and when slip paper is input to the printer mechanism determining unit 71 and the wire dot printer mechanism 20 is selected. Thus, a busy signal is output only when a busy factor occurs in the wire dot printer mechanism 20. For this reason, the printer mechanism mounted on the composite printer 1 can be used efficiently. For example, if the cover is opened during printing by the thermal printer mechanism 10, abnormal processing suitable for the thermal printer mechanism is performed, and a busy signal is output. In this mode 1, when a command for selecting slip paper or a command for requesting the status of a printer mechanism corresponding to slip paper is input from the host 2 by a real-time command, the printer mechanism determination unit 71 selects the wire dot printer mechanism 20. I do. Therefore, the busy signal is canceled according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, and slip printing data can be transferred from the host 2 to the multifunction printer 1 to perform slip printing or preparation for the slip printing. Thus, in the composite printer 1 of the present example,
Even if an abnormality occurs in one of the printer mechanisms, if the printer mechanism is not selected, the other printer mechanism can be used as usual, and the plurality of printer mechanisms can be used efficiently.

As described above, the multifunction printer of the present embodiment can detect the status of each printer mechanism, and can perform an abnormality process suitable for the operating printer mechanism. In addition, since the busy factor can be determined and output for each printer mechanism, at least the printer mechanism on the side where no busy factor has occurred can send data from the host device and perform the printing process. Therefore, even if one of the printer mechanisms cannot be used for some reason, the other printer mechanism can be used, and the function of the composite printer can be maximized.

In the above example, the cover open was described as an example of a factor indicating an abnormal state. However, other factors, such as abnormal heating of the head, poor movement of the carriage, poor cutting of the auto cutter, and paper errors, etc. The same applies to the case where none or exhaustion is detected.Since each factor can be detected for each printer mechanism, an abnormal process suitable for both the factor and the printer mechanism can be appropriately selected.
The control of the composite printer can be performed.

[0052]

As described above, the composite printer and its control method according to the present invention relate to a printing apparatus having a plurality of printer mechanisms mounted thereon, and detect a state change and operate each printer mechanism. The printer mechanism inside can be determined. Therefore, it is possible to select a change in the state of the printer mechanism and an abnormal process suitable for the operating state, and it is possible to reliably prevent the printer mechanism from being damaged and to perform an optimum abnormal process on the printing paper. Further, since the status of the printer mechanism can be transmitted to the host device via the busy signal for each printer mechanism, a plurality of printer mechanisms mounted on the multifunction printer can be effectively used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control configuration of a multifunction printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control configuration of a multifunction printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view schematically showing a printer mechanism of the multifunction printer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating control of notification of an off-line state of the multifunction printer illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating abnormal processing of a thermal printer mechanism of the multifunction printer illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an abnormal process of the wire dot printer mechanism of the multifunction printer shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Composite printer 10. Thermal printer mechanism 20. Wire wire dot printer mechanism 30. Control mechanism 51. Interface 52. Data receiving unit 53. Real time command analyzing unit 54. Receive buffer 55 .. Command Analysis unit 56 Data transmission unit 57 Control unit 61, 63 Print buffer 62, 64 Printer mechanism unit 65, 66 State detection unit 71 Printer mechanism determination unit 72 Error processing unit 73 ..Busy signal generator

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for performing a printing process based on data received from a host device, comprising first and second printer mechanisms each having an independent print head and performing printing on different types of recording media. First and second state detection means for detecting the states of the first and second printer mechanisms, respectively; and a printer mechanism selection for selecting one of the first and second printer mechanisms based on the data. Means, state determining means for determining a state of a printing apparatus based on a state of the one printer mechanism selected by the printer mechanism selecting means, and a state of the printing apparatus determined by the state determining means to the host A printing apparatus comprising: a status notifying unit that notifies the apparatus. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said state determining means determines a state of said first and second printer mechanisms when the states of said first and second printer mechanisms do not conflict with each other. A printing apparatus that determines a state of the printing apparatus based on the information. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printer mechanism selecting means selects a printer mechanism to perform a printing process based on said data. 4. A printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said status notifying means is an interface circuit for indicating offline / online. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data is a first command for selecting a printer mechanism to perform a printing process and a second command for selecting a printer mechanism to be notified of a status. And a printer mechanism selecting means for selecting a printer mechanism based on the first and second commands. 6. A printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said printer mechanism selecting means selects a printer mechanism based on a last received command among said first and second commands. Printing device. 7. A printing apparatus for performing a printing process based on data received from a host apparatus, comprising: a first and a second printer mechanism each having an independent print head and performing printing on different types of recording media; First and second abnormality detection means for respectively detecting an abnormal state of the first and second printer mechanisms; and one of the first and second printer mechanisms, the one of which performs a printing process, Printer mechanism selection means for selecting based on the printer mechanism, and abnormality processing means for performing an abnormality process corresponding to the one printer mechanism based on the abnormality state of the one printer mechanism selected by the printer mechanism selection means. A printing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data includes a command for selecting the recording medium, and the printer mechanism selecting unit includes the printer mechanism and the recording medium to be printed by the printer mechanism. And a correspondence table for storing a correspondence relationship between the first printing mechanism and the recording medium to be printed by the first printing mechanism.
When the recording medium to be printed by the second printing mechanism is selected by the command, the second printing mechanism is selected.
A printing mechanism for selecting a printing mechanism. 9. A printing apparatus having independent print heads, having first and second printer mechanisms for performing printing on different types of recording media, and performing a printing process based on data received from a host device. In the controlling method, a first and a second step of detecting states of the first and second printer mechanisms, respectively, and selecting one of the first and second printer mechanisms based on the data. Determining the state of the printing apparatus based on the state of the one printer mechanism selected in the printer mechanism selecting step; and determining the state of the printing apparatus determined in the state determining step by the host device. And a notifying step. 10. The control method according to claim 9, wherein, in the state determination step, when the states of the first and second printer mechanisms do not conflict with each other, the first and second printer mechanisms are switched off. A control method, wherein the state of the printing apparatus is determined based on the state. 11. The control method according to claim 9, wherein in the printer mechanism selecting step, a printer mechanism to perform a printing process is selected based on the data. 12. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the data is a first command for selecting a printer mechanism to perform a printing process and a second command for selecting a printer mechanism to be notified of a status. A printer mechanism is selected based on the first and second commands in the printer mechanism selecting step. 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein
In the printer mechanism selecting step, based on the last received command of the first and second commands,
A control method comprising selecting a printer mechanism. 14. An ink jet printer comprising: independent print heads;
First and second printing on different types of recording media
Controlling a printing apparatus that performs a printing process based on data received from a host device, the first and second abnormalities detecting abnormal states of the first and second printer mechanisms, respectively. A detecting step, a step of selecting one of the first and second printer mechanisms to perform a printing process based on the data, and the one of the first printer mechanisms selected in the printer mechanism selecting step. Performing an abnormality process corresponding to the one printer mechanism based on the abnormal state of the control method. 15. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the data includes a command for selecting the recording medium, and the printer mechanism selecting step includes the printer mechanism and the recording medium to be printed by the printer mechanism. Obtaining a correspondence between the first printer mechanism and the first printer mechanism when a recording medium to be printed by the first printer mechanism is selected by the command; and selecting the first printer mechanism. Selecting a second printer mechanism when a recording medium to be printed by the mechanism is selected by the command.