JPH1078857A - Printing device and printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing device and method in which the waiting mode of a printing mechanism can be exactly released only when necessary without using any exclusive release signal, its signal line, or any processor for judgement. SOLUTION: A printing device is provided with a controlling part 50 for processing data received from a host part 11, and a printing mechanism part 25 for operating printing under the control of the controlling part 50 based on the above data, and for moving to a waiting mode for saving power consumption under a prescribed condition. The controlling part 50 alternately executes each kind of task including at least a job language interpreting task for interpreting the above data, and a print data analyzing task for analyzing print data prepared with prescribed printer language among the above data, and the above print data analyzing task transmits a signal for executing a waiting mode releasing task for releasing the above waiting mode during the data analyzing processing.

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 a printing method for performing printing by a printer based on print data transmitted from a host computer, and more particularly, to surely cancel a standby mode of a printing mechanism only when necessary. Thus, power consumption is reduced.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a host computer creates and outputs print data, a printer performs printing based on the print data. However, when the print data is input, the printer performs printing immediately. Some include an operation mode in which operation can be performed, and a standby mode (standby state, sleep state) for the purpose of reducing power consumption and reducing consumption of components. In this standby mode, for example, the temperature of the heat fixing device provided in the printer is maintained at a standby temperature lower than the operating temperature, the power supply is stopped, or the printer is provided in the exposure optical system of the printer. Operations such as holding and stopping the rotation speed of the polygon mirror at a standby speed lower than the operation speed are performed, so when actually performing printing, be sure to release the standby mode and wait for wake-up Is needed.

That is, when print data is not input from the host computer to the printer for a certain period of time or when the operation of the control panel is not performed for a certain period of time, the operation mode is shifted to the standby mode to reduce power consumption. We are reducing the consumption of components. And
In this standby mode, when print data is input from the host computer or an operation is performed on the control panel, the standby mode is released, the operation mode is shifted to the operation mode, and printing is performed.

Therefore, specifically, in a printing apparatus,
When a printer having the standby mode is in the standby mode, when an application issues a print request to the printer driver, the printer driver of the host first creates print data, and then starts sending the print data to the printer after the creation. The printer is released from the standby mode and wakes up, and after that, printing is performed by the printing mechanism.

Here, the printing mechanism is a mechanism part that actually performs a printing operation. For example, an electrophotographic apparatus including an exposure optical unit, a xerography process unit, and a heat fixing unit is shown. I have. The term "cancel the standby mode of the printing mechanism" means that the thermal fixing unit is maintained at a standby temperature lower than the above-mentioned high fixing temperature for the purpose of reducing power consumption and reducing consumption of components in the printing mechanism. Or turn off the power, release the mode in which the polygon mirror is held at a low standby speed, raise the heat fixing unit to a temperature at which printing can be performed immediately, or use the polygon inside the exposure optical unit. It means raising the mirror to a predetermined rotation speed. Wake-up refers to a recovery operation of the printing mechanism starting from the release of the standby mode and until a printable state is reached.

[0006]

The data transmitted from the host computer to the printer includes, in addition to print data for performing printing, actual status response commands for inquiring the status of the printer, font data to be downloaded, and the like. There is data for which no printing operation is performed.

However, in the conventional printing apparatus, the standby mode is canceled when any data is received regardless of the type of data. Therefore, a status response command for inquiring the status of the printer, font data to be downloaded, etc. There has been a problem that the standby mode is canceled even when data that does not perform the printing operation is received.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem,
There is one disclosed in JP-A-8-142458. That is, the printing apparatus of this publication has a release condition determining means for releasing the power saving mode when the release condition is satisfied, and when the input data in the power saving mode is predetermined data that does not require a printing operation, the printing apparatus consumes the power. The power saving mode is not canceled.

However, in this conventional printing apparatus,
Release condition determining means for determining whether the input data is a command of print information data for printing or a status response command that does not require a printing operation is provided, and consumption is determined based on the determination result of the release condition determining means. It is determined whether to cancel the power saving mode or not. That is,
In this case, there is a problem that not only the release condition determining means for determining whether or not to release the power saving mode is specially required, but also it takes a long processing time.

In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method that can reliably release a standby mode of a printing mechanism only when necessary without using a special determining means. .

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control unit for processing data received from a host unit, and printing under control of the control unit based on the data. A printing mechanism for shifting to a standby mode for saving power under a predetermined condition, wherein the control unit performs a job language interpretation task for interpreting the data and a predetermined printer language of the data. Various tasks including at least a print data analysis task for analyzing the created print data are alternately executed,
The print data analysis task, during the data analysis process,
A printing apparatus transmits a signal for executing a standby mode release task for releasing the standby mode.

In the first aspect, the data sent from the host unit is interpreted by the job language interpretation task, and if the data includes a print information data portion created in the printer language, the print data is further transmitted. The print data analysis task transmits a signal for executing the standby mode release task during the analysis processing, and the standby mode release task is executed. As a result, the standby mode of the printing mechanism is released, and the operation mode is shifted to after a predetermined time has elapsed. That is, when data such as a status response command that does not include the print information data portion is received, the analysis process of the print data analysis task is not started, so that the standby mode of the printing mechanism is not unnecessarily released. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the job interpreting task processes print data having a job data portion according to a job language and a print information data portion according to a printer language; When a command command for declaring a printer language of the job data portion is read, execution of the job interpretation task is interrupted, and the data analysis task is executed.

In the second aspect, the print data is interpreted by the job language interpreting task, and then the print information data portion according to the print language is analyzed by the data analyzing means. The task is executed, and the printing mechanism unit is released from the standby mode.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, when the job interpretation task reads print data having only a print information data portion in accordance with a printer language, the job interpretation task is executed. Is interrupted, and the print data analysis task is executed.

In the third aspect, data having only the print information data portion is interpreted by the job language interpretation task, and thereafter, the print information data portion according to the print language is analyzed by the data analysis means. During the processing, the standby mode release task is executed, and the standby mode of the printing mechanism is released.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control unit for processing data received from a host unit, and a standby mode for performing printing under control of the control unit based on the data and saving power consumption under predetermined conditions. A control unit configured to execute a job language interpretation task for interpreting the data and a print data analysis for analyzing print data generated in a predetermined printer language among the data. A task and at least various tasks including an image creation task for creating a print image from the intermediate code created by the print data analysis task are executed alternately.The print image creation task sets the standby mode during the image creation process. A printing apparatus transmits a signal for executing a standby mode release task to be released.

In the fourth aspect, the data sent from the host unit is interpreted by the job language interpreting task, and when the data includes a print information data portion created in the printer language, the print data is further transmitted. It is analyzed by the analysis task and converted to intermediate code, and further converted to image data by the image creation task.During processing by the image creation task, a signal for executing the standby mode release task is transmitted, and the standby mode is sent. The release task is executed. As a result, the standby mode of the printing mechanism is released, and the operation mode is shifted to after a predetermined time has elapsed. That is, when data such as a status response command that does not include the print information data portion is received, the processing of the image creation task is not started, so that the standby mode of the printing mechanism is not unnecessarily canceled.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method in which a printing mechanism performs printing based on data received from a host and shifts the printing mechanism to a standby mode for saving power consumption under predetermined conditions. In the method, a job language analyzing step for interpreting a job language interpreting data received from the host unit, and only data including a print information data portion according to a predetermined printer language among the data analyzed in the job language analyzing step. A print data analysis step of analyzing and converting to an intermediate code, an image creation step of creating a print image based on the intermediate code created in the print data analysis step, and printing the image created in the image creation step The printing data analyzing step is performed in the middle of the printing data analyzing step, and the standby mode at the rear of the printing press is released. In printing method characterized by having a standby mode release process.

In the fifth aspect, the standby mode releasing step is always performed during the print data analyzing step. As a result, the standby mode of the printing mechanism is released, and the operation mode is shifted to after a predetermined time has elapsed. That is, when data such as a status response command that does not include the print information data portion is received, the print data analysis step is not performed, so that the standby mode of the print mechanism unit is not unnecessarily canceled.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method in which a printing mechanism performs printing based on data received from a host and shifts the printing mechanism to a standby mode for saving power consumption under predetermined conditions. In the method, a job language analyzing step for interpreting a job language interpreting data received from the host unit, and only data including a print information data portion according to a predetermined printer language among data analyzed in the job language analyzing step. A print data analysis step of analyzing the print data into an intermediate code, an image creation step of creating a print image based on the intermediate code created in the print data analysis step, and an image created in the image creation step. A printing process for printing, which is performed in the middle of the image forming process, and cancels a standby mode at the rear of the printing press. In printing method characterized by having a standby mode release process.

In the sixth aspect, the standby mode releasing step is always performed during the image forming step. As a result, the standby mode of the printing mechanism is released, and the operation mode is shifted to after a predetermined time has elapsed. That is, when data such as a status response command that does not include the print information data portion is received, the image creation process is not performed, so that the standby mode of the printing mechanism unit is not unnecessarily canceled.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a control block of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows an outline of a printing mechanism, FIG. 3 shows a data format of print data, and FIG. FIG. 5 to FIG. 9 are flowcharts showing processing executed on the printer side.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is connected to a host computer (host unit) 11 that creates and outputs print data, and performs printing based on the output print data. 21. The host computer 11 includes an application 12 stored in a predetermined storage location and a printer driver 13.
And a memory 14 for storing print data. The application 1 has a keyboard 1
5 is input. Further, inside the printer driver 13, there is provided a print data generation unit 16 which creates print data suitable for the printer 21 in accordance with a print command from the application 12.

On the other hand, the printer 21 has a printing mechanism 25 comprising a xerographic process unit 22, a heat fixing unit 23, and an exposure optical unit 24, and the xerography process unit 22, the heat fixing unit 23, and the exposure optical unit. It has a control unit 50 for controlling the control unit 24. The control unit 50 includes an analysis unit 51 for analyzing print information data, an intermediate code buffer 52 for storing intermediate codes analyzed by the analysis unit 51 and converted from the print information data, and an intermediate code buffer 52. And an image buffer 53 for storing a print image created by converting the intermediate code stored in the printer. The printer 21 includes a reception buffer 41 for receiving data from the host computer 11, a control panel 42 for operating the printer 21 and displaying various information, and a power supply 43 for turning on and off the power supplied to the printer 21. Having.

The control unit 50 is composed of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and controls the printer 21 comprehensively based on a control program or the like stored in the ROM or an external memory (not shown). 51 is
It mainly shows a CPU.

The analysis unit 51 alternately executes various tasks for executing various processes. Here, as various tasks,
A receiving task for receiving data from the host 11 into the receiving buffer 61, a job language interpreting task for reading and interpreting data stored in the receiving buffer, and converting print information data into intermediate codes and storing them in the intermediate code buffer 52. Print data analysis task, intermediate code buffer 52
Task for creating a print image from the intermediate code stored in the image buffer and storing it in the image buffer 53, monitoring the control panel 62 and receiving a reset input, feeding or discharging paper, and issuing a print request (Details will be described later). Priorities are set for these tasks, and the tasks are generally executed alternately in time units on the order of several msec based on the priorities. The tasks include a standby mode shift task for shifting the printing mechanism unit 25 from the operation mode to the standby mode, and a standby mode release task for canceling the standby mode and shifting to the operation mode. For example, when the input of the data for performing the printing operation has not been performed for a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes) or the operation of the keyboard 15 by the user has not been performed for a predetermined time or more, the standby mode transition task is executed by the real-time monitor. To change from the operation mode to the standby mode. Note that when the analysis unit 51 alternately executes various tasks, the CPU
The selection of whether to pass the right to use is determined by, for example, a real-time monitor which is a group of programs executed in the order of 1 msec or less, with reference to the priority of each task.

Next, the printing mechanism 25 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the xerographic process unit 22 includes a drum-shaped photoconductor 31 and a charging charger 32.
, A developing device 33 and a transfer charger 34. The heat fixing unit 23 has a pair of heat fixing rollers 35 that are heated and come into contact with each other under pressure. The exposure optical unit 24 has a polygon mirror 36 and a reflection mirror 37 that rotate around the axis L1.

The printing mechanism 25 performs a well-known electrophotographic process to perform printing on a printing material conveyed in the direction of arrow P, for example, printing paper. Specifically, first, a latent image is formed by exposing a light image scanned by the rotation of the polygon mirror 36 on the outer peripheral surface of the photoconductor 31 uniformly charged by the charging charger 32. And
The developing device 33 applies toner to the latent image to form a visualized image, superimposes the visualized image on paper conveyed in the direction of the arrow P, and transfers the visualized image onto the paper by the operation of the transfer charger 34. Transcribe. Thereafter, the sheet carrying the developed image is passed between the heat fixing rollers 35 to heat the toner and fix the toner on the sheet. Such a series of electrophotographic processes is controlled by the control unit 50 described above.

Such an electrophotographic process is executed in an environment in which each component of the printer 21 is set to an operation mode. This is a state in which the process can be executed immediately. Specifically, for example, the heat fixing roller 35 is maintained at a high temperature capable of heating and melting the toner, the polygon mirror 36 is maintained at a high-speed rotation state necessary for scanning an optical image, Fan for cooling the inside (not shown)
, Etc. are kept rotating. The printer 21 has an operation mode other than the operation mode, namely, a standby mode. The standby mode is performed for the purpose of saving power consumption and reducing consumption of each component device.
For example, the heat fixing roller 35 may be maintained at a standby temperature that is lower than a fixing temperature, or the polygon mirror 36
At a standby speed lower than the above rotation speed,
Alternatively, the power supply to the heat fixing roller 35, the polygon mirror 36, and the cooling fan is stopped.

Therefore, the printing mechanism unit 25 is normally in the operation mode (for example, when the switch is turned on), and the control unit 26
Input of data for performing a printing operation is performed for a predetermined time (for example, 5
If the number of minutes does not exceed the predetermined value, or if the user does not operate the keyboard 15 for a certain period of time, the standby mode transition task is executed as described above, and the operation mode transitions to the standby mode. It is to be noted that a setting from the control panel 62 or the like can always be set to the operation mode state without shifting to the standby mode.

On the other hand, when the printing mechanism 25 is in the standby mode, a standby mode release task is executed under certain conditions, the standby mode of the printing mechanism 25 is released, and the operation mode is shifted to the operation mode. For example, an input (reset or the like) to release the standby mode from the control panel 62, or a release of the standby mode setting is performed. In the present embodiment,
Further, as described later, when the print data analysis task starts the analysis processing, the standby mode release task is executed to release the standby mode and shift to the operation mode.

In FIG. 1, the print data processing is based on the print data generation unit 2 of the printer driver 13 based on the data passed from the application 12.
1 creates print data composed of a combination of commands, bit images, and the like that are compatible with the printer 21,
4 is a process of writing the data on the memory card 4.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the normal print data is a job written in Job language.
It is composed of a b data portion A and a print information data portion B according to a printer language, and a series of printing can be performed by using such print data. Here, in the Job data portion A, for example, a host name, a job number, various processing commands, and the like are described, starting from a portion C indicating the start of data. In the print information data portion B, print contents such as characters of a page to be printed are described in accordance with a printer language. In the job data portion A, information for managing print information data and a plurality of printer control code systems are used. Information such as which one to use is described according to the Job language. Further, in general, a command D declaring that the following print data is described in a predetermined printer language is described in a job language at a final position of the Job data portion A, and after the print information data portion B, the data is described. A Job language command E indicating the end is described.

Note that the Job language is a higher-level command system introduced to make it easier for the host unit to manage a printer. By this, the Job language is used to manage a plurality of printer language systems, as well as configuration and status. It realizes high-level integrated management of printer functions such as management or paper size setting from the host.

The data transmitted from the host 11 includes data other than print data, for example, as shown in FIG.
Is a command to listen to the status of the printer 21 as shown in FIG. Further, FIG.
There is data including only the print information data portion B as shown in FIG. This is, for example, print data and commands output by the MD-DOS application.

Here, all such various data are received by the reception buffer 61. When the data is received by the reception buffer 61, a job language interpretation task is executed to read and interpret one character at a time. For example, FIG.
By interpreting the job data part A of (a), the job number,
The host name and the storage format of the data are written in a job management table (not shown). Interpreting the language declaration,
A print data analysis task that can analyze the declared language is selected. Next, an analysis process of the print data analysis task is started. When the analysis process is started, the print data information portion B is analyzed and converted into an intermediate code, and the intermediate code is accumulated in the intermediate code buffer 52. When the intermediate code is stored in the intermediate code buffer 52, an image creation task is executed, a print image is created from the intermediate code, and the print image is stored in the image buffer 53. When a predetermined amount of print images is accumulated in the image buffer 53, for example, a print task is executed, a print command is issued, and printing by the print mechanism unit 25 is executed.

Also, the analysis process of the job language interpretation task is started. For example, when the job data portion A as shown in FIG. 3B is interpreted, the job number, host name,
The data storage format and the like are written in a job management table (not shown). Subsequent execution is another task corresponding to the data, and the print data analysis task does not operate.

When the job language interpretation task reads data as shown in FIG. 3C, the job data portion A is read when a predetermined amount of data such as 1 byte is read.
It is determined that the data includes the print data information portion B which does not include the data, and the fact is written in the job management table, and the data including the one-byte data is stored in a predetermined storage unit. In this case, subsequently, a print data analysis task is executed, the data is analyzed and converted into an intermediate code, and the intermediate code is stored in the intermediate code buffer 52.

Analysis unit 5 for executing such various tasks
Normally, the printer 1 operates in a mode controlled by a job language (referred to as a job mode), but when a print data analysis task is executed, the emulator 1 shifts to an emulation mode controlled by a predetermined printer language. That is, the analysis unit 51 has a job mode controlled by the Job language and an emulation mode controlled by the printer language, and is usually in the job mode. However, when analyzing the print data portion B in the printer language, The emulation mode is set.

For example, in the case of the data shown in FIG. 3A, the print data analysis task analyzes the print information data portion in the emulation mode based on the language designation command interpreted by the job language interpretation task. .

On the other hand, in the case of the data shown in FIG. 3C, since the printer language is not specified, the language is generally set automatically by the setting of the control panel 62 or when the setting is automatically determined. After the discrimination is performed by the job language interpretation task, the print data analysis task analyzes the print information data.

In this embodiment, as described above,
When the analysis process of the print data analysis task is started, the standby mode release task is executed, and when the print mechanism unit 25 is in the standby mode, the standby mode of the print mechanism unit 25 is released to set the operation mode. In other words, when the print data analysis task starts the analysis process, the possibility of executing the print is very high in the near future, so that the standby mode is released upon the start of the process. If the data from the host is data that does not require a printing operation, such as a status response command or a job control data command, the print data analysis task does not start the analysis process, so the standby mode is canceled wastefully. Never.

In order to release the standby mode as described above,
There is no need to provide any special means for judging data to judge whether or not it is necessary to cancel the standby mode. In the normal flow of data reception and processing, it is inevitable only when necessary. The mechanism that the standby mode is performed is realized.

It should be noted that there is a case where no print execution occurs even when the print data analysis task is executed and the analysis process is started. However, such a case is rare, and the standby state is released by judging the data at any time. This is more efficient than providing a judgment means for judging whether or not it is necessary to perform.

In this embodiment, the execution of the print data analysis task is used as a trigger. However, the execution of the above-described image creation task may be used as a trigger. In this case, the timing of releasing the standby mode is delayed as compared with the case where the execution of the print data analysis task is triggered, but once the image is created, the print execution is performed almost certainly, Unnecessary cancellation of the standby mode can be eliminated more reliably than cancellation by execution of the data analysis task, and it can further contribute to power saving.

Hereinafter, the operation of the printing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

In the host computer 11, as shown in FIG. 4, in step S1, the printer driver 13 is started in response to a print request from the user, and in step S2, various setting processes for the printer driver 13 are performed. . In step S3, the process waits for a print command from the keyboard 15 or the like. If there is a command, the process proceeds to step S4, where the print data generation unit 16 of the printer driver 13 performs print data processing. That is, the keyboard 1
In response to the print command input from step 5, print data that is a job data portion A-print information data portion B is generated.

When the print data processing is completed in step S4, the generated print data is output to the printer 21 in step S5. Then, step S6
Then, it is confirmed whether or not there is remaining data to be printed, and the processing of steps S4 to S6 is repeated until all the print commands from the keyboard 15 are generated as print data.

On the other hand, in the printer 21, as shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 50 operates the printing mechanism unit 25 based on the print data output from the host computer 11 to execute a printing process.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, in the analysis unit 51, for example, a reception task 71, a job language interpretation task 72, a print data analysis task 73, an image creation task 74, a print task 75, and a standby mode release task 76 are in a standby state so that they can be executed at any time. For example, when print data is transmitted from the host computer 11, the reception task 71 is executed in step T1, the print data is input to the reception buffer 61 in step T2, and the end of the process is transmitted in step T3. Next, in step T4, the job language interpretation task 7
2 is executed, the job language interpretation of the print data is executed in step T5, and the end is transmitted in step T6.

Here, the details of the job language interpretation are as shown in FIG. First, in step S11, step T4
Is received, one character is read in step S12, it is determined whether or not the job language is the job language. In the case of the job language, the job language is interpreted and executed in step S14. In step S15, the language declaration command C is changed to Job. It is checked whether the data is present together with the data part A, and if there is no language declaration command C, the processing of steps S12 to S15 is repeated. If there is a language declaration command C, the language is determined in step S19 and T6 is transmitted in step S20. To print data analysis task. On the other hand, if it is not the job language in step S13, that is, if the data is only the print information data B as shown in FIG.
First, in step S16, it is checked whether the language is set to the automatic determination. If the language is set to the automatic determination, the language is automatically determined in the step S17. If the language is not set to the automatic determination, In step S18, the language which has already been set is read and regarded as the language, the language is determined in step S19, and T6 is determined in step S20.
To transfer to the print data task. Note that such a determination of the language of the print information data is not necessarily performed in the job language task, but may be performed in another task.

In FIG. 5, when the job language task 72 ends in step T6, a print data analysis task 73 is executed in step T7. In this embodiment, when the print data analysis task 73 is executed, transmission for executing the standby mode release task 76 is performed in step T8 prior to data analysis. As a result, the standby mode release task 76 is executed in step T9, the standby mode is released in step T10, and the end is transmitted in step T11.
After the standby mode release task 76 is executed as described above,
The print data analysis task 73 is executed again in step T12, and the print information data is analyzed in step T13.
The fact that the process has been completed is transmitted in step T14.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the processing flow of the print data analysis task 73 and the standby mode release task 76. As shown in FIG.
3 first receives T7 in step S31, transmits T8 in step S32, receives T12 in step S33, reads one character in step S34, analyzes it in step S35, converts it to intermediate code, and , Step S
At 36, the intermediate code is stored in the intermediate code buffer 52,
In step S37, it is determined whether or not data for one page has been accumulated.
In step S8, if T14 is transmitted, and if one page has not been accumulated, the process proceeds to step S39 without transmitting T14. In step S39, it is further determined whether or not the data is completed. S3
Repeat step 9. As shown in FIG. 8, upon receiving T9 in step S41, the standby mode release task 76 determines whether or not the printing mechanism unit 25 is in the standby mode in step S42. S
At step 43, the standby mode of the printing mechanism unit 25 is released, and T11 is transmitted at step S44.

In FIG. 4, when the print data analysis task 73 is completed, an image creation task 74 is executed in step T15, and in step T16, the intermediate code stored in the intermediate code buffer 52 is read to create image data. Are stored in the image buffer 53. Upon completion of the process, the end is transmitted in a step T17. Subsequently, the printing task 75 is executed in a step T18, and the printing process is executed in a step T19.
The fact that the process has been completed is transmitted at step 20.

Here, in step T5, if the data read into the job language interpretation task 72 is only the Job data part A and does not include the print information data part B (command C), the print data analysis task 73 Since it is not executed, the standby mode release task 76 does not release the standby mode. In the above-described example, the print data analysis task 73 executes the standby mode release task 76 prior to data analysis. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a predetermined amount analysis is performed. The standby mode release task may be executed later.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process executed by the data analysis unit according to another embodiment. The same steps as those in the embodiment of FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In the processing shown in FIG. 9, steps T1 to T6 are the same as those in FIG. Next, when the print data analysis task 73 is executed in step T21, without executing the standby mode release task 76,
At step T22, the print data is analyzed.
At 23, the end is transmitted. Subsequently, the image creation task 74 is executed in step T24.
After the image is created by a predetermined amount, for example, until one image is created, a signal for executing the standby mode release task 76 is transmitted in step T26. Thereafter, the standby mode of the printing mechanism unit 25 is released in steps T9 to T11, and further, in steps T27 to T2.
9 is the same as that of FIG. 5 in that the remaining images are created and printing is performed in steps T18 to T20.

In the other embodiment described above, it is not the case where the print data analysis task 73 is executed.
When the image creation task 74 is executed and the creation of one image data is completed, the standby mode control unit 72
I send a signal to. When one image data for one character, for example, one character is completed, usually,
The printing of the image data cannot be avoided, and the printing operation always starts. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the standby mode is always released only when the printing operation starts, and there is no unnecessary release of the standby mode.
There is an advantage that power consumption can be saved at a higher level.

In the embodiment described above, the real-time monitor as described above intervenes between the transmission of the completion of execution of each task and the reception of the execution of another task. Execution switching. Since this real-time monitor merely determines the next task to be executed while referring to the priority of each task, the real-time monitor in each of the above-described embodiments does not need to be particularly changed. Since only the content of the task or the image creation task needs to be changed, the design can be changed efficiently.

In the embodiment described above,
The execution of the print data analysis task 73 or the execution of the image creation task 74 cancels the standby mode of the printing mechanism unit 25. In addition, as described above, for example, an input of canceling the standby mode is performed from the control panel. In such a case, the standby mode is appropriately released. In such a case, the standby mode task 76 is executed by processing of the interrupt signal by the program. FIG. 10 shows a case where a standby mode release interrupt signal is input during execution of the job language interpretation task 72. Step T1
Step T5 is similar to the example described above, except that step T5
When an interrupt signal is input during the job language interpretation processing in step 5,
A signal to that effect is input from the interrupt signal program to the job language interpretation task 72 being executed, the processing of the job language interpretation task 72 is interrupted, and an end is transmitted in step T6. Subsequently, the standby mode release task 76 is executed in steps T9 to T11, and the print mechanism 25 is released from the standby mode. Thereafter, the job language interpretation task is executed again in steps T4 to T6, and the remaining processing is performed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment.
Various modifications can be made within the technical scope described in the claims. For example, the specific configuration of the printing apparatus is not limited to the schematic configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, and is not limited to the processing flow of FIGS. 4 to 10. Further, the specific configuration of the printing mechanism unit 25 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG.

[0064]

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the execution of the print data analysis task is used as a trigger to release the standby mode of the printing mechanism and shift to the operation mode. As a result, the standby mode is released only when a printing operation is necessary without specially issuing a command to release the standby mode or providing special means for determining whether the standby mode needs to be released. Therefore, the standby mode is not unnecessarily canceled even when data that does not require a printing operation is input. In other words, when releasing the standby mode, there is no need to prepare a new host interface, just to divert the existing hardware resources, and for the software resources, only the data format of the conventional print data is used. Therefore, use is extremely easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a printing mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a data format of print data.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing executed on the host computer side.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a data analysis unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in a job language interpretation task.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in a print data release task.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed in a standby mode release task.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process in a data analysis unit according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing in a data analysis unit according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 host computer 12 application 13 printer driver 14 memory 15 keyboard 16 print data generation unit 21 printer 22 xerography process unit 23 heat fixing unit 24 exposure optical unit 25 printing mechanism unit 50 control unit 51 analysis unit 52 intermediate code buffer 53 image buffer 61 Receive buffer 62 Control panel 63 Power supply

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A control unit for processing data received from a host unit, and a printing mechanism unit for performing printing under control of the control unit based on the data and for shifting to a standby mode for saving power consumption under predetermined conditions. A printing apparatus having a job language interpretation task for interpreting the data and a print data analysis task for analyzing print data created in a predetermined printer language among the data. The print data analysis task, during the data analysis process,
A printing apparatus for transmitting a signal for executing a standby mode release task for releasing the standby mode. 2. The job interpretation task according to claim 1, wherein the job interpretation task processes print data having a job data portion according to a job language and a print information data portion according to a printer language, and changes a printer language of the job data portion. When a command command to be declared is read, execution of the job interpretation task is interrupted, and the data analysis task is executed. 3. The print data analysis task according to claim 1, wherein when the job interpretation task reads print data having only a print information data portion in accordance with a printer language, execution of the job interpretation task is interrupted and the print data analysis is performed. A printing device for performing a task. 4. A control unit for processing data received from a host unit, and a printing mechanism unit for performing printing under control of the control unit based on the data and for shifting to a standby mode for saving power consumption under predetermined conditions. A print language analysis task for interpreting the data, a print data analysis task for analyzing print data created in a predetermined printer language among the data, and a print data analysis task. Alternately perform various tasks including at least an image creation task for creating a print image from the intermediate code created, the print image creation task includes a standby mode release task for releasing the standby mode during the image creation process. A printing apparatus for transmitting a signal for execution. 5. A printing method in which a printing mechanism unit performs printing based on data received from a host unit and shifts the printing mechanism unit to a standby mode for saving power consumption under a predetermined condition. A job language analysis step for interpreting the received data; and a print data analysis for analyzing only data including a print information data portion in accordance with a predetermined printer language out of the data analyzed in the job language analysis step and converting the data into an intermediate code. And an image creation step of creating a print image based on the intermediate code created in the print data analysis step; and a print step of printing the image created in the image creation step. A standby mode releasing step for releasing the standby mode of the printing mechanism, which is performed in the middle of the analyzing step. Printing method to be. 6. A printing method in which a printing mechanism performs printing based on data received from a host and shifts the printing mechanism to a standby mode for saving power consumption under a predetermined condition. A job language analysis step for interpreting the received data; and print data for analyzing only data including a print information data portion in accordance with a predetermined printer language among the data analyzed in the job language analysis step and converting the data into an intermediate code. An analysis step; an image creation step of creating a print image based on the intermediate code created in the print data analysis step; and a printing step of printing the image created in the image creation step. A standby mode releasing step for releasing the standby mode of the printing mechanism, which is performed in the middle of the creating step. Printing method to be.