JPH11175272A - Printer and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate environment setting based on environmental information of another printer under network environment by executing the retrieval of environmental information requested from the other printer and transmitting this environmental information to the printer requesting retrieval. SOLUTION: A host computer equivalent to an external information processor 13 and a printer are connected to each other through a bi-directional interface. When the instruction of an environment retrieving request to another printer is outputted at the operation panes 1501 of the printer A, CPU 1 of a printer A transmits the environment retrieving request to another printer B connected through the bi-directional interface. The other printer B retrieves environmental information stored in RAM 3 according to the transmitted environmental retrieving request, and at the time of finding environmental information, environmental information is transmitted to the printer A to store this retrieving result in RAM 3, and the operation environment of the printer A is constructed based on the retrieving result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus connected to another printing apparatus via a bidirectional interface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printing apparatuses have become sophisticated and sophisticated, and various settings of the operating environment of the printing apparatuses have become complicated. Furthermore, the number of printing apparatuses to be maintained and managed has been increasing due to the spread of the network environment. Along with this, maintenance / management work such as setting of an operation environment of a printing apparatus is becoming more and more complicated.

[0003]

However, the setting information of the printing device necessary for using the printing device is as follows.
It is often difficult without advanced knowledge of printing devices. Further, even if the environment setting is performed once, the environment setting may be changed for some reason, so that management and maintenance of the operating environment of the printing apparatus are complicated tasks. Furthermore, the availability of a plurality of printing devices along with the network environment has prompted this situation to be more complicated. For this reason, the administrator of the printing apparatus has required a great deal of labor and skill for these series of operations. The environment information includes information on the paper size and orientation, paper feeding method, graphics, and font.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to inquire environmental information necessary for handling a printing apparatus in a network environment to another printing apparatus in the network environment and to obtain the acquired environmental information. It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of easily setting an environment.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,

A printing apparatus having an environment in which at least two printing apparatuses are connected via an interface and having mutual search means for mutually searching for environmental information stored in storage means of each printing apparatus. The mutual search unit includes: a search request unit that requests a search to a printing device serving as a search destination; and a search execution unit that executes a search in response to a search for environmental information requested by another printing device. And a search result transmitting means for transmitting the environment information searched by the search executing means to the printing apparatus which has requested the search.

In order to further achieve the above object, a method for controlling a printing apparatus according to the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,

[0008] A control method of a printing apparatus in an environment where at least two printing apparatuses are connected via an interface and mutually searching for environmental information stored in a storage means of each printing apparatus. A search requesting step of requesting a search to a printing apparatus serving as a search destination; a search executing step of executing a search in response to a search of environmental information requested by another printing apparatus; And transmitting a search result to the printing device that has requested the search.

In order to achieve the above object, a storage medium of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,

[0010] A printing apparatus in an environment where at least two printing apparatuses are connected via an interface, and having mutual search means for mutually searching for environmental information stored in storage means of each printing apparatus. A computer-readable storage medium storing an executable program, the program comprising: a search request process code for requesting a search to a search target printing device; and environment information requested by another printing device. For the search, a code of a search execution step of executing a search, and a code of a search result transmission step of transmitting the environment information searched by the search execution step to the printing device that has requested the search, I do.

In order to further achieve the above object, the search method of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,

A search method for mutually searching for environment information of each printing device in an environment where at least two printing devices are connected via an interface, wherein the first printing device is connected to the second printing device. A search request step for requesting a search for environmental information from the printer, a search execution step in which the second printing apparatus executes a search in response to the search request in the search request step, And transmitting a search result to the first printing apparatus.

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a laser beam printer (hereinafter, referred to as LBP) to which the present invention is applied. The printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied is an LBP
It is needless to say that the printing apparatus is not limited to this, but may be a printing apparatus of another printing method.

Now, referring to FIG.
Stores print information supplied from an external information processing apparatus such as a host computer connected to the outside,
Create corresponding patterns etc. according to that information,
An image is formed on a recording paper as a recording medium. Operation panel 1
A switch 501 for operation, an LED display, and the like are arranged in the printer 501. The printer control unit 1000
The control of the entire 500 and character information supplied from the host are analyzed. The printer control unit 1000 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1502.

The laser driver 1502 is a semiconductor laser 1
A circuit for driving the laser beam 503 switches on / off of a laser beam 1504 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1503 according to an input video signal. Laser light 1
Reference numeral 504 denotes a rotary polygon mirror 1505 which is swung in the left-right direction to perform operation exposure on the electrostatic drum 1506. As a result, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 1506.

This latent image is developed by a developing unit 1507 disposed around the electrostatic drum 1506, and then transferred to a recording sheet. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 1508 mounted on the LBP 1500,
9 and the conveyance roller 1510 and the conveyance roller 1511 are supplied to the electrostatic drum 1506. Also, LBP
The main body 1500 is provided with at least one or more card slots (not shown) so that an option card, a control card (emulation card) having a different language system, and the like can be connected in addition to the built-in fonts.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, the printer 15 including the LBP
00 is a control program or the like stored in the ROM 2 (for example, a program including the control procedure shown in FIG. 3).
, Which controls access to various devices connected to the system bus 5 in a comprehensive manner, and a printing unit (printer engine) 1 connected via the printing unit interface 11.
2 outputs an image signal as print data. That is, the ROM 2 stores a control program of the CPU 1 as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The CPU 1 executes a control program (for example, a program including a control procedure as shown in FIG. 3) stored in the ROM 2, and communicates with the external information processing apparatus 13 through the input cable 7 through the interface cable 6. Processing can be performed.

The RAM 3 functions as a main memory, a work area and the like of the CPU 1, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an additional port (not shown). Note that the RAM 3 is used as a print data development area, an environment information storage area, and the like. N
The VRAM 10 stores printer mode setting information and the like from the operation panel 1501 connected via the operation panel interface 4.

Access to the hard disk (HD) 9 is controlled by a disk controller (DKC) 8. The hard disk 9 is connected as an option and stores downloaded fonts, printer environment information, and the like.
The environment information in the hard disk 9 is also a backup of the environment information in the RAM 3. Further, at least one or more card slots (not shown) are provided so that an optional font card and a card (emulation card) storing a program for interpreting a printer control language of a different language system can be connected in addition to the built-in fonts. ing. The printer 1500 has a hard disk (HD) 9
When there is no such information, the ROM 2 can have environmental information and the like. The environment information is, for example, information including information on paper size and orientation, paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a network in which the present embodiment is used. In the figure, a host computer (host A in the figure) corresponding to the external information processing apparatus 13 in FIG.
To X) and a printer (printers A to G in the figure) are connected via a bidirectional interface. In the following description of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the operator uses the printer A and the host A.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for retrieving the environment of another printer in accordance with a panel operation instruction of the printer A. This process is executed under the control of the CPU 1. The "other printers" are, for example, printers B to G in FIG.
Refers to at least one of

In step S1, the CPU 1 of the printer A
Determines whether an instruction for an environment search request for another printer has been issued by the operation panel 1501 of the printer A, and if no instruction has been issued, performs a normal operation. on the other hand,
If an environment search request has been issued, the process proceeds to step S2, where the environment search request is transmitted to another printer, for example, printer B, connected via the bidirectional interface.

Next, proceeding to step S3, in response to the environment search request transmitted via the bidirectional interface,
The printer B searches the environment information stored in the RAM 3. If the corresponding environment information is found (step S4), the above environment information is transmitted to the printer A as a search result via the bidirectional interface in step S5. Proceeding to step S6, the search result transmitted via the bidirectional interface is stored in the RAM of the printer A.
3 and a printer A based on the stored search result.
Build the operating environment for. For example, paper size and orientation,
Make settings for the paper source, graphics, and fonts.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily handle a printing apparatus by inquiring other printing apparatuses of environmental information necessary for handling the various printing apparatuses. Is obtained.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 5 shows an external information processing apparatus such as a host computer using a bidirectional interface for setting the environment of a printer (hereinafter referred to as printer A for simplicity). 13
11 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for searching for an environment of another printer (hereinafter, referred to as a printer B for simplicity) in accordance with an instruction from the host (hereinafter, referred to as a host A for simplicity of description).

In step S11, C of printer A
The PU 1 determines whether an instruction for an environment search request has been issued from the host A to the printer B, and if not issued, performs a normal operation. When an instruction for an environment search request is issued, an environment search request is transmitted to the printer B via the bidirectional interface in step S12. Next, the process proceeds to step S13, and in response to the search request transmitted via the bidirectional interface, the printer B
The environment information stored in AM3 is searched. If the corresponding environment information is found (step S14), the process proceeds to step S15, and the obtained environment information is transmitted to the printer A via the bidirectional interface. Proceeding to step S16, the search result transmitted via the bidirectional interface is stored in the RAM 3 of the printer A,
The operation of the printer A is constructed based on the stored search results. For example, the operating environment for the paper size and orientation, paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts is set.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the environment information necessary for handling various printing apparatuses is inquired to other printing apparatuses, so that the handling of the printing apparatuses is controlled. The effect that it can be easily performed is obtained.

[0031]

[Other Embodiments] The present invention relates to a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader,
Printer, etc.)
The present invention may be applied to a device including one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile device, etc.).

Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is written based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily handle a printing device by inquiring other printing devices of environmental information necessary for handling the printing device. Can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a recording apparatus to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer control system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network configuration using the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 9 Hard disk 10 NVRAM 13 External device 1500 Laser beam printer (LBP) main body

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. A printing system in which at least two printing devices are connected via an interface and have mutual search means for mutually searching for environmental information stored in a storage device of each printing device. A device,
The mutual search unit includes: a search request unit that requests a search for a printing device serving as a search destination; and a search for environment information requested by another printing device.
A printing apparatus comprising: a search execution unit that executes a search; and a search result transmission unit that transmits the environment information searched by the search execution unit to the printing device that has requested the search. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the environment information includes information on a paper size and orientation, a paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a construction unit configured to construct its own environment based on the environment information obtained by the search request unit. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is non-volatile. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search request unit is operated by an operation panel provided in the printing apparatus. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search request unit is operated by an external information processing device connected via an interface. 7. A printing apparatus control method in which at least two printing apparatuses are connected via an interface and mutually search for environmental information stored in a storage unit of each printing apparatus. A search requesting step of requesting a search for a printing apparatus as a search destination; and a search for environmental information requested from another printing apparatus.
A control method comprising: a search execution step of executing a search; and a search result transmission step of transmitting the environment information searched in the search execution step to a printing device that has requested the search. 8. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the environment information includes information relating to a paper size and orientation, a paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts. 9. The control method according to claim 7, further comprising a construction step of constructing an own environment based on the environment information obtained in the search request step. 10. The control method according to claim 7, wherein said storage means is nonvolatile. 11. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the search requesting step is operated by an operation panel provided in a printing apparatus. 12. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the search requesting step is performed by an external information processing device connected via an interface. 13. Printing in an environment where at least two printing apparatuses are connected via an interface, and having a mutual search unit for mutually searching for environmental information stored in a storage unit of each printing apparatus. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program executable by an apparatus, the program comprising: a search requesting code for requesting a search to a search target printing apparatus; For searching environmental information,
A storage medium comprising: a code for a search execution step for executing a search; and a code for a search result transmission step for transmitting the environment information searched for in the search execution step to the printing device that has requested the search. 14. The environment information includes a paper size and a direction,
14. The storage medium according to claim 13, including information on a paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts. 15. The storage medium according to claim 13, further comprising a code for a construction step of constructing its own environment based on the environment information obtained by said search request means. . 16. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein said storage means is non-volatile. 17. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein said search requesting step is operated by an operation panel provided in a printing apparatus. 18. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein said search requesting step is operated by an external information processing device connected via an interface. 19. A search method for mutually searching for environment information of each printing device in an environment where at least two printing devices are connected via an interface, wherein the first printing device sends a second printing device to a second printing device. A search requesting step of requesting the printing apparatus to search for environment information; a search execution step of executing the search by the second printing apparatus in response to the search request step; and an environment searched by the search execution step. Information on the first
And transmitting a search result to the printing apparatus. 20. The environment information includes a paper size and a direction,
20. The search method according to claim 19, comprising information on a paper feeding method, graphics, and fonts.