JPH11327836A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To connect a plurality of printers to a host computer in parallel without using a network, to transmit printing data to the printer which the host computer selects in the data format of the existing printer as it is and to print it. SOLUTION: A printer 1 is directly connected to a host computer 10 and the parallel connection printer I/F control part 4 of the printer 1 electrically connects with the other printer 2 in parallel. When a printer controller 3 receives a printing request for executing specified printing from the host computer 10 in the printer 1, the parallel connection printer I/F control part 4 uses a printer 2 driver 6 and sends the request to the printer 2. A printer controller 7 in the printer 2 receives the printing request, develops printing data from the host computer 10 into a bit map and sends it to a printing part 8 so as to execute a printing processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printer such as a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the spread of personal computers (hereinafter also referred to as "PCs"), printing of print data such as created documents and drawings using a printer has increased, regardless of whether it is a home or a company. Have been. Against this background, the processing speed has been improved with the speeding up of PCs, and data is being multicolored and densified day by day. Naturally, accordingly, the functions of the printer have been changed to higher densities.

[0003]

However, in general, the number of printers that can be connected to a PC is only one by default, and if a printer having a new function is to be used, a printer that has been used up to now will be used. I had to physically replace it.

In such a situation, there has been proposed a printer which realizes a request to use a new printer while using a conventional printer by using a network capable of multiplex communication (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 73232 and JP-A-7-64744). According to this, the print data (print data) can be divided into pages and sent to a plurality of printers to perform printing in parallel.

[0005] However, the above-mentioned ones have drawbacks that a huge initial cost is required in an environment without a network and that the printer cannot be used unless the printer is compatible with the network.

[0006] Further, as a printer that does not use a network, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-150557, a host computer (upper device) checks the status of all printers cascaded to one printer interface. There is also proposed a printer that recognizes and selects one of the printers and causes the selected printer to perform printing.However, this is a dedicated data system in which the selected information is added to print data. There is a drawback that conventional models cannot be connected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and enables a plurality of printers to be connected to a host computer in parallel without using a network so that the host computer can print print data to be transmitted. An object of the present invention is to select a printer, and to allow the printer to transmit print data in the data format of an existing printer and perform printing.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printer having printing means for printing print data from a host computer, wherein another printer is connected in parallel to the host computer. And a printer driver for another printer connected in parallel by the parallel connection interface.

Further, means is provided for receiving electrical information from the host computer regardless of whether the power is turned on or off, and transmitting the electrical information to another printer connected in parallel by the parallel connection interface. Good. Alternatively, means for cutting off only the power supply of the printing means may be provided.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a printer system embodying the invention of claim 1, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of each unit.

This printer system comprises a host computer 10 and two printers 1 and 2 constituting a parallel printing apparatus. Each of the printers 1 and 2 is electrically connected to the host computer 10 in parallel. . The host computer 10 is a higher-level device such as a personal computer, and includes a printer 1 driver 11 and a printer interface control unit (hereinafter, “interface” is also referred to as “I / F”) 12.

The host computer 10 creates a document composed of characters, graphics, photographs, and the like by using an application software by operating a keyboard or the like (not shown), and uses the printer 1 driver 11 to create a document in a page description language (PDL). ), The data is sent to the printer 1 by the printer I / F controller 12.

The printer 1 includes a printer controller 3
A parallel connection printer I / F control section (parallel connection interface) 4, a printing section (printing means) 5, and a printer 2 driver 6 are provided. The printer controller 3 receives the print data from the host computer 10 and develops it in a bitmap on a memory.

The parallel connection printer I / F controller 4 is for connecting another printer 2 to the host computer 10 in parallel, and performs control described later using the printer 2 driver 6. The printing unit 5 prints print data from the printer controller 3 on paper.

The printer 2 has a printer controller 7 and a printing unit 8. The printer controller 7
The print data from the host computer 10 is transferred to the printer 1
Printer controller 3 and parallel connected printer I / F
It is received via the control unit 4 and is developed into a bitmap on a memory. The printing unit 8 prints print data from the printer controller 7 on paper.

In this embodiment, as shown in Table 1, it is assumed that a printer of 400 dpi and A3 is connected as the printer 1 and a printer of 600 dpi and A4 is connected as the printer 2.

[0017]

[Table 1]

Although two printers 1 and 2 are connected to the host computer 10 in this embodiment, more printers can be connected. For example,
When another printer is connected in parallel to the printers 1 and 2, the printer 2 has the same configuration as the printer 1,
A new printer is connected to the parallel connection printer I / F control unit of the printer 2. As a result, a new printer is electrically connected to the host computer 10 in parallel.

FIG. 3 is a communication sequence diagram showing an example of a function taking flow of the parallel printing apparatus in the printer system. After power-on or reset, the printer I / F control unit 12 in the host computer 10 instructs the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 according to the instruction of the printer 1 driver 11 to perform the functions of the parallel printing apparatus as shown in FIG. Implement the takeover flow.

Since the printer I / F control unit 12 is directly connected only to the printer 1 and cannot directly recognize the function of the printer 2, the information (function information) indicating the function of the printer 1 is taken and the printer 2 The function information is also to be collected via the printer 1.

The printer I / in the host computer 10
The F control unit 12 instructs the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 according to an instruction of the printer 1 driver 11.
Issues a printer function takeover request. Upon receiving this, the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 prepares the function information of the printer 1 and is also connected in parallel to the printer 1 to the parallel connection printer I / F control unit 4 in the printer 1. If there is another printer, a request is made to retrieve its function information.

In this embodiment, since the printers 2 are connected in parallel, the parallel connection printer I / F control unit 4 sends instructions to the printer controller 7 in the printer 2 in accordance with instructions from the printer 2 driver 6 for the printer 2. for,
A function takeover request for the printer 2 is issued.

Printer controller 7 in printer 2
When the preparation of the function information of the printer 2 is completed, the function information indicating that the printer 2 is a 600 dpi, A4 printer is notified to the parallel connection printer I / F control unit 4 in the printer 1. The parallel connection printer I / F control unit 4 includes:
When the function information is received from the printer 2, it is sent to the printer controller 3.

At this point, the printer controller 3
This means that the function information of the printer 1 and the printer 2 shown in Table 1 has been obtained. The printer controller 3 having obtained these pieces of function information merges the pieces of function information, sends the information to the printer I / F control unit 12 in the host computer 10, and ends the function takeover flow.

Thus, the printer 1 driver 11
Allows the printers 1 and 2 constituting the parallel printing apparatus to perform printing up to print data combining the functions of the printer 1 and the printer 2 via the printer I / F control unit 12. That is, the function 6 of the parallel printing apparatus.
Processing up to 00 dpi and A3 is possible (however, the functions cannot be exceeded for the printers 1 and 2).

FIG. 4 shows an example of a printing flow (40 by the printer 1) of the parallel printing apparatus in this printer system.
FIG. 8 is a communication sequence diagram illustrating a case where print data of 0 dpi and A4 is printed).

The printer I / in the host computer 10
Under the instruction of the printer 1 driver 11, the F control unit 12 issues a print request to the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 in order to perform printing at 400 dpi and A4. The printer controller 3 in the printer 1 that has received the print request determines that the printer 1 can perform the printing process, and then receives the print data from the host computer 10 without any intervention of the printer 2 and develops the bitmap.
It is sent to the printing unit 5 to perform a printing process.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a printing flow (60 by the printer 2) of the parallel printing apparatus in this printer system.
FIG. 8 is a communication sequence diagram illustrating a case where print data of 0 dpi and A4 is printed).

The printer I / in the host computer 10
Under the instruction of the printer 1 driver 11, the F control unit 12 issues a print request to the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 in order to perform printing at 600 dpi and A4. Upon receiving a print request from the host computer 10, the printer controller 3 in the printer 1 determines that the printer 1 cannot perform the print process and the printer 2 can perform the print process, and determines the received print request as a parallel connection printer I / F. It is sent to the control unit 4.

Upon receiving a print request from the printer controller 3, the parallel-connected printer I / F controller 4 sends the print request to the printer controller 7 in the printer 2 under the instruction of the printer 2 driver 6. Printer 2
The printer controller 7 is connected to the parallel-connected printer I /
After receiving a print request from the F control unit 4, it receives print data from the host computer 10 via the printer 1, develops it into a bitmap, and sends it to the printing unit 8 to perform print processing.

Here, when printing print data of 600 dpi and A3, the printer I / F control unit 12 in the host computer 10 expands the function of the parallel printing apparatus to 600 dpi and A3 according to the judgment of the printer 1 driver 11. However, it is determined that a printer capable of printing the requested print data is not connected, and a recovery process is performed such as displaying the fact on the operation panel.

By the above-described processing, it is conventionally troublesome to reconnect to a printer corresponding to print data each time, or to search for a host computer connected to a printer corresponding to print data using print data and perform printing there. Work is not required. Further, even when a new printing function is required, the current printer can be used as it is, so that the device is not wasted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of each unit of the printer system embodying the second aspect of the invention. The same parts as those in FIGS. Omitted.

In the printer system of this embodiment, the switching relay 9 is inserted between the signal line 20 between the host computer 10 and the printer 1 in the printer 1 and the signal line 21 between the printer 1 and the printer 2. Thus, the printer 1 receives the electrical information from the host computer 10 regardless of whether the power is turned on or off, and transmits the electrical information to another printer 2 connected in parallel by the parallel connection printer I / F control unit 4. Can be sent.

That is, even if the power is cut off, the switching relay 9 receives the electrical information from the host computer 10 via the signal line 20 by connecting the 1-3 pins, and transmits the electrical information to the printer I / O. The signal can be transmitted to other printers 2 connected in parallel by the F control unit 4 via the signal line 21. Therefore, even when only the printer 2 is used, the power of the printer 1 does not need to be turned on, so that electricity can be saved. Furthermore, since the printing flow is the same as in the above-described embodiment, the same effects can be obtained.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that the hardware configuration is the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2, and those figures will be used again. In the printer system according to this embodiment, the printer 1 is provided with a unit that disconnects only the power of the printing unit 5.

Thus, when only the printer 2 is used, only the power of the printing unit 5 in the printer 1 can be cut off, so that unnecessary electricity costs can be reduced. Moreover, since the printer 2 driver 6 can be used as it is, there is no need to newly incorporate it into the host computer 10. Further, since the printing flow is the same as in the first embodiment, the same effects can be obtained.

[0038]

As described above, according to the printer of the present invention, since a parallel connection interface and a printer driver for another printer are provided, a plurality of such printers are prepared and one of them is provided. Is connected directly to the host computer, and each printer including the printer (a parallel connection interface and a printer driver are not required for the last printer) is connected in sequence by the parallel connection interface, so that each printer is connected to the host computer. Are electrically connected in parallel, so that a high-speed, high-performance printer system can be constructed at low cost.

Therefore, it is not necessary to use the network, and the host computer selects a printer capable of printing the print data to be sent, and causes the printer to send the print data in the data format of the existing printer and perform printing. Therefore, low cost can be realized.

Further, according to the printer of the second aspect of the invention, regardless of whether the power is turned on or off, electric information is received from the host computer, and the electric information is connected in parallel by the parallel connection interface. In addition, when only the other printer is used, it is not necessary to turn on the power of the connected printer, thereby saving electricity.

Alternatively, according to the printer of the third aspect of the present invention, only the power of the printing means can be cut off. Therefore, when only another printer is used, only the power of its own printing means is cut off. By doing so, unnecessary electricity bills can be reduced. Moreover, since the printer driver can be used as it is, there is no need to newly incorporate it into the host computer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the internal configuration of each unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a printer system embodying the invention of claim 1;

FIG. 3 is a communication sequence diagram showing an example of a function taking flow of a parallel printing apparatus in the printer system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a communication sequence diagram showing an example of a print flow of the parallel printing apparatus (when printing 400 dpi, A4 print data by the printer 1).

FIG. 5 is a communication sequence diagram illustrating an example of a print flow of the parallel printing apparatus (in the case where print data of 600 dpi and A4 is printed by the printer 2).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of each unit of the printer system embodying the invention of claim 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Printer 3: 7, Printer controller 4: Parallel connected printer I / F control unit 5, 8: Printing unit 6: Printer 2 driver 9: Switching relay 10: Host computer 11: Printer 1 driver 12: Printer I / F F control unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer having printing means for printing print data from a host computer, comprising: a parallel connection interface for connecting another printer in parallel to the host computer; and a parallel connection interface. A printer comprising a printer driver for another printer connected in parallel. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein electrical information is received from said host computer regardless of whether power is turned on or off, and said electrical information is connected in parallel by said parallel connection interface. A printer comprising means for sending to another printer. 3. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising means for cutting off only a power supply of said printing means.