JPH11338653A - Printing method, printer and medium for storing printing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently process another printing data even when paper runs out in the middle of printing. SOLUTION: When a recording medium runs out in the middle of printing data, residual print data is temporarily stored (S21). When a recording medium that is different from the recording medium in size or in kind exists in another paper feeding tray (S22), it is printed to show that the unprocessed data is printed on the recording medium that is different in size or kind (S23), also the print data is skipped and the next print data is started to print. When a recording medium is replenished (S24), printing of the stored residual print data is resumed (S25). In such a configuration, it is possible to notify a user that printing is interrupted and to start to print the next print data so that efficient printing is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing method, a printing apparatus, and a recording medium storing a printing program which have a plurality of paper feed ports and sequentially print a plurality of print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus connected to a host computer via a network can serially process print requests from a plurality of users. When there are print requests from a plurality of users, the processing is performed in the order in which the printing apparatus receives the data. For example, when there are print requests from a plurality of users to a laser beam printer connected to a network, print data is stored in a queue of the printer if the print server or the printer has a storage device, and stored. The print processing is performed in the specified order.

[0003] In many cases, printing apparatuses can print on various media other than ordinary printing paper. For example, printing apparatuses that can print on various media such as thick paper such as postcards, colored paper, and transparency in addition to ordinary paper are known.

[0004]

However, in a conventional printing apparatus connected to a network, when printing paper runs out during printing processing of print data of a user, the printing paper is replenished. The printing process had to be stopped until the For this reason, there is a problem that the next user cannot process the print data.

In order to avoid this problem, there is a method of skipping print data for which print processing has been stopped and performing print processing of the next print data. However, there is a problem that it is not known how far the print processing has been performed, and at that time, the remaining unprocessed print data has to be resent to the printing apparatus again.

Therefore, the present invention provides a printing method, a printing apparatus, and a printing program that can efficiently process other print data even when a recording medium such as a printing paper runs out during printing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage medium storing the stored information.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when a recording medium runs out during printing of print data, the remaining print data is temporarily stored. If there is a different type of recording medium, the fact that the print data is unprocessed is printed on a different size or different type of recording medium, and the print data is skipped and printing of the next print data is started. When the lost recording medium is replenished, printing of the stored remaining print data is restarted.

According to this configuration, the user can be notified that the printing has been interrupted, and the printing of the next print data can be started, so that efficient printing processing is guaranteed. Further, since the interruption or unprocessed printing is printed on a recording medium of a different size or a different type, it can be used as a partition from the next print data. Further, since the printing of the remaining print data stored when the recording medium is replenished is restarted, the trouble of transmitting the print data again can be omitted.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. The printing apparatus described below is exemplified as a laser beam printer, but is not limited to this, and may be an inkjet printer or a printer of another printing method.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the configuration of a laser beam printer (LBP) as an embodiment of a printing apparatus. This laser beam printer (LB
P) The main body 1000 inputs and stores print information (character codes and the like), form information, macro instructions, and the like supplied from an externally connected host computer, and according to the information, corresponding character patterns and forms. The printer control unit 100 creates a pattern or the like and forms an image on a recording medium such as recording paper.
1. Semiconductor laser 1003 and semiconductor laser 1003
Driver 1002, which is a circuit for driving the
A rotating polygon mirror 1005 for oscillating a semiconductor laser beam left and right, an electrostatic drum 1006 on which an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed,
A developing unit 1007 for developing an electrostatic latent image; a paper cassette 1008 for storing recording paper; a paper feed roller 1009 for transporting and feeding paper;
011, an operation panel 1012 on which switches for operation, an LED display and the like are arranged.

The printer control unit 1001 is an LBP
It controls the entire main body 1000 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer, converts mainly the character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern, and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1002. The laser driver 1002 switches on / off the laser light 1004 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1003 according to the input video signal.
The laser beam 1004 is swung in the left-right direction by the rotating polygon mirror 1005 and scans the electrostatic drum 1006 to expose. As a result, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 1006.

The electrostatic latent image thus formed on the electrostatic drum 1006 is developed by a developing unit 1007 disposed around the electrostatic drum 1006, and is then transferred to a recording sheet. The cut sheet recording paper used for this recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 1008 mounted on the LBP 1000, and is supplied by a paper feed roller 1009 and a transport roller 101.
0 and the transport roller 1011, the toner is taken into the apparatus and supplied to the electrostatic drum 1006. Thus, L
The BP1000 inputs and stores print information (character codes and the like), form information, macro instructions, and the like supplied from an externally connected host computer, and stores a corresponding character pattern, form pattern, and the like according to the information. It can be formed and an image can be formed on a recording medium such as recording paper.

The LBP body 1000 has at least one or more card slots (not shown) so that an optional font card and a control card (emulation card) of a different language can be connected in addition to the built-in fonts. .

In the present embodiment, such an output device is 2
It can be implemented when there are two or more paper feed ports, and different paper sizes or different media are set in each paper feed port.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a system configuration of a paper discharge device including a host computer and a printer used in the present embodiment and having a staple and a job offset function.
Note that, if the functions of the present embodiment are executed, a single device, a system including a plurality of devices, and a system in which processing is performed via a network such as a LAN may be performed. Good.

In FIG. 2, a host computer 300
0 is a C for executing document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on a document processing program or the like stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3.
A PU 1 is provided, and the CPU 1 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system device 4. Also, ROM
The control program of the CPU 1 is stored in the program ROM 3, the font data and the like used in the document processing are stored in the font ROM of the ROM 3, and the document processing is stored in the data ROM of the ROM 3. Various data used when performing the operation are stored. Also, RAM
Reference numeral 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 1.

The keyboard controller (KBC) 5
It controls key input from a keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown). CRT controller (CRTC)
6 controls the display of a CRT display (CRT) 10. The memory controller (MC) 7 controls access to an external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, and the like, and a floppy disk (FD). The printer controller (PRTC) 8 is connected to the printer 1000 via a predetermined bidirectional interface (interface) 21 and executes a communication control process with the printer 1000.

The CPU 1 executes, for example, a process of developing (rasterizing) an outline font in a display information RAM set on the RAM 2 to enable WYSIWYG on the CRT 10. Also, the CPU 1
Various registered windows are opened based on a command specified by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on the CRT 10 to execute various data processing.

On the other hand, in the printer 1000, the printer CPU 12 executes a system bus 1 based on a control program or the like stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program or the like stored in the external memory 14.
5 to control access to various devices connected to the printer 5 and output an image signal as output information to a printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected via a printing unit interface 16. The CPU 12 can perform communication processing with the host computer 3000 via the input unit 18 and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer and the like.

The program ROM of the ROM 13 has a C ROM as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.
The control program of the PU 12 is stored. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data and the like used when generating the output information. The data ROM of the ROM 13 has no external memory 14 such as a hard disk. In the case of a printer, information used on the host computer is stored.

The RAM 19 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 12, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an additional port (not shown). Note that RAM1
9 is an output information development area, environment data storage area, NVR
Used for AM and the like.

The above-mentioned external memory 14 comprises a hard disk (HD), an IC card and the like, and its access is controlled by a memory controller (MC). The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like. The operation unit 10 is provided with switches for operation, an LED display, and the like.

The above-mentioned external memory is not limited to one, and at least one external memory is provided. In addition to the built-in fonts, an optional font card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages are connected. It may be configured to be able to do so. Further, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store the printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1012.

In the system configured as described above,
In the printer 1000, various commands such as resolution and paper size and print data sent from the host computer 3000 via the interface 21 are stored in the RAM 19. Then, the command is analyzed by a program stored in the ROM 13, the print data is developed into a bitmap as instructed by the command, sent to the printing unit 17 via the printing unit I / F 16, and sent to the actual printing unit 17. Printing is performed.

The paper supply / discharge control unit 22 controls the paper discharge device 4000 via the line 31.

The print data sent from the host computer 3000 to the printer 1000
00 may be stored in a secondary storage device (not shown). Also, the resolution of the print data, the paper feed port, and the like can be set using the operation unit 1012 of the printer 1000 in the same manner as specified by a command from the host computer 3000. Here, the value set using the operation unit 1012 is
It is stored in the NVRAM (not shown) of the printer 1000.

When a paper feed port is designated from the host computer 3000, the host computer 3000
, An output port designation command, other commands, and print data are sent to the printer 1000 via the interface 21. Then, the printer 1000 stores the received command and data in the RAM 19 or a secondary storage device (not shown), and performs an analysis using the flowchart stored in the ROM 13.

The flowchart stored in the ROM 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in step S1, the printer 1000 receives data (step S1). Next, the process proceeds to step S2, where the page counter is initialized (N = 1), and in step S3, print data for N pages is created. When the creation of the print data is completed, it is determined in step S4 whether or not the printer has a sheet requested by the print data, and if the sheet is present, N pages are printed (step S5).

Then, the process proceeds to step S6, in which the page counter is incremented. In step S7, it is determined whether or not the printed page is the last page based on whether or not there is the next print data. If it is the last page, the printing ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the page is not the last page, the process proceeds to step S3, and the processing up to step S7 is repeated to print up to the last page.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 that the paper has run out before printing the last page, the process proceeds to step S21, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, it is stored in a secondary storage device (not shown).

Then, the flow shifts to step S22, where it is determined whether a sheet larger than the print size is present in another sheet feeding port. If there is a large-size sheet, step S2
The process proceeds to step 3 to notify the user of the fact that printing has been interrupted along with the name of the file whose printing has been interrupted and the number of printed sheets. This print result is, for example, a print result as shown in FIG. Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the processing of the next print data is started after the printing of FIG. 5 is completed. At this time, the printed matter shown in FIG. 5 can be used as a partition from the next print data.

Then, it is monitored in step S24 whether the absence of paper has been eliminated. If the absence of paper has been eliminated, the flow proceeds to step S25, and printing is resumed using the print data temporarily stored in step S21. I do.

As described above, the case where the data from the host computer is determined by the printer 1000 has been described in the first embodiment. However, it is needless to say that the printer 1000 can make the determination or the host computer 3000 can make the determination.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, printing is interrupted on a print sheet having a size different from the print size, for example, a large print sheet, along with the name of the file whose print has been interrupted and the number of printed sheets. Although the user is notified by printing the fact, the present invention can also be implemented by printing on a medium different from printing paper. This example will be described below as a second embodiment.

As in the first embodiment, when the host computer 3000 designates a paper feed port, the host computer 3000 sends a paper discharge port designation command and other commands and print data to the printer 1000 via the interface 21. Sent. The printer 1000 stores the received commands and data in the RAM of the printer 1000.
19 or in a secondary storage device (not shown).
The analysis is performed using the flowchart stored in No.3.

First, as in the first embodiment, the processing of FIG. 3 is performed. If it is determined in step S4 that the paper has run out before the final page is printed, the process proceeds to step S31 as shown in FIG. It is stored in a secondary storage device (not shown) (step S3
1).

Then, the flow shifts to step S32, where it is determined whether or not a medium different from the medium on which printing is being performed is present in another sheet feeding port. If there is a different medium, the process proceeds to step S33, and as shown in FIG. 5, the user is notified by printing that the printing has been interrupted along with the name of the file whose printing has been interrupted and the number of printed sheets. . In this case, the print medium is a print medium such as plain paper, thick paper, or transparency, and a print medium different from the print medium on which printing was performed is selected. FIG.
Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the processing of the next print data is started after the printing of FIG. 5 is completed. At this time, the printed matter shown in FIG. 5 can be used as a partition from the next print data.

Then, it is monitored in step S34 whether the absence of paper has been eliminated. If the absence of paper has been eliminated, the flow proceeds to step S35, and printing is resumed using the print data stored in step S31. I do.

As described above, in the second embodiment,
The case where the determination of data from the host computer 3000 is performed by the printer 1000 has been described.
Needless to say, it may be judged.

[0040]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when the recording medium runs out during the printing of print data, the user is notified that the printing has been interrupted or that the printing has not been performed. Can be done,
Since printing of the next print data can be started, efficient print processing is guaranteed. Further, since printing is interrupted or unprocessed is printed on a recording medium of a different size or a different type, it can be used as a partition from the next print data. Also,
Since printing of the remaining print data stored when the recording medium is replenished is restarted, it is possible to save the trouble of transmitting the print data again.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a print processing method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording medium on which print interruption information is printed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a print processing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 12, 32 CPU 2, 19, 33 RAM 3, 13, 34 ROM 4 System bus 1000 Printer 3000 Host computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing method for sequentially printing a plurality of print data on a recording medium in a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper feed ports, wherein when the recording medium runs out during printing of the print data, the remaining print data is deleted. If there is a recording medium of a different size or a different type from the print medium in the other paper feed port, the fact that the print data is unprocessed is printed on the different size or a different type of recording medium. And printing the next print data by skipping the print data and restarting the printing of the stored print data when the lost recording medium is replenished. 2. A printing apparatus which has a plurality of paper feed ports and sequentially prints a plurality of print data on a recording medium. When the recording medium runs out during printing of the print data, the remaining print data is temporarily stored. Means for storing, and when there is a recording medium of a different size or a different type from the printing medium in another paper feed port, the fact that the print data is unprocessed is printed on the recording medium of a different size or a different type. Means for skipping the print data and starting printing the next print data; and means for restarting printing of the remaining print data stored when the lost recording medium is replenished. A printing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A computer-readable storage medium storing a printing program for sequentially printing a plurality of print data on a recording medium in a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper feed ports, wherein the recording medium is used during printing of the print data. When the remaining print data is exhausted, a procedure for temporarily storing the remaining print data, and when a print medium having a different size or a different type from the print medium is provided in another paper feed port, the print data is stored in a different size or a different type of print medium. A step of printing that the print data is unprocessed, skipping the print data and starting printing the next print data, and a step of printing the remaining print medium when the lost recording medium is replenished. A computer-readable storage medium storing a procedure for restarting data printing and a printing program comprising: