JPS58168591A - System for displaying cutting of blank paper of printer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the titled system displaying whether the resetting of a blank form is necessary or not at the point of time when the blank form of a printer apparatus is cut, constituted so as to detect whether unprinted data is present or not in printing data bubber at the time when the blank form is cut by a blank form cutting detecting part. CONSTITUTION:When the defficiency of a blank form is generated, a detecting mechanism 8 is operated to feed a busy signal to a host apparatus 1 through a detected information reading part 9, a bus 11 and CPU5. The host apparatus 1 interrupts the transmission of data while a printer apparatus is also interrupted in the printing operation thereof. In the next step, it is detected whether unprinted data is present or not in printing data bubber 3 by a register 12 for detecting the presence and the absence of printing data buffer data. When the presence of unprinted data is detected, CPU5 applies indication to a display control register and the display lamp of the display part 10 is brought to a lighting state at t1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an improvement in a paper out display method for a printer device that temporarily holds data transferred from another system and then prints the data.

[Technical background of the invention]

Fig. 1 shows an example of a conventional nuclide printer device, which includes an interface section (2), a print data buffer (3), a control section (4), a CPU (5), and a printing mechanism section (6). ), print control unit (7), detection mechanism (8),
It is equipped with a detection information reading section (9) and a display section 00).

Here, the CPU (5) executes a control program that manages the amount of data held in the ROM (15) and controls other departments.

First, the host device (1) and the CPU (5) check the printing status of the printer device and perform all detections to determine whether printing is possible. In other words, the CPU (5) refers to the print data buffer presence/absence detection register (12), which detects the presence or absence of data in the print data buffer (3), and the display management register 03, which manages paper out, to enable printing. Situation information indicating whether the host device (1) is compatible or not is sent to the host device (1) via the interface unit (2) to prepare for data transfer.

The host device (1) transfers the print data if the printer device is in the data acceptance state. The transferred print data is stored in the print data buffer (3) by the CPU (5).
transferred to and retained. Further, the CPU (5) sends the print data held in the print data buffer (3) to the print control section ('7). The printing of the sent data is carried out by the print control section (7), which controls the printing mechanism section (not shown) in the printer device, which consists of a print-\rad and a paper feed mechanism.
6).

The print data buffer (3) holds a predetermined amount of print data sent out with printing. Further, the state in which print data is held in the print data buffer (3) is detected by print data buffer data presence/absence detection 1/register 02). Furthermore, the print data buffer data presence/absence detection register (12) outputs detection information based on this detection state.

This detection information is transferred from the print data buffer data presence/absence detection register (12) to the CPU (5). here,
The CPU (5) makes a predetermined judgment based on the transferred detection information. That is, it transmits a busy signal requesting the host device (1) to interrupt data transmission.

Therefore, while the busy signal is being sent, the host device (1
) to the printer device is not performed. Therefore, the printing operation of the printer device progresses, and the unprinted data in the print data buffer (3) is processed. Therefore,
Once again, the data in the print data buffer (3) becomes an appropriate amount.

Also, this processing status is detected by the print data buffer data presence/absence detection register (1), and the detected information is sent to the CP
Transferred to U (5).

The CPU (5) makes a predetermined judgment based on the transferred information. In other words, a ready signal is sent to the host device (1) to inform the host device (1) that it is possible to receive data. Therefore, the host device (1) that has received the ready signal transfers data to the printer device again.

Here, when a paper shortage occurs, the paper shortage state is detected by a detection mechanism (8). The detection mechanism (8) outputs detection information based on this detection state. As shown in FIG. 2, the output detection information indicates whether or not the paper is set in the paper feed mechanism section in the printing mechanism section (6) in a predetermined state at tl.

Further, this detection information is sent to a detection information reading section (9). The detected information is converted into a signal that can be decoded by the CPU (5). The detected information reading unit (9) transmits the converted detection signal as a busy signal from the CPU (5) to the host device (1) via the bus 01)t-. The host device (1) interrupts data transfer to the printer device in accordance with the transmitted busy signal.

Further, the CPU (5) provides a signal to the display management register α3) based on the detection signal. The display management register sends an instruction to the display section 00) according to this signal.

The display section (10) is turned off as shown in FIG. This display notifies the operator of the out-of-paper state of the printer.

At this point, the operator notices that the indicator lamp is lit.

Based on this display, the operator recognizes the paper shortage in the printer device and resets the paper. As shown in FIG. 2, the detection operation of the detection mechanism (8) is t! when the paper is reset. Stop at. Therefore, the indicator lamp transmits a ready signal to the host device (1) as it goes out.

When the host device (1) receives the ready signal, it resumes transferring print data. Also, the printer device continues printing processing.

[Problems in the Background Art] When a printer device that temporarily stores data transferred from another system and then prints it out of paper, the first step in processing the received data is to store the print data. There is something that clears the data held in the buffer (3). Secondly, by not supplying paper to the printing mechanism section (6) and continuing blank printing without paper,
There is something that clears the print data buffer completed (3) data. Furthermore, thirdly, there is a method that interrupts the printing operation itself.

However, in the first process, a means is required to notify the boss device (1) whether the data has been cleared to a certain extent. Therefore, after resetting the paper, the host device (1)
I have to retransmit the cleared data. Therefore, there is a drawback that the processing load on the host device (1) side becomes large.

Next, in the second process, the printing mechanism section (6) performs blank printing without paper. Therefore, there are drawbacks such as the possibility of damage to the mechanical part and the lack of a means to know the contents of the blank data.

Furthermore, in the third process, even if the host device (1) is in the job completion state, there may be a case where the printer device w1ilI has not finished printing. Therefore, it has a drawback that it cannot be determined whether or not data exists in the print data buffer (3) after the paper out indication is turned on.

However, in the third process, the processing load on the host device (1) side is small, and since blank printing is not performed without paper, there is no damage to the printing mechanism part (6). Has advantages.

However, in order to take advantage of this advantage, it is necessary to display the presence or absence of data in the print data buffer (3) when the paper runs out.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a display indicating whether or not the paper needs to be reset when the printer runs out of paper.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to satisfy the above object, the present invention provides a printer device with a paper-out detection section. That is, this paper out detection section detects that there is unprinted data in the print data buffer when the paper runs out. Further, the display section displays a display in an unusual manner to notify the outside of the necessity of resetting the paper.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Components similar to the conventional ones are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 to avoid redundant explanation.

Here, the paper out detection unit (4) detects the blinking management counter 04.
) and a control program and display management register (14) stored in the ROM (15) as firmware.
, a print data buffer data presence/absence detection register 0.

The blinking management counter (14) counts clock pulses and manages the blinking cycle according to instructions from the control program.

The control program manages the amount of data held in the data buffer (3) and the paper out condition based on the detection information from the data presence/absence detection register 2) and the information from the display management register 03). I'll go.

From now on, the operation up to paper out detection is the same as before.
After that, a description will be added assuming that the operation is an interruption processing operation that interrupts printing.

First, there is a shortage of paper during the printing operation of the printer device. Further, by continuing printing, the detection mechanism (8) operates at tl as shown in FIG. This detection mechanism (8)
The detection information is sent to the detection information reading section (9) via the bus,
Transferred to CPU (5). The CPU (5) sends a busy signal to the host device (1). Host device (
In step 1), data transfer is interrupted (7), and the printer device also interrupts printing operation.

Next, print data buffer data presence/absence detection register 02
), it is detected whether there is any unprinted data in the print data buffer (3).

When the print data buffer data presence/absence detection register 412) detects that there is unprinted data in the print data buffer (3), the CPU (
5) gives an instruction to the display management register 03).

With this instruction, as shown in FIG. 4, the display lamp (not shown) of the display section 00) is turned on at tl.

ζ At this point, the CPU (5) gives an instruction to the blinking management counter (14) to execute the kalantra. Therefore, the blinking management counter α4) starts counting clock pulses and the like.

When the count of 170 reaches a predetermined value, the blinking management counter (blinking management counter 04) outputs a carry signal. According to this carry signal, the CPU (5) instructs to reset the count value. By executing the reset, the blinking management counter 0◇ starts clock pulses again from the beginning.

Further, the carry signal is output to the CPU (5) via a flip-flop (not shown) or the like. CPU (5
) creates a signal to invert the output state of the display management register 43) based on this output. This signal is given to display management register 03). Therefore, every time this signal is given to the display management register (13), the output state of the display management register (03) is "H" - [Ijl or rLJ
-rHJ.

Corresponding to the change in the output state of the tab and display management register 03), the mode of the display lamp of the display section (10) also changes. As shown in Figure 4, <'-t□ to t! In the meantime, the display lamp will be in a blinking state, such as turning on→turning off, or turning off and then turning on.

Next, such a blinking display is made to an external operator. The operator notices this display and recognizes that there is paper-out and unprinted data in the print total buffer (3). The operator resets the paper.

When the paper is reset, the detection mechanism (8) stops its detection operation. Based on this detection information, the blinking management counter (14) stops counting. Therefore, the printer device continues printing the unprinted data in the data buffer (3).

Note that all of the counters, registers, etc. mentioned above can be executed by software, for example, by a program stored in firmware.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, when the printer device runs out of paper, the operator can know whether there is unprinted data in the print data buffer (3) by blinking the paper out indicator lamp. Therefore, even if the host side runs out of paper after the end of the job, the operator can easily determine whether or not it is necessary to reset the printing paper.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional example, Fig. 2 is a timing diagram showing paper out detection and display in a printer device, Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a timing diagram showing paper out detection and display in the printer device in an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Host device 2...Interface part 3
...Print data buffer 4...Paper out detection section 5
...CPU 5...Printing mechanism section 7...
Print control unit 8...Detection mechanism 9...Detected information reading unit 10...Display unit 11...Pass 12...Print data buffer data presence/absence detection register 13...Display management register 14... Blinking management counter 15...
・'ROM Agent Patent Attorney Noriyuki Chika (and 1 other person) Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A CPU that controls each part of the device according to a program;
Under the control of the PU, it has a print data buffer that stores print data transferred from other systems and a paper out detection section that detects when printing paper runs out. In a printer device having a display unit that displays an out-of-paper status to the CPU when notified, when the CPU is notified of the out-of-paper status from the out-of-paper detection unit, the CPU stores information in the print data buffer. A paper out display method for a printer device, characterized in that it is checked whether or not there is unprinted data, and when there is unprinted data, a display is made on the display section in a manner different from the paper out display method.