JPS6049974A - Printer-controlling system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to perform various operation controls for a printer by only monitoring and executing a controlling code stored in a special purpose buffer, by a method wherein discrimination information for discriminating whether recording information is stored in line buffers is added to a controlling code. CONSTITUTION:When a graphic mode signal is received, a data-receiving part 10 resets a character generator, controls a data-selecting part 11 to store Y, M, C and B codes into Y, M, C and B receiving buffers 12-15, and when a carriage return code is fed in, the part 10 stores the controlling code (i) into a controlling code buffer 28. When a line feed code is fed in, it is set into the buffer 28. When the controlling code (i) is set, the data stored in the buffers 12-15 are stored into Y, M, C and B line buffers 16-19 by clocks 35, 36, and are printed through Y, M, C and B drivers 20-23 and Y, M, C and B heads 24-27. Accordingly, various operation controls for the printer can be entirely performed by only monitoring and executing the controlling code (i) stored in the exclusive use buffer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a printer 9 control method, and more specifically, in a printer having a plurality of print heads, it is possible to easily and easily control transmitted color data and control codes. The present invention relates to a printer control method that enables efficient processing.

[Prior art] In conventional printers with one print head, the transmitted character codes, dot patterns, and print control codes are sequentially stored in a line buffer, and when printing, the data is retrieved in the order in which they are stored. , it would be sufficient to output the data to the print head, or perform paper feed, carriage return, etc.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, data sent from a host computer etc. is sequentially stored in a reception buffer,
Upon receiving a print command (CR or LF code, etc.),
The contents of the reception buffer may be controlled to be printed, and when printing is completed, a CR or LF (print command) may be executed. Information received during the printing operation is sequentially stored in the reception buffer and can be received until the reception buffer becomes full.

An operational flowchart in this case is shown in FIG.

However, in color printers that have multiple print heads and multiple line buffers corresponding to the print heads, if the transmitted character code or pattern information and control code are set in the same line buffer, the multiple heads can be integrated. Problems occur when printing is performed while moving the printer.

For example, the received data is [Yellow data (Y)] → [Mazenk data (M)] → [
When cyan data (C) is sent in the order of "CR" and "LF", it is stored in each line buffer as 1 as shown in FIG. If the same control as the conventional one is performed when there is more yellow data than other data as shown in the figure, a carriage return operation is executed when the CR code set in the cyan buffer is read, and a new line operation is executed using the LF code. This causes a problem in that the shaded portion of the yellow data is printed on the next line.

In order to avoid this, when executing a printer operation for a control code, it is necessary to constantly check whether there is print data in other character buffers, which is extremely inefficient and complicates control.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and the recording information is stored in each line buffer corresponding to each print head, the control code is stored in another dedicated buffer, and the above-mentioned information is stored in the control code. To provide a printer control method in which various operations of a printer can be controlled only by monitoring and executing control codes in this dedicated buffer by adding identification information indicating whether recording information exists in each line buffer. With the goal.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a color printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 10 is a data receiving section that receives recorded information from a host computer, etc., 11 is a data selector section that distributes the recorded information from the data receiving section 10 to a receiving buffer corresponding to each print head, and 12 to 15 are data selector sections. 16 to 19 are line buffers for storing and sequentially recording data recorded by the print heads; 20 to 23 are dryers 7 for each print head; <, 2
4 to 27 are print heads that print in each color; 28 is a control code buffer that stores control information in the data received by the data receiving unit 10 and identification flags to be described later; 29 is a printer control unit that performs various controls; and 30 is a carriage. The drive motor 31 is a feed motor.

The operation of the color printer having the above configuration will be explained below with reference to the control flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5(A) is a flowchart showing the operation of the data receiving section 1O, and FIG. 5(B) is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer control section 29.

First, the operation of the data receiving section 10 will be explained.

In step 71, it is monitored whether recording information has been sent from a host computer or the like, and when data is sent, the process proceeds to step 72 to check whether it is received data or control data. If it is not a control code, it is checked in step 73 if it is a mode character, and if it is a mode character, the process advances to step 74 to check if it is a character mode. In the case of the character mode, the process proceeds to step 75, and the subsequent received data is controlled to be converted into a dot pattern via a character generator (not shown).

Then, the process returns to step 71.

If it is not the character mode at step 74, it is the graphic mode and the data is sent in a dot pattern, so at step 76 the character generator is reset to a mode in which it is directly stored in the eight buffer.

If it is not the mode code in step 73, step 7
Proceed to step 7 and check whether it is a color code. In the case of a color code, the data selector unit 11 is controlled so that subsequent received data is stored in the reception buffer specified by the color code.

If it is not a color code in step 77, the received data is print data, so a data flag is set in step 79, the received data is set in the reception buffer specified by the color code in step 80, and the process proceeds to step 71. Prepare to receive the next data. If the received data is a control code in step 72, the process advances to step 82;
Check whether the data flag is set. If the data flag is set, it means that recording data to be printed was sent before receiving the control code, so the identification flag is set in step 83, and the data flag is then reset in step 84. , step 85
Proceed to. If the data flag is not set in step 82, the process directly advances to step 85. Step 8
In step 5, the received control code is stored in the control code buffer. At this time, the identification flag is also set, and the process returns to step 71.

For example, to explain the case where the data shown in Figure 6 is sent, first, the graphic mode (GM) '51
a is received, and in step 76 the character generator is reset and the directly received data is made valid. Next, when the yellow (Y) code 52a is sent as a color code, the process advances from step 77 to step 78, and the data select unit 11 is controlled to store the subsequent received data in the yellow reception buffer 12. . Next, record information 11i
54a is sent, the process advances from step 79 to step 80, where a data flag is set, and then stored in the receiving eight buffer 12 in sequence.

When all the recording information 54a for yellow is sent, the graphic mode (GM) 5lb is sent again. Then, step 76 is executed as described above. Next, since cyan (C) code i:' 52 b is sent as a color code, the process advances from step 77 to step 78, and the data selector unit 11 is controlled so that the subsequent received data is stored in the cyan reception buffer 14. . Mo and continuation I/
Step 7 for the personal statement information 54b sent
9 and step 80, perform the same process as above for line 17%1llQ
The next cyan receiver (word/\store in the buffer 14).

Then, when a carriage return (CR) code 55 is sent, the process advances from step 72 to step 82.

In step 82, 4-1 data flag if:.

Since it is set, the steps start from step 83.

Proceed to step 84 and set the identification flag '60 shown in FIG.
Reset data flags. Then, in step 85, the control code is stored with the control code/header 28j identification flag set.

When fl'jl 1↓recode is set in this control code/futher 28, printer city j (wholesound 329
Start the operation according to the chart in Figure 5 (B) (7) near t±1.

Carriage return (CR) code followed by line feed (LF)
) When the code is received, the data flag is not set in step 82, so the process proceeds from step 82 to step 85, and the line feed code is set in the control code buffer 28 without setting the identification flag 60. The state of the control code buffer at this time is shown in FIG. Here, 60 is an identification flag, and 61 is a control code storage area.

Next, the operation of the blink control section 29 will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 5(B).

The step in the printer control unit 29? At step O, it is constantly monitored whether a control code is set in the control code buffer 28, and when the control code is set, the operation is started.

When the control code is set in the control food buffer 28, the process proceeds from step 90 to step 91, where it is first checked whether the identification flag (60 in FIG. 7) is set, and if it is set, the reception/reception flag is checked. Since the printer recording information has been set in the buffers 12 to 15 before the control code is set, the process advances to step 92, and the data in the receive buffers 12 to 15 is read by the receive buffer read clock 35 and the line/head buffer write/read clock 36. are stored in line buffers 16-19. Here, if there is no data in the reception buffer, space data is stored in the line buffer. Next, in step 93, the identification flag set in the control code is reset, and in steps 94 and 95, the line buffers 16 to 1
9 data is sequentially read out using the clock 36, and then the data in the corresponding line buffer is printed by the heads 24-27 via the drivers 20-23. At this time, the head prints while being moved by the carriage morph 3o.

When all the data in the line buffer has been printed, the process returns to step 90. Then, the control code buffer 28 is monitored again.

If the identification flag is not set in step 91, the process proceeds to step 100, where the control code is read from the control code buffer 28, and in step 101, the process corresponding to the control code is executed.

As explained above, even in a printer having a plurality of reception buffers, the printer control unit 29 uses the control code buffer 2
In addition, the data receiving section 10 can process the received data in chronological order, making it easy to receive data during printing, and enabling the printer to operate at high speed.J This printer becomes busy. The conditions can be set such that both the receive buffer and the line buffer become full, or the number of control codes set in the control D-topper 28 exceeds a certain level. control cord pants 728
The number of control codes set can be set arbitrarily depending on how the printer is used and how the printer is used.

In this embodiment, we have explained the case of four color specification codes: yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (in the case where there is no color data code) as color data codes. In the case of the three primary colors (red (R), green (G), blue CB), the same processing can be performed if the data format is as shown in FIG.

Now, assuming that one line of image signals is sent in the order of R, G, B, R data is first set in the Y buffer, M buffer, and black buffer.

When the next G data is sent, the previous R data is stored in the Y buffer.
Data is set sequentially in the form of a logical OR with the data. Also, the sent G data is set as is in the C buffer. Data obtained by performing a logical product with the previous R data is set in the black buffer.

Finally, when the B data is sent, the C buffer and the M buffer are set with data that is logically ORed with the previously set data.

Further, data obtained by performing a logical product with previously set data is set in the black buffer. After this Y, M
, C is logically ANDed with the inverted data of the black buffer data, and determined as data for one row.

Usually “R data”, “°G data′°, “B data data”,
Data is sent in the order of "control code", but R, G
If any of the data '+B' does not exist and the control code ゛° is sent, the contents of the black buffer will be ``o''.
The contents of the Y, M, and C buffers are cleared and transferred to the print buffer as they are.

By changing the method of setting data in the reception buffer as described above, it becomes possible to process RGB signals in the same way as MMC black signals.

When supporting RGB signals, the data stored in the black buffer is the portion displayed in white on the screen. Therefore, it is also possible to select whether to print this part in white (not printed) or in black using a switch or the like. This color combining section may be built into the data receiving section 10 or may be built into the data selecting section 11.

Furthermore, by limiting the number of control codes stored in the control need buffer 28, the printer control method can be easily changed. That is, when data is sent in the format shown in FIG. 6, if the number of data to be stored in the control code buffer 28 is set to 2 or less, the printer will
When the F code is received, two pieces of data are stored in the control code buffer 28, a busy signal is output to the data receiving unit 10, and data will no longer be received.

This busy state is released when only the LF code remains in the control code buffer 28 by executing the CR operation after the printing operation is completed. In other words, the printer receives the data after completing printing.

If the number of data to be stored is set to 3 or less, the printer will
Since it does not become busy even after receiving the R and LF codes, it continues to receive data and store data in the reception buffer.

In other words, the printer receives data even while printing.

The printer becomes busy when it receives a control code after receiving the data being printed. In this manner, the operation of the printer can be changed simply by controlling the control code buffer 28, and a plurality of receiving buffers and line buffers can be easily controlled.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, even in cases where print data for each color is stored in multiple buffers, only the control code that controls printer operation is stored in a dedicated buffer, and printing is performed. It is possible to provide a printer control method that can completely control the operations of various printers by simply adding identification information indicating whether data exists or not, and by simply monitoring and executing the control code in this dedicated buffer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional print data format, Fig. 2 is a flowchart diagram showing a conventional print operation, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a storage format of print data in a buffer in a conventional color printer, and Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the print data format of this embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the state of the control code buffer of the apparatus of this embodiment. In the figure, 10... data receiving section, 11... data selector section, 12-15... receiving buffer, 16-19...
・・Line buffer, 20 to 23 ・・Driver, 24
~27...Print head, 28...Control code buffer, 29...Printer control unit, 30.31...Motor. Figure 5 (3) Figure 6 Broom Figure 7 B

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) In a printer that records information by driving at least two print heads, a first storage means stores recording information corresponding to each of the print heads, and stores control information for controlling the operation of the printer. and identification information adding means that adds identification information to the control information in the second storage means when record information is stored in the first storage means, A printer control method characterized in that execution of is performed when the identification information is not present. (2) The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the control information is carriage return information and line feed information. (3) The plink control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein printing of the recorded information in the first storage means by the printer is started by inputting control information. (4) The identification information adding means resets the identification information of the earliest storage control information in the second storage means when the first storage means detects that the recorded information is empty. The printer control method described in Items 1 to 3. (5) Printer control according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that when the identification information of the second storage means is set, the recorded information can be stored in the first storage means. method.