JPS61228549A - Data transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the communication efficiency between the host and terminal devices by transferring the information on the communication function of the terminal device before transfer of data between the host and terminal devices and performing the transfer of data according to the result of transfer of said information. CONSTITUTION:A specific instruction ESCSUBDC decided previously for inquiry of the reception buffer capacity, i.e., the information on the communication function of a printer 3 is sent to the printer 3 before the transfer of data is started to both a system controller 6 and the printer 3. Here the printer 3 calculates the capacity of its own reception buffer by self-diagnosis and answers the size of the reception buffer in the prescribed response, e.g., ESCa1 and a2 meaning the upper and lower data of the reception buffer size respectively. Then the controller 6 calculates the data length of an optimum text in response to the absolute values of both data a1 and a2 following the ESC code received from the printer 3. In such a way, the information on the size of the reception buffer is transferred previously between the host and terminal devices to secure the adaptation to be reception buffer size.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a data transfer method, for example, from a host to a printer (terminal) in a printer system.

Shitopi 4 Generally, in printer systems that include various printers such as type printers, dot impact printers, Searle printers, thermal transfer printers, inkjet printers, and electronic typewriter printers,
Print data is transferred from the host system to the printer and printed.

By the way, in such a printer system, print data is transferred from the host to the printer using ETX (end of text)/ACK (
(response) mode.

However, one of these serial communication formats, ETX/
In ACK mode, one text (
TEXT) contains a fixed amount of data.

Therefore, assuming that various printers are generally connected, one text is usually 128 bytes.
A relatively small number of bytes (transfer data amount) such as +256 bytes or 64 bytes is set.

Therefore, even when transferring a large amount of print data to a printer, it is necessary to transfer the data by dividing it into fixed data amounts, for example, every 128 bytes.

However, in this case, even if the receiving buffer size (capacity) of the printer is, for example, 2 bytes, only 128 bytes can be sent at a time, resulting in poor communication efficiency.

Also, conversely, the amount of data contained in one host text is 2
If the receiving buffer capacity of the printer is 128 bytes when the capacity is 56 bytes, a buffer overflow will occur.

l-Defeat This invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve communication efficiency between a host and a terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention transmits and receives information related to the communication function of the terminal between the host and the terminal before data transfer, and transfers the data based on the result of the transmission and reception.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Before data is transferred to the terminal, the host transmits a request to send information related to communication functions (function information) from the function information transmitting/receiving unit A to the terminal via the transmission control unit B.

On the other hand, when the terminal receives a function information sending request from the host at the transmission control unit C, the function information transmitting and receiving unit receives the sending request and transmits its own function information to the host via the transmission control unit C.

Therefore, in the host, the function information transmitting/receiving section A receives the function information from the terminal and passes it to the data sending section E, and the data sending section E sends the data via the transmission control section B according to the function indicated by the function information. transfer to the terminal.

Thereby, the terminal stores the received data in the received data storage section F.

Next, details of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of a document creation/editing device embodying the present invention.

This document creation/editing device includes a keyboard 1 for inputting character information, format information, and control information necessary for document creation/editing;
A display device 2 that displays document information, etc.; 1 a printer 3 that is a terminal that prints document information; 1 a floppy disk device 4 that stores document information; and a system control unit that is a host that controls the entire device. It is equipped with a built-in control unit main body 5.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a system control section built into the control section main body 5. As shown in FIG.

This system control unit 6 includes a CPU l0. A microcomputer system consisting of ROMI and RAM 12, a keyboard interface 13 that controls the transfer of key information between the keyboard 1, a display controller 14 that controls the display device 2, and a printer interface that controls information transfer to the printer 3. 15, a floppy disk controller (FDC) 16 for controlling the floppy disk device 4, and the like.

4 and 5 are a schematic plan view and a front view showing an example of the mechanical part of the printer 3. FIG.

In this mechanical section, a platen 22 is rotatably mounted between frames 21, 21 for wrapping and feeding paper to be printed.

This platen 22 is moved by a motor gear 24. An idle gear 25, a gear 26° that moves together with the idle gear 25, a timing belt 27, and a platen gear 28 are driven to automatically feed the paper.

Additionally, knobs 29 and 29 are provided at both ends of the platen 22.
is fixed, and can be manually rotated by turning the knobs 29 and 29 when loading or removing paper.

Furthermore, a platen gear 30 for an ASF (automatic paper feeder) is mounted on the opposite side of the platen 22 from the platen gear 28.

Furthermore, in front of the platen 22, a paper pail (not shown) is biased toward the platen and swingably disposed.

On the other hand, a carriage 33 is mounted on rods 3 and 32 fixed between the frames 2 and 21 so as to be movable in parallel with the platen 22 in its axial direction.

This carriage 33 is equipped with a selection motor 35 consisting of a stepping motor equipped with a type wheel '54.
and a printing hammer 36 that hits the type on the type wheel 34.
Then, the ribbon 37 is loaded and the ribbon cartridge 38, ribbon feed mechanism, etc. are placed.

A space motor 41 consisting of a steering and rubbing motor is attached to the subframe 40, and a space gear 42 is attached to the rotating shaft of this space motor 41.

Further, on both sides of the sub-frame 40, 40', a pulley 44 integrally formed with a gear 43 that meshes with a space gear 42 of a space motor 41 is rotatably mounted, and a guide pulley 45 is rotatably mounted. .

Then, a space wire 46 is stretched between these pulleys 44 and guide pulleys 45, and this space wire 46
The end of the carriage 33 is fixed to the side of the carriage 33, and the carriage 33 is moved by a space motor 41.

61st! I is a block diagram showing an example of a control section of this printer 3.

In this printer control unit 50, a mask microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as "master microcomputer") 51 is composed of a CPU, ROM, RAM, Ilo, etc., and controls functions such as printing other than space and line feed within the control of this printer. This mask microcomputer 51, which is in charge of control, error monitoring, etc., and also serves as the transmission control section C and functional information transmission/reception section in FIG. 1, is transferred from the host system (system control section 6) side to the l1052. It imports various data such as printed character data, space data that indicates the amount of carriage movement, and line feed data that indicates line feed and pack line feed (including feed amount).

The data is stored in the RAM 5!1, which is a reception buffer memory (data storage section F in FIG. 1), and processing is performed based on the received data.

That is, this mask microcomputer 51 outputs a hammer drive pulse to the hammer driver 55 via l1054 to drive the hammer magnet 3 that constitutes the printing hammer 36.
6A is driven and controlled to cause the hammer 36B to strike the type on the type wheel 34.

The master microcomputer S1 also outputs selection drive data to the selection driver 5 via the l1054, controls the rotation of the selection motor 35, rotates the type wheel 34 in a predetermined direction by the required amount, and controls the selection drive data as required. The printed characters are placed in a position where they are struck by the printing hammer 36.

Further, the mask microcomputer 51 outputs a ribbon feed drive pulse to the ribbon feed driver 5 through the l1054 to drive and control the ribbon feed motor 58, which is a stepping motor, to feed the ribbon 37.

Moreover, this mask microcomputer 51 is connected to Ilo (not shown).
Inputs the detection signal of the cover oven switch that detects the cover open and the status signal of the switch attached to the other unillustrated operation panel, and also inputs the ribbon end display that displays the ribbon end and the other attached to the operation panel. Controls the lighting of the paper end indicator, etc.

On the other hand, a slave microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as "slave microcomputer") 61 is a CPU.

It consists of ROM, RAM, Ilo, etc., and controls the line feed (paper feeding) operation and space (carriage movement) operation among the printer controls.

This slave microcomputer 61 outputs line feed drive data to the line feed driver 62, drives and controls the line feed motor 23 to control rotation of the platen 22, and controls line feed and back line feed.

The slave microcomputer 61 also outputs space drive data to the space driver 63 to rotationally drive the space motor 41 to move the carriage 33 in a predetermined direction by a required amount.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 7.

First, in this document creation/editing device, data is transmitted and received between the system control unit 6 (host) and the printer 3 (terminal) in ETX/ACK mode, which is one of the serial communication types.

Therefore, before starting data transfer to the printer 3, the system control unit 6 sends a predetermined specific command, for example, rESC5UB DCIJ, to the printer 3 in order to inquire about the reception buffer capacity, which is information related to the communication function of the printer 3. .

On the other hand, printer 3 uses this command rESC5UB
When the DCIJ is received, the capacity (reception buffer size) of its own reception buffer (RAMS3) is calculated by self-diagnosis.

Thereafter, the printer 3 responds with a predetermined reception buffer size, for example, rEsc al g al J using an ESC sequence.

Note that among the responses rESCal and alJ, al is the upper data of the reception buffer size.

al is lower data of the reception buffer size.

The reception buffer size is responded with 2-byte data.

For example, rESCal, al J is rESC, 3Flf
, FFHJ CH is hex), it indicates that the receive buffer size is 16 bytes.

Therefore, the system control unit 6 calculates the optimal data length of one text according to the absolute value of the data alt&2 following the ESC code received from the printer 3.

Thereafter, data is transferred to the printer 3 using the calculated length of one text.

In this way, in this document creation/editing device.

Information regarding the reception buffer size is exchanged between the host and the printer before data transfer, and data is transferred with a text length that corresponds to the printer's reception buffer size.

As a result, data can be transferred with an optimal data length depending on the printer's reception buffer size, so data transfer can be performed efficiently, and the time the printer uses the host exclusively can be shortened.

Furthermore, even if the printer is replaced, the data length of one text is set according to the reception buffer size of the printer, so buffer overflow will not occur.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the present invention was implemented for data transfer between a host of a document creation/editing device and a printer (terminal), but the present invention is not limited to this, and a printer as a terminal may also be used. Not only type wheel printers, but also thermal printers, thermal transfer printers, dot impact printers, and inkjet printers.

It may be any optical printer or the like.

Further, information related to the communication function of the terminal that is transmitted and received between the host and the terminal before data transfer is not limited to the reception buffer size.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform optimal data transfer according to the functions of the terminal, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and the second and subsequent sections will provide detailed explanations thereof. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of a document creation/editing device embodying the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the system control section. 4 and 5 are block diagrams showing an example of the mechanical section of the printer, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the control section of the printer, and FIG. 7 is a flow diagram explaining the operation thereof. It is. 3...Printer 6...System control unit Fig. 1 Fig. 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data transfer method from a host to a terminal, characterized in that before data transfer, information related to the communication function of the terminal is sent and received, and data is transferred based on the results of the sending and receiving. . 2. The data transfer method according to claim 1, wherein information regarding the reception buffer capacity of the terminal is sent and received, and data is transferred with a data length corresponding to the reception buffer capacity.