JPS62100336A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To indicate a manually feed recording material necessary for printing onto an indicator and allowing the operation state of a recording device to be informed, thus allowing an operator to confirm the fact. CONSTITUTION:When data editing for one page is completed, the paper No. which represents the kind of paper necessary for printed data is taken out from the paper No. area on a page buffer, and a paper No. indicator 205 is allowed to light up intermittently, and the manual feed of a designated paper is demanded. The insertion of paper is waited, checking a paper sensor 12, and when the paper is inserted, the paper No. indicator 205 is changed to lighting from flashing, and the fact that the paper is received is indicated. A printing start signal 501 is sent into an output interface circuit 207, and a printing mechanism is started, and the printing data for one page which is prepared on a page buffer 204 is transported to a character generator 206, and printing is carried out. Thus, since the manually operated recording material is informed onto the printing format of the output data, the recording material can be inserted manually.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an image recording device.

[Summary of the Disclosure] The present specification and drawings provide an image recording apparatus that includes a notification means for specifying the type of recording material, and when a manual feed request for recording material is made, notification of the type of recording material to be supplied is provided. The present invention discloses a technology for an image recording apparatus that is equipped with an image recording apparatus that performs the above-described operations, and is capable of manually feeding recording materials according to a request. Further, according to another embodiment included in this specification, it is possible to obtain an output that notifies the state of the recording apparatus from the notifying means that notifies the recording material.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in this type of apparatus, a recording material is loaded into a cassette, a cartridge, or the like, and continuously and automatically supplied into a recording mechanism. However, when using such a cassette or cartridge, the size (length, width, thickness) of usable recording materials is standardized, making it difficult to use irregularly shaped recording materials. Therefore, in order to avoid restrictions on the size of the recording material, manual feed mechanisms have been developed that directly insert the recording material without using a cassette or cartridge.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in a conventional image recording device having a manual feeding mechanism for recording material, when the data input from the data source is finished and the device requires recording material, the size and color of the recording material cannot be changed. Since the type of recording material is unknown, there is a drawback that only a certain predetermined recording material can actually be used.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been proposed in order to overcome the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art, and its purpose is to notify the operator of the manual recording material required for recording data. An object of the present invention is to propose an image recording device that can manually feed an appropriate recording material.

Another object of the present invention is to propose an image recording apparatus that notifies the operating state of the recording apparatus related to the manually fed recording material.

As a means of solving this problem, the printing apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG.
A central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 200 that executes processing according to the control procedure as shown in the figure, a paper number display 205 that has a page buffer 204 configured as shown in the i4 figure, and displays paper information read by the CPU. has.

[Operation] In the above configuration, input data is first input from an external host computer (not shown) into the CPU 200 via the input interface circuit 201, character data in the input data is edited page by page, and the page data is edited along with print format control information. Save in buffer 204. The printing format control information includes recording material designation information, and by reading this recording material designation information to the paper number display 205, the recording material is designated at the time of printing.

Further, the CPU 200 outputs to the paper number display 205 the status of the recording bag, such as a recording material supply request, supply acceptance, and recording completion, in different display modes such as blinking, lighting, and extinguishing.

Therefore, according to the apparatus of the embodiment, since the recording material is displayed on the display, the operator can manually feed the appropriate recording material according to the display.

Furthermore, the operator can know the status of the recording device from the status of the display.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LBP) according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. ) is converted into a corresponding character pattern and an image is formed on paper, which is a recording medium. 101 is a printer control unit that controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes literary information etc. supplied from the host computer. The printer control unit 101 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 102 .

The laser driver 102 is a circuit for driving and controlling the semiconductor laser 103, and switches on/off the laser beam 104 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1G3 according to the input video signal. The laser beam 104 is transmitted through a rotating polygon mirror 105
is swung left and right and irradiated onto the electrostatic drum 106.
A latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is formed by the developing unit 1 around the electrostatic drum 106.
07 and then transferred to paper. The transferred image is fixed by a fixing roller 108, and the paper after fixing is discharged to a stacker 110 by a discharge roller 109. Here, a cut sheet paper is used as the paper, which is inserted into the main body from the paper feed tray 120, taken into the main body by the drive of the paper feed roller 121 and the conveyance roller 123, and supplied to the electrostatic drum 106. 122 is a paper sensor composed of a general optical sensor.

It detects whether or not there is paper in the paper feed port and notifies the printer control unit 101 of the detection.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 200 is a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) that controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes character information.

201 is an input interface circuit that receives data from the host computer. The CPU 200 has an R memory which stores a printer control program shown in FIG.
It has a RAM 203 that provides a work area used in processing executed according to programs in the OM 202 and ROM 202 .

204 is a page buffer composed of general RAM;
Input data input from the host computer is taken into the CPU 200 via the input interface circuit 201, where data is analyzed, character information in the input data is edited page by page, and stored in the page buffer 204 along with print format control information. Saved.

Reference numeral 205 is a paper number display consisting of a general 7-segment 1-LED 2-digit, which flashes the paper number instructed by the data source when printing starts, and also indicates the paper to be fed along with a paper feed request. Specify the type.

A character generator 206 converts the character information received line by line from the page buffer 204 into a character pattern print signal S02 and outputs it to the output interface circuit 207. The output interface circuit 207 is connected to the printing mechanism section 22
This is a circuit that outputs various control signals and video signals to
The printing mechanism unit 220 is activated in response to a print start signal SQL from the CPU 200, and a series of printing controls such as transporting the paper, rotating the electrostatic drum 106, and activating the laser driver 102 are also performed.

Figure 3 shows the format of the paper information designation command input from the host computer.
SC), then the character code “P” representing the paper information command.
'', followed by the paper number (2 decimal digits) arbitrarily defined as parameters, the number of lines and digits for one page, and finally ends with a control code: carry return (CR) as a command terminator. By inputting this command to LBPloo, the host computer can instruct the paper number display so that subsequent output pages are formatted with the specified number of lines and digits, and printed on the specified paper.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data structure of the page buffer 204. When the CPU 200 recognizes the control code ESC, which is a command identifier, and subsequently recognizes the paper number specified by the paper information command, the paper number is displayed in the paper number area 400. Save number. Next, when recognizing the 1-digit number of lines,
The number of lines and the number of digits are stored in the number of lines area 401 and number of digits area 402.

Reference numeral 403 is a data storage area in which character data for one page is edited line by line and column by digit and saved.

The paper feed request operation of this embodiment having the above 4R configuration will be explained in detail with reference to the flowchart of the printer control program shown in FIG. 5, which is read out from the ROM 202 and executed by the CPU 200.

First, in step 5501, the entire LBP 100 is initialized to prepare for printing processing.

Initial values are also set in the paper number area 400, line number area 401, and digit number area 402 on the page buffer 204. Next, in step 5502, data input from the host computer is sent to the input interface circuit 201.
The data is analyzed, the print data is edited page by page, and the data is stored in the data storage area 403 of the page buffer 204. In addition, in data analysis, the third
When the paper information command 300 shown in the figure is detected, its parameters such as the paper number, number of lines, and number of digits are extracted, and the paper number area 400 on the page buffer 202 is
, the number of lines area 401 and the number of digits area 402. When data editing for one page is completed in step 5502, the process advances to step 5503, where the paper number representing the type of paper for which the next data to be printed is 6 sheets is retrieved from the paper number area on the page buffer. In step 3504, this paper number is displayed blinking on the paper number display 203, and a manual feeding request for the specified paper is made. Then, in step 5505, the paper sensor 122 is checked and the process waits until paper is inserted. When the paper is inserted, the process advances to step 5506, where the paper number display 203 is updated from blinking to lit to indicate acceptance of the paper. and step 550
Proceed to Step 7, send the print start signal SQL to the output interface circuit 207, start up the printing mechanism, and proceed to Step 5.
In step 508, one page of print data prepared on the page buffer 204 is transferred to the character generator 207 and printed. When the transfer of one page of print data is completed, the process advances to step 5509, where the paper number is The display 203 is turned off to clearly indicate the end of printing for one page. Step 55
Returns to 00 and repeats printing of the next page.

Although this embodiment is an application of the present invention to a laser beam printer, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to image recording apparatuses using various recording methods such as inkjet printers and electrostatic plotters.

In addition, in this embodiment, the type of recording material is divided into 7 segments) LE
In D, the number is displayed, but the method is not limited to this, for example, the name of the recording material can be directly displayed in text instead of the number using a large liquid crystal panel, or the size of the recording material can be registered in advance and requested. Of course, the size may be displayed, and the recording material may be designated by voice output.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the recording material to be manually fed is notified in accordance with the print format of the output data, the operator 1/-2 confirms this and inserts the recording material. Can be fed manually. Therefore, the risk of incorrectly supplying the recording material is reduced, and the type of recording material that can be used becomes more flexible, making it possible to use other types of recording material.

Furthermore, if the output data and the recording material designation command are made to correspond to each other on a page-by-page basis as in the embodiment, the formatting of the print output can be made more flexible.

Furthermore, since the operating state of the recording device can be known from the output means for notifying the recording material, it is possible to provide an image recording device with excellent operability for the operator. Furthermore, if a display is used as the recording material notification means and the display state is changed as in the embodiment, a plurality of pieces of information can be displayed on one display.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the internal configuration of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a format diagram of a paper information command; FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram of the page buffer, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the printer control program. Here, 100...laser beam printer (LBP)
, 101...Printer control unit, 121...Paper sensor, 204...Page buffer, 205...
Paper number display, 300...Paper information command, 400
...Paper number area. Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In an image recording device that has a manual feeding unit for recording material and inputs text/figure image information from a data source and records an image pattern such as a corresponding text/figure on the recording material, the type of recording material can be specified. 1. An image recording apparatus characterized in that the image recording apparatus has a notification means for notifying the type of recording material to be supplied when a manual feeding request for recording material is made. (2) The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the image pattern data and the recording material designation command are processed as related information. (3) Monitoring the state of the recording device in an image recording device that has a manual feeding unit for recording material, inputs text/figure image information from a data source, and records a corresponding image pattern such as text/figures on the recording material. and a notifying means for specifying the type of recording material, and notifying the type of recording material to be supplied when a manual feed request for recording material is made, and controlling the notifying means in accordance with the state of the recording apparatus. An image recording device characterized by changing an output format. (4) The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the designation means is a display device, and outputs a request for recording material, supply acceptance, and recording completion in different display states.