KR100402917B1 - Method for reprint and system thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A reprint apparatus and method thereof for reprinting printer data stored in a printer memory in a printer, the method comprising: a reprint job selecting step for reprinting through print data stored in a printer itself; Displaying and receiving a selection of a storage option of the print data according to the reprint job selection; Displaying the temporarily stored print data or displaying ID information of the permanently stored print data as the storage option of the print data is selected; Selecting print data for reprint from among the displayed print data and requesting reprint; And printing the print data requested for reprinting.

Description

Reprinter device and its method {METHOD FOR REPRINT AND SYSTEM THEREOF}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer system connected to a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a "PC"), and more particularly, to a reprint apparatus and a method for enabling reprinting of printer data stored in a printer memory in a printer.

In general, when a user using a PC wants to print a specific document in a computer application using a printer connected to the computer, the user selects a document to be printed on the running application and executes a print command. Enter it. Accordingly, the print data of the document for which the print command is requested is transmitted from the application program to the corresponding printer through a printer driver to print.

Hereinafter, a printer system connected to a conventional PC will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing a printer system connected to a conventional PC.

As shown in Fig. 1, when a user executes a specific application program on the PC 1 to authorize a print command for a specific document, the application program 2 prints the print data of the print requested document in the printer driver 3 To send). The printer driver 3 then prints the print data transmitted from the application program 2 and the printer language that can be interpreted by the printer 6 in the compressed image data 4 and the print image converting unit 6, namely an example. For example, the printer code data is converted into printer code data such as PCL 5e, PCL XL, and PDL and transmitted to the printer 6. Accordingly, the print code data converted into the printer language is converted into bitmap data (Bit-Map) in the printer 6 and printed on the paper.

On the other hand, the printer 6 connected to the PC 1 is composed of a PC interface, a control unit, an operating panel (Operating Pannel Equipment), a memory, an engine interface, and a printer engine, although not shown in the drawing.

Here, the PC interface provides bidirectional communication between the PC and the printer control unit, and the control unit communicates with the PC 1 and controls the print engine according to various commands input from the PC 1 and the operation panel to print. Perform various functions including

In addition, the operation panel includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the printer 6. The memory includes a conventional ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM ( In addition to a random access memory (RAM), a nonvolatile memory storing an ID as described above temporarily stores the execution program of the controller and data according to the processing of the controller.

On the other hand, the engine interface is connected between the control unit and the printer engine to interface the input / output signal, the printer engine includes various mechanisms for conveying and printing the paper and controlled by the control unit to perform printing do.

Here, the printer 6 deletes the printer data information when the data is temporarily stored in the printer driver after the printing is completed.

However, the printer system connected to the conventional PC configured as described above has the following problems.

As described above, when performing printing, the user inputs a print command from a document in operation on the application, confirms that the print data is sent to the printer, and then terminates the application without checking the print output of the document from the printer. It often happens. At this time, if the output of the document from the printer is not normally printed or a larger number of print output is required, the corresponding application application should be executed. That is, when the need for reprint occurs after the application program is terminated, the work is complicated and time consuming to reprint as described above.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and provides a reprinter apparatus and a method suitable for performing a reprint in a short time without the user re-executing the application when the reprint request. have.

1 is a block diagram showing a printer system connected to a conventional PC

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer system connected to a PC according to an embodiment of the present invention

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of storing printer data in a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of reprinting printer data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

11: Personal Computer 12: Application

13: printer driver 14: PC and printer interface

15: printer memory section 16: printer display section

17: compressed image data portion 18: printer image change portion

19: printer

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing apparatus for reprinting a printed previous document, comprising: a printer memory unit configured to temporarily store or permanently store the received print data according to a user's storage option selection; A print display unit for displaying the print data stored in the printer memory unit to select the stored print data; And a printing unit for converting the print data into a printer language and converting the print data into bitmap data and printing the print data. The print data according to the permanent storage method is provided by storing an ID (Identifier).

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the print display unit includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to a printer operation, and selects data using an operation panel. .

In addition, the preferred embodiment of the above features is characterized in that the printer memory unit is configured with a nonvolatile memory for storing the ROM, RAM and ID.

On the other hand, the present invention for achieving the above object, a method for reprinting a printed previous document, the reprint job selection step for reprinting through the print data stored in the printer itself; Displaying and receiving a selection of a storage option of the print data according to the reprint job selection; Displaying the temporarily stored print data or displaying ID information of the permanently stored print data as the storage option of the print data is selected; Selecting print data for reprint from among the displayed print data and requesting reprint; And printing the print data requested for reprinting.

According to a preferred embodiment of the above feature, the reprint method is characterized in that the printer is connected to an external computer, and reprints the selection information from a user through a printer driver performing the reprint.

Another preferred embodiment of the above features is characterized in that the reprint method displays the information through its display unit configured in the printer, and receives the selection information directly from the user and reprints only the printer itself. .

Hereinafter, the reprint apparatus and method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer system connected to a PC according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a user executes a specific application program on the PC 11 to authorize a print command for a specific document, the corresponding application module 12 prints the print data of the print requested document in a printer driver ( 13) to transmit. Then, the printer driver 13 temporarily stores and permanently stores the print data transmitted from the application program module 12, thereby providing a bidirectional communication between the PC 11 and the printer control unit by the PC and the printer interface 14. Stored in the printer memory unit 15.

And a print display unit 16 including a plurality of keys for inputting various commands for print data temporarily and permanently stored in the printer memory unit 15 and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the printer 19. Select from the control panel and send. The printer language that can be interpreted by the printer 19 in the compressed image data unit 17 and the printer image conversion unit 18, that is, printer code data such as, for example, PCL 5e, PCL XL, and PDL Is converted to the printer 19 and transmitted.

Accordingly, the print code data converted into the printer language is converted into bitmap data by the printer 19 and printed on the paper.

In this case, the printer memory unit 15 implements a non-volatile memory that stores IDs as well as a conventional ROM and RAM, and temporarily stores the execution program of the controller and data according to the processing of the controller.

The control unit communicates with the PC 11 and controls the print engine according to various commands input from the PC 11 and the operation panel to perform various functions including printing.

On the other hand, although not shown in the figure, the engine interface is connected between the control unit and the print engine to interface the input / output signals. The print engine includes various mechanisms for conveying and printing paper and is controlled by a control unit to perform printing.

Therefore, when the user requests a reprint, the printer code data or the compressed bitmap data of the document reprinted by the user is read out from the printer memory unit 15 using the operation panel of the printer display unit 16, and the PC 11 is read. Is sent to the printer 19 connected.

Referring to the reprint method according to an embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of storing printer data in a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of reprinting printer data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, when there is a command for executing a specific application from the user, the application program module 12 executes the application. Accordingly, the user can perform a task required by the application program, and when the printer has a required document, the user can select and print the document.

Application program module 12 then recognizes the selected document from the user and checks whether there is a print request from the user for the selected document.

At this time, if there is a print request from the user for the selected document, the application program module 12 proceeds to the second step 20 in response to the first step 10 and prints the print data of the document. Set temporary storage and permanent storage in (13). In this case, if the user's print request for the selected document is not desired to be temporarily stored or permanently stored, the application program module 12 proceeds from the second step 20 to the third step 30 and the printer driver. The print data transmitted from the compressed image data unit 17 and the printer image conversion unit 18 through 13 is converted into a printer language that can be interpreted by the printer 19, that is, printer code data, to the printer 19. It will be sent and printed.

On the other hand, if there is a request for temporary storage and permanent storage for the selected document from the user, the process proceeds from the second step 20 to the fourth step 40 to search for temporary storage in the printer driver 13. . In this case, if the user wants to temporarily store the selected document, the user proceeds to the fifth step 50 in response to the fourth step 40, stores the data in the temporary storage place of the printer memory unit 15, and then stores the printer. It will be sent to (19) and printed.

On the contrary, if the user does not want to temporarily store the selected document, the process proceeds from the fourth step 40 to the sixth step 60 to assign an ID to the document selected in the printer memory unit 15. Accordingly, the document with the ID is transferred from the sixth step 60 to the seventh step 70 and stored in the permanent storage place of the printer memory unit 15, and then transmitted to the printer 19. Will be printed.

On the other hand, when the user requests to reprint the printer data stored in the printer memory unit 15, the user requests using the operation panel of the printer display unit 16 in the eighth step 100 as shown in FIG. Select the printer document to print.

Subsequently, in response to the print job of the eighth step 100, the search for whether the selected document is data stored in the temporary storage location of the printer memory unit 15 in the ninth step 110 is performed. In this case, if the selected document is data stored in the temporary storage place of the printer memory unit 15, in response to the ninth step 110, the process proceeds to the tenth step 120 and print data stored in the temporary storage place ( job), it is transmitted to the printer 19 and is printed and output in the eleventh step (130).

On the contrary, if the selected document is not data stored in the temporary storage location of the printer memory unit 15, the process proceeds from the ninth step 110 to the twelfth step 140 to select the stored ID, and the twelfth step In step 140, the process proceeds to the thirteenth step 150, selects the print data stored in the permanent storage location using the selected ID, and is then sent to the printer 19 to be printed and output in the eleventh step 130. will be.

As described above, the reprinter apparatus and method thereof of the present invention have the following effects.

Conventionally, when a print job is completed, all data temporarily stored in the printer memory (storage medium) is deleted. Therefore, if necessary, the user must perform a print job through the application program module again using a PC if necessary. I could get the output.

However, the present invention temporarily stores or permanently stores the previous document printed by executing an application program on a PC, and thus may be reprinted by the printer itself without executing the application program again.

That is, since the print data of the document requested to be printed by the user is stored in the printer memory unit, reprinting can be performed using the display unit of the printer without executing an application program using a PC in reprinting.

In addition, the data of the document that is repeatedly needed repeatedly can be permanently stored in the printer memory unit, and the temporary storage of the printer data can store the entire data.

Claims (9)

A printing apparatus for reprinting a printed previous document, A printer memory unit for temporarily storing or permanently storing the received print data according to a user's selection of a storage option; A print display unit for displaying the print data stored in the printer memory unit to select the stored print data; And a printing unit converting the print data into a printer language and converting the print data into bitmap data and printing the print data. The reprint of the print data according to the permanent storage method is provided by storing an ID (Identifier). Device. The method of claim 1, And the print display unit includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to a printer operation to select data using an operation panel. The method of claim 1, And the printer memory unit comprises a nonvolatile memory storing ROM, RAM, and ID. In a method for reprinting a previous printed document, A reprint job selecting step for reprinting through print data stored in the printer itself; Displaying and receiving a selection of a storage option of the print data according to the reprint job selection; Displaying the temporarily stored print data or displaying ID information of the permanently stored print data as the storage option of the print data is selected; Selecting print data for reprint from among the displayed print data and requesting reprint; And printing the print data requested for reprinting. The method of claim 4, wherein The reprint method is characterized in that the printer is connected to an external computer, the printer reprints the selection information from the user through a printer driver for the reprint. delete The method of claim 4, wherein And the reprinting method displays information through its display unit configured in the printer, receives selection information directly from the user, and reprints only the printer itself. The method of claim 1, An application program which transmits print data of a document requested to be printed when executing a specific application to authorize a print command for a specific document so as to request execution of a print operation; And a printer driver for assigning information on a storage method for temporarily storing and permanently storing the print data transmitted from the application program to transmit the information to the printer device. The method of claim 1, And the print display unit displays temporarily stored print data or displays ID information for permanently stored print data.