KR19990056561A - Printing method using computer's memory - Google Patents

Abstract

When a print command is received, the work document to be printed is converted into print data suitable for the emulator of the printer, and the computer is requested to use the memory to store the print data in the memory of the computer. It stores in the memory of the computer, and transmits the stored print data to the printer, the printer performs a print job for the print data transmitted from the computer. Therefore, the capacity of the printer memory can be reduced by performing a print job using a computer memory having a large capacity.

Description

Printing method using computer's memory

The present invention relates to a printing method using a computer memory, and more particularly, to a printing method using a computer memory to reduce the burden of the memory mounted in the printer by printing the print data using the computer memory. .

In general, a printer is an apparatus for printing an application program created on a computer according to a predetermined printing program. That is, the printer temporarily stores the print data transmitted from the computer as one page or more, and when the transmission of the print data for the set amount is completed, the print data of the corresponding amount is converted into the bitmap data through the printer driver. After the conversion, the image is transferred to a printer engine or a printhead to print a predetermined image. Such a printer includes a memory for storing a predetermined amount (about one page or more) of print data and an emulator therein. In particular, a printer having a duplex printing function requires a memory space to store at least two pages of print data in order to print both sides. In addition, the printer's emulator must also be stored in memory.

However, according to such a conventional printer, the following problem occurs.

That is, a memory space for storing at least one page of print data and an emulator is required. That is, as the expensive memory must be secured more than a predetermined capacity, the price of the product is increased, thereby increasing the economic burden on the consumer. In particular, in the case of a two-sided printer, the memory capacity requires a capacity to store at least two pages of print data and an emulator, which results in an additional burden on the expansion of the memory.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve such problems, an object of the present invention by temporarily storing the print data using a computer memory, by performing the print job by sequentially receiving the stored print data when performing the print job In addition, the present invention provides a printing method using a memory of a computer so that efficient printing can be performed with less memory.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a system in which a computer and a printer are connected according to the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a printing method using a printer of a computer according to the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

1: Central processing unit for computer 2: Printer driver

3, 8: Memory 4: Application

5, 6: I / O Port 7: Central Processing Unit for Printer

9: drive unit 10: image forming unit

A feature of the present invention for achieving these objects is that, when a print command is received, the work document to be printed is converted into print data suitable for an emulator of the printer, and the use of the memory in the computer for storing the print data in the memory of the computer. When the use of the memory is permitted, the print data is stored in the memory of the computer, and the stored print data is transmitted to the printer, the printer performs a print job for the print data transmitted from the computer.

Here, it is preferable to divide the print data by a predetermined amount in a computer so that the print data transmitted from the computer can be processed and printed in real time by the printer, and at this time, the predetermined amount is set in line units.

In addition, in order to transmit the print data stored in the memory of the computer to the printer, it is preferable to request the print permission from the computer to the printer, and to transmit the print data if the print data is permitted to be transmitted.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in adding reference numerals to the elements of each drawing, it should be noted that the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings. In addition, in the following description there are shown a number of specific details, such as components of the specific circuit, which are provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. It is self-evident to those of ordinary knowledge in Esau. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a system in which a computer and a printer according to the present invention are linked.

First, looking at the computer part, the central processing unit 1 for a computer controls the computer as a whole according to a predetermined program. In particular, the central processing unit 1 for the computer 1 controls the address information and the storing time for storing the print data transmitted from the printer driver 2 in the memory 3 according to various commands of the printer driver 2. At the same time, it controls the time point at which the print data stored in the memory 3 is output to the printer.

The printer driver 2 converts a document created on a computer into print data suitable for an emulator of the printer so that the printer can recognize it. In addition, the printer driver 2 sends a command to the central processing unit 1 for the computer to store the converted print data in the memory 3, and sends the print data stored in the memory 3 to the printer. Send the command to

The memory 3 stores various programs to be executed by the central processing unit 1 for the computer, stores various job data created by the application program 4, and prints the printer driver under the control of the central processing unit 1 for the computer. The print data converted in (2) is stored.

The application program 4 is a document creation program that allows a user to create various documents in a computer environment, and the job data created by the application program 4 is stored in the memory 3 under the control of the computer central processing unit 1. Are stored sequentially.

The computer input / output port 5 exchanges various data with the printer input / output port 6 under the control of the computer central processing unit 1.

Next, looking at the printer part, the printer central processing unit 7 controls the printer as a whole in accordance with a predetermined program. In particular, the printer central processing unit 7 receives a command transmitted from the printer driver 2 and generates a response signal thereto, and when the print data stored in the memory 3 of the computer is transmitted, the print data transmitted is printed. Control the point of view.

The memory 8 stores various programs and emulators to be executed by the printer central processing unit 7.

The drive unit 9 converts the print data transmitted from the computer into binary bitmap data that can be recognized by the image forming unit 10 and controls various operations of the image forming unit 10.

The image forming unit 10 is a portion for printing the bitmap data converted by the driving unit 9 on a recording sheet, and usually corresponds to a printhead or a printer engine.

The printer input / output port 6 exchanges various data with the computer input / output port 5 under the control of the printer central processing unit 7.

Referring to Figure 2 with respect to the operation of the present invention having such a configuration as follows.

Documents created by the application program 4 of the computer are sequentially stored in the memory 3 under the control of the central processing unit 1 for the computer. At this time, when the user inputs a print command to perform a print job for the work document (S1), the command is transmitted to the central processing unit 1 for the computer, and the central processing unit 1 for the computer is a printer driver 2 ), And converts the job document stored in the memory 3 into print data suitable for the emulator of the printer (S2).

Then, the printer driver 2 outputs "command A" which can be recognized by the computer central processing unit 1 in order to store the converted print data in the memory 2 (S3). Here, "command A" corresponds to a command for obtaining permission of the central processing unit 1 for a computer in order to store the print data converted in the printer driver 2 in the memory 3. Accordingly, the computer central processing unit 1 generates a response signal allowing the printer driver 2 to use the memory 3, and the printer driver 2 generates a response signal from the computer central processing unit 1. Check whether is received (S4) and when the response signal is received and stores the print data in the memory (S5).

Thereafter, when all the print data is stored, the printer driver 2 generates a "command B" to transmit the print data stored in the memory 3 to the printer (S6), and this command outputs each input / output port 5. And 6) to the central processing unit 7 for the printer. Here, " command B " corresponds to an identification signal that the printer central processing unit 7 can recognize that the print data stored in the memory 3 of the computer is transmitted. The central processing unit 7 for the printer checks whether a current print job is possible by connecting a command of "Command B" sent from the printer driver 2 of the computer, and if the print job is possible, sends a response signal to perform the print job. Transfer to computer central processing unit 1 (S7). The central processing unit 1 for the computer checks whether a response signal is received from the central processing unit 7 for the printer, and transmits the print data stored in the memory 3 to the printer when the response signal is received (S8). The driving unit 9 converts the print data transmitted from the computer into bitmap data (S9). At this time, the central processing unit 1 for the computer transmits the print data in line units, and the printer converts the print data transmitted from the computer into the bitmap data in real time in the drive unit 9 without storing the print data in the memory 8. It is desirable to. Thereafter, the bitmap data converted by the driving unit 9 is printed on the recording paper as image information that can be identified by the user by the image forming unit 10 (S10).

Therefore, by performing a print job using the memory 3 of the computer without using the memory 8 of the printer, the capacity of the memory 8 mounted in the printer can be reduced, and the memory for the computer having a large memory capacity. By using (3), the print job can be processed quickly.

As described above, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

As a result, according to the printing method using the memory of the computer according to the present invention the following advantages occur.

(1) As the printing operation is performed using a large memory for a computer, the capacity of the memory for the printer can be reduced, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the printer.

(2) The print job can be processed quickly by using a computer memory to perform the print job.

Claims (4)

In a system with a computer and a printer connected to each other: Converting a job document to be printed into print data suitable for an emulator of the printer when a print command is received; Requesting permission of the memory from the computer to store the print data in the memory of the computer; Storing the print data in a memory of a computer when the use of the memory is permitted; Transmitting the stored print data to the printer; And And the printer performing a print job on the print data transmitted from the computer. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting step, And printing the print data, which is transmitted from the computer, by dividing the print data by a predetermined amount so that the print data can be processed and printed in real time by the printer. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined amount is A printing method using a memory of a computer, characterized in that the line unit. The method of claim 1, Requesting, from the computer, permission to transmit the print data to the printer to transmit the print data stored in the memory of the computer to the printer; And if the transfer of the print data is permitted, perform the transfer step.