KR20010001261A - Method for selection paper cassette of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for selecting a paper cassette of a printer is provided to print specific pages and unspecific pages in the different papers in one printing work. CONSTITUTION: In printing document in a printer having at least two or more paper cassettes capable of interfacing with a computer, a method for selecting at least two or more paper cassettes in a printer driver of the computer controlling the driving state of the printer includes the steps of setting print information including paper cassette change information in the printer driver to print specific pages and unspecific pages of the document in the different papers, transmitting the printing information and print data of the document set in the printer driver to the printer by pages(S402), confirming whether the paper cassette change information is included in the print information in the printer(S403), detecting the position of the paper cassette loading the papers for recording the print data(S408), picking up the paper loaded in the detected paper cassette and printing the print data(S409), and repeatedly performing the above steps until completing the print of the print data.

Description

How to choose the paper cassette of the printer {METHOD FOR SELECTION PAPER CASSETTE OF PRINTER}

The present invention relates to a method for selecting a paper cassette of a printer, and more particularly, when outputting a document created by an application program of a computer to a printer having at least two paper cassettes, a specific page and a specific page of one document are selected. The present invention relates to a paper cassette selection method of a printer which designates a paper cassette in a printer driver so that the remaining pages (hereinafter referred to as "unspecified pages") can be printed on different sheets of paper.

Generally, a printer is an office device that is connected to an external device (especially a computer) and outputs a result on printing paper. The printer is a print language suitable for the printing conditions set by receiving a document created or edited by the external device. It converts and outputs to paper using colored dyes such as ink or toner.

Such a printer is a core and essential device of an office automation device together with a computer, and when a document created on a computer is printed on a printer, the computer needs a printer driver for driving the printer.

The printer driver converts the print data created by the application program of the computer into data that can be interpreted by the printer. That is, when a print command for outputting a document created by a computer application program to a printer is selected, the print data is divided into pages, and the data and control codes included in one page of print data are processed appropriately. Convert the data into interpretable data and send it to the printer. Such a printer driver may set various printing information (eg, printing range, number of copies, printing method, paper cassette, etc.) for a corresponding document to be printed.

The printer which prints the print data received from the printer driver according to the printing information is equipped with a paper cassette in which the above-described chain paper is loaded, and picks up the paper loaded in the paper cassette, and transfers it through the image forming unit. The image is discharged by forming an image with a dye such as a toner on the paper.

In addition, some products are equipped with a plurality of paper cassettes, so that a large amount of paper is divided into each paper cassette, and when the paper loaded in one paper cassette is exhausted, the paper is picked up through another paper cassette. It is. In addition, different types or sizes of paper can be loaded into a plurality of paper cassettes, and a user can select a paper cassette in which desired paper is loaded.

When a document created in an application program of a computer is to be output to a printer loaded with at least two paper cassettes, the user selects a print command to drive the printer driver. Thereafter, necessary print information is selected from various print information provided by the printer driver, and a print command is executed.

In this case, the print information selected by the user is equally applied to one document. In other words, the print information, such as the number of prints, the printing method, and the paper cassette selected by the user in the printer driver, is applied until one document is printed.

However, a user may want to output a specific page from one document created by an application on a paper different from a paper on which an unspecified page is printed.

For example, let's look at a case where a user writes a document about a presentation material in an application program, and outputs a cover page and contents of the presentation material on different papers in one document.

The user loads paper required for at least two paper cassettes provided in the printer. Here, it is assumed that A4 plain paper is loaded in one paper cassette and A4 colored paper is loaded in another paper cassette.

The user selects a specific page for the cover of the presentation material from the print information provided by the printer driver as the print range, and executes a print command by specifying a paper cassette loaded with A4 color paper.

When the cover of the presentation material is printed, the user selects the print command again to run the printer driver, selects a page related to the content of the presentation material from the print information provided by the printer driver as the printing range, and A4 plain paper. Execute the print command specifying the loaded paper cassette.

In addition, when the cover of the presentation material is located in the middle of the document, that is, when a specific page is written on the middle page of the document, it is sometimes necessary to execute up to three print commands in order to print on paper loaded in another paper cassette. .

Therefore, when the cover sheet and the contents of the presentation material are output on different papers, at least two print commands must be executed, which causes inconvenience, and the inconvenience becomes more serious as the number of prints increases.

That is, when one page of a document is to be output on a different paper from an unspecified page, it causes inconvenience of having to execute several print commands.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to supply a paper on which an unspecified page is printed in a printer driver in order to output a specific page from an unspecified page among documents created by an application program. The present invention provides a method for selecting a paper cassette for a printer that selects a paper cassette and a second paper cassette for supplying paper on which a specific page is printed, and changes the paper cassette according to the print information selected in the printer driver. .

1 is a schematic block diagram of a computer and a printer applied to the present invention;

2 is an operation flowchart for selecting a paper cassette in the printer driver according to the present invention;

3 is an exemplary view showing a display window for selecting a paper cassette in the printer driver;

4 is an operation flowchart of performing a print job in a printer according to the information selected in FIG.

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

10: computer central processing unit 11: computer memory

12: Application 14: Printer Driver

20: printer central processing unit 21: printer memory

22: number of print storage unit 23: paper cassette detection unit

24: engine controller 24: printer engine

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is that, when outputting a document created in an application program of the computer to a printer equipped with at least two paper cassettes that can interface with the computer, In the method of selecting at least two paper cassettes in the printer driver, print information including the paper cassette change information in the printer driver is printed in the printer driver so as to print on a different paper each of a document and an unspecified page other than a specific page. Setting, setting and transmitting print information set in the printer driver and print data of the document to the printer in units of pages, checking whether the paper cassette change information is included in the print information received from the printer driver in the printer, and checking Result paper Detecting the position of the paper cassette on which the paper on which the print data received from the printer driver is recorded when the set change information is included; and printing the print data by picking up the paper loaded in the detected paper cassette; ; When printing on one page of print data is completed, the paper cassette position detection step is repeated until the printing of the print data is completed.

Preferably, the print information includes at least position information of the first paper cassette on which the paper on which the unspecified page is printed is loaded.

Preferably, the paper cassette change information is position information of the second paper cassette on which the paper on which the specific page is printed is loaded and the number of the specific page.

Preferably, the paper cassette position detecting step further includes comparing whether the page number of the print data and the number of the specific page are the same; If the comparison result is the same, the position information of the second paper cassette is detected. If the comparison result is not the same, the position information of the first paper cassette is detected.

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.

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a computer and a printer applied to the present invention, Figure 2 is a flow chart for selecting a paper cassette in the printer driver in accordance with the present invention, Figure 3 in the printer driver An exemplary view showing a display window for selecting a paper cassette is shown, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of performing a print job in a printer according to the information selected in FIG. 2.

As shown in Figure 1, it is divided into a computer part and a printer part for carrying out the present invention.

First, looking at the computer parts, the central processing unit 10 for a computer controls the system as a whole.

The computer memory 11 stores data and various programs processed by the computer central processing unit 10.

The application program 12 is a program that a user can create various documents.

The printer driver 13 converts the print data created by the application program 12 into data that the printer can interpret. Also, a screen for selecting various print information of the document created by the application program 12 is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 3, various types of printing information displayed on a screen of a computer include a printing range, a printing method, a number of prints, a printing direction, and the like, and particularly, are created in the application program 12 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Position and position of a second paper cassette on which a paper on which a specific page is printed is loaded, in addition to a first paper cassette on which a paper on which an unspecified page is printed, for outputting a specific page on a paper different from a paper on which an unspecified page is printed. Includes a paper cassette change item that allows you to select a number.

The computer input / output port 14 is a port for connecting a computer and a printer, and transmits print information and print data selected by the printer driver 13 to the printer under the control of the computer central processing unit 10.

On the other hand, looking at the printer part, the printer central processing unit 20 controls the system as a whole, and in particular, if the paper cassette change information is present among the print information received from the printer driver 13 of the computer, the specific page and the unspecified page To print on different sheets of paper.

The printer memory 21 stores various control programs necessary for implementing the functions of the printer, various data generated according to the execution of the control program, and print data and print information received from the printer driver 13.

The print quantity storage unit 22 counts the number of prints printed by the printer engine 25 under the control of the central processing unit 20 for the printer, and stores a count value. The print quantity storage unit 22 cuts off power. It is preferable that the contents of the data be NVRAM (Non-Voltage Random Access Memory).

The paper cassette detection unit 23 detects the paper cassette on which the paper on which the print data in units of pages received from the computer is printed is loaded and input to the printer central processing unit 20 under the control of the printer central processing unit 20. do.

Here, a brief description will be made of how the paper cassette detection unit 23 detects the paper cassette. The print quantity storage unit 22 when print data is received from the printer driver 13 at the count value stored in the print quantity storage unit 22 is described. Compares the result of subtracting the initial value of?) From the number of the specific page selected by the printer driver 13, and if the comparison result is the same, the second paper cassette loaded with the paper on which the specific page is printed is detected and compared If the result is not the same, the first paper cassette loaded with the paper on which the unspecified page is printed is detected.

The engine controller 24 drives the printer engine 25 by the control of the printer central processing unit 20, and the printer engine 25 performs a print job under the control of the engine controller 24.

The printer input / output port 26 is a port for connecting a printer and a computer, and serves to receive print data and print information transmitted from a computer.

An operation of the present invention having such a configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4.

First, a method of selecting a paper cassette in the printer driver 13 of the computer will be described.

The central processing unit 10 for the computer checks whether the user has selected a print command to output the document created by the application program 12 to the printer (S201).

When the user selects the print command, the central processing unit 10 for the computer drives the printer driver 13 (S202), and the printer driver 13 displays a screen for the user to select various print information related to the print job. In operation S203, the user selects necessary printing information from various types of printing information displayed on the screen in operation S204.

At this time, the user can select the paper cassette change information from the print information provided by the printer driver 13 so as to print a specific page from a document created by the application program 12 on a paper different from the paper on which the unspecified page is printed. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the print direction of the first paper cassette on which the paper to print the unspecified page is loaded among the documents created by the application 12 among various print information provided by the printer driver 13. Select from the registration information of &quot;, &quot; and select the second paper cassette position and the number of the specific page on which the paper for printing a specific page is loaded in the paper cassette change item.

When the user selects a necessary item from the print information displayed on the screen of the computer and executes a print command (S205), the printer driver 13 records the print information and the print data selected by the user in a predetermined format and transmits the print command to the printer ( S206).

Meanwhile, a method of changing and printing a paper cassette in a printer that can interface with a computer according to the paper cassette information selected by the printer driver 13 of the computer part will be described below.

The central processing unit 20 for the printer checks whether a print command is received from the computer through the input / output port 26 (S401), and when the print command is received, the print is recorded in a predetermined format from the printer driver 13 of the computer. Information and print data are received (S402).

The central processing unit 20 for the printer checks whether the paper cassette change information exists among the print information received from the printer driver 13 (S403).

If the paper cassette change information exists, the printer central processing unit 20 stores the print information including the paper cassette change information received from the printer driver 13 in the memory 21 (S404).

After storing the print information including the paper cassette change information in the memory 21, the printer central processing unit 20 stores the initial value stored in the print quantity storage unit 22 in the memory 21 (S405).

The printer central processing unit 20 stores the print information received from the printer driver 13 and the initial value of the print quantity storage unit 22 in the memory 21, and then receives the page unit received from the printer driver 13. Detecting the paper cassette on which the paper on which the print data is recorded is loaded.

First, the central processing unit 20 for a printer detects the count value currently stored in the print quantity storage unit 22 and the initial value of the print quantity storage unit 22 stored in the memory 21, and sends it to the paper cassette detection unit 23. The paper cassette detection unit 23 subtracts the initial value of the print quantity storage unit 22 from the count value of the print quantity storage unit 22 under the control of the printer central processing unit 20 (S406).

The paper cassette detection unit 23 subtracts the initial value of the paper quantity storage unit 22 from the count value of the print quantity storage unit 22 and the number of a specific page of the paper cassette change information stored in the memory 21 is the same. It is determined (S407).

If the determination result is the same, the paper cassette detection unit 23 detects paper cassette position information of the paper cassette change information stored in the memory 21 (S408), and the printer central processing unit 20 performs the paper cassette detection unit 23. Transfers the paper cassette position information detected from the engine controller 24, and the engine controller 24 drives the pickup roller (not shown) of the printer engine 25 under the control of the printer central processing unit 20. The paper loaded in the paper cassette detected in step 408 (S408) is picked up (S409).

When the paper loaded in the detected paper cassette is picked up, the engine controller 24 drives the printer engine 25 to print one page of print data on the picked up paper (S410), and when printing of one page is completed, The print quantity storage unit 22 increments the count value by one (S411).

Then, the central processing unit 20 for the printer checks whether the next page exists (S412), and if the next page exists, returns to step 406 (S406) and loads a paper cassette on which paper on which page-by-page print data is recorded is loaded. Perform the detecting step.

On the other hand, the result of subtracting the initial value of the paper quantity storage unit 22 from the count value of the print quantity storage unit 22 in the paper cassette detection unit 23 and the number of the specific page of the paper cassette change information stored in the memory 21. If the determination result at step 407 (S407) is not the same, then the central processing unit 20 for a printer has a first paper cassette loaded with a paper on which an unspecified page is printed among print information stored in the memory 21. Position information is detected (S413), and if paper cassette position information is detected, the process branches to step 409 (S409) of picking up the paper loaded in the detected paper cassette.

Also, if the paper cassette change information does not exist in the check result 403 (S403) of checking whether the paper cassette change information exists in the print information received from the printer driver 13, the central processing unit 20 for a printer is generally A print job is performed (S414).

Therefore, the user can print specific pages and unspecified pages on different sheets of one document created in the application program in one printing operation.

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 described above, according to the method for selecting a paper cassette of a printer according to the present invention, a paper cassette on which a paper on which a specific page and an unspecified page are printed is loaded is designated from one document created by an application in a printer driver, Since the paper cassette is changed and printed according to the printing information, there is an advantage that a specific page and an unspecified page can be output on different papers in one printing operation.

Claims (4)

When outputting a document created by an application program of a computer to a printer equipped with at least two paper cassettes capable of interfacing with the computer, the at least two paper cassettes are controlled by a printer driver of a computer controlling the driving state of the printer. In how to choose: Setting print information including paper cassette change information in the printer driver so as to print a specific page among the documents and an unspecified page which is the remaining pages other than the specific page on different papers; Transmitting the print information set in the printer driver and print data of the document to the printer in units of pages; Confirming, by the printer, whether the paper cassette change information is included in the print information received from the printer driver; Detecting a position of a paper cassette on which paper on which the print data received from the printer driver is recorded is loaded, when the paper cassette change information is included as a result of the checking; Picking up paper loaded in the detected paper cassette and printing the print data; And when the printing of the print data of the one page is completed, repeating from the paper cassette position detecting step until the printing of the print data is completed. The method of claim 1, wherein the print information, And at least position information of the first paper cassette on which the paper on which the unspecified page is printed is loaded. The method of claim 1, wherein the paper cassette change information, And position information of a second paper cassette on which the paper on which the specific page is printed is loaded, and a number of the specific page. According to claim 1 or 3, wherein the paper cassette position detection step, Comparing whether the page number of the print data and the number of the specific page are the same; And if the comparison result is the same, position information of the second paper cassette is detected, and if the comparison result is not the same, the position information of the first paper cassette is detected.