JP3400672B2 - PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING SYSTEM, AND DUPLEX MANAGEMENT METHOD - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a double-sided printing management method, and in particular, when an error occurs in double-sided printing, the relationship between front and back printed pages is always the same as before the error occurred. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for double-sided printing and a double-sided printing management method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows a conventional printing apparatus system such as a page printer. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 50 is an input means, such as a keyboard, for creating print data and inputting data such as a print request.

Reference numeral 51 denotes a print requesting device, which is a printing device 60.
It is a computer or the like that makes a print request to and sequentially transmits print data. Reference numeral 52 represents the created print data.

Reference numeral 53 denotes a transmission / reception unit, which sequentially transmits print data and the like and receives error notifications and the like from the printing device 60. Reference numeral 60 denotes a printing device, such as a page printer, which receives a print request from the print request device 51, receives print data that is sequentially transmitted, expands the print data that is sequentially received into a print format page by page,
It is to be printed.

Reference numeral 61 denotes a transmission / reception unit, which is the print request device 5
The print data and the like sequentially transmitted from 1 are received, and error notifications and the like are transmitted to the print requesting device 51. A print data expanding unit 62 expands the print data received by the transmitting / receiving unit 61 page by page into a print format.

Reference numeral 63 denotes a printing mechanism unit which prints the print data expanded by the print data expansion unit 62 page by page on a sheet. 64 is a print management unit,
Print management is performed such as confirmation of a print completed page and detection of an error occurrence (paper JAM or the like).

Reference numeral 65 denotes a print guarantee page creating section, which is 1
The page number (print guarantee page) of the print data discharged after the printing of one sheet of paper is completed is obtained. An error detection unit 66 detects an error in the paper JAM or the like.

An error notification information creating unit 67 creates an error notification, a resend request page number, and the like. The operation of the configuration of FIG. 10 will be described.

In the printing system of FIG. 10, the amount of data that can be received at one time by the transmitting / receiving unit 61 of the printing device 60 is smaller than the amount of data of the print data 52 of the print requesting device 51, and the data is received by the transmitting / receiving unit 61. The print data is cleared when transferred by the print data expansion unit 62, and the print request device 5
The print requesting device 51 receives the print data from the print requesting device 51 so that the print data can be sent to the print requesting device 1 and the print data can be sent.

The operation will be described according to the numbers in parentheses in the figure. (1), (2), (3) When a print request is input from the user by the input means 50, the print request device 51 causes the print device 60 to print.
Print request and send print data 52.

(4), (5) The transmission / reception unit 61 receives the print data, the print data expansion unit 62 expands the received print data page by page into a print format, and the print mechanism unit 63 expands the expanded print. Print the data on paper.

(6) The print guarantee page creating section 65 monitors print data of the paper discharged after printing is completed, confirms and holds the print guarantee page number. (7), (8), (9) When an error occurs in the printing mechanism unit 63 or the like, the error detection unit 66 detects the error, and the error notification information creation unit 67 is based on the error notification, the print assurance page number, etc. Request the print page for which resend is requested and create error notification information.

(10), (11) The error notification information is transmitted / received by the transmitter / receiver 6
1 to the print request device 51. (12), (13) (14), (15) In the print request device, when the transmitting / receiving unit 53 receives the error notification information, the retransmission unit 55 obtains the retransmission request page number included in the error notification information.
Then, the print data is retransmitted from the page to the printing device 64.

(16), (17) The transmission / reception unit 61 receives the retransmitted print data, the print data expansion unit 62 expands the retransmitted and received print data, and the printing mechanism unit 63
Reprints the expanded print data.

A method of confirming print data requested to be retransmitted in the conventional printing apparatus will be described below. Although the present invention relates to double-sided printing, the conventional print-guaranteed page number that is the basis for requesting a resent page is the same for single-sided printing and double-sided printing.

[No Natural Page Break] The print management unit 64 determines how many pages of the print data are the most recently printed sheets (sheets discharged to the stacker) (a page created by the user. , The page number from the beginning of one page (the same as what is called a logical page hereinafter) is recognized (hereinafter, the page number of the paper on which this printing is completed is called the print-guaranteed page number).

When an error occurs, the print management unit 64 notifies the print request source of the printed page number at that time as a retransmission start page. [When there is a natural page break] Depending on the print data, when the page length of one page (logical page) of print data exceeds the paper size, the remaining printed data is printed on the next paper. ). In this case, the number of sheets and the number of pages do not have a one-to-one correspondence (for example, when a natural page break occurs twice on a page, the data of that page is printed on three sheets of paper). Therefore, if there was a natural page break, the procedure was as follows.

The print management unit 64 indicates that the most recently printed sheet is the page number from the top of the print data (top of one logical page), and that page (logical page) ends on that sheet. Recognize whether to do it (whether the page that has undergone a natural page break is the last sheet).

The print management unit 61, when an error occurs,
If the page is completed with the most recently printed paper, the print-guaranteed page number at that time is notified to the print request device. If not, the number of pages being printed-1 at that time is notified to the print requesting device as the print-guaranteed page number.

A method of confirming the print-guaranteed page when there is a natural page break will be specifically described.
FIG. 11 shows the case of single-sided printing. In Fig. 11 (a), there are natural page breaks in 2 pages (logical pages) of the print data, and 3
A page (logical page) indicates a case where printing is completed with one sheet of paper and a sheet JAM occurs during printing of data for four pages.

One page of data is printed on the first sheet of paper, and printing of one page of data is completed (FF is 1
Represents a page break symbol for print data on a page). Paper 2
The second page of data is printed on the first sheet, and the page is naturally changed at the position where the second sheet is completely printed.

The remaining print data of the second page (logical page) is printed on the third sheet of paper, and the printing of the second page is completed and the page is changed on the third sheet. The print data of the third page is printed on the fourth sheet of paper, all the print data of the third page (logical page) is printed, and the page is changed.

The print data of the fourth page (logical page) is printed on the fifth sheet of paper, a paper JAM occurs in the middle of the print data, and an error is notified to the print data transfer side. Paper 4
Printing is completed up to the first sheet (three logical pages), and the fourth sheet of paper has an end symbol (FF) for the print data of the third page.
Therefore, there are three print guarantee pages. Then, the printing apparatus notifies the print requesting apparatus of the error and print guaranteed page number = 3. The print request device that has received the resend notification resends the print data from the beginning of the four pages (logical pages).

In FIG. 11 (b), printing is completed up to the fourth sheet of paper, the third page (logical page) is automatically page-changed on the fourth sheet, and the fifth sheet of paper is being printed while JAM is being printed. Indicates the state in which is generated.

That is, the first to third sheets of paper are shown in FIG.
It is the same as the case of 1 (a). The fourth page of the paper was naturally page-changed at the position where it was printed to the end, and the remaining print data of the third page (logical page) was printed on the fifth sheet of the paper. Then, the paper JAM occurred while the fifth sheet of paper was being printed.

At this time, 3 pages are printed on the 4th sheet discharged to the stacker, and since 3 pages (logical pages) are page-changed naturally, print-guaranteed page number = 2 is requested for printing. Notify the device. Print request device is 3
Resend print data from the page. Although FIG. 11 has described the case where only the front surface (front surface) is printed,
The same applies to double-sided printing (see FIG. 12).

[0027]

A reprinting method when an error occurs in the conventional double-sided printing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 12A shows a case where an error (paper JAM) occurs during printing of the second printing paper in double-sided printing. The first page of print data is printed on the front side of the first sheet of paper and completed, the second page of print data starts from the back side, and when the back side of the first sheet ends, a natural page break occurs and the first page Printing is completed. Then, the remaining data of two pages of the print data is printed on the second sheet of printing paper, the printing of the second page is completed, the page is changed, and the print data of the third page is printed. Bitmap expansion of print data The page 4 and 5 pages of print data are expanded on the bitmap memory, and paper JAM occurred during printing on the front or back of the second print paper. .

FIG. 12B shows the case where printing is restarted in the state as shown in FIG. 11A. In the case of FIG. 12A, the error notification is sent to the print requesting device, but when the first sheet is printed and ejected, two pages are printed and the page is naturally changed. Therefore, the page number guaranteed for printing is 1. Therefore, the print-guaranteed page number = 2 is notified to the print requesting device, and the print data from two pages is retransmitted to the printing device. And in the printing device,
Reprinting is started from the beginning of two pages, and two pages are printed on the front surface of the first sheet of printing paper in the reprinting. Then, two pages are naturally page-changed on the front side, the remaining data of two pages are printed on the back side of the first sheet, and the page-changed.
Furthermore, 3 page data is printed on the front side of the second sheet,
Four pages are printed on the back side of the third sheet, print data of five pages are printed on the front side of the third sheet, and print data of six pages are printed on the back side of the third sheet.

Before restarting the printing, the data of the second page was printed from the back side of the printing paper, whereas after restarting the printing,
The data of two pages is printed from the front side of the printing paper, and the print data printed on the front side and the back side are different before and after the page is restarted. For example, when the same print data has already been printed, the relationship between the front and back sides that is printed this time is different and it is difficult for the user to use.

According to the present invention, even when an error occurs in double-sided printing and printing is restarted, the relationship between the page of print data printed on the back side of the printing paper and the page of print data printed on the back side is restarted. The aim is to be the same as before.

[0032]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a transmission / reception unit for receiving print data sequentially transmitted from a print request device,
A print data expansion unit that expands the received print data page by page into a print format, a print mechanism unit that prints the expanded print data on both sides, and a print management unit that manages print data. In a printing device that has a natural page break function that automatically page-breaks to the next paper when the paper does not fit on the paper and is capable of double-sided printing, the print management unit The top data in the print data page holds the front print data page number, which is the page number of the print data printed on the front side of the paper, and if an error occurs, the print data with the latest front data page number is printed. Printing was restarted after receiving the resend message.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a print requesting device, such as a host computer, which creates print data, makes a print request to the printing device, and sequentially transmits the print data to the printing device 2.

A printing device 2 is capable of printing on both sides. In the printing device 2, 10 is a transmission / reception unit,
The print data is sequentially received from the print requesting device 1, or an error notification, a print data resend request, or the like is sent to the print requesting device.

A print data expansion unit 11 expands the received print data into a print format on a print sheet. A printing mechanism unit 12 prints print data according to a print format and can perform double-sided printing on the front and back sides of printing paper.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a print management information holding unit, and the front data of the page of the print data for each page is the page number of the print data printed on the front surface of the paper. It holds the print data page number. FIG. 1 shows a case where only the latest front page print data page number is stored, and a state in which 6 pages are held is illustrated.

Reference numeral 13 'is a print management information holding unit for storing a plurality of consecutive front surface print data page numbers, and illustrates an example of a state where pages 1, 4, and 6 are held.

Reference numeral 14 is a print management unit. A print management information creation unit 19 obtains the front page print data page number and holds it in the print management information holding unit 13.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a print management information retrieving unit, which is a print management information holding unit 13 or 1 when an error occurs.
3'is searched for the latest front page print data page number.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a resend information creating unit, which creates error notification information (error notification, page number of print data requested to be resent, etc.) in the print request device. An error detection unit 22 detects an error occurrence in the printing mechanism unit 12 or the like.

The operation of the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described. The print data is transmitted from the print requesting device 1 to the printing device 2. The print data is received by the transmission / reception unit 10 of the printing apparatus 2, and the print data expansion unit 11 expands the received print data into a print format. The printing mechanism unit 12 prints both sides of the print data expanded in the print format.

The print management unit 14 manages the printing of the printing mechanism unit 12, performs page management of print data, determines single-sided printing or double-sided printing, detects errors, etc., obtains the front page print data page number, and holds print management information. Record in section 13.

When an error occurs in the printing device 2, the error detection unit 22 detects the error, the occurrence of the error is notified to the print management information search unit 20, and the print management information search unit 20 causes the print management information holding unit 13 to operate. Refer to the latest front page print data page number. Print management information holding unit 13
Obtains the latest front page print data page number. If the print management information retrieval unit 13 always holds the latest one, the print management information retrieval unit 13 requests the print management information retrieval unit 13 '
When holding a plurality of items that occurred consecutively, the latest one is obtained. Then, the resend information creation unit 21 creates error notification information based on the latest front surface print data obtained by the print management information search unit 20. The error notification information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 10 to the printing device 2.

Upon receipt of the error notification information, the print requesting apparatus 1 obtains resend data based on the information and sends it to the printing apparatus 2. When the printing device 1 retransmits the print data and receives the print data, the print data is reprinted from the print data.

The present invention will be described by way of a specific example with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows the progress of double-sided printing.
All one page of print data is printed on the front side of the first sheet of paper, and the page is changed. Printing of two pages of print data is started on the back surface of the first sheet of paper. Then, the printing on the back side of the first sheet is completed, and the page is naturally changed. Then, the first sheet for which printing has been completed is ejected.

The remaining data of the second page of print data is printed on the front surface of the second sheet of paper, and all the data is completed and the page is changed. Three pages of print data are printed on the back side of the second sheet of paper, and the print data of all three pages is completed. Then, the second sheet is printed and discharged.

Data of four pages of print data is printed on the front surface of the third sheet of paper, and all the data is finished and the page is changed. Then, five pages of print data are printed on the back side of the third sheet of paper, and the back side is entirely printed and a natural page break is performed in the middle of the print data of five pages. The third sheet is printed and ejected.

The remaining data of the fifth page of print data is printed on the front surface of the fourth sheet of paper, and is completely terminated on the front surface to start a new page. Six pages of print data are printed on the back side of the fourth sheet of paper, but an error occurs during the printing (the following description also applies when an error occurs during printing on the front side).

FIG. 2B illustrates the operation of the print management unit of the present invention. The print management information holding unit 13 or 13 'holds the front print data page number.
That is, when always holding the latest front page print data page number, the print management information holding unit 13 holds 4 as the latest front page print data page number, and stores a plurality of consecutive front page print data page numbers. When it is held, 1 and 4 are recorded. Page 5 is not recorded because printing of the fourth sheet has not been completed.

Therefore, the print management information retrieval unit obtains 4 as the latest front page print data page number,
The resend information creating unit 21 creates error notification information for requesting resending of print data from page 4, and sends it to the print request apparatus 1.

The print requesting device 1 retransmits the print data from page 4 based on the received error notification information, and the printing device 2
Reprints the print data from page 4 from the front side of duplex printing.

According to the present invention, even when an error occurs in double-sided printing and printing is restarted, the relationship between the page of print data printed on the front side of the printing paper and the page of print data printed on the back side Will always be the same as before the restart. Therefore, even if an error occurs when printing a plurality of copies at different times, the relationship between the front and back is always the same, and printing can be performed in a form that is easy for the user to use, and management of double-sided printed matter becomes easy.

[0053]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the system configuration of the present invention. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show a case where the print requesting device is requested a reprint page and notifies the reprint page information when the error is notified to the print requesting device (FIG. 3 (a)).
2 shows two systems for notifying reprint page information together with error notification (Fig. 3 (b)). The present invention is
It can be applied to any system.

In FIGS. 3A and 3B, reference numeral 1 is a print requesting device, which is a computer. 2 is a printing device.

In the print requesting apparatus 1, 3 is print data. Reference numeral 91 is a transmission / reception unit.

Reference numeral 95 is an error information request unit. 96 is a retransmitting unit. In the printing device 2, 11 is a print data expansion unit.

Reference numeral 14 is a print management unit. Reference numeral 21 is a retransmission information creation unit. 22 is an error detection unit.

Reference numeral 81 is a transmission / reception unit. The printing mechanism section is not shown. The operation of the system configuration shown in FIG. 3A will be described.

(1), (2) When the user issues a print instruction to the print request device 1, the print data 3 is transmitted from the transmitting / receiving unit 91 to the print device. (3) The print data is received by the transmission / reception unit 81 of the printing device 2, expanded by the print data expansion unit 11, and printed by the printing mechanism unit (not shown).

(4), (5) When the error detection unit 22 detects an error in the printing apparatus 2, an error notification is sent and received by the transmission / reception transmission unit 81.
From the print request device 1. (6), (7), (8) In the print request device 1, when the transmission / reception unit 91 receives an error notification, the error information request unit 9
Reference numeral 5 creates information for requesting a resending page number, which is transmitted from the transmitting / receiving unit 91 to the printing apparatus 2.

(9) In the printing apparatus 2, the request for the resending page number is received by the transmitting / receiving unit 81 and notified to the print managing unit 14. (10), (11) The retransmission information creation unit 21 creates retransmission information based on the latest front page data number. The resend information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 81 to the print request apparatus 1.

(12), (13) In the print request device 1, when the transmitting / receiving unit 91 receives the resend information, the resending unit 96 obtains the start page of the resend print data. (14), (15) The resend print data from the start page is transmitted from the transmitting / receiving unit 91 to the printing device 2.

(16) The retransmitted print data is received by the transmission / reception unit 81 of the printing apparatus 2, the print data expansion unit 11 expands the received print data, and the printing mechanism unit reprints the expanded print data.

FIG. 3B shows a system configuration in which the printing apparatus notifies the print request apparatus of the reprint page together with the error notification. (1), (2) The print requesting apparatus 1 transmits the print data 3 to the printing apparatus 2 via the transmitting unit 91 in response to a user's print instruction.

(3) The print data is received by the transmission / reception section 81 of the printing apparatus 2, expanded by the print data expansion section 11 and printed by the printing mechanism section (not shown). (4), (5), (6) When the error detection unit 22 detects an error, the retransmission information creation unit 21 creates retransmission information based on the error notification and the latest front page data page number. The resend information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 81 to the print request apparatus 1.

(7), (8) When the transmission / reception unit 91 in the print requesting apparatus 1 receives the retransmission information, the retransmission unit 96 requests the retransmission page. (9), (10) Retransmitted print data is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 91 to the printing device 2.

(11) The retransmitted print data is received by the transmitting / receiving unit 81 of the printing apparatus 2, the print data expanding unit 11 expands the received print data, and the printing mechanism unit reprints the expanded print data. .

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 is a print request device, which is a host computer.

A printing device 2 is, for example, a page printer. Reference numeral 3 is print data. In the printing device 2, 11 is a print data expansion unit.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a printing mechanism section capable of performing double-sided printing. A print management information holding unit 13 is provided. Reference numeral 14 is a print management unit.

A printer controller 33 controls the printing mechanism unit 12. A host interface control unit 41 is an interface with the print request apparatus 1.

Reference numeral 42 is a transmission / reception buffer. In the print data expansion unit 11, a expansion control unit 31 expands the received print data to a print data expansion unit (bitmap memory) 32 and controls the expansion of the print data.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a print expansion data holding unit which holds the print data expanded in the print format. In the print management unit 14, 19 is a print management information creation unit.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a management information search unit (same as the print management information search unit in FIG. 1). Reference numeral 21 is a retransmission information creation unit. 22 is an error detection unit.

The transmitter / receiver 10 shown in FIG. 1 represents a portion composed of a host interface controller 41 and a transmitter / receiver buffer. The transmitter / receiver 81 and the transmitter / receiver 81 shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are respectively composed of the host interface controller 41 and the transmitter / receiver buffer.

The operation of the configuration of FIG. 4 will be described. (1) The print request device 1 transfers the print data 3 to the printer 2. (2) The print data is controlled by the host interface control unit 41 and temporarily stored in the transmission / reception buffer 42,
The expansion control unit 31 expands the received print data into a print expansion data holding unit 32 in a print format, and the print expansion data holding unit 32 holds the expanded print data.

(3), (4) The printing mechanism section 12 is controlled by the printer control section 33 to print the print data expanded in the print expansion data holding section 32 on a printing paper. (5), (6) The print management unit 14 manages print processing, manages pages during printing, monitors errors, searches the print management information holding unit 13 when an error occurs, creates error notification information,
A request for resending print data is issued to the print request device 1. That is, the management data necessary for printing (the number of pages of received data, the number of pages being developed, the number of pages already printed, information indicating whether single-sided printing or double-sided printing, the printing completion page of double-sided printing) The print management information holding unit 13 stores the information indicating the front and back sides, the front print data page number, etc.).
Hold on.

(7), (8), (9), (10), (11) When an error occurs in the printing mechanism section 12, the printer control section 33 notifies the print management section 14 of the print management information retrieval section. 20
Searches the print management information holding unit 13 for the latest front page print data page number, and the resend information creating unit 21
Create error resend information along with error notification.

(12), (13) The error resend information is temporarily stored in the transmission / reception buffer 42 and is notified to the print requesting apparatus 1. (13) The print requesting device 1 obtains resend print data based on the error resending information sent from the printing device 2, and the printing device 2
Send to.

(14), (15), (16) The print data retransmitted from the print requesting device 1 is temporarily held in the transmission / reception buffer 42, expanded in the print expansion data holding unit 32, and reprinted by the printing mechanism unit 12. To be done.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the print requesting apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows a printing process in which when an error occurs in the printing device (page printer), the print requesting device requests the information of the print data to be resent to the printing device, and resends the print data when the error in the printing device is recovered. It is a flowchart of an apparatus. Hereinafter, a case where the printing device is a page printer will be described as an example.

S1 It is determined whether or not there is a print request from the operator, and if there is a print request, the process of S2 is performed. If there is no print request, the status is maintained. S2 When the operator inputs a print request, the print data is sent to the page printer from the beginning of the first page of the print data.

S3 It is determined whether an error has occurred in the printer. If there is no error, the process of S6 is performed, and if there is an error, the processes of S4 and S5 are performed. S4, S5 Queries the page printer for the recently printed front page. When the error is cleared, the print data of the page number received from the page printer is sent.

S6: It is determined whether all pages have been printed. If not completed, the processing from S3 is repeated.
If it is completed, the state returns to S1. When the error notification and the error resend information are sent together from the page printer, the process of S4 of FIG. 5 is not performed, and when the error of the page printer is released in S5, the print data to be resent is obtained based on the error notification information, Send to printing device.

The following embodiment relates to the case where the printing apparatus sends the error notification and the error information together.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printing apparatus (page printer) of the present invention.

S1 Determine whether an error has occurred. If there is no error, the process of S3 is performed, and if an error occurs, S
Process 2 is performed. S2 Error notification processing is performed (the flowchart is shown in FIG. 9).

S3 The printing operation is monitored. The printing operation is monitored by monitoring the printer hardware status and the current status of the paper (transfer / transfer / fix / discharge / complete discharge).

S4: It is judged whether or not the print data is received from the print request source. If the print data is received, the process of S5 is executed. If not, the process returns to the state of S1. S5 Print data expansion processing is performed. This expansion processing analyzes the print data and draws the print data page by page in the bitmap memory in the print format.

S6: The expanded print data is transferred to the printing mechanism section. That is, when the data for one sheet is expanded in the bitmap memory in S5, the bitmap data is transferred to the printing mechanism section.

In the present invention, the paper on which the top data of the page is printed is recognized in the processing of S3 or S6,
When an error such as a paper jam (JAM) occurs, the page number (the latest front page print data page number, etc.) required for reprinting is notified to the print request source in S2.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the operation monitoring process of the present invention. The flow chart of the present invention saves, stores, or updates a page (logical page) of print data in which print data is printed on the surface of the paper when a paper discharge signal is output from the printer hardware. Then, the latest one is used as the latest front page print data page number, and when an error occurs, the print request device is notified as the page number to start reprinting.

S1 It is determined whether there is a paper discharge completion signal. If so, the process of S2 is performed, and if not, the process ends. S2: It is determined whether the front surface is the head of the print data. If it is a surface, the process of S3 is performed. If it is not on the surface, the process ends.

S3 The reprint start page number of double-sided printing is set as the page number of the front side (latest front face data page number). FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the print data transfer process of the present invention. The print data transfer process is a process for transferring the print data expanded in the bitmap memory to the print mechanism unit, and in this process, the front print data page number is created.

This front side print data page number is created at the end of the expansion process if the expanded data is the top data of a logical page and if the data is printed on the front side of the paper. Record the page number in the 2-sided printing page number queue. If the capacity of this queue is set to the maximum number of sheets that can simultaneously exist in the sheet transport path of the primitive hardware + α, the sheet with the page number deleted by updating the queue is always ejected, so that number is not overlooked. .

S1 It is determined whether the data is the page top data. If there is paper head data, the process of S2 is performed. If it is not the page top data, the process of S4 is performed. S2: Determine whether to transfer to the surface. If it is to be transferred to the front surface, the process of S3 is performed. If it is not to be transferred to the front side, the process of S4 is performed.

S3 Record the double-sided reprint page number in the queue. S4 Transfer of print data to the printing mechanism unit is started. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the error notification processing of the present invention. When an error such as a paper jam occurs, the double-sided reprint page number queue is searched in reverse order from the most recently stored one, and the page number that is smaller than and closest to the page number on the front surface of the most recently ejected paper is selected. The print request source is notified as the reprint page number (latest front print data page number).

S1 It is determined whether double-sided printing is in progress. If double-sided printing is in progress, the process of S2 is performed. If double-sided printing is not in progress, the process of S3 is performed. S2 Among the page numbers in the double-sided reprint page number queue, the page number that is smaller and closest to the page number on the front surface of the most recently discharged paper is set as the reprint page number (latest front print data page number).

S3 The reprint page number is notified to the print request device.

[0099]

According to the present invention, even when an error occurs in double-sided printing and printing is restarted, a page of print data printed on the back side of the printing paper and a page of print data printed on the back side of the printing paper Will always be the same as before the resumption. Therefore, even if the print data is printed at a different time, and the error data is printed again, the relationship between the front surface and the back surface is the same. Therefore, even if an error occurs in double-sided printing, a printed matter that is easy to see can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an embodiment of a print requesting apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an embodiment of operation monitoring processing of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of an example of print data transfer processing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of an example of error notification processing.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a problem to be solved by the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Print request device 2: Printing device 10: Transmitter / receiver 11: Print data expansion unit 12: Printing mechanism (double-sided printing) 13: Print management information holding unit 13 ': another example of the print management information holding unit 14: Print management unit 19: Print management information creation section 20: Print management information search section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-6-320805 (JP, A) JP-A-7-17112 (JP, A) JP-A-6-1020 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12 B41J 21/00 B41J 29/38

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A receiving unit for receiving print data sequentially transmitted from a print requesting device, a print data expanding unit for expanding the received print data page by page into a print format, and double-sided printing of the expanded print data. Equipped with a printing mechanism section and a print management section that manages printing. When the print data for one page cannot fit on the paper, it automatically has a page break function on the next paper In a simple printing device, the print management unit determines that the top data of the page of the print data for each page is the page number of the print data printed on the front surface of the print-completed paper. Hold, and when an error occurs, the print data is retransmitted from the print data of the latest front surface data page number, and printing is restarted. A printing device characterized by. 2. The error notification and the latest front page print data page number are notified to the print requesting device, the print data is retransmitted from the page with the number, and the reprinting is performed. Printing device. 3. A print request device is notified of an error, and when a page number of print data to be retransmitted is requested from the print request device, the latest front print data page number is notified to the print request device, and from that page. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing data is retransmitted and reprinted. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a print management information holding unit, which holds the front page print data page number while always updating it to the latest page number. 5. A print management information holding unit is provided, which holds a plurality of front-side print data page numbers in the order in which the numbers occur, and the print management unit requests the latest request to the print requesting device. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3. 6. A case where print data sequentially transmitted from a print requesting device is received, the received print data is expanded page by page into a print format and printed, and the print data for one page cannot fit on a sheet. In the double-sided printing management method of a printing device that has a natural page break function that automatically page-breaks to the next sheet and is capable of double-sided printing, the top data of the page of the print data for each page is printed for the completed sheet. Holds the front page print data page number, which is the page number of the print data printed on the front side of the paper, and when an error occurs, requests the print requesting device to resend the print data from the latest front page data page number, A double-sided printing management method characterized by receiving printing data again from the latest front page data number and restarting printing. 7. A printing system comprising a print requesting device for sequentially transmitting print data to a printing device and a printing device for receiving print data sequentially transmitted from the print requesting device and performing double-sided printing, wherein the printing device comprises: When the print data for one page cannot fit on the paper, the page is automatically changed to the next paper, and the top data of the print data for each page is the paper The front side print data page number which is the page number of the print data printed on the front side is held, the print requesting device requests the page number of the print data to be retransmitted when an error occurs in the printing device, and the printing device The latest front side print data page number is obtained and transmitted to the print request device as the retransmitted print data page number. A printing system characterized by receiving a data page number, retransmitting the print data to the printing device from the page having the latest front print data page number, and the printing device reprinting the retransmitted print data. 8. A printing system comprising a print requesting device for sequentially transmitting print data to a printing device and a printing device for receiving print data sequentially transmitted from the print requesting device and performing double-sided printing, wherein the printing device comprises: When the print data for one page cannot fit on the paper, the page is automatically changed to the next paper, and the top data of the print data for each page is the paper The front-side print data page number, which is the page number of the print data printed on the front side, is held, and if an error occurs, the latest front-side print data page number is obtained, and the error is notified to the print request device and the latest front-side print is performed. When the data page number is transmitted and the print requesting device receives the error notification, the print data starts from the page of the latest front print data page number. The printing system is characterized in that the data is retransmitted to the printing device, and the printing device reprints the retransmitted print data.