JP4058982B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly, to a printer having a function of printing a status sheet displaying a printer status, a set value, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Some printers have a function of printing a status sheet displaying information about the printer such as the printer status and setting values. In such a printer, printing of a status sheet is executed when a predetermined operation is received on a control panel provided in the printer casing.
[0003]
The status sheet is used to check if the printer is operating normally, to check the current setting status of the printer, or to check when an optional device is installed in the printer. If accepted, even if other print processing is being executed, an interrupt is issued to preferentially print.
[0004]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an image of processing at this time. In this figure, an interface 111 for connecting to a host computer includes physical connectors such as parallel, USB, and network. When a print job is received from the host computer via any of the connectors, the printer controller 110 receives the print job and executes print processing. When another print job is received during the printing process, the print job is stored in the buffer and printed in the order of reception. Here, when a user operates the control panel 113 to instruct a status sheet print command while printing a certain print job, this command is input to the controller 110 via a route separate from the interface 111. Then, the controller 110 interrupts the printing being executed, discharges the paper in the middle of printing, and then executes the status sheet printing. In such a case, the interrupted printing needs to be executed again, and the printing paper is wasted.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In printing status sheets, etc., information necessary to know the status of the printer is printed, so you want to output it faster than other print jobs, but you do not want to interrupt the job you are printing There is.
[0006]
In particular, in a network printing system, in order not to affect the print job of another person, it is necessary for the printer to print a status sheet after confirming that the print job of another person is not being executed. It is time consuming and it is difficult to reliably know the print job of others.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to quickly print a status sheet without affecting a print job being executed.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention,
A status sheet printing means for printing a status sheet for displaying information on the printer based on an instruction from the user;
Interface means for connecting to a host computer;
Print job accepting means for accepting a print job instruction from the connected printer host;
Printing means for executing a print job and performing printing;
Print order management means for storing received print job instructions in the order received and having the highest print order among the stored unexecuted print jobs printed by the printing means. ,
The print order management unit generates a print job for printing a status sheet upon receiving a status sheet print instruction, and stores the print job with the highest rank among unexecuted print jobs. A printer is provided.
[0009]
According to such a printer, the status sheet can be quickly printed without affecting the print job being executed.
[0010]
Here, when the print job for printing the status sheet is included in an unexecuted print job, the print order management unit prints the status sheet even when the status sheet print instruction is received. It is possible not to store the print job.
[0011]
By doing so, it is possible to prevent the status sheet from being printed a plurality of times even when the status sheet print command is received again while the status sheet is waiting to be printed.
[0012]
Further, the status sheet printing unit can accept an instruction from the user by operating the control panel.
[0013]
At this time, the printing order management unit regards the status sheet printing instruction received from the control panel as being received from the interface unit, generates a print job for printing the status sheet, and performs unexecuted printing. Store the job with the highest priority.
[0014]
Further, the print order management means considers that the print job is completed when the print job does not end within a predetermined reference time after the start of execution of the print job. When a print job for printing a status sheet is included, a shorter reference time can be used than when a print job is not included.
[0015]
By doing so, it is possible to prevent waiting for a long time to print the status sheet.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of a network printing system to which the present invention is applied.
[0018]
As shown in the figure, the network printing system has a configuration in which a plurality of computers 2 and a network compatible printer 1 are connected on a network 4. However, the present invention is not limited to the network printing system as shown in FIG. 1, but can be applied to a printing system in which a local printer is connected to one computer.
[0019]
In FIG. 1, a computer 2 functions as a printer host that sends print data to a printer 1 and causes the printer 1 to print. Various processes for functioning as a printer host are performed according to computer programs such as dedicated software and printer drivers installed in the computer 2.
[0020]
As the computer 2, for example, a general personal computer equipped with a display device, an input device, a storage device, a communication device, and the like can be used.
[0021]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the hardware configuration of the printer 1.
[0022]
As shown in the figure, the printer 1 is composed of a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and includes a controller 10 for controlling the printer 1, an interface 11 for connecting to the network 4, a printing mechanism, and a paper feed / discharge mechanism And the like, and a control panel 13 that receives an instruction from the user.
[0023]
In the present embodiment, the controller 10 controls processing based on a status sheet print command received from the control panel 13 in addition to normal print processing based on a print job received from the computer 2. The controller 10 also includes a scheduler 10a for managing the printing order of a plurality of received print jobs. Detailed processing contents of the controller 10 will be described later.
[0024]
The interface 11 includes physical connectors for parallel, USB, and network, for example, and receives print data and the like from the computer 2 according to a predetermined protocol.
[0025]
The print engine 12 performs actual printing processing according to the control of the controller 10. In this embodiment, printing based on print data received from the computer 2 and printing based on status sheet printing data generated by the printer 1 are performed.
[0026]
The control panel 13 generally includes a plurality of operation buttons and a display panel, and the user can input instructions such as reset, forced paper discharge, and status sheet printing by operating the operation buttons.
[0027]
Next, the processing operation of the printer 1 in this embodiment will be described.
[0028]
First, a process in which the printer 1 manages a print job received from the computer 2 will be described.
[0029]
When receiving a print job from the computer 2, the data receiving unit 101 of the printer 1 sends print job identification information, for example, the print job name and the computer 2 identification information to the scheduler 10 a of the control unit 102.
[0030]
The scheduler 10a manages, for example, a schedule table as shown in FIG. 3A, and records the received print job identification information and the computer 2 (host) identification information in the order of reception in the schedule table. Then, the print data is received from the computer 2 and executed in the order of recording.
[0031]
In FIG. 3A, the print job recorded in the column “execution in progress” is the print job currently being printed, and the columns “1”, “2”,. To record the print job. When the print processing of the print job recorded in the column “executed” is completed, the print job information is deleted and the following print job is advanced. As a result, the print job recorded in the “1” column is moved to the column “executed” and the printing process is started.
[0032]
As described above, when the printer 1 receives a print job from the computer 2, the printer 1 executes the print jobs in the received order.
[0033]
Next, processing when a status sheet print command is received from the control panel 13 when a print job is being executed and there is a print job waiting to be executed will be described.
[0034]
When the controller 10 receives a status sheet print command from the user via the control panel 13, the controller 10 notifies the scheduler 10a of a status sheet print request. At this time, in the printer 1, the status sheet print request is handled as a print job. That is, the status sheet print request is controlled as a print job input from a virtual interface, not an interrupt print command from a route different from the conventional interface 11.
[0035]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image of processing at this time. In this figure, an interface 11 for connecting to the computer 2 includes a virtual interface that accepts a status sheet print command from the control panel 13 as a print job, in addition to physical connectors such as parallel, USB, and network. Yes.
[0036]
As a result, in response to the status sheet print request, the controller 10 generates a print job for printing the status sheet and registers it in the scheduler 10a. At this time, it is assumed that the registration is registered in the column “1” of the schedule table as shown in FIG. Then, the other print jobs waiting to be executed are lowered one by one.
[0037]
In this way, the status sheet can be printed quickly without affecting the print job being executed.
[0038]
In order to avoid interrupting a print job being executed by status sheet printing, for example, a status sheet print command from the control panel may be interrupted at the break of the print job. However, this method complicates control. End up.
[0039]
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, status sheet printing is handled as a print job virtually input from the interface, so that the status sheet can be easily printed at the break of the print job. Yes. In addition, since most of this processing can be performed by software, the amount of design change from the conventional method can be reduced. Of course, the virtual interface is only a virtual one, and what form is adopted in the implementation is arbitrary.
[0040]
In this embodiment, since the status sheet is printed after the currently executing print job is completed, the control panel is operated again while the status sheet is waiting to be printed, and the status sheet print command is received. It may end up. In such a case, in order to prevent the status sheet from being printed a plurality of times, when the status sheet printing is registered in the schedule table, it is desirable not to register the status sheet printing again.
[0041]
Also, in the management of a print job, if a code that clearly indicates the end of a print job being executed cannot be detected, the print job is considered to have ended after a predetermined time (timeout) and the next print job is executed. However, if the status sheet printing is registered in the schedule table, the time until timeout may be set shorter than usual. By doing so, it is possible to prevent waiting for a long time to print the status sheet.
[0042]
The status sheet print command is not limited to the input from the control panel 13, and may be sent from the computer 2, for example. Also in this case, the status sheet print command is handled as a print job, and is registered in the schedule table as a print job with the highest priority among the print jobs waiting to be executed.
[0043]
In this embodiment, a status sheet print command is given as an example of printing with priority, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a registered font information print command, a reserve job print command, and the like can be handled in the same manner as the status sheet print command.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to quickly print a status sheet without affecting the print job being executed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of a network printing system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a hardware configuration of the printer 1;
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a schedule table;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image of status sheet print command acceptance in the present embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an image of receiving a conventional status sheet print command.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer 2 ... Computer 4 ... Network 10 ... Controller 10a ... Scheduler 11 ... Interface 12 ... Print engine 13 ... Control panel 101 ... Data reception part 102 ... Control part 110 ... Controller 111 ... Interface 113 ... Control panel

Claims (1)

A status sheet printing means for printing a status sheet for displaying information on the printer based on an instruction from the user;
Interface means for connecting to a host computer;
Print job accepting means for accepting a print job instruction from the connected printer host;
Printing means for executing a print job and performing printing;
Print order management means for storing received print job instructions in the order received and having the highest print order among the stored unexecuted print jobs printed by the printing means. ,
The printing order management means includes
Upon receipt of the status sheet print instruction, a print job for printing the status sheet is generated and stored with the highest rank among the unexecuted print jobs.
If the print job does not end within a predetermined reference time after the start of execution of the print job, it is considered that the print job has ended, and the print job for printing the status sheet on the unexecuted print job A printer that uses a shorter reference time when it is included than when it is not included.

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