JP2002278740A - Image formation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation system consisting of a printer by which a user can more exactly obtain a target printing result by enabling a user to grasp the state of the printer main body at a short distance and of a printer driver. SOLUTION: The image formation system consists of the printer, which has the printer driver provided with a two-way communication function and can confirm the situation of the printer at the place away from a host side by fetching the setting situation of the printer equipped with a paper feeder capable of recovering a jamming and feeding a paper sheet and a plurality of stages of paper ejecting parts by the two-way communication function, and of the printer driver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer and a facsimile
And the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as for an image forming system constituting an image forming system such as a printer or a facsimile, for example, "JP-A-4-338578" discloses a "jam backup method in a printer". Here, there is disclosed a technique in which print data is buffered in a RAM of a printer device, and when a jam such as a paper jam occurs, reprinting is performed from the jam page. That is, when a jam occurs while holding the page data transferred from the host side in the memory, printing is performed from the page where the jam has occurred, thereby eliminating the need to reprint previously printed data. Is described.

[0003]

However, in the conventional image forming system, only the main body of the apparatus is operated in the detection of the backing paper or the paper feeder. Unless the apparatus itself is installed near the user, the main body of the main body of the apparatus is not operated. The status is unknown, and even if "error display" etc. is displayed on the main unit, the status is such that normal printing is not performed. This causes the user (user) of the printer device to see this status. Problems such as inability to communicate may occur. Further, the conventional jam backup printing system aims to print all data after the page where the jam has occurred. In other words, as described above, in the case of the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-338578, the print data is buffered in the RAM of the printing device and reprinted from the page when a jam occurs. To do,
When reprinting from the host, it is sufficient to print only the jammed page. However, in this conventional example, since it is unknown where the jammed page is, all pages are reprinted after all. As a result, unnecessary printing paper is generated, resulting in a problem that the printing paper is wasted and the cost increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional image forming system and to make it possible for the user to grasp the status of the printer main body close to the user so that the user can obtain the desired print result. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system including a printer device and a printer driver capable of performing the printing more accurately.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a printer driver having two-way communication, is capable of jam recovery, and is capable of feeding paper. It is characterized by comprising a printer device and a printer driver that can take in the setting status of a paper device and a printer device equipped with a plurality of paper output sections into a printer driver through bidirectional communication and check the printer status at a location away from the host side. Things. Also, the print data passed to the host can be preview-displayed, and even if a jam occurs, the page order of the print data can be obtained before being taken out of the printing apparatus by displaying it on the host, including before and after the page. In this case, since specific data (page) such as a jam can be recognized on the host, a page to be reprinted can be specified, and waste of paper can be reduced.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of an image forming system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an image forming system according to the present invention. Here, the feature of the present invention is to enable the status of the printer body to be grasped close to the user,
An object of the present invention is to provide a print result intended by a user more accurately. That is, the present invention has a printer driver equipped with two-way communication, is capable of jam recovery,
It consists of a printer device and a printer driver that can capture the setting status of a paper feeding device that can feed paper and a printer device equipped with a multi-stage paper output unit into the printer driver through bidirectional communication and check the printer status at a location away from the host side. It is characterized by the following. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system A has a host 1, an input / output port 2, a RAM 3 (page buffer), a jam sensor 4 for detecting a jam in the system device, and a CPU 5 for performing processing when a jam occurs. And are connected by the same communication line. Further, the RAM 3 (page buffer) has a function as a memory for holding data transferred from the host 1. The host 1 performs printer information display, image formation, preview display, and the like.

FIG. 2 shows a control flowchart of the host in the image forming system. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, information is first displayed on the host 1 (FIG. 1) side, then jam detection is performed by the jam sensor 4 on the apparatus main body side, and main body information such as jam is transferred to the host by bidirectional communication. If it is necessary to reprint, a specific page such as a jam page is arbitrarily printed. In the above-described system, the print data passed to the host 1 can be preview-displayed, and even when a jam occurs, the page order of the print data is extracted from the printing apparatus by displaying the print data on the host 1 including before and after the page. You can get before. This saves time and effort in document composition. Further, the present invention is characterized in that it is possible to reprint only an arbitrary page by holding print file information and holding file data for page expansion, and in this case, a conventional jam after the page where a jam has occurred is provided. Although all the data was reprinted, it is possible to print only the page where the print jam occurred by holding the print file information and holding the file data for page expansion, especially when the print data jammed on the last page In such a case, paper waste can be eliminated.

Further, since the jammed page information can be transferred to the host by bidirectional communication and the jam page information can be confirmed on the host, this system recognizes specific data (page) on the host. By doing so, pages to be reprinted can be specified, and waste of paper can be eliminated without using (reprinting) paper for all pages.

The print data passed to the host 1 (FIG. 1) can be preview-displayed, and even when a jam occurs, the print data can be displayed on the host 1 including the front and back of the page so that the print data can be displayed. Since the page order can be obtained before being taken out from the printing apparatus, the print data passed to the host can be preview-displayed, and even if a jam occurs, the print data can be displayed on the host, including before and after the page, so that the print data can be displayed. By obtaining the page order before taking it out of the printing apparatus, the trouble of document composition can be saved.

[0010]

The present invention is as described above. According to the first aspect of the present invention, a paper feeder having a printer driver having two-way communication, capable of performing jam recovery, and capable of feeding paper is provided. And the printer driver equipped with a multi-stage paper output unit, the printer driver can receive the setting status of the printer device through bidirectional communication and check the printer status at a location away from the host side. Being able to grasp the user up close provides the effect that the user can more quickly and accurately perform the intended print result.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, according to the first aspect of the present invention, by holding print file information and holding file data for page expansion, only an arbitrary page can be reprinted, so that a print jam is prevented. This is advantageous in that only the page in which the error has occurred can be printed, and paper waste can be reduced, especially when the print data is jammed on the last page.

[0011] The invention according to claim 3 is based on claim 1.
In the invention described in the item (2), the jammed page information can be transferred to the host by bidirectional communication and the jammed page information can be confirmed on the host, so that the page to be reprinted can be specified and the paper for all pages can be used ( There is an effect that waste of paper can be omitted without performing reprinting). According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the print data passed to the host in the system can be preview-displayed, and the page can be displayed even if a jam occurs. By displaying on the host before and after, the page order of the print data is obtained before being taken out from the printing apparatus, so that there is an effect that the trouble of document configuration can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram illustrating an image forming system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating control of a host in the image forming system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A image forming system 1 host 2 input / output port 3 RAM (page buffer) 4 jam sensor 5 CPU

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver having two-way communication, capable of recovering from a jam, and setting status of a paper feeder capable of feeding paper and a printer equipped with a plurality of paper discharge units can be set by a two-way communication. An image forming system comprising a printer device and a printer driver that can be loaded into a printer driver and check the status of the printer at a location remote from the host. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein an arbitrary page can be reprinted by holding print file information and holding file data for page expansion. 3. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the jammed page information is transferred to the host by bidirectional communication, and the jam page information can be confirmed on the host. 4. The print data passed to the host can be preview-displayed, and even when a jam occurs, the page order of the print data is displayed on the host, including before and after the page. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming system can be obtained before taking out.