JP2006178846A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the printer perform printing by searching the printer in which rolled paper whose size is the closest to that of paper to be printed thereon when a large printer connected to a Lan is used to perform printing and to enable a printer equipped with the matching type of paper to perform printing by acquiring the information of the paper about the type of paper. <P>SOLUTION: This large printer system connectable to the Lan comprises a means for acquiring the information of a connected printer (here, the size of set rolled paper), an output printer determining means for determining which printer an output should be made to as a result, and a printer driver changing means for defining a printer as a default printer when the printer to which an output should be made to is determined to make a change to the printer, and has a system configuration in which a printer that matches the type of paper to be printed thereon and the printer with the size of rolled paper which is the closest to the size of print paper is made to perform printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The technical field of the present invention relates to a printer system that determines the most suitable printer and performs printing on the printer, particularly when printing on a plurality of large-format printers connected by Lan.

In a plurality of large-format printers connected by conventional Lan, when desired printing is performed, the paper type and roll paper size actually set in the printer are visually confirmed, and then the printer is switched to the printer for printing.
JP 2000-181661 A JP-A-11-149358 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-267537

  In such a situation, the object of the present invention is to acquire information on the paper type and roll paper size set in the printer via Lan, determine which printer is most suitable, and switch to that printer for printing. It is to provide a printer system that can improve the convenience for the user.

  Therefore, the printer system according to the present invention is configured as follows.

  A printer information detecting means for detecting paper type information and roll paper width of the roll paper set in the printer device; an optimum printer judging means for judging a printer most suitable for printing from the detecting means; and the optimum printer judging means. A default printer switching unit that switches the driver of the determined printer as a default printer, a default printer display unit that displays the location of the printer determined by the default printer switching unit and recognizes the operator, and a default again after printing A default printer returning means for returning the printer to the one before printing is provided.

  According to the present invention, the convenience for the user can be greatly improved by searching for and printing the most suitable printer for printing in the printer connected to Lan.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of a printer. In this way, the printer is roughly divided into an A controller unit, a B printer engine unit, a C RAM unit, and a D physical device unit. In the A controller unit, A-1 is a display control unit that displays various messages (D-1). A-2 is a cutter control unit that controls all the movements of the cutter (D-2). A-3 is an operation key control unit for setting various printers. A-4 is a scanner <optical reading> control unit for reading with a scanner, but since it is not directly related to the present invention, description thereof is omitted.

  A-5 is a command / status control unit that serves as a communication for sending data and control of various commands sent from the PC main body and printer status to the PC. A-6 is a power management control unit that turns off the power when it has not been used for a long time, and turns on and controls the POWER when printing is started. A-7 is a cartridge control unit that performs cartridge / ink related control that detects the amount of ink ejected by counting the number of times ink is ejected and also detects when the cartridge is not properly set. . In A-8, the cover control unit detects and controls the opening and closing of the cover. B is a printer engine unit. B-1 is a main function of printer operation such as control of a motor or the like during actual printing. B-2 is a main processing unit for controlling B-1. B-3 is an interface unit necessary for connection to an external PC or a network. For example, there are TCP / IP, Centronics, USB, infrared rays, etc., but the theory is out of the scope of this case, so a detailed description is omitted. D-3 is a paper feed port. C is a RAM section where the program itself is stored or used for primary storage.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the configuration of the PC. The printer driver software operates under such a configuration.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes a microprocessor CPU 1 as a central processing unit, which performs various calculations and logic determinations. The entire apparatus is controlled by controlling various components connected to those buses via a system bus described later. Reference numeral 2 denotes a read-only memory ROM 2 used as a control memory, which stores in advance a control program according to a flowchart to be described later for various processing such as processing, and various control procedures performed by the microprocessor CPU1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a writable random access memory RAM 3 which is used when executing a control procedure stored in the ROM 2 and used as a temporary memory for various data from each component and as a work memory for calculation and logic judgment of the microprocessor CPU 1. It is done. Reference numeral 4 denotes a keyboard KB4 for character input. On the keyboard KB4, as shown in FIG. 2 described later, various key groups for giving commands to the CPU 1 are arranged.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a keyboard controller KBC5, which executes a key code conversion process (conversion to an internal code) for an input symbol from KB4. Reference numeral 6 denotes a mouse MS6, which is a device for indicating an operation target position. Reference numeral 7 denotes a mouse controller MSC7 for driving the mouse MS6, which controls mouse cursor coordinates and button pressing. Reference numeral 8 denotes a PCMCIAC 8 that drives the PC card device 9 and performs control of capturing information in the loaded medium.

  A PC card device 9 is a device for inserting a compact flash (registered trademark) card, a smart media card, or the like. A buffer memory 10 is a temporary data storage location. Reference numeral 11 denotes a display controller CRTC for driving the display device CRT12, which displays character or image information by converting it into dot pattern data by positioning control on the screen of a character string to be displayed at the cursor position or referring to an internal character generator. And display control. Reference numeral 12 denotes a cathode ray tube CRT12, which is a display device using a liquid crystal, a light emitting diode or the like. A controller PRTC 13 that controls the PRT 14 analyzes image data, character data, control data, and the like sent from the CPU through a BUS (described later) and drives the PRT 14.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a printing apparatus PRT14 for printing various documents and the like, and has the structure shown in FIG. Reference numeral 15 (15-1, 15-2) denotes an FDD 15-1 or HDD 15-2, which is an external storage device. Reference numeral 16 denotes a system bus BUS16 (address bus, control bus, data bus) for transmitting and receiving various data and control signals.

  FIG. 3 shows an arrangement configuration example of the keyboard (KB4).

  KB1 is a character key group used for inputting ordinary characters, numbers, symbols, etc. For example, it has a keyboard layout of JIS standard and inputs hiragana from a kana key etc. Input is possible. Since details are not directly related to the present invention, they are omitted. KB2 is provided with function keys used for instructing movement of the cursor (operation instruction position) and execution of the function. There are four cursor movement keys “←” “→” “↑” “↓”. Further, an “Enter” key for instructing confirmation of the operation, 10 keys up to 1-9, a + key, a − key, and the like are arranged.

<Details of Examples>
Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 and FIGS. First, FIG. 6 shows the flow of processing for acquiring information (medium, paper size) of a large format printer connected on Lan and storing it in a memory. This operation is activated, for example, by clicking a printer information button on the driver UI screen of FIG. The information obtained by F1-1 is stored, for example, as shown in the memory contents of FIG.

  The accumulated location is the location of the 10 buffer memory of FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart from the start of actual printing to the end of printing. First, when printing starts, the current default printer information is acquired and stored in F2-2. Since it cannot be determined whether the printer that actually performs printing is the default printer or not, information is acquired and stored here. The default printer information referred to here is the printer name itself, unlike the large format printer information (media, paper size) described above. A printer most suitable for printing is selected in F2-3, the default printer is changed to the printer (F2-4), and printing is started in F2-5. When all printing is completed, the default printer is returned to the printer acquired in F2-2 (F2-6).

  Next, the processing of F2-3 will be described in detail. First, in FIG. 8, there is an optimum printer that matches both the paper size and the media for printing on the buffer of FIG. 5 (F3-1), and the printer name is displayed for confirmation (F3-2), and F3- 3 to print. Printing cannot be performed without a printer in which the roll paper width capable of printing the specified paper size is set. However, if the type of media, the user can select whether to print or cancel.

  Therefore, FIG. 9 shows the case where there is no printer to be printed first. In F4-1, it is checked whether a roll paper having a sufficient size with respect to the paper size is set. In F4-1, for example, when the paper size to be printed is A0, the three printers in FIG. 5 do not have sizes that can be printed with A1, B0, and A1, respectively.

  Therefore, the maximum paper size that can be printed by the printer searched in F4-3 and the roll paper set in the printer is displayed and a message to cancel printing is issued. Similarly, FIG. 10 shows a case where there is no suitable type of paper. For example, when printing on plain paper with B4 size, the printer B in FIG. 5 is preferable, but this is coated paper. In this case, F5-3 is selected as F5-5 because printing can be continued as it is, or can be stopped, or the printer A on which larger-size plain paper roll paper is set can be hit. If roll papers with different paper sizes and different paper sizes (both of which can be printed) are stiff, both printer names are displayed, and roll paper of a size close to the actual print size is set. Add a display such as “Recommended” to the printer name.

2 is a block diagram of a configuration of a printer. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a configuration of a PC on which a printer driver operates. It is a simplified diagram of a keyboard. It is a driver UI screen including a button to be activated to acquire printer information. It is a figure which shows the example which accumulate | stored the acquired printer information in the buffer. 6 is a flowchart for acquiring information about a printer connected to Lan. 6 is a schematic flowchart from when printing is started to when an optimum printer is searched for, printed, and terminated. 6 is a flowchart for finding and printing an optimum printer. 6 is a flowchart of processing in which a printer capable of printing cannot be found and must be canceled. 7 is a flowchart describing a process for allowing an operator to determine whether or not to perform printing because an optimal printer was not found but a printer capable of printing was present.

Explanation of symbols

A controller unit B printer engine unit C RAM unit D physical device unit A-1 display control unit A-2 cutter control unit A-3 operation key control unit A-5 command / status control unit A-6 power management control unit A- 7 Cartridge control unit A-8 Cover control unit B Printer engine unit B-1 Main function of printer operation B-2 Main processing unit B-3 Interface unit D-3 Paper feed port C RAM unit

Claims (5)

  A printer system comprising printer information detection means for detecting paper type information and roll paper width of roll paper set in a printer device.   A printer system comprising: an optimum printer determination unit that determines a printer most suitable for printing from the detection unit.   A printer system comprising a default printer switching unit that switches a driver determined by the optimum printer determination unit as a default printer.   A printer system, comprising: a default printer display means for displaying where the printer determined by the default printer switching means is located and allowing the operator to recognize the printer.   5. A printer system comprising a default printer returning means for returning the default printer to the one before printing after printing by means of any one of claims 1 to 4.