JP2785743B2 - Data processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus which obtains output data by processing input data, and in particular, determines the type of control language describing data received from a host device such as a host computer. And a data processing device that processes input data based on the determination result.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as means for determining the type of control language received from a host computer or the like in an image recording apparatus or the like, a technique disclosed in JP-A-5-96823 and JP-A-5-147275 has been proposed. was there.

According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-96823, a table is prepared in which weights are assigned for each type of control language and each code to be searched, and the code of the control language input is
When the code matches the code to be searched, the set weight is added for each type of control language, and the added score reaches a reference level or more, and a control language that finally shows the largest score is selected. Is disclosed. This method is 2
When the difference between the added value and the number of data exceeds a certain score or when the amount of data to be determined reaches a predetermined value or more, the determination is made as the end of comparison and the determination is made.

According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-147275,
A technique is disclosed in which a predetermined amount of data, for example, 128 bytes of data is extracted from a reception buffer and discrimination processing is performed. If the result of the determination is not determined, 128 bytes of data is further extracted and redetermined. .

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems.

[0006] The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-96823 discloses a technique in which when the discrimination result is determined when the data amount to be discriminated reaches a predetermined value or more, the size of the added value is still small at that time. Because it may not be possible to judge
In such a case, there is a possibility that an optimal control language cannot be selected.

On the other hand, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-147275 includes, for example, when 128 bytes are read out for the first time and cannot be determined, the second 128 bytes thereafter.
Since byte data is read, if a command of a plurality of bytes straddles the boundary, the command is not used as a determination target, and there is a possibility that an optimum control language cannot be selected.

The present invention, in consideration of the above fact, provides a data processing apparatus which shortens the processing time by optimizing the range of input data acquired as a target of re-determination and which has excellent determination accuracy. The purpose is to do.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a data acquisition means for acquiring discrimination data of a predetermined range of input data, and a discrimination data obtained by the data acquisition means. A determination means for determining the type of the control language describing the input data by executing the determination processing on the input data; and when the type of the control language cannot be determined by the determination processing of the determination means, Control means for controlling the data obtaining means so as to obtain the next determination data in a range including the last part, and controlling the determination means so as to execute a determination process on the next determination data And is configured.

[0010] The invention according to claim 2 further includes command determination means for determining whether or not the data acquired by the data acquisition means ends in the middle of a command sequence. If it is determined by the command determination means that the determination data has been completed in the middle of the command sequence, the data acquisition unit is controlled to obtain the next determination data from the beginning of the command sequence, and the command sequence If it is determined at the end of the determination that the determination data has been completed, the data acquisition means is controlled to acquire the next determination data from the next of the determination data.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the control means of the first aspect cannot determine the type of the control language by the determination processing of the determination means, the control language other than the control language determined to be not applicable in the determination processing. The amount of data to be acquired next by the data acquisition means is determined based on the type of control language.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the discriminating means executes a discriminating process on discrimination data in a predetermined range of the input data acquired by the data acquiring means, thereby changing the type of the control language describing the input data. decide. When the type of the control language cannot be determined by the discriminating process of the discriminating unit, the control unit controls the data acquiring unit to acquire the next discriminating data in a range including the last part of the discriminating data. At the same time, it controls the determination means so as to execute the determination processing on the next determination data acquired again.

In this manner, by obtaining the determination data to be determined next so as to include the last part of the previous determination data, the data is duplicated every 128 bytes as in the related art. As compared with the method of acquiring the input data without performing the determination, it is possible to prevent the determination error caused by cutting the data string constituting the input data.

It should be noted that all preceding discrimination data are included,
In addition, when the next determination data is acquired such that the head is the same, there is an effect that the software is simplified.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the command determining means determines whether the determination data obtained by the data obtaining means ends in the middle of the command sequence. The control means controls the data acquisition means to acquire the next determination data from the beginning of the command sequence when the command determination means determines that the determination data ends in the middle of the command sequence. If it is determined that the discrimination data has ended at the end of the command sequence, the data acquisition means is controlled so as to acquire the next discrimination data from the next to the previous discrimination data. Thus, even if the command sequence ends in the middle, in the subsequent determination, the processing is started from the beginning of the command sequence, so that a command error can be prevented, and as a result, the determination accuracy is improved. be able to. At the same time, if the command string is not cut, the input data is not redundantly determined, and the processing time required for the determination is not unnecessarily extended.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the type of the control language cannot be determined by the discriminating process of the discriminating unit, the control unit changes the control language type to a type of control language other than the control language determined not to be applicable in the discriminating process. Then, the data amount to be obtained next by the data obtaining means is determined. For example, if a language related to a wire dot printer remains, a relatively large amount of data is acquired. If a language related to a page description remains, a relatively small amount of data is acquired. As a result, it is possible to increase the probability that it is possible to determine even a wire dot printer language in which there is a large number of text outputs common to the languages and the frequency of appearance of a command for specifying the language is low, and the determination accuracy can be improved. Further, in the case of a control language related to page description, since it is easy to specify by a specific command, the time required for data acquisition can be reduced without lowering the determination accuracy.

[0017]

【Example】

(First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an image recording device 11 as an output device of the present invention includes a recording unit 12 that records an image, and an image supply device 1 that supplies image information to the recording unit 12.
3, a power supply unit 14, and an operation panel 15 for inputting external instructions.

The recording section 12 is composed of, for example, a laser printer or the like, and has an operation command signal 26 from the image supply device 13.
Image information 2 supplied from the image supply device 13 based on
7 is printed out on a recording sheet 23 (image recording). In order to perform this image recording normally, the recording unit 12 sends a status signal 24 indicating the type of recording paper 23 stored in a cassette tray (not shown) and whether or not a fixing unit (not shown) has reached a fixing temperature. Send it to the image supply device 13. Also,
The recording unit 12 sends a synchronization pulse 25 for synchronizing the transfer of the image information with the recording unit 12 to the image supply device 13.

A host interface terminal 17 and an input terminal 18 are connected to the image supply device 13. The host interface terminal 17 is a terminal for inputting print data from a host interface (not shown), and the input terminal 18 is a terminal for inputting print data from a network (not shown). Print data can be input in two systems via the host interface terminal 17 or the input terminal 18. A plurality of devices on the network may be connected to the input terminal 18 as a supply source of print data.

The image supply device 13 receives the status signal 24 and the synchronization pulse 25 sent from the recording unit 12 and
An operation command signal 26 is sent out to operate the recording unit 12, and the host interface terminal 17 or the input terminal 1
The print data input from 8 is sent to the recording unit 12 as image information 27 to control image recording.

The operation panel 15 includes an input section such as keys and switches, and a display section including a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a light emitting diode (LED), and is recorded on the image supply device 13 by an operation of an operator. Necessary instruction information 19 is transmitted. Further, the response information 21 returned from the image supply device 13 that has received the instruction information 19 is displayed.

The power supply unit 14 converts a commercial power supply (AC) into a predetermined direct current or alternating current and supplies power to the recording unit 12 and the image supply device 13.

The image supply device 13 is, as shown in FIG.
It plays a central role in various controls and has a system bus 32.
(Central processing unit) 31 connected to the CPU. A panel I / F (interface) circuit 33 and a host I / F circuit 34 are connected to the system bus 32.

The panel I / F circuit 33 includes the operation panel 15
When an operator operates a key on the operation panel 15, a signal corresponding to the key is output from the operation panel 15 and the panel I / F
The data is transferred on the system bus 32 via the circuit 33. Further, the display information of the system bus 32 is transferred to the operation panel 15 via the panel I / F circuit 33 and displayed.

The host I / F circuit 34 is a circuit for interfacing with a host device such as a host computer. For example, the host I / F circuit 34 receives print data input from the host computer based on the RS232C standard or Centronics. It is configured.

Further, the image supply device 13 can have a plurality of host interface terminals,
Host I according to the required host interface
/ F circuit 35 can be added. Examples of interfaces that can be added include a Centronics interface and Ethernet. Thus, print data can be input from a plurality of host interfaces.

A non-volatile memory (NVM) 37, a RAM 38, a program memory 3
9, a character pattern memory 41, a recording unit I / F circuit 43, and a bitmap controller 44 are connected.

The NVM 37 is a memory that is backed up by a battery (not shown) and can hold necessary data even when the power of the image recording apparatus 11 itself is turned off.

The RAM 38 is a working memory of the CPU 31 and holds data necessary for performing various controls of the image recording apparatus 11. Further, the RAM 38 also functions as a reception buffer for temporarily holding print data input from the host I / F circuit 34 or the host I / F circuit 35. The RAM 38 includes a bitmap memory 42 for storing bit data for performing electronic editing by attaching the generated character patterns, images, and the like to one page of the recording paper.

The program memory 39 is a memory in which a program for controlling the image recording apparatus 11 by the CPU 31 is stored. The program memory 39
Are read by the CPU 31 when the power of the image recording apparatus 11 is turned on.

The character pattern memory 41 is a memory for storing character patterns used for printing out, and is a so-called font memory.

The recording unit I / F circuit 43 is a circuit for interfacing with the recording unit 12, and supplies, for example, bit data developed in the bit map memory 42 to the recording unit 12 as image information 27. It also has a role as an interface for transmitting and receiving the status signal 24, the synchronization pulse 25 and the operation command signal 26.

The bit map controller 44 is a circuit for controlling transfer of image information between the bit map memory 42 and the recording unit I / F circuit 43.

The program memory 46 and the character pattern memory 47 are memories for storing programs and character patterns in the same manner as the program memory 39 and the character pattern memory 41, respectively. It can be connected to the image recording device 11. As the program memory 46 and the character pattern memory 47, a removable IC card format or SI
An MM format ROM or the like can be used. As a result, programs and character patterns corresponding to print data and control data sent from various host computers can be widely supported.

The hard disk 48 is a magnetic recording device for storing a large amount of data, and is used for adding a character pattern, storing form data and logo data, storing input data from a host computer, and the like. The hard disk 48 can also be connected by the user as needed.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a program stored in the program memory 39, that is, a software structure. As shown in FIG. 3, a device driver, which is a software group for individually controlling each peripheral device such as the hard disk 48, is located at the lowest layer.

The next layer includes an operating system (OS).
And plays a core role in software for controlling the image recording device 11. This OS is task management,
By performing storage management, input / output management, and the like, the CPU 3
1. Manages hardware such as the RAM 38 and each peripheral device. Also, based on hardware resource management, file management, program management, communication control, and the like are performed to manage logical resources such as files and higher-order programs. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to minimize the modification of the software in the upper layer due to the hardware change.

Above the OS, a control library and an application program are provided.
Is located. The control library stores a group of control programs used for application programs in the uppermost layer.

The application program is an application program created so that the image recording apparatus 11 executes a desired operation by the user. A decomposer that interprets a printer language as a control language and develops it into an image belongs to this application program.

FIG. 4 shows an application program in basic functional blocks. The control 60 controls the entire system.
8 to control the data process 64 and the others 68 based on the job start request.

The control 60 includes the following (1) to
It consists of the module of (4). In this embodiment, the control 60 is called a system control unit. (1) System controller Checks setting information and starts each task. (2) Job controller The job controller controls the execution of the job. (3) Page controller Manages the bitmap memory. (4) Timer controller Manages timers by messages.

The in 62 manages the input and output of data with the host computer. In order to perform such input / output, the IN 62 transfers data to or receives data from the data process 64. Further, when data is transferred or received, the control 60 requests the control 60 to start a job.

The in 62 is composed of, for example, the following modules. (1) Interface A Local interface A (2) Interface B Local interface B (3) Interface C Network interface C (4) Interface D Network interface D (5) Interface E Network interface E The local interface As the network interface, Ethernet, local talk, etc. can be used.

The data process 64 is for processing data. The data to be processed is the data received from the IN 62, and the processing result is passed to the IN 62 or OUT 66.

The data process 64 is a synonym for the control language interpreter defined in this embodiment, and is called a decomposer in this embodiment.

The decomposer is implemented as a data process 64 and includes the following types. These are each 1
Work as one or more tasks. (1) Automatic determination parser This is a task for determining the printer language (control language). (2) Language A decomposer A task group that interprets and executes printer language A (product native page description language). (3) Language B decomposer This is a task group for interpreting and executing printer language B (an industry standard page description language). (4) Language C decomposer This is a task group for interpreting and executing the printer language C (plotter control language developed by Company X). (5) Language D decomposer A task group for interpreting and executing the printer language D (wire dot printer control language developed by Y Company). (6) Language E decomposer A task group for interpreting and executing the printer language E (wire dot printer control language developed by Company Z). (7) Dump This task forms a hexadecimal dump image. (8) Print Utility Formatter Task This is a task for forming images of various print utilities.

The output 66 outputs the data of the processing result of the data process 64. This out 66
Is composed of the following modules. (1) Engine controller Controls the printer engine (recording unit).

The others 68 execute various functions other than those described above and complex functions. This Others 6
8 is composed of the following modules. (1) The UI panel 15 is controlled. (2) Printer management agent The printer management agent has a function for realizing a printer management system on a network. For example, functions such as setting and providing printer resources and status to a client.

As described above, the application program is composed of several components, and each component is further composed of several functional modules. These functional modules are actually composed of one or more tasks. The decomposer also comprises several task groups.

These tasks are synchronized among the tasks using various functions prepared as a control library. The decomposer also realizes the print function while synchronizing with the task group constituting the control 60, the in 62 and the out 66 using the control library.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus 11 will be described. Control data composed of print data output from various information processing apparatuses such as host computers and workstations and a control language that defines how to output the print data are stored in a host interface terminal 1.
7 or input to the image supply device 13 via the input terminal 18. Since there are many types of information processing devices, input control data is not always unified. For example, control data transmitted by a certain information processing apparatus may be able to specify the size of recording paper, character size, and the like in detail, but control data of another apparatus may not be able to perform such specification.

When there is no designation in the control data as in the latter case, the display section of the panel 15 indicates that fact.
Then, when the operator key-inputs necessary data relating to the recording through the panel 15, the instruction information 19 is entered.
Is transmitted to the image supply device 13 and the recording control based on the instruction information 19 becomes possible.

It should be noted that, even when the information processing apparatus has designated the size of paper or characters to be recorded as control data as the control data, it is also possible to input the instruction information 19 from the panel 15 by key operation or the like. is there. In such a case, it is possible to always give priority to an instruction from the information processing device or to give an input to the panel 15. It is also possible to give priority to the one given the instruction later in time.

Next, the image supply device 13 sends the instruction information 19
A determination is made as to whether or not printing is possible based on the status signal from the recording unit 12, and that fact is displayed on the panel 15 as response information 21. For example, when a sheet of the size indicated by the instruction information 19 is not set in the recording unit 12, a response to prompt the user to set a sheet of the size is displayed on the panel 15.

When the recording preparation is completed as described above, the image supply device 13 sends an operation command signal 26 to the recording unit 12 to operate the recording unit 12 based on the control data, The print data input while taking the output timing by the synchronization pulse 25 is converted into image information 2.
7 and transferred to the recording unit 12.

Next, the overall operation of the application program, in particular, the operation of the decomposer started at the start of a job will be described. The decomposer activated at the start of the job is a decomposer of a printer language (control language) set for each input port. If the control language set for the input port of the job specifies automatic discrimination, the automatic discrimination parser is started (auto discrimination mode), and if no auto discrimination is specified, the set control is performed. The language decomposer is started (printer language fixed mode). Hereinafter, the processing of the decomposer in these two cases will be described. The target decomposers are the decomposers and dumps for the languages A, B, C, D, and E described above.

First, the processing in the printer language fixed mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the block diagram of FIG. In FIG. 6, the in-task 74 is the
2, the out task 76 is a task by the out 66, the job controller 72 is one functional module of the control 60 described above, and the decomposer 70 is
One decomposer that executes the job.

It is determined whether or not the in-task 74 has detected a job (step 300). In the case of a negative determination, the waiting state of the decomposer 70 is maintained until a job is detected. When a job is detected, the intask 74 refers to the printer language setting of the corresponding input port, and requests the job controller 72 to issue a job as a corresponding decomposer job (step 302). Note that a job is detected means that a series of data has been input to an interface.

Job controller (system control unit) 7
2 receives the job request from the in-task 74 and outputs a job execution instruction to the decomposer 70 (step 304).

The decomposer 70 that has received the job execution instruction as an asynchronous event starts decomposer processing (step 306). By the decomposer process by the decomposer 70, the printer language in the reception buffer (RAM 38) received by the intask 74 is interpreted into the set printer language.

It is determined whether or not the EOJ indicating the end of data is detected while the decomposer 70 is reading the printer language in the reception buffer (step 30).
8). If no EOJ is detected, the decomposer process (step 306) is continued. If an EOJ is detected, the decomposer 70 performs a job end process. The EOJ can be determined by detecting the input of data indicating the end of the job, the timeout of the data input waiting time, the input of the forced ejection instruction from the panel 15, the end of the file, the end of the network connection, and the like.

As the job end processing, the decomposer 7
0 first sends a job end notification to the outtask 76 (step 310). As a result, the engine controller can detect that there is no output request for the job after the process data (step 312), and preparation for the output end can be made.

Then, the decomposer 70 reports a job end to the job controller 72 (step 314).

As described above, upon completion of the decomposer processing,
The decomposer 70 shifts to an asynchronous event waiting state (step 316), and waits for a new decomposer process execution instruction (step 304).

Next, the processing in the automatic discrimination mode will be described with reference to FIG.
8 and FIG. 9 showing the functional blocks and control flow appearing in this flowchart. FIG. 8 shows a case where automatic discrimination was successful, and FIG. 9 shows a case where automatic discrimination was not possible. The newly added automatic discrimination parser 78 is a printer language discrimination task implemented as the data process 64 described above. is there.

First, it is determined whether or not the in-task 74 has detected a job (step 318). In the case of a negative determination, the waiting state of the decomposer 70 is maintained until the job is detected. If a job is detected, in-task 7
4 issues a job request to the job controller 72 as a job of the automatic determination parser 78 (step 32).
0).

Job controller 7 receiving a job request
2 issues a job execution instruction to the automatic determination parser 78 (step 322).

Automatic determination parser 7 receiving job execution instruction
8 performs an automatic discrimination process on a predetermined number of data received or data up to EOJ detection when any of the following conditions is satisfied (step 32):
4).

When a predetermined number of data has been received When EOJ has been detected The details of this automatic determination processing will be described later.

When the automatic determination parser 78 completes the automatic determination processing, it is determined whether or not the input printer language has been determined (step 326). If it is possible to determine which language the input printer language is, the automatic determination parser 78
A request for switching to the decomposer 70 corresponding to the printer language of the discrimination result is issued to the printer 2 (step 334), and the job controller 72 issues a job execution instruction to activate the decomposer 70 (step 304). Thereafter, the control shifts to the decomposer 70, and the subsequent steps including step 304 are the same as those in the printer fixed mode in FIG. 5, so that the same reference numerals are given to the portions corresponding to FIG. Is omitted.

The job controller 72 determines whether or not the printer language decomposer determined by the automatic determination parser 78 is installed with optional software, instead of the automatic determination parser 78.

On the other hand, if it is not determined in step 326 which language the input printer language is,
The automatic determination parser 78 issues an abort request to the job controller 72 (step 32).
8). At this time, the fact that the print language cannot be determined is registered in the print log.

The job controller 72 having received the abort request issues an abort instruction to the automatic determination parser 78 (step 330). Thereby, the automatic determination parser 78
Is completed (step 332). That is, the decomposer 71 shifts to an asynchronous event waiting state (FIG. 9).
reference). At this time, since the released decomposer does not indicate a specific one but is plural, in FIG.
1 is distinguished from a single decomposer 70.

Then, the automatic discrimination parser 78 after the processing is completed.
Sends an abort end report to the job controller 72 (step 333), thereby ending the automatic determination process and returning to the first step 318. At this point, since the output request has not been made to the out task 76, the end of the job is not notified to the out task 76 unlike the case where the determination can be made (see FIG. 9).

When the above-described automatic discrimination mode is used, it is automatically determined in which printer language the data received from the host computer is described. Therefore, even if the user does not specify the printer language, the image recording can be performed. The apparatus 11 can select an appropriate printer language processing system in accordance with the received data and perform print processing.

Next, the internal configuration of the automatic determination parser 78 and the detailed control flow will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, the automatic determination parser 78
A job controller interface 80 for interfacing with the job controller.

Further, the job controller interface 80 gives the discriminator controller 82 a discrimination start instruction based on the job execution instruction, and receives the discrimination result sent from the discriminator controller 82. The job controller interface 80 receives a job execution instruction from the job controller 72 and sends a decomposer switching request and an abort request to the job controller 72.

The discriminator controller 82 gives a start instruction to each of the discriminators for discriminating whether or not the received data is in a specific printer language, based on a discrimination start command from the job controller interface 80, and performs each discrimination. Judgment result from the container (one of success, failure or indefinite)
Receive.

In this embodiment, the language A discriminator 84 and the language B
There are provided five discriminators, a discriminator 86, a language C discriminator 88, a language D discriminator 90, and a language E discriminator 92, and the received data is described in language A, language B, language C, language D, and language E. It is determined whether or not each of them has been performed.

The language A discriminator 84, the language B discriminator 86, and the language C discriminator 88 are each a direct discriminator controller 82.
In response to a start instruction from the discriminator controller 82, each of the target printer languages is discriminated, and the discrimination result is sent to the discriminator controller 82.

Language D discriminator 90 and Language E discriminator 92
Are connected to a discriminator controller 82 via a group discrimination control unit 94, and perform a discrimination of a target printer language in response to a start instruction input via the group discrimination control unit 94, and determine the discrimination result. The data is transmitted to the discriminator controller 82 via the group discrimination controller 94.

It should be noted that whether or not the discriminators are formed into one group is determined based on, for example, that the target printer languages have a common command with each other. Consists of two groups.

These discriminators are connected to the buffer 96, and read the received data stored in the buffer to make the discrimination target. This buffer 9
Reference numeral 6 denotes a local memory, which stores reception data in a reception buffer (RAM 38 in FIG. 2).
It was transferred from.

Each discriminator sequentially reads the received data by a predetermined number of bytes, and searches each command for a command used in the target language. Each discriminator also searches for a grammatical error assuming that the received data is in the language targeted by each discriminator. Then, based on a combination of two types of search results, “whether there is a command” and “whether there is a grammatical error”, the following determination result of “success”, “undefined”, or “failure” is output.

“Success”: “No syntax error” and “with command” “Undefined”: “No syntax error” and “no command” “Fail”: “Syntax error” Printer language is a language targeted by the discriminator, and in the case of "undefined", it is not known whether the language is the language, and "failure"
In this case, the printer language of the received data is not the language.

By defining the discrimination result as described above, in the case of "failure", the discrimination processing by the discriminator can be terminated when a "grammar error" is detected. As a result, it is possible to minimize the discrimination processing for the control language that does not correspond, and to speed up the discrimination processing.

Further, by detecting a "grammatical error", erroneous determination can be prevented even when a command of another control language is accidentally included as a character string, so that determination accuracy can be improved.

The "grammar error" means that a contradiction as a control language has been detected, and is detected as follows. That is, each discriminator detects an instruction code that cannot be included in the control language targeted by the discriminator from the control language describing the received data, or detects an instruction code that cannot be included in the control language. When a combination is detected, a result of determination of “grammar error” is output. Also, when a specific instruction code is at a specific position in the data string, or when there is no instruction code at that position in the case of a control language in which the order of the instruction codes is determined, this corresponds to a “grammar error”.

Next, the flow of processing of the automatic determination parser 78 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When a predetermined amount or more of received data is stored in the reception buffer (RAM 38), a predetermined number of the received data, for example, 256, is stored in a buffer 96 which is a local memory.
The received data of bytes or 1024 bytes is transferred (step 340). However, if an EOJ indicating the end of the received data is detected in a number less than the predetermined number, the EOJ is detected.
The received data up to is transferred (step 340).

When a job execution instruction is issued from the job controller 72 to the job controller interface 80, the job controller interface 80
Gives a discrimination start instruction to the discriminator controller 82.
Then, the discriminator controller 80 receiving the discrimination start instruction
Gives an activation instruction to each discriminator and activates them sequentially.

First, the language A discriminator 84 is activated (step 342), and a process for discriminating whether or not the received data in the buffer 96 is language A is performed. When the discrimination processing is completed, the result is transmitted to the discriminator controller 82, and the discrimination result is determined (step 344).

If the determination in step 344 is "success", it is determined that language A is the printer language of the received data (step 372). Then, information that the determination result is in the language A is transmitted to the job controller interface 80, and the determination result is notified to the system therefrom (step 374). Or, from the job controller interface 80, the job controller 7
A request for switching to the decomposer that interprets the language A is sent to 2.

If the determination in step 344 is "failure" or "indeterminate", the next language B discriminator 86 is activated (step 346), and it is determined whether or not the received data in the buffer 96 is language B. Is performed.

If the result of the determination (step 348) is successful, the language B is determined to be the printer language of the received data, and the same processing as described above is executed.

If the determination in step 348 is "failure" or "indeterminate", the next language C discriminator 88 is activated (step 350), and the received data in the buffer 96 is stored in the language C.
Is determined.

If the result of the determination (step 352) is successful, it is determined that the language C is the printer language of the received data, and the same processing as described above is performed.

As described above, by completing the automatic discrimination processing when one discriminator judges “success”, the discrimination processing for a control language that does not correspond can be omitted.
The discrimination process can be sped up.

However, if the determination in step 352 is “failure” or “indefinite”, the discriminator controller 82
Gives an activation instruction to the group discrimination control unit 94 and outputs the language D
A language E determination process is executed (step 354). The language D / language E discrimination processing includes the following steps.

First, the language D discriminator 90 determines whether or not the received data is in language D (step 356).
Is performed, and the determination result is sent to the group determination control unit 94, where it is temporarily stored. Next, the language E discriminator 9
According to 2, a determination process (step 358) is performed to determine whether or not the received data is in the language E, and the determination result is sent to the group determination control unit 94. Group discrimination control unit 94
Compares the discrimination result of the language D discriminator 90 and the discrimination result of the language E discriminator 92 with reference to a rule, and determines which match or none (step 36).
0). For example, when the determination of only one language is successful and the other is “failure” or “indeterminate”, the former language is determined as the determination result. When both are "successful", the language D is determined as the determination result, and when both are "indeterminate", the language E is determined as the determination result. If both are “failed”, the result of the determination is “failed”, one is “indeterminate” and the other is “failed”.
In the case of, the determination result is “undefined”. When the discrimination result is obtained, the group discrimination control unit 94 determines the discrimination result and, in the case of “success”, the discrimination of the language in the discriminator controller 82.
Notify. Then, the result of the determination is determined (step 362), and in the case of “success”, one of the languages D and E is determined as the printer language (step 37).
2) The system is notified (step 374). On the other hand, if “failure” or “indeterminate” is determined in step 362, in the next step, whether or not the above-described determination processing is the first time, and the determination result of each determiner is “indeterminate” Then, it is determined whether or not there is an EOJ in the determined data (step 364). As a result of the determination, when the determination processing is the first time, and when any of the determination results of each of the classifiers can be re-determined with “undefined”, and when the received data has not been completed yet, , Step 34
Returning to 0, a second determination process is performed. However, in order to reduce waste, control is performed so that the processing of a discriminator that has failed in the first discrimination is not performed.

Any one of the three conditions in step 364
If at least one of the conditions is not satisfied, the process branches depending on whether the determination result is "all failed" or "indeterminate" (step 366). If all failed, the judgment result is "Error"
(Step 370), and in the case of “undefined”,
The result of the determination is set to language E (step 368), and the system is notified (step 374). This language E is one of the wire dot printer control languages as described above.
Since the language is capable of simple text output (combination of a character string and commands such as return and line feed), such processing can be performed. As described above, control languages having mutually common commands are treated as one group, and the determination results of the control languages in the same group are output when all the determinations by these classifiers are completed. Therefore, erroneous determination of a control language in the same group is prevented. Further, erroneous determination with another control language that does not belong to the group can be avoided.

Further, Step 360 and Step 368
As described in, even in the case of "undefined" data only, which does not include commands that characterize the printer language, by applying an appropriate control language defined as a rule,
Printing is possible.

In step 360, when a plurality of discriminators in the same group output “success”,
The group determination control unit 94 may output the determination result by the following method.

First, an instruction code in each control language is classified into a unique command and a common command. For the common command, a weighting table is prepared for each discriminator, and the same as the input instruction code of the control language. Each time the judgment is made, the weight set for each discriminator is added.
Then, the final addition result is used as auxiliary information of the determination result “success”. That is, if there are a plurality of discriminators that have detected “success” after the addition result of all the discriminators in the group is output, which control language of the group is determined by the magnitude of the addition result for each discriminator. It is a method of determining. Since the common command has a different control meaning and importance for each control language, this method can identify the group within the group and improve the accuracy of determination.

Further, in the control language group in the group,
Priorities are assigned in advance, and after the results of all the classifiers in the group are obtained, except for the classifiers that have detected inconsistent instruction codes, any control language of the group according to this priority order A method of determining whether there is is also effective. This method can be applied particularly when the control meaning of a common command (group) is more important for one control language than for another control language. That is, when there are a plurality of discriminators that have detected “success” in the group, this means that a common command is included as input data. Therefore, when the control meaning of the common command (group) is more important than other control languages, the priority order can be regarded as a measure of certainty.

According to this method, as compared with the above-described method, there is an advantage that the classification, weight search, and addition processing of the unique command and the common command can be omitted, and the processing time is shortened.

In the second discrimination process, the received data to be discriminated may be obtained in step 340 as data in the following range.

As described above, the data obtained the second time is larger than the data amount of the first time and includes all the data obtained the first time. FIG. 12 shows this relationship.
Shown in

According to FIG. 12, (a) shows a command sequence constituting data acquired first time, and (b) shows a command sequence constituting data acquired second time (FIG. 12). Below the head of the received data). The start data of the discriminating process is the same data “%” in the first and second times, thereby simplifying the software configuration. In addition, the data amount acquired in the second time is larger than that in the first time, and the data which was near the boundary of the last data in the first time is included in the second time with a margin. Therefore, 1
When the last of the acquired data is in the middle of a continuous command sequence, for example, up to “<ESC> A” of the command sequence “<ESC> AB2” as shown in FIG. Even when the command sequence is executed, the command string can be set as a determination target by the second data acquisition.

In the first and second discriminating processes, the processing is started from the same data because the data after the first acquired data is to be processed. This is because the discrimination may start in the middle of the column, and in the worst case, a command error may cause a discrimination error.

However, when the determination processing is restarted from the same data as described above, there is an advantage that the software configuration is simplified and the cost is reduced, but there is a problem that the processing time is increased.

Therefore, in the first embodiment, there is provided a method of shortening the processing time by appropriately changing the start data of the second discrimination processing to avoid duplication of the processing. The flow of processing based on this method is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13, and the method will be described with reference to FIG.

According to FIG. 13, the discrimination starts, and the first discrimination processing is executed (step 380). 1
The data acquired at the first time is searched, and while the first determination is being performed, it is determined whether the data acquired at the first time ends in the middle of the command sequence (step 38).
2). If the determination is affirmative, that is, if the data ends in the middle of the command sequence, the start address S of the command sequence that has ended halfway is stored in the memory (step 384).
If a negative determination is made, that is, if the data does not end in the middle of the command sequence, the address N next to the last data of the data subjected to the first determination processing is stored in the memory (step 385).

Next, when the first discrimination processing is completed, it is judged whether or not the second discrimination processing is necessary based on the discrimination result and the like (step 386). This step 386 corresponds to step 364 in FIG.

If a negative determination is made in step 386, that is, if the second determination process is not necessary, the determination process ends. If the determination is affirmative, that is, if the determination process is required for the second time,
The second data acquisition is performed, and it is determined again whether the data acquired in the first time ends in the middle of the command sequence (step 388).

If the data acquired at the first time ends in the middle of the command sequence, the second discrimination processing is performed at step 384 from the data after the head address S of the command sequence stored in the memory. Perform (step 390).

First and Second Steps in Step 390
FIG. 14 shows the second command string and determination start data. According to FIG. 14, the data acquired for the first time shown in FIG. 14A ends with "A" in the middle of the command string "<ESC>AB2". Therefore, step 3
The address S stored at 84 is the address of <ESC> at the beginning of the command string, and therefore, the start data of the second discrimination processing is 2 as shown in FIG.
This is <ESC> in the middle of the data acquired the third time. This avoids the waste of redundantly processing the data to be determined in the first time, and shortens the processing time. In addition, a command error caused by performing a process from the middle of the command sequence can be avoided, and the discrimination accuracy is improved.

On the other hand, if the data obtained at the first time does not end in the middle of the command sequence, step 385
, A second discrimination process is performed from the data after the address N stored in the memory (step 392). That is, the second discrimination processing is started from the data next to the last data subjected to the discrimination processing in the first time.

The first time and the second time in the case of step 392
FIG. 15 shows the second command string and determination start data. According to FIG. 15, the data acquired for the first time shown in FIG. 15A ends without separating the command string “<ESC> AB2”, and a new command is executed from the next data. The column starts. Therefore, the address S stored in step 385 is the address of <ESC> at the head of the next command string. Therefore, the start data of the second discrimination processing is 2 data as shown in FIG.
This is the head data <ESC> of the command string in the middle of the data acquired the third time. This avoids the waste of redundantly processing the data to be determined in the first time, and shortens the processing time. Further, since the discrimination processing is started from the beginning of the command string, a command error is avoided and the discrimination accuracy is improved.

If the address S or the address N is stored in the same register or the like and the second determination processing is started from the data specified by the address stored in the register, the determination in step 388 is not necessarily performed. Not necessary. Also, the amount of data acquired for the second time is
Although 0 is set to 1024 bytes, the number may be increased or decreased in consideration of the type of control language that can be determined, the ability of determination processing of each control language, and the like.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, in the first and second discrimination processes, a certain amount of data is obtained, and the same discrimination rule is applied to each discriminator. It can be variable. Such an invention is disclosed below as a second embodiment. The configuration of the hardware and the like and the configuration of the software are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, the amount of data acquired the second time is the control language to be subjected to the second discrimination processing, ie, 1
The change is made based on the type of control language that has not failed in the second determination process.

More specifically, if a language related to the wire dot printer remains, data is acquired in a relatively large amount. As a result, it is possible to increase the probability that it is possible to determine even a wire dot printer language in which there is a large number of text outputs common to the languages and the frequency of appearance of a command for specifying the language is low, and the determination accuracy can be improved. Even if such a large amount of data is acquired, in the case of the wire dot printer language, there are many standard commands such as character data and carriage return / line feed. Increase is avoided.

On the other hand, if the language associated with the page description remains, it is unique for each page description-related language and is easy to specify, so a relatively small amount of data is acquired. As a result, it is possible to reduce the time required for data acquisition without lowering the determination accuracy of the control language related to the page description.

Further, in the second embodiment, the discrimination rules applied in each discriminator are different between the first and second discrimination processes.

In the first embodiment, the criterion for determining that the control language is “success” indicates that the presence of a unique command group that can specify the control language is detected. In the second embodiment, for example, the first discrimination rule determines whether only frequently used commands (commands for switching the character type or switching to the kanji mode) among such unique command groups. In the second time, the presence / absence of all these command groups is detected. As a result, in the first time, the number of commands to be discriminated is small, so that the processing speed is increased. In the second time, all commands that can specify the control language are subjected to the judgment.
More accurate discrimination becomes possible. Therefore, when determining standard data (data using frequently used commands), the processing time can be shortened, and special data (frequently used commands are used). Data), accurate determination is possible.

In the above case where different discrimination rules are applied in the first and second times, the data acquired in the second time is
The determination is started from the beginning of the same data as the first data, including all the data acquired the first time. This is because the discrimination rules are different between the first and second times, and the second time should be analyzed from the first data.

Although the embodiment according to the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the embodiment, the heads of the first and second data obtained are matched, but the head of the second data may be in the middle of the first data. For example, if X bytes are acquired for the first time, the second data may be acquired from Y bytes (X> Y) from the head of the first data. Even in this case, if the maximum number of bytes of the command string is Y bytes or less, 1
Even if the first data is completed, the command data can be included in the second data. Further, although the range of the discrimination data searched by each discriminator and the range of the data acquired from the reception buffer do not always match, it is also possible to match them. That is, it is possible to directly read the determination data in the range from the reception buffer.

Further, the discriminating process is not limited to two times, but may be performed three times or more. In such a case, the determination process is performed up to a preset number of times or until the end of the data is detected. In this case, it goes without saying that the processes of the first and second embodiments can be applied to the third discrimination process and thereafter.

Further, the configuration of the determination means and the flow of processing, the circuit configuration, functional blocks, the configuration of software, the flow of control and input / output, and the like can be arbitrarily and suitably changed. For example, by realizing automatic discrimination processing and the like with a gate array,
Higher speeds can also be achieved.

[0131]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the type of the control language cannot be determined, the data in the range including the last part of the previous determination data is determined by the next determination. Since the data is acquired as data, it is possible to obtain an effect that it is possible to prevent a discrimination error caused by cutting the data string, as compared with a method of acquiring data for each predetermined amount without duplication as in the related art. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, if the previous determination data ends in the middle of the command sequence, the next determination data is obtained from the beginning of the command sequence, and the processing ends at the end of the command sequence. In this case, the next determination data is obtained from the next to the previous determination data, so that an effect is obtained that a command error can be prevented without unnecessarily increasing the processing time required for the determination.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the type of the control language cannot be determined by the discriminating process, the control language is acquired next based on the type of the control language other than the control language determined not to be applicable in the discriminating process. Since the data amount is determined, there is an effect that the processing time can be reduced without lowering the determination accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a software structure of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a basic functional block diagram of an application program.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of the image recording apparatus in a printer language fixed mode.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the image recording apparatus in a printer language fixed mode.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of the image recording apparatus in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the image recording apparatus when a normal operation is performed in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the image recording apparatus when an abort request is issued in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an automatic determination parser.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of an automatic determination parser.

12A is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of data acquired first time, and FIG. 12B is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of data acquired second time.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process of changing start data of the determination process according to the first embodiment.

14A is a data configuration example in a case where data acquired first time ends in the middle of a command sequence, and FIG. 14B is a configuration example of data acquired second time. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing start data and start data.

FIG. 15A is a data configuration example in a case where data acquired first time ends at the end of a command sequence, and FIG. 15B is a configuration example of data acquired second time. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing start data and start data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 70 decomposer 78 automatic discrimination parser 82 discriminator controller

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Katsuhisa Niihara, 3-7-1, Fuuchi, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Iwatsuki Office (72) Inventor, Yuji Shiomi 3-7-1, Fuuchi, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Iwatsuki Office (56) References JP-A-5-96823 (JP, A) JP-A-5-104826 (JP, A) JP-A-5-270069 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 61058 (JP, A) JP-A-7-104954 (JP, A) JP-A-8-2067 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 5/50 B41J 29 / 38 G06F 3/12

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A control language for describing the input data by performing a determination process on the determination data obtained by the data acquisition means, the data acquisition means acquiring acquisition data in a predetermined range of the input data; Determination means for determining the type of the control language; and when the type of the control language cannot be determined by the determination processing of the determination means, the next determination data of a range including the last part of the determination data is obtained. Control means for controlling the data acquisition means and controlling the discrimination means so as to execute the discrimination processing on the next discrimination data. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a command determination unit configured to determine whether the data acquired by the data acquisition unit ends in the middle of the command sequence. If it is determined that the discrimination data has been completed, the data acquisition means is controlled to obtain the next discrimination data from the beginning of the command sequence, and the discrimination data ends at the end of the command sequence. 2. The data processing device according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the data is present, the data acquisition unit is controlled to acquire next determination data from the next of the determination data. 3. The control means, when the type of the control language cannot be determined by the determination processing of the determination means, based on the type of the control language other than the control language determined not to be applicable in the determination processing. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a data amount to be obtained next by the data obtaining unit is determined.