JPH02166512A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily set the system control information suited to the hardware constitution at start up by performing the automatic input of the identification information corresponding to other system control information in case the system control information read at start up is not accordant with the hardware conditions. CONSTITUTION:When the system control information loaded from an external memory 3 is not accordant with the set hardware, an input device 2 inputs a desired system file name and loads the proper system control information. Thus it is possible to search the accordant one of system files having different file names and to surely start a device. As the memory 3 can register plural system files, therefore such a trouble to prepare and replace many starting media is eliminated. Furthermore the system information is easily selected even with such an unreplaceable medium as a hard disk, etc.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention reads system control information stored in a recording device, particularly a predetermined storage medium, at startup, controls a recording mechanism according to this system control information, and records information. The present invention relates to a recording device that performs output.

[Background Art] Various recording devices for recording and outputting data such as character images have been known in the past in information processing systems such as computers and word processors.

This type of equipment includes wire dot printers and daisy printers.
The main types of printers used to be so-called serial printers, such as type printers such as wheel printers, which perform input/output for each line of recorded data defined by 1 byte or a predetermined line end code, but recently, laser beam printers etc. There are also so-called page printers that input and record data in page units. Normal page printers have a relatively large data buffer and print data expressed in a predetermined format in page units. Received from host computer, word processor, etc.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Unlike serial printers, this type of printer requires fairly complex information processing on the printer side, such as converting page description information into actual bitmap data. The system program that controls the operation is quite large and complex. Therefore, it may be necessary to make detailed changes to the system program or system control parameters depending on the optional components or host system used together.

Therefore, it is known that the system program or parameters for system control of the device are stored in a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, and read from an external storage device at startup. With such a configuration, it is possible to use an appropriate system program according to the option settings of the device and the conditions of the host, and it is also easy to improve the system program.

However, with conventional devices of this type, when reading system files including system programs and parameters from a storage medium at startup, only the system file with a specific default file name is read, and other files are read. The system file with name could not be loaded.

Therefore, if an error occurs during the initialization operation after reading the system file because the device's memory implementation status, option board installation status, etc. do not match the read system information, the default file name and the device's There has been a problem in that the device cannot be started unless a medium storing a system file that meets the hardware conditions is used.

In addition, if one device is used with different hardware conditions or connected to different host systems, the system information that meets those conditions and the system file with the default file name may be separated from each other. It required cumbersome operations such as storing it on a magnetic disk or the like and replacing it.

The invention! ! The problem is to solve the above problems and to make it possible to easily set system control information that matches the hardware configuration at startup.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention reads system control information stored in a predetermined storage medium at startup, controls a recording mechanism according to this system control information, and stores information. In a recording device that performs recording and output of It has a means for inspecting compatibility with hardware conditions, and a means for inputting desired identification information for identifying desired system control information, and the inspection means detects the control information and the actual device or its peripheral hardware. If non-compliance with the conditions is discovered, the reading means reads desired system control information identified by identification information different from the default identification information by the input means, and repeats the process from the conformity check by the inspection means again. The configuration was adopted.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, if the system control information read at startup does not match the hardware conditions, identification information corresponding to other system control information is automatically input, and an appropriate system is installed. Control information can be loaded.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a recording apparatus employing the present invention. 1st
In the figure, reference numeral H denotes a host device such as a computer system or a word processor, which is connected to the printer 8 via an interface circuit 9. Interface circuit 9 is R5422C%R5232C or SC3
I is configured based on a predetermined interface scheme.

The operation of the printer 8 is controlled by a cput comprised of a microprocessor or the like. The printer 8 is composed of the following members.

The input device 2 is used to control the operation of the device as desired, which includes a numeric keypad, function keys, a full keyboard, and the like. Further, in this embodiment, the input device 2 is capable of manually or specifying the file name of a system file storing desired system control information at the time of system startup.

The external storage device 3 is composed of a recording and reproducing device using a floppy disk, hard disk, or magneto-optical disk, and is used for loading system files consisting of system programs and system control parameters required at startup, or for buffering recorded data. used for.

The ROM 4 is for storing a startup control program, a basic input/output control program, control parameters, etc., which will be described later.

The recording mechanism 5 is composed of a recording mechanism such as a laser beam type.

The RAM 6 is used as a work area for the CPUI, a data buffer, etc., and the system program read from the external storage device 3 at startup is expanded to a predetermined area on the RAMa and then executed.

The names of system files to be read from the external storage device 3 at startup are stored in the data area 6a of the RAM 6.

Further, the control parameters stored in the system file are stored in the data area 6b.

The display device 7 constitutes a user interface means together with the input device 2, and is composed of a liquid crystal display, a CRT, and other display mechanisms.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. Figure 2 shows CPU 1 stored in ROM4 in Figure 1.
The flow of the control program at startup is shown.

In step S1 of FIG. 2, it is determined whether the file name of a desired system file is stored in the area 6a of the RAM 6. If valid file name data is stored in this area, the process moves to step S2; if not, the process moves to step S3.

When the device is powered on or reset, no valid data is stored in the area 6a of the RAM 6, so the process moves to step S3 and the system file having the default salt stored in the ROM 4 is read from the external storage device 3.

In step S4, analysis processing is performed based on the system file loaded in step S3. Specifically, the loaded system information and the actual hardware conditions of the printer 8, such as the memory implementation state and the installation of various optional parts, are performed. Performs known inspection processing at startup, such as checking consistency of status, etc.

In step S5, it is determined whether an error was detected in the process of step S4. If the system information of the loaded system file and the hardware conditions of the device do not match, it is determined that an error has occurred and the process moves to step S8. If no such error occurs, the process moves to step S6.

In step S6, the control parameters included in the system file are stored in the area 6b of the RAM 6, and in step S7, each part of the device is initialized based on the control parameters,
Perform startup processing.

On the other hand, if an error occurs in step S5, it is determined in step S8 whether a command for inputting the name of a system file to be loaded is being input using the input device 2. If step S8 is negative, the process from step S1 is repeated using the same system file name.

If a predetermined command has been input in step S8, the process advances to step S9 for eight lines, and the input of the desired system file name is accepted. The file name may be input from the keyboard using character keys, or by displaying selectable file names on the display device 7 and selecting the file name using the keyboard. The input file name is stored in area 6a of RAM6.

In step S10, restart processing is specified and step S1
Return to Here, it may be displayed on the display device 7 that the restart process is being executed.

A system error occurs in step S5, and steps 38 to
After passing through the process of S10, the system file name input in step S9 is stored in the area 6a of the RAM 6, so eight lines from steps S1 to 52 are generated, and in step S2, the system file name input in step S9 is stored in the area 6a. A system file having the same file name is read from the external storage device 3, and then the process moves to step S4.

As described above, if the system control information loaded from the external storage device 3 and the hardware settings are incompatible, the input of the desired system file name from the input device 2 is accepted and appropriate system control information is loaded. Can be done. Therefore, it is possible to reliably start up the device by searching for a matching system file not only from a system file with a specific name, but also among system files having a plurality of different file names, as in the past.

Further, according to the above configuration, not only a single system file but also a plurality of system files can be registered in the external storage device 3, thereby eliminating the trouble of preparing and replacing a large number of booting media. Further, even in the case of a non-replaceable medium such as a hard disk, system information can be easily selected.

In the above, we have not considered the case where the corresponding system file cannot be found in step S2 or S3, but even if such an error occurs, the process may proceed to steps S5.88 to S10. .

In addition, when inputting the system file name in step S9,
Selectable system file names stored in the external storage device 3 may be displayed, and a desired system file may be selected from among them.

Furthermore, in the above, the desired system file name is RAM
This is assumed to be stored in a predetermined area in EE a.
It is also possible to store the system file in a non-volatile memory such as PROM, and once the system file name is set, the system file can be used continuously from the next startup.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, system control information stored in a predetermined storage medium is read at startup, and the recording mechanism is controlled according to this system control information to record and output information. In the recording device, means for reading system control information identified by predetermined identification information from the storage medium, and a combination of default system control information read by the reading means at startup and hardware conditions of the actual device or its surroundings. It has a means for inspecting compatibility and a means for inputting desired identification information for identifying desired system control information, and the inspection means detects non-compliance between the control information and the hardware conditions of the actual device or its surroundings. If the system control information is found, the reading means reads the desired system control information identified by the identification information different from the default identification information by the input means, and repeats the process from the conformity test by the inspection means. Therefore, if the default system control information loaded at startup does not match the hardware conditions, identification information corresponding to other system control information is automatically entered to ensure that the appropriate system control information is loaded. It also has the excellent effect of being easily adaptable to various hardware conditions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a recording apparatus employing the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a start-up control procedure for the apparatus shown in FIG. 1...CPU 2...Input device 3...External storage device 4...ROM5...Recording mechanism 6
...RAM7...Display device 8...Printer 9...Interface circuit H...Host device Fig. 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A recording device that reads system control information stored in a predetermined storage medium at startup, controls a recording mechanism according to this system control information, and records and outputs information, comprising: means for reading system control information identified by identification information; means for inspecting compatibility between the default system control information read by the reading means at startup and hardware conditions of the actual device or its surroundings; means for inputting desired identification information for identifying system control information, and when the inspection means discovers a mismatch between the control information and the actual device or hardware conditions surrounding it, the input means inputs the default information. A recording device characterized in that desired system control information identified by identification information different from the identification information of is read by the reading means, and the processing from the conformity test by the testing means is repeated again.