JPH04362729A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a printer with which a form size is designated according to the print date in a print mode and a printing operation is carried out even though the form of the desipated size is not supplied. CONSTITUTION:A form size is inputted to a printer via a host IF 103 before the input of the print data. A size detecting part 113 detects the size of the supplied form end checks whether the size is equal to a designated size or a designated double size. If this double size is confirmed, the print data are received from the host I/F 1=03 and a page of the print data is laid out on the half of the form. Thus the print data equivalent to two pages are printed side by side. This print result is similar to that of the both side print in a covered binding form.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a page printer or the like that outputs print data input from a host page by page.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a page printer receives a command for selecting a paper size for each set of data to be printed, and selects the paper size according to the contents of the command. Of course, the size chosen had to be one that could be installed or supplied with the printer.

[0003]Furthermore, the layout of a document, which has been once edited and determined, must be printed as is, and even if the layout is changed for cover-stitch printing, the editing must be redone.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, when the printer receives a command specifying a paper size that is not installed in the printer, the printer does not have the corresponding paper and prints until paper of an appropriate size is supplied. Sometimes the layout within the page is not appropriate because the page size is not the specified size even if the page is printed.

[0005]Furthermore, even if a document that has already been edited is intended to be bound, it is not possible to immediately and easily change the edited document.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and even if paper of the specified size is not supplied,
To provide a printing device capable of outputting a layout according to input data, and a printing device capable of easily realizing bag-stitch-like printing without re-editing a document.

[0007]

[Means for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above purpose,
The printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

[0008] A printing device that prints print data page by page, the device comprising: a specifying means for specifying the size of printing paper;
a first determining means for determining the presence or absence of paper of a size specified by the specifying means; a second determining means for determining the presence or absence of paper of a size other than the size specified by the first specifying means; and print data. and a layout means for creating an image different from the layout of.

[0009] The printing apparatus also prints print data page by page, and includes designation means for designating a print layout, and layout means for creating a print image in the layout designated by the designation means.

0010

[Operation] With the above configuration, if paper of the specified size is not set, a test is performed to see if there is paper of another size, and the print data is laid out to fit the paper and then printed.

[0011] Furthermore, when a layout is specified, the print data is rearranged and printed according to the layout.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As an embodiment of the present invention, a page printer that receives print data from a host computer and prints it will be described.

<Configuration> FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the printer of this embodiment.

101 is a command and print data input from the host, 102 is response data returned from the printer to the host, and 103 is a host I/F that connects the printer and the host computer. 104 is the font memory,
Contains bitmap information of the font corresponding to the code data. Reference numeral 105 denotes an operation panel that includes a panel for directly giving instructions to the printer from an operator and a display section for displaying the status of the printer. 106
107 is a page memory that stores print data input from the host page by page, and 107 is an image development memory that reads the font corresponding to the code data stored in the page memory 106 from the font memory 104 and develops it as a bitmap of the print image. It is. 108 is a main control unit of the printer, which controls the entire printer of this embodiment. Among them, 109 is a page layout control section, a paper size setting section 112 sets the paper size, and a control memory 114 stores information necessary for controlling the printer. 110 is a printer engine I/F unit, and 111 is a printer engine that actually performs printing. The printer engine 111 includes a size detection section 113 that detects the size of the paper being supplied.

Next, a procedure for connecting the page printer configured as described above to a host computer and printing host data will be explained.

<Description of Flowchart> FIG. 2 shows the main control unit 1 when the page printer of this embodiment performs print processing.
10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to No. 08.

When the print data is ready, the host computer (not shown) first notifies the printer of the size of paper to be printed.

The paper size is received in step S201. The received specified paper size is sent to the main control unit 1.
It is stored in the control memory 114 in 08. Next, in step S202, the size of the supplied paper detected by the size detection unit 113 is read, and a test is made to see if paper of the specified size is being supplied. If the print data is supplied, in step S203, a response is sent to the host indicating that printing is ready, and print data sent by the host is received in response to the print data, and stored in the page memory 106. After receiving the print data, in step S204, the print data for each page is developed into a print image for each page and stored in the image development memory 107. Thereafter, in step S205, printing is executed according to the image in the memory 107. After printing is finished, in step S206, a test is made to see if all the received print data has been printed. If completed, end; if remaining, step S20
Repeat printing from step 3. Note that if the print data from the host is input in several steps, the process is repeated from receiving the print data (S203).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S202 that the specified paper size is not being supplied, the process advances to step S207 to test whether the supplied paper is exactly twice the specified size. That is, for example, A
If 4 sizes are specified, a test is performed to see if A3 size is supplied. If it has been supplied, in step S208, a response is sent to the host computer indicating that printing is ready, and the print data sent in response is received and stored in the page memory 106. It should be noted here that in order to print two pages at once as described later, the data of page i and page (
The point is that it must be stored in pairs with the data of i + 1) (however, i forms a sequence with a tolerance of 2).
. Thereafter, in step S209, the contents of the page memory 106 are developed into a print image and stored in the image development memory 107.

[0020] Here, the method of developing the print image at this time will be explained. A developed example is specifically shown in FIG. 301 is a normal one-page layout. Let the specified paper size be Pl×Pw. A top margin T, a bottom margin B, a left margin L, and a right margin R are taken as the size, and the remaining effective printing area has a size El×Ew, that is, the shaded area in the figure. Of course, the size of the double-sized paper is (2×Pw)×Pl as shown in 302, and the specified paper can be used for two pages. Therefore, an image in which page i is laid out as 302-a on the left half of 302 and page (i+1) as 302-b on the right half is developed in the image development memory 107.

The data created as such an image is printed as is in step S210. The paper printed in this way can be folded in half as shown in 303 to print on both sides. When two pages have been printed, it is tested in step S211 whether all data received from the host has been printed. If it is completed, printing is complete, if not, proceed to step S2.
Return to step 04 and print the next page. Note that if data is to be received from the host several times, the process returns to step S208 and the process is repeated from receiving the data.

[0022] In step S207, if no paper of twice the size is supplied, "no paper" is displayed.
Send a message to the host. Wait for the host to take some action in response to this message, and if the "out of paper" status is cleared, step S again.
In step 201, the host waits for the print paper size to be sent.

[0023] Even if paper of the required size is not available using the above procedure, printing is possible if there is paper of twice the size. Furthermore, since the printing is done in a bag-stitched manner, the printed paper can be bag-stitched to produce double-sided printing.

[0024]

[Other Embodiments] Page layout adjustment can be controlled in cases other than the above-described embodiments. In Figure 4,
402 examples of landscape printing and portrait printing
403. This is to arrange the content to be printed into two columns, top and bottom or left and right, so that it can be bound from the layout given as print data. 4
02 is a portrait print like 401 printed in two columns, upper and lower, and 403 is data like 401 divided into halves and rearranged horizontally on the left and right. Layout control is specified by commands from the host.

The configuration and procedure for performing such printing will be explained.

The configuration of the printing apparatus may be the configuration shown in FIG. In this apparatus, this can be realized by performing the control procedure by the main control section 108 as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

<Description of Flowchart> Although the procedure is very similar to that in FIG. 2, it will be explained in detail.

[0028] Once the print data is complete, the host sends the paper size and layout to be printed to the printer. In Figure 4, the data we are about to send is 40
A control command is sent to print in format 402 even though it is format 1. The printer receives the paper size and layout designation sent here prior to the print data, and stores them in the control memory 14 (S501 and S502).
). Then test if there is paper of the specified size (
S503), if not, sends a message to that effect from the host and waits for the state to be released. If it is released, the process returns to step S501 to wait for the paper size to be specified. If there is paper, it responds to the host that it is ready for printing, receives the print data, and stores it in the page memory 106 (S504).
). The received data is rearranged according to the layout data stored in the control memory 114, and a print image is developed in the memory 107. In this case, the data that determines the layout specifies whether or not to divide the data in the memory 106 into two, and if it is divided, whether to rearrange it horizontally on the left and right, or whether to arrange it vertically with just a gap between the divided lines. remains. Once the print image is created, all that is left is to print it (S506).
. Finally, it is tested whether printing has been completed (S507), and if it has been completed, the process is finished. In this way, even if a document has already been edited, its layout can be changed when it is ready to be printed in accordance with constraints such as the paper size of the printing device.

[0029] Furthermore, when printing several dozen pages of text, once the host specifies the layout to the printer, the printer memorizes the instructions and then
If you can automatically layout print data,
There is no need for the host to specify the layout for each page, and the user can perform other tasks.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show examples of the configuration of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an example of an inkjet method, and FIG. 7 shows an example of a laser beam method.

In FIG. 6, 809 is a head cartridge having an inkjet recording head, and 811 is a carriage on which this is mounted for scanning in the S direction in the figure. 81
3 is a hook for attaching the head cartridge 809 to the carriage 811, and 815 is a lever for operating the hook 813. This lever 815 is provided with a marker 817 for indicating a scale provided on the cover, which will be described later, to make it possible to read the printing position, setting position, etc. by the recording head of the head cartridge. 819 is a support plate that supports the electrical connection to the head cartridge 809. 821 is a flexible cable for connecting the electrical connection section and the main body control section.

Reference numeral 823 denotes a guide shaft for guiding the carriage 811 in the S direction, and is inserted into a bearing 825 of the carriage 811. Reference numeral 827 denotes a timing belt to which the carriage 811 is fixed and which transmits power for moving the carriage in the S direction, and is stretched around pulleys 829A and 829B arranged on both sides of the device. Driving force is transmitted to one pulley 829B from the carriage motor 831 via a transmission mechanism such as a gear.

Reference numeral 833 denotes a platen roller for regulating the recording surface of a recording medium such as paper (hereinafter also referred to as recording paper) and conveying it during recording, etc., and is driven by a conveyance motor 835. 837 is a paper pan for guiding the recording medium from the paper feed tray side to the recording position; 839
is a feed roller disposed in the middle of the recording medium feeding path to press the recording medium toward the platen roller 833 and convey it. Reference numeral 841 denotes a paper discharge roller that is disposed downstream of the recording position in the recording medium conveyance direction and discharges the recording medium toward a paper discharge port (not shown). 84
A spur 2 is provided corresponding to the paper discharge roller 841, and presses the roller 841 through the recording medium to generate a force for conveying the recording medium by the paper discharge roller 841. Reference numeral 843 denotes a release lever for releasing the respective biases of the feed roller 839, presser plate 845, and spur 842 when setting a recording medium or the like.

Reference numeral 845 is a presser plate for suppressing floating of the recording medium near the recording position and ensuring close contact with the platen roller 833. In this embodiment, an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink is used as the recording head. Therefore, the distance between the ink ejection orifice forming surface of the recording head and the recording surface of the recording medium is relatively small, and the distance must be strictly controlled to avoid contact between the recording medium and the ejection orifice forming surface. Therefore, the arrangement of the presser plate 845 is effective. 847 is a scale provided on the holding plate 845, and 849 is a marker provided on the carriage 811 corresponding to this scale, and the print position and setting position of the head can be read by these.

A cap 851 is made of an elastic material such as rubber and faces the ink discharge orifice forming surface of the recording head in the home position, and is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the recording head. This cap 851 is used to protect the recording head during non-recording times and during ejection recovery processing of the recording head. Ejection recovery processing is to eject ink from all ejection ports by driving an energy generating element installed inside the ink ejection ports and used for ink ejection, thereby eliminating air bubbles, dust, and thickening. These processes include a process (preliminary ejection) for removing causes of ejection failure such as ink that is no longer suitable for recording, and a separate process for removing causes of ejection failure by forcibly discharging ink from an ejection port.

The cap 853 applies a suction force for forced ejection of ink, and also acts on the cap 85 during ejection recovery processing by such forced ejection or ejection recovery processing by preliminary ejection.
This is a pump used to suck in the ink required in step 1. 855 is a waste ink tank for storing the waste ink sucked by this pump 853, and 857 is a tube that communicates the pump 853 and the waste ink tank 855.

Reference numeral 859 is a blade for wiping the ejection orifice forming surface of the recording head, and there are two positions in which it protrudes toward the recording head and performs wiping during the movement of the head, and a retracted blade that does not engage the ejection orifice forming surface. It is supported so that it can be moved to and from the position. 861 is a recovery system motor, and 863 is a cam device that receives power from the recovery system motor 861 to drive the pump 853 and move the cap 851 and blade 859, respectively. Although this example is an example of a bubble jet, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to an aerojet method in which ink is ejected using an air flow.

Furthermore, a laser beam printer may be used as the printer mechanism.

FIG. 7 shows a laser beam printer (
This is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a LBP (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP), which can input character pattern data and the like and print it on recording paper.

In the figure, 740 is the LBP main body;
An image is formed on recording paper, which is a recording medium, based on the supplied character pattern. 700 is an operation panel on which switches and LED indicators for operation are arranged; 701
is a printer control unit that controls the entire LBP 740 and analyzes character pattern information and the like. This printer control unit 701 mainly converts character pattern information into a video signal and outputs it to a laser driver 702.

The laser driver 702 is a semiconductor laser 70
This is a circuit for driving the laser beam 703 emitted from the semiconductor laser 703 according to the input video signal.
04 on/off. The laser beam 704 is swung left and right by a rotating polygon mirror 705 and scans over an electrostatic drum 706 . As a result, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 706. After this latent image is developed by a developing unit 707 around the electrostatic drum 706,
Transferred to recording paper. A cut sheet is used for this recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 708 attached to the LBP 740, taken into the device by a paper feed roller 709 and transport rollers 710 and 711, and supplied to an electrostatic drum 706. be done.

The present invention may be applied to a system made up of a plurality of devices, or to an apparatus made up of one device. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to cases where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or device.

[0043]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the printing device according to the present invention can print even if paper of a specified size is not supplied.
The layout can be output in accordance with the input data, and it is possible to easily print in a bag-stitch style without having to re-edit the document.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the printing procedure of the embodiment.

[Figure 3]

FIG. 4 is an example of bag binding printing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the printing procedure of the embodiment.

[Figure 6]

FIG. 7 is an example of a mechanism of a printing device according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101...Input data 102...Output data 103...Host I/F section 104...Font memory 105...Operation panel 106...Page memory 107...Image expansion memory 108...Main control unit 109...Page layout control section 110...Printer engine I/F section 111...Printer engine 112...Paper size setting section 113...Size detection unit 114...Control memory

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing device that prints print data page by page, comprising: a designation unit for designating the size of printing paper; and a first determination unit, for determining the presence or absence of paper of the size designated by the designation unit. and a second determining means for determining the presence or absence of paper of a size other than that specified by the first specifying means, and a layout means for creating an image different from the layout of the print data. printing device. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second determining means determines whether or not there is a sheet twice the size of the designated sheet. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said layout means arranges two consecutive pages and lays them out on one page. 4. A printing device that prints print data page by page, comprising a designation device for designating a print layout, and a layout device for creating a print image in the layout specified by the designation device. Characteristic printing device. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said layout means creates a layout in which one page of data is divided into halves.