JPH05127850A - Raster plotter - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When a single raster plotter device is shared by multiple computers, a raster that can be output sequentially without requiring interface switching even when data is input simultaneously. It is to provide a plotter device. In a raster plotter device having a plurality of interfaces for inputting data from a plurality of host devices, inputting those data at the same time, and outputting the outputs in sequence by buffering, an operation panel is provided for each interface. It is configured to perform data input processing for each interface by the controller that inputs the setting conditions from the to store the setting values, and the controller that controls the data input based on the setting value for each interface. It

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raster plotter device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been practiced to connect a plurality of computers to a raster plotter device so that the plurality of computers also serve as the raster plotter device. In such a case, it is necessary to exchange the connection of the interface cable or operate the changeover switch between the plurality of computers and the raster plotter device. In addition, there has been proposed a method in which the operation of the changeover switch is automatically changed over using a timer.

[0003]

However, even with such a configuration, it is not possible to cope with the case where data is output from a plurality of computers at the same time, and further, the communication condition of the interface connected to the plurality of computers is further increased. Even when different, it was necessary to set each time according to each communication condition.

In such a case, RS-232-
When a bidirectional interface such as C is used, a response to a control command or inquiry command is sent to the computer, so input data cannot be buffered during the response operation, and it is used by each computer. When the emulation modes of the plotter devices are different, data transfer and buffering from another computer cannot be performed until the data transfer from one computer is completed.

When data is buffered in different plotter emulator modes, the output cannot be printed out (drawing output) in the order of buffering. Further, since the plotter emulation mode and the printer emulation mode are selected on the operation panel, it is not possible to input data in each emulation mode at the same time and output them in order by buffering.

Therefore, in order to connect a plurality of computers and one output device to realize a shared environment in a multi-user, multi-port input output device (peripheral device), interface conditions are required for each input port. (In RS-232-C, handshake, baud rate, parity, etc.) are set, and it is necessary to respond to control commands, inquiry commands, and the like. It is necessary to write print or drawing data in an input buffer, simultaneously input the data input from the respective ports, and output the outputs in order by buffering. Furthermore, the input data must be read from the input buffer and printed or plotted in the emulation mode set in each input port.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a raster plotter device which eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and can sequentially output data even if data is input at the same time without requiring interface switching. is there.

[0008]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention provides a multi-port input interface unit for data input from multi-users such as a plurality of computers. It has an interface controller for input signals such as control commands and plotting data, and is based on the interface control setting memory that stores the setting data input from the operation panel and the setting data such as interface communication conditions, print output conditions, and emulation mode. Then, the data input from the respective ports is written into the input buffer memory through the write control unit. Then, based on the settings registered in the multi-port setting memory input from the operation panel, the reading control unit outputs the printing and drawing data written in the input buffer memory, simultaneous multi-port input, no manual operation required. To realize a shared environment in the output device.

[0009]

With this configuration, the interface is controlled by the interface controller such as a serial interface such as RS-232-C and a parallel interface such as Centronics. The interface controller sets communication conditions based on the setting data registered from the operation panel in the interface control setting memory, controls commands,
It responds to inquiry commands and transfers print or drawing data to the input buffer memory. Such input data from each port can be simultaneously input by the respective interface controllers, and are written in the input buffer memory by time division or memory area division by the write controller. The read control unit from each port performs emulation mode, printing or plotting output stacking, buffering, etc. based on the setting data registered from the operation panel in the multiport setting memory, and transfers the data to the print engine unit. To do.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a raster plotter device according to the present invention, which is a 4-port input raster plotter device R.
It is applied to P. The four interfaces are
With each interface cable 1-n,
It is connected to different computers HC1 to HCn, and data is transferred according to different interfaces or communication conditions.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. In this example, the number of host computers is n in order to provide versatility.
First, data transmission / reception between the host computer HC1 and the raster plotter device RP is performed by the interface IF1. The communication conditions set on the operation panel 13 are registered in the interface control setting memory 12a. Based on the set data, the interface controller 11a performs data communication in the handshake with the host computer HC1 or a response to the control command by the interface IF1,
The print or drawing data is transferred to the input buffer memory 15 via the write control unit 14.

The write controller 14 transfers the data input to each port to the interface controller 11 of each.
a to 11b to transfer the input buffer memory 15
Control when writing to. Input buffer memory 15
With respect to the data from each port buffered in, the emulation selection set on the operation panel 13 is registered in the multi-port setting memory 17, and the read control unit 16
The data from each set port is read by. The central processing unit (CPU) 20 includes a program written in a read-only memory (ROM) 22 and
Based on the input from the operation panel 31, the read control unit 1
Random access memory (RAM) 2 from 6
1 and the graphics controller 23 develop the raster data in the raster data memory 24, and the print output command transfers the raster data to the print engine unit (output device) 25 for printing or drawing output.

In FIG. 3, four interfaces are provided, interfaces IF1 and IF3 are for RS-232-C, and interfaces IF2 and IF4 are for Centronics. Further, in FIG. 3, blocks arranged between the interfaces IF1 to IF4 and the write control unit 14 exemplarily show the contents set by the operation panel 13 of FIG. , The reference numbers of the interface controller and the interface control setting memory are also shown as an example. For example, the blocks (11a, 12a) are the operation panel 1
As conditions set by 3, handshake = hard wire, baud rate = 9600, parity = none,
Emu rate = Plotter A, block (1
1c and 12c) are handshake = XON / XOFF, baud rate = 9600, parity = none, emulation rate = as communication conditions set by the operation panel 13.
It is defined as plotter C. In addition, the block (11
b, 12b) are print conditions = timer 20, paper settings = A as communication conditions set by the operation panel 13.
2 → A3, emulation = plotter B (printer A)
The block (11d, 12d) is set as the communication condition set by the operation panel 13 and the print setting =
Command, paper setting = A3 paper width, emulation =
It is defined as printer A (plotter B). And
The blocks (11a, 12a, 11c, 12c) respond to or respond to the control command according to the set contents, and respond to the inquiry command, and further send and receive response data in the emulation mode. Blocks (11b, 12b, 11d, 12d)
In accordance with the set contents, the printing or drawing conditions output by the print engine unit 25 are executed. For control commands that change the emulation,
A command for the print engine unit 25 is added to the data written in the input buffer memory 15. Figure 4
Indicates the flow of print or drawing data written in and read from the input buffer memory 15. Data from the multi-port input interface is written by the respective interface controllers into the input buffer memory 15 composed of a magnetic disk memory or a semiconductor memory through the write controller 14 as print / plot data. The buffered data is sequentially output by the read control unit 16 with the contents set for each port. Next, the portion of the raster plotter apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 related to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. When the raster plotter apparatus is used with multiport and multiuser, first, step 51 in FIG.
At, the multi-port setting is selected on the operation panel 13. In step 52, the interface to be set is selected from the interfaces IF1 to IFn in FIG. Next, in step 53, the user is registered with the selected interface. By this user registration, the input data is managed by the user, and the data in the input buffer memory 15 can be stacked and output for each user. In addition, a plurality of users can be registered on the interface selected in step 52. When a user is set in step 53, the contents of steps 54 to 61 that have been registered in advance can be set at the same time.

In step 54, the type of interface (in this example, RS-232-C or Centronics is selected) is selected, and in steps 55 and 56, respective conditions are set. For example, in the case of RS-232-C, communication conditions such as baud rate, parity and handshake are set in step 55. In the case of Centronics, in step 56, the AC
Conditions such as K IN / OUT and selection are set.
Further, in step 57, the printer mode and plotter mode are selected, and the emulation mode is set, so that responses and responses to control commands and the like are performed by the respective interfaces, and simultaneous multiport input is also possible. In step 58, a command setting for printing or page break indicating the end of the input data, or a setting for adding a command of the same meaning depending on the time after the reception of the input data is stopped. In step 59, the size of the output paper and /
Alternatively, the magnification, the direction of the paper, etc. are set. Step 6
When 0 is used, the input buffer size is divided in advance, or the file is managed by tag data according to the input data size. In step 61, a stack for each user by user registration, job order setting, first-come-first-served basis, writing end order, and the like are set. In this way, the setting value of the interface to be used is registered in the interface control setting memory for each input port.

Data is input to each interface in step 71 in FIG. 6 when data is input in step 52 to step 6 in FIG.
The set value registered in 1 is read from the interface control setting memory, and the tag data of step 72 is written in the input buffer memory 15 before the input data. They are,
The interface controller performs processing in each interface. And the input data is
In step 80, control processing independent of each interface is performed and data is written in the input buffer memory 15. This writing is controlled by the setting in steps 60 and 61 of FIG. In step 73, the tag data indicating the end of the input data is written in the input buffer memory based on the setting in step 58 of FIG.

Data input from the respective interfaces in the multiport mode and the multiuser mode are written in the input buffer memory 15 shown in FIG. Then, in the written data, in step 74 of FIG. 6, readable data is detected by the set value or tag data in step 61 of FIG. 5 and steps 72 and 73 of FIG. Read the set value in the data. The set values are the steps 53, 57 in FIG.
It is the value registered at 59, 61 and the like. Step 76 is
The tag data attached to the input data is read to manage the data file, and in step 77,
It is treated as data in the read control unit 16 together with the set value in the multiport setting memory 17 in FIG. It is referred to when the buffer data is read in step 78 of FIG. 6, and the operation relating to the file is ended by the print / plot output in step 79.

When buffering input data, the input buffer memory 15 is a magnetic disk or DRAM.
Etc. can be used, but the interface controller 1 in each interface with the write control unit 14
In No. 1, desynchronization using a dual port RAM, a FIFO memory or the like is possible. The interface controller 11 handles the data input in step 81 of FIG. 6 with the control command in step 82 and with the inquiry command in step 87.

For control commands, step 5 is mainly used.
4 to step 57, steps 83 and 84 are executed based on the contents set in step 57. In steps 85 and 86, the respective interfaces are independently controlled by the respective interface controllers. In steps 90 and 91, the command data used for setting is written in the input buffer memory 15.

For inquiry commands, step 54
From the contents set in Step 59 to Step 59, Steps 88 and 89 are executed, and in Step 86, the interface controller outputs to the host computer through the interface. The print / print data and the drawing data are written in the input buffer memory in step 92.

[0020]

According to the present invention, when a plurality of emulation modes are provided and the respective interfaces and / or the communication conditions are different in multi-port input, the data from the respective interfaces can be simultaneously obtained by the setting from the operation panel. It can be input and output sequentially based on its settings, eliminating the need for interface switching operations.

[0021]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing an example of a raster plotter device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a raster plotter device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing operations of the interface controller and multiport of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of print / plot data in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 HC1 to HCn Host computer 1 to n Interface cable RP Raster plotter device IF1 to IFn interface 11a to 11n Interface controller 12a to 12n Interface control setting memory 13 Operation panel 14 Write controller 15 Input buffer memory 16 Read control Section 17 multi-port setting memory 20 CPU 21 RAM 22 ROM 23 graphics controller 24 raster data memory 25 print engine section 51-62, 71-92 steps

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A raster plotter device having a plurality of interfaces for inputting data from a plurality of host devices, inputting those data at the same time, and outputting the outputs in order by buffering, to each interface. A memory that stores the setting values by inputting the setting conditions from the operation panel is provided, and the data input processing is performed for each interface by the controller that controls the data input based on the setting value for each interface. Characteristic raster plotter device. 2. The interface to which data is input buffers the data based on the setting conditions, outputs the data corresponding to the set emulation mode, and enables multiport input. The raster plotter apparatus according to item 1.