JPH05147272A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make one printer controller applicable to a plurality of kinds of printer engines so as to make the cost lower by providing a selector switchable dependent on type of printer engine in a printer controller. CONSTITUTION:A selector 19 is provided in an engine interface of a printer controller capable of connecting a 1-drum system printer engine 12b having an image forming drum to a 4-drum system printer engine 12a having 4 image forming drums. Image information data from a memory 16b in the printer controller can be selected at every color. That is, when a 1-drum system engine 17b is connected or selected, image forming information is outputted to an engine 7b through a selector circuit 19a in the selector 19. When a 4-drum system engine 17a is connected or selected, the image forming information is outputted to an engine 7a through a delay circuit 19b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer controller for connecting a host device of a color printer such as a color printer or a color facsimile to a printer engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a color printer,
Several types of engines, such as a one-drum engine and a four-drum engine, are used as printer engines for forming color images.

A printer controller for connecting a host device and a printer engine is used for a one-drum engine,
It is necessary to develop each of them according to the printer engine system, such as for a 4-drum engine, and the number of types of controllers also increases. Therefore, it is necessary to provide many types of controllers where some types of printer engines are used. There was a problem that it needed a lot of money.

Further, when the drum type printer engine is used, there is a problem that the memory capacity becomes insufficient when data is stored in the memory for all pages of four colors.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above problems of the prior art and provides a printer controller which can be connected to various printer engines and which can be switched according to the type of the printer engine. Is an issue.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printer having a color printer engine and a printer controller for connecting the color printer engine and a host device, wherein the printer controller is provided. The engine interface connected to the printer engine has a selector that can be switched according to the type of the connected printer engine, and the selector selects a plurality of color image information from a plurality of printer engine via a predetermined delay circuit. It has a first circuit that can be simultaneously output to the image forming unit, and a second circuit that can sequentially output a plurality of color image information for each color, and the first circuit and the second circuit can be provided depending on the printer engine. The problem was solved by a printer characterized by being able to switch between the two.

[0007]

According to the present invention, color printer engines of different image forming systems can be connected to the printer controller individually or simultaneously, and the engine interface in the printer controller performs selector switching operation according to the type of printer engine, The image information of the color is simultaneously output to each image forming drum with a predetermined time delay, and the image information for each page is sequentially output before and after each color, for example.

According to the present invention, a single printer controller can handle a plurality of types of printer engines, and different types of printer engines can be used individually or simultaneously connected.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

In the printer, a printer controller that connects a host device that outputs image information and a printer engine that forms an image can be configured as shown in FIG. 1, for example.

In FIG. 1, a controller (printer controller) 1 includes a CPU 2, an NVRAM 3, a program ROM (Prog. ROM) 4, and a font ROM (Font).
ROM) 5, RAM 6, engine interface (Engine I / F) 7, panel interface (Pane
l I / F 8 、 Host interface (Host I / F)
F) 9, Disk interface (Disk I / F)
10 and a removable IC card 11, the CPU 2 controls the entire controller by the program in the program ROM 4, the mode instruction from the panel device 13, and the command from the host device 14.

The NVRAM 3 is a non-volatile storage device for storing the contents of the mode instruction from the panel device 13, the program ROM 4 stores the control program of the controller, and the font ROM 5 stores the font pattern data. The RAM 6 is stored and used as a work memory of the CPU 2, an input buffer for input data, a page buffer for print data, a memory for download fonts, and the like.

The IC card 11 is used to supply font data and programs from the outside.

The engine interface 7 communicates with a printing engine (abbreviated as a printer engine) 12 for commands, status, and print data.

The panel interface 8 communicates commands and statuses with the panel device 13 that informs the user of the current printer status and gives a mode instruction.

The host interface 9 communicates with the host device 14 as an upper device for outputting image information, and normally uses a Centro I / F or RS232C.

The disk interface 10 communicates with a disk device 15, such as a floppy disk device or a hard disk device, which stores various data such as font data, programs and print data.

The printer engine 12 includes a laser scanner 21 and an image forming section 22 as shown in FIG.
The image forming section 22 includes four image forming drums 25a, 25b, and 25.
A 4-drum engine equipped with c and 25d can be used. Since the image forming process and each constituent member are known, the description thereof will be omitted.

Based on the image information, the laser scanner 21 projects laser light 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d for each color, and the image for each color is charged, for example, on the image forming drums 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d. The image forming drums 25a, 25b, 25c and 25d are fed by the sheet feeding device 3, fed by the registration rollers 26 at a timing, and fed by the conveying member 27.
The images of the respective colors are transferred to the recording paper, and the transferred recording paper is transferred by the fixing device 24 and is normally discharged to the paper discharge tray 29 by the switching claw 28. If necessary, for example, an image of one color is formed, and after fixing, the switching claw 28 passes the intermediate guide 30, the second switching claw 31, and the re-conveying unit 33 again to the registration roller 26 to form the next color image. It can be performed. In some cases, it is sent to the intermediate tray 32 by the second switching claw 31 and the rear re-transport unit 3
3 allows the image to be sent to the registration roller 26 for the next image formation.

Various controllers having different types of engine interfaces are required depending on the type of printer engine 12 connected to the controller 1.

For example, in the case of a one-drum type engine (having one image forming drum), a memory 16a for one color is mounted on the controller as shown in FIG.
One page of color image is formed (printed). In this case, when data for one color such as yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) is sequentially sent from the host device page by page, the pages are printed in that order, and the host device prints 1 When data is sent as data in which colors are designated for each page, the operator is configured to print the colors manually set by the operator. Figure 4
When the memory 16b is mounted for each image information of each color as shown in, in order to print by the one-drum type engine, the image information data of each color is sent page by page from the host device, An example in which the data is expanded in the memory areas of the respective colors, the data from the memory areas of the respective colors is arranged in order for each color by the selector 17, and is output, for example, magenta data is expanded during printing of yellow, When the color-specified data in one page is sent from the host device, the data for one page of Y, M, C, and BK (black) is all developed and then printed in order. There is an example configured.

When printing with a four-drum type engine (having four image forming drums), a memory 16a for one color is mounted as shown in FIG. Is sent page by page, first, for example, yellow Y is printed, and the recording paper on which the Y image is printed is again sent to the image forming drum (photosensitive drum) 25b by the re-conveying unit 33 shown in FIG. There is a method in which an image of M is formed, re-conveyed, and an image of cyan C is formed by the image forming drum 25c, and an image of black BK is formed by the image forming drum 25d.

The image information data from the memory 16a is subjected to a delay process for line selection and timing adjustment so that the selector delay circuit 18 sends the image information data to the image forming drum corresponding to the color. Image formation is repeated four times for each color on the recording paper.

When the data designated by the host device 14 is continuously sent page by page, it is possible to print in the color manually set by the operator.
Printing is completed with one print operation. In this case, the selector delay circuit 18 selects a line designated by the operator, that is, which line of Y, M, C, and BK is used to form the image, and forms the image.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, all data for one page is sent from the host device 14 and developed for each color in the memory 16b, and the data in the memory for each color is selected by the selector delay circuit 18 for each image forming apparatus. There is a method in which four colors of data are simultaneously sent to each drum of the engine, and the four colors are printed simultaneously on the recording paper. In this case, the selector delay circuit 18 operates only the delay circuit, and it is not necessary to operate the selector circuit.

In a simple example, when two types of engines are used as described above, four types of controllers are required.
This point is shown in FIG.
The selector 19 is provided in the memory 1, and the image information data from the memory 16b formed in the RAM 6 of the controller 1 can be supplied to the selector 19 for each color. Or it can be connected at the same time, and the one-drum system engine 7b
Selector 19 when is connected or is selected
Selector circuit 19b in selector 19
The image forming information is output to the engine 7b through the above, and both the methods of FIGS. 3 and 4 can be implemented. To correspond to the example of FIG. 3, only one color of the memory 16b needs to be operated. When the 4-drum system engine is connected or selected, the selector 19 is switched, and the image information is output to the engine 7a through the delay circuit 19b. In this case, when it corresponds to the example of FIG. 6, it is switched so as not to pass the selector circuit 19a, but in the case of the example of FIG. 5, it is configured to select which line to select through the selector circuit 19a. The memory 16b may be a memory of all colors or may be a memory of one color. In either case, the image data is input to the selector circuit 19a and the image information data is output to the engine through the selected line. There is also a method and a method of selecting a memory for inputting data from the host device and expanding the data, and outputting from the memory to the engine 7a only through the delay circuit 19b.

When a four-drum type engine is connected as the printer engine 7, the capacity of the mounted memory may be exceeded due to the large capacity when data of all pages for four colors is stored. In this case, it is not possible to form an image of all colors by one printing by the method shown in FIG.

Therefore, when the memory capacity is exceeded, the system shown in FIG. 5 is automatically switched to print one page for each color, and the recording paper is re-conveyed repeatedly to superimpose images of a plurality of colors. It is possible to adopt the method of doing.
In this case, there is also a method of changing the color not for each page but for each line to send image information and forming four colors for one line by scanning four times. Depending on the case, it is possible to specify the color for each character or each image.

Depending on the capacity of the memory, it is possible to form two colors in one print and re-convey to form the remaining two colors.

When the capacity of the memory is exceeded, or in the controller where only the memory for one color is mounted, if the operator has designated a color by the panel device 13 in advance, it is possible to print with only that color. ..
This example is effective when an engine that does not have a re-transport unit is connected. In this case, for example, the setting at the time of memory over is performed according to the flow of FIG. In other words, ask if you want to set when the memory is over, if it is set, ask if it is print stop or color designation, and if you want to set print stop, set stop at over time and set the color. If you specify it, set the monochrome printing for the corresponding color.

[0031]

According to the present invention, in the controller,
It is possible to switch the transfer method according to the printer engine method, and it is possible to increase the types of engines that can be supported by the controller using one type of engine interface, which enables efficient development. It was

According to the present invention, a color image can be formed even when the memory capacity of image information is small, and low-cost color printing is possible.

According to the present invention, it is possible to print for a user who does not want full color printing under a specific condition, and it is possible to supply a low cost printer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of an example of a printer engine used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for controlling a 1-drum system engine.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another control system of the one-drum system engine.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one control system of a four-drum system engine.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another control system of a 4-drum system engine.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of an engine interface of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a setting flow chart at the time of memory over.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Controller 7 Engine Interface 12 Engine 14 Host Devices 16a, 16b, Memory 19 Selector 19a Selector Circuit 19b Delay Circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer having a color printer engine and a printer controller connecting the color printer engine and a host device, wherein an engine interface provided in the printer controller and connected to the printer engine is connected. A first circuit capable of switching a plurality of color image information to a plurality of image forming units of the printer engine at the same time via a predetermined delay circuit; A printer having a second circuit capable of sequentially outputting a plurality of color image information for each color before and after, and switching between the first circuit and the second circuit according to a printer engine. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the engine interface is formed so as to be simultaneously connectable to a plurality of printer engines. 3. The printer engine, wherein the printer engine has a plurality of image forming drums, and a re-conveying unit for re-conveying the recording paper on which an image has been formed by the image forming drums to an image forming position of the image forming drums. When the image information storage capacity of the memory is smaller than the capacity of all pages of all colors, the selector is switched to form an image on the recording paper that is repeatedly conveyed by the re-conveying unit separately for each color. The printer according to claim 1 or 2. 4. A means for notifying an operator when detecting that the memory for storing image information has insufficient memory capacity, and a means for selecting one of continuation by monochromatic image formation and operation stop. Claim 1 characterized by the above.
Or the printer described in 2.