JPH08207402A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To efficiently conduct correction and addition in a manual by exchanging a memory by a method wherein in a printer forming and printing an image based on a command from a host computer, manual information stored in the memory can be printed, as required. CONSTITUTION: A controller 12 sequentially interprets a command transmitted from a host computer 14, develops it into an image, and transmits the formed image to a printing circuit 16. In the printing circuit 16, monochrome printing is conducted correspondingly to the image. The controller 12 is provided with a read memory 24 storing program data controlling the operation of the printer 10 and character data. Manual data is stored in a remaining area of the memory 24. At the time of printing a manual, a command string for making the previously formed manual is read out of the memory 24, and an image is formed and printed based on the command.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus which forms and prints an image based on a command supplied from a host computer, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a printing apparatus (printing apparatus with a controller) for forming and printing an image based on a command code supplied from a host computer is put on the market as a product, a manual is usually attached.

In the case of this printing apparatus, the manual includes an explanation of the function of the command code in addition to the installation method and the usage method, and usually has 200 pages or more.

[0004]

However, this thick manual was difficult to understand and costly.

Further, although the description of the function of the command code requires a large number of pages, in general, application software operating on a host computer connected to the printing apparatus creates the command code, so that a normal user can use it. Was unnecessary information (however, it was a character that cannot be deleted because it describes the function of the printing apparatus).

On the other hand, as the functions of the printing apparatus have become complicated, the program size of software for controlling the printing apparatus has increased, and the version of the program has come to be frequently updated. Some of these version upgrades require the user to be informed of the contents, but in that case, there has been a problem that the manual has to be changed or added each time.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus which can provide an easy-to-understand and low-cost manual and can efficiently correct / add the manual.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a first memory in which data for forming an image image is stored, a controller for forming an image image based on a command supplied from the data in the first memory. And a printing device including a printing circuit for printing an image image formed by the controller, storing the first manual information in the first memory, and printing the first manual information by the printing circuit as necessary. Is a printing device.

[0009]

The manual information stored in the first memory is printed by the printing circuit as needed. here,
Since the manual information is also stored in the first memory in which the data for forming the image, for example, the program data for controlling the printing device is usually stored, for example, in the case of the version upgrade of the program data, the program data The manual can be corrected / added at the same time simply by exchanging the first memory for storing.

The first memory may be removable.

Further, a second memory such as an IC card which can be detachably attached may be provided. At this time, the second
The manual information stored in the memory is printed by a printing circuit as needed. Here, since manual information is also stored in the second memory in which data for assisting or expanding the function of the printing apparatus, for example, program data is stored, for example, in the case of version upgrade of this program data, the program The manual can be modified or added at the same time by simply exchanging the second memory that stores the data.

[0012]

According to the present invention, since only the manuals required by the user need to be provided as a booklet, unlike the prior art, it is a complicated task of searching for a necessary item from a thick manual. Is unnecessary,
An easy-to-understand manual can be obtained.

Further, it is sufficient to print only the required manual, and it is sufficient to use the surplus area of the existing memory as the memory, so that the cost can be reduced.

Further, when the version upgrade of the program data or the like occurs, the manual data can be rewritten at the same time, so that the manual correction / addition becomes easy.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The printing device 10 includes a controller 12 and a printing circuit 16. The controller 12 sequentially interprets the commands sent from the host computer 14 and develops them into an image. Here, the image image means data in which 1 bit is allocated corresponding to 1 dot of the image and “0” or “1” is set for the black and white. The created images are sequentially printed circuit 1
Sent to 6. The printing circuit 16 performs black-and-white printing corresponding to this image image, and printing is completed.

Here, the controller 12 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG.

The controller 12 shown in FIG. 2 includes a CPU 18 which controls the processing of the controller 12. CPU1
8 includes a communication port 20, a control panel 22, a read memory 24, a read / write memory 26, and an image memory 28.
Are connected via the bus 30. A host computer 14 is connected to the communication port 20 for receiving data, and a control panel 22 for interfacing with a user.
To instruct printing of desired manual information. Here, for simplification, the manual printing is started by the control panel 22, but the starting may be set in the menu of the control panel 22 or a special key may be prepared. Various other methods are possible.

The read memory 24 is, for example, a built-in RO.
M, etc., and includes a program data area and a bitmap image area.
Program data and character data for controlling the operation of 0 are stored. Here, the read memory 24, which stores the program data and the character data, requires a large capacity as the use of the printing apparatus 10 becomes complicated. However, the size of the read memory 24 is 2 ⁿ (n
Will increase in proportion to the natural number), so the area will naturally increase too.

Therefore, in this embodiment, manual data, which is manual information of the printing apparatus 10, is stored in this surplus area (manual data area).
The format of this manual data can be interpreted by the controller 12 so that the printing device 10 can be used by the host computer 1
It is the same as the format of the data received from No. 4. The same applies to the other controllers 40 and 44 described later.

The read / write memory 26 includes a received data storage area, a work area, and a registration data area, and stores received data, work data, and registration data, respectively. The image memory 28 stores image images obtained by sequentially interpreting the commands by the controller 12.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the controller 1
The process 2 will be described in detail. Here, the processing of the controller 12 is roughly divided into three categories. Each receives the data from the host computer 14, and writes the received data in the read / write memory 26.

Data is taken out from the read / write memory 26, sequentially interpreted to create an image image, and written in the image memory 28.

The created image is printed by the printing circuit 16
Send to. Is. In many cases, these are independently executed by interrupt processing or the like. The description of will be given later.

The flow of data during manual printing and the flow of data during normal printing are as shown in FIG.

During normal printing, the data received from the host computer 14 is stored in the received data storage area of the read / write memory 26. The stored received data is
The commands are sequentially interpreted by the command interpretation sequence, and an image is created in the image memory 28 based on the command. The created image image is sent to the printing circuit 16 in the printing sequence.

On the other hand, at the time of manual printing, a command sequence for producing a manual prepared in advance is stored in the manual data storage area of the read memory 24. The command sequence for producing the stored manual is sequentially interpreted by the command interpretation sequence, and an image image is created in the image memory 28 based on the command. The created image image is sent to the printing circuit 16 in the printing sequence.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a method of controlling the reception data storage area of the read / write memory 26 will be described.

The read pointer 32, the write pointer 34, the read counter, and the write counter (not shown) shown in FIG. 5 are used to control the read / write memory 26, and are defined as follows.

The read pointer 32 is used when the above-described processing (command interpretation processing) is performed, and after reading the data from this address, the address is advanced by one. The write pointer 34 is used when the above-mentioned processing (data reception processing) is performed, and writes data to this address. After writing, advance the address by one. The read counter is used in the above-described processing, and stores the data size with which addresses can be read continuously. After reading, the count value is decremented by one.
The write counter is used in the above-mentioned processing, and stores the data size 38 in which addresses can be continuously written. After writing, the count value is decremented by 1.

Therefore, in the above processing, when the data from the host computer 14 is received, the data is written in the write pointer 34 and the count value of the write counter is decremented by one. In the process (1), when the CPU 18 detects that there is readable data, the data is read from the read pointer 32 and the read counter is decremented by one. The read pointer 32 is controlled by the CPU 18 so as not to overtake the write pointer 34. In each of the reading and writing processes, the count value is checked before performing the respective processes. However, if the count value is "0", the process cannot be performed. I'm checking that the area is empty. When the area of the read / write memory 26 becomes empty, a new counter is recreated and the process proceeds to the next process.

For example, assuming that there is no data to be read (the controller 12 has processed all the data received from the host), the read counter is 0,
The read pointer 32 is optional. When it is detected that the read counter is 0 in the above-mentioned data read routine, the read pointer 32 and the write pointer 34 (if read pointer 32> write pointer 34, the final address of the circular buffer) are compared. At this time, if the two pointers are the same, it means that there is no readable data, and therefore the pointers are continuously compared. If the two pointers are different, it indicates that new data has been received. Therefore, the difference is set in the read counter, one byte of data is taken out, and the next processing is performed. Here, since the process of receiving the data from the host computer 14 is performed by the interrupt process, the write pointer 34 is updated by the interrupt process.

Next, it is assumed that there is no data area to be written (when the circular buffer 26 becomes full with received data). In this case, the write counter is 0 and the write pointer 34 is arbitrary. The above-mentioned data receiving routine waits for the host computer 14 when the write counter reaches 0.
After that, the content of the write pointer 34 plus 1 is compared with the content of the read pointer 32. This time,
If the two pointers are the same, it means that there is no write area in the circular buffer 26, so that the comparison processing of the two pointers is continuously performed. If the two pointers are different, it indicates that the data has been processed by the controller 12, and the difference is set in the write counter to release the wait to the host computer 14,
The following processing is performed.

This read / write memory 26 is used as a circular buffer, and when the pointer reaches the bottom of FIG. 5, it advances to the top as the next pointer. In this way, the read / write memory 26 can be used infinitely.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the reading of manual data will be described.

The controller 12, which has received the manual print instruction from the control panel 22, switches the read / write memory 26 to the read memory 24, as also shown in FIG.

As this method, as shown in FIG. 6, the current read pointer 32 used in the read / write memory 26 is saved in the save area, and the start address of the manual data area is newly set as the read address of the manual data. 322. Then, the data size 362 of the manual data is set in the read counter.

Then, in the above-mentioned processing, the data is fetched from the manual data area and then printed. The printing of the manual is completed when the interpretation of the manual data is completed.

After that, if the read pointer 32 saved in the save area is restored and the read counter is returned to 0,
The data is read again from the read / write memory 26, and the subsequent processing is performed without any problem.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
~ It demonstrates with reference to FIG. The main flow of the printing apparatus 10 is (1) main process which is a normal process (lowest level) (2) reception interrupt process (highest level) that occurs when data is received from the host computer 14 (3) regular There is a timer interrupt process (higher level) that occurs in.

7 and 8 show the main processing in the normal or manual printing mode.

7 and 8, when the initial process is completed in step S1 after the power is turned on, the process proceeds to step S3, and in step S3, the main process enters a data reception waiting loop from the host computer 14. Whether or not there is received data is determined by whether or not the read counter is zero. Read / write memory 26
The writing of data to is performed at the reception interrupt. If step S3 is "NO", the process proceeds to step S411,
In step S411, it is determined whether or not the current mode is the manual print mode. The fact that the manual printing mode is currently set and "NO" in step S3 indicates that the manual printing is completed. Therefore, in step S412.
In step S412, the manual print mode flag is turned off, the read pointer 32 is returned from the save area to the pointer of the normal read / write memory 26, the read counter 36 is returned to 0, and the reception interrupt is permitted. Then, the process returns to step S3.

If the manual print mode is not set in step S411, the flow advances to step S413, and in step S413, the manual print start instruction flag is checked to determine whether or not manual print is instructed.

If "NO" indicating that manual printing has not been instructed in step S413, the process returns to step S3.

In step S413, if "YES" that the manual printing is instructed, step S413
Proceed to 414. In step S414, the manual print mode flag is turned on, and the current read pointer 32
Data is saved in the save area, and the read pointer 32
The read address 322 of the manual data is set to the, and the data size 362 of the manual data is set to the read counter. Then, the process returns to step 3. If step 3 is "YES", the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, 1 byte of data is fetched from the read / write memory 26 or the read memory 24. Next, in step S7, it is determined whether this data is a command or a character. In the case of a normal printer command, a command of 20H (hexadecimal) or less is a command, and a command exceeding 20H is often a character.

If "YES" in step S7, the command processing is performed in step S9. For example, the command is 0AH = line feed, 0CH = page break, 1BH (Esc) ... = each command (font selection, print area setting, image printing, e
It is allocated as shown in tc). Specifically, in the case of a line feed, the virtual cursor position in the controller 12 is set to the head position of the next line, and in the case of font selection, a font selection flag is set to specify the font. Is.

The intermediate code is created when it is necessary to draw a picture image in the picture memory 28. The contents of the intermediate code include the address of the bitmap image area in the read memory 24, which is a source for drawing an image image in the image memory 28, the development position on the image memory 28, and the like. Examples of cases in which an intermediate code needs to be created in a command include an image print command.

In step S7, if the command is not judged to be "NO", it is treated as a character. That is, in this case, in step S11, the address of the bitmap image area of the designated character is searched, the expansion position on the image memory 28 is calculated, and the intermediate code of the character is created. Character processing is performed in this manner.

When the command processing of step S9 or the character processing of step S11 is completed, step S9 is executed.
At 13, it is determined whether the interpretation for one page is completed. In the case of "NO", the process returns to step S3 and the processing up to this point is repeated. Step S13 is "YES"
In the case of, the process proceeds to step S15 to move to the process of interpreting the intermediate code.

In step S15, in the intermediate code interpretation process, the created intermediate code is interpreted, an image image (bitmap image) is created, and the image image is developed on the image memory 28. For example, as the image memory 28, an area for one page of A4 [1 dot is 1 bit, “0” is white, “1” is black, 30
In case of 0DPI, A4 = 297 × 210mm,
{(300 / 25.4) × 210} × {(300/2
5.4) × 297} = 8697360 bits = approximately 1.1
MB area required] is prepared, the expansion position on the image memory 28 is calculated based on the intermediate code, and the source (source) image image is transferred to the image memory 28.

This process is repeated for the number of intermediate codes.

When the interpretation of all the intermediate codes is completed,
This means that the development for one page has been completed.

Thereafter, in step S17, the print circuit 16 is instructed to start printing, and the image memory 2 created is created.
The image images on No. 8 are sequentially transferred to the print circuit 16. Then, in step S19, when the printing for one page is completed, the printing is completed, and the process returns to step S3.

The source of data for the entire process is the host computer 14.

Next, FIG. 9 shows the reception interrupt processing.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the reception interrupt processing occurs, the received reception data is written in the read / write memory 26.

Next, FIG. 10 shows the timer interrupt processing.

Although various processes are performed in the timer interrupt shown in FIG. 10, a process by the control panel 22 can be cited as a process related to the present invention. In this process,
It is determined whether or not the user has performed the setting process of the control panel 22, and when the setting is changed, the process based on it is performed.

Specifically, the following settings are made.

That is, in step S21, it is determined whether the font selection is instructed. "YES"
If so, font selection processing is performed in step S23, and the process proceeds to step S25. Step S21 is "N
When it is "O", the process directly proceeds to step S25.

In step S25, it is determined whether or not a margin setting instruction has been issued. Step S25 is "Y
If ES ", the margin setting process is performed in step S27, and the process proceeds to step S29. If step S25 is" NO ", the process directly proceeds to step S29.

In step S29, it is determined whether or not a test print instruction has been issued. If "YES", a test print process is performed in step S31, and the process proceeds to step S33. Step S29 is "NO"
If so, the process directly proceeds to step S33.

In step S33, it is determined whether or not a manual print instruction has been issued. If “NO”, the process ends. If “YES”, in step S35,
Set the manual print start instruction flag. And
Receive interrupts are disabled.

When manual printing is instructed on the control panel, normal processing is continued until all currently received data is processed.

When the processing of all the received data is completed, the manual print start flag is checked in step S413 shown in FIG. In this case, since the manual print start flag is set, the manual print mode flag is set, the data of the current read pointer 32 is saved in the save area, the address of the manual data is set in the read pointer 32, and the read counter is set. Set the manual data size 362 to. Then, the determination as to whether or not data reception in the normal mode is present is changed to the determination as to whether or not there is manual data. If "YES" in the step S3, one byte of manual data is fetched from the manual data area of the read memory 24 in a step S5, and the process proceeds to a step S7.

After that, command / character processing, intermediate code interpretation processing, and the like are performed in the same manner as normal processing.

This processing is continued until there is no manual data (until the end of the manual data area is interpreted). When the data is interpreted to the end, there is no manual data in step S3, and step S412
Then the manual printing ends.

The source of the overall data for this process is the read memory 24.

According to such a printing apparatus 10, the user can easily obtain the manual. In addition, since the contents that the user really needs out of the manuals attached to the product are provided as a booklet and the other contents are stored in the read memory 24, some or all of the manuals that have been conventionally created can be stored. Can be reduced and efficient. Furthermore, it is possible to efficiently modify and add manuals accompanying changes in control software.

Further, since the manual data is stored in the surplus area of the read memory 24, it costs little.

A controller 40 as shown in FIG. 11 may be used as the controller.

The controller 40 shown in FIG. 11 has an extended read memory 42 in addition to the controller 12 shown in FIG.
Is added. However, the read memory 24 of the controller 40 does not include manual data.

The extended read memory 42 is configured as a removable IC card, for example. The extended read memory 42 includes a program data area and a character data area, and stores program data and character data for assisting or extending the function of the printing device 10, respectively. Further, for example, manual data of the extended read memory 42 is stored in the respective surplus areas of the program data and character data areas. Other configurations are the same as those of the controller 12 shown in FIG. 2, and therefore, the same reference numerals are given and duplicated description is omitted.

The processing of the controller 40 is shown in FIG. 12, but this is the same except that the read memory 28 of FIG. 3 described above is the extended read memory 42, and therefore a duplicate description thereof will be omitted. The data flow during manual printing and the data flow during normal printing of the controller 40 shown in FIG. 12 are as shown in FIG. The data flow during normal printing is as described above. On the other hand, at the time of manual printing, a command sequence for creating a previously created manual is stored in the manual data storage area of the extended read memory 42.
The command sequence for creating the stored manual is
The commands are sequentially interpreted by the command interpretation sequence, and an image is created in the image memory 28 based on the command. The created image image is sent to the printing circuit 16 in the printing sequence.

When the controller 40 is used and the value of the read pointer 32 is manipulated, the controller 12 causes the read memory 24 and the read / write memory 2 to operate.
6 or data can be fetched from any address of the extended read memory 42. That is, for example, if the address of the extended read memory 42 is set in the read pointer 32 and the data size is set in the read counter according to an instruction from the control panel 22, data is sequentially read from the extended read memory 42, Printing is performed.

At this time, as the correspondence on the side of the controller 12, when, for example, manual printing of the extended read memory 42 is instructed by an instruction from the control panel 22 or the like, the position of a predetermined area of the predetermined extended read memory 42 is determined. The manual information data area start address shown in FIG. 14 is searched from. Then, the obtained address is set in the read pointer 32, and the obtained data size is set in the read counter.

On the other hand, regarding the correspondence on the extended read memory 42 side, for example, "FFFF" indicating that the extended read memory does not exist at the address 0, and "FONT" indicating that the data is font data. , "MANU" indicating that the data is manual data is stored. If “MANU” is stored in the address 0, the extended read memory 42 holds the manual data of the extended read memory 42.
The format of this data is a format that can be interpreted by the controller 12 targeted for the extended read memory 42. Then, for example, a manual information data area start address as shown in FIG. 14 is created at address 4. After that, if the controller 12 reads out, interprets, and prints the manual data in the extended read memory 42 according to the instruction from the user, the desired manual is supplied to the user.

The operation of the printing apparatus 10 when the printing apparatus 10 is constructed using such a controller 40 will be described.

Normal main processing and reception interrupt processing are
Since the processing is performed as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, duplicated description will be omitted. The read memory 24 in steps S3 and S5 becomes the extended read memory 42.

The timer interrupt process is as shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 15, it is determined in step S41 whether or not there is a font selection instruction. “Y
If it is "ES", font selection is processed in step S43, and the process proceeds to step S45. If step S41 is "NO", the process directly proceeds to step S45.

In step S45, it is determined whether or not there is a margin setting instruction. If "YES", margin setting processing is performed in step S47, and the process proceeds to step S49. If step S45 is "NO", the process directly proceeds to step S49.

In step S49, it is determined whether or not there is a test print instruction. If "YES", a test print process is performed in step S51, and the process proceeds to step S53. Step S49 is "NO".
If so, the process directly proceeds to step S53.

In step S53, it is determined whether or not there is a manual print instruction. If "YES", it is determined in step S55 whether or not there is the extended read memory 42. If "YES" in the step S55, in the step S57, the extended read memory 4
It is determined whether or not the manual data is stored in 6. If "YES" in the step S57, the process proceeds to a step S59 to shift to the manual print mode. That is, the reception interrupt is prohibited, the manual printing start instruction flag is set, and the processing is ended. Steps S53 and S5
If 5 or S57 is "NO", the process ends.

Here, in the past, there were the following problems.

Conventionally, an IC card (printer expansion IC memory device) storing character data and program data in order to expand the function of the printing apparatus is commercially available.

The IC card is often sold separately from the printer as the main body. However, since the IC card is small, there is a tendency that the number of manuals attached is small.
It was not enough to explain the function of the card.

Further, although it is not easy to change the manual once it has been created, version storage may occur when the program is stored in the IC card, and the manual is changed accordingly. It was very troublesome when needed.

However, when the printing apparatus 10 is configured using such a controller 40, the manual for the extended read memory 42 is held in the memory in the form of data, so that a place for holding the manual is required. Not. Therefore, even a small product such as an IC card does not require a thick and large manual, and
A small case for the card can be used and a sufficient manual can be provided to the user.

Further, as for the correction / addition of the manual accompanying the version upgrade of the program of the extended read memory 42, the manual data can be rewritten at the same time as the correction / addition of the program, so that the manual can be easily corrected / added. .

Further, a controller 44 as shown in FIG. 16 may be used as the controller.

The controller 44 shown in FIG.
The read memory 24 also stores manual data, although it is almost the same as the controller 40 shown in FIG. That is, the first manual data, for example, the manual data of the printing device 10, is stored in the read memory 24.
Subsequent manual data, for example, the manual data of the printing device 10, the extended read memory 42, etc., is stored in the extended read memory 42, respectively. Since other configurations are similar to those of the controller 40, the same reference numerals are assigned and the duplicated description will be omitted.

The processing of this controller 44 is as shown in FIG. Since this is almost the same as the controller 12 shown in FIG. 3, the duplicated description will be omitted. However, in FIG. 17, the extended read memory 42 is further added.

When the controller 44 is used, the data flow during manual printing and the data flow during normal printing are as shown in FIG.

During normal printing, the data received from the host computer 14 is stored in the received data storage area of the read / write memory 26. The stored received data is
The commands are sequentially interpreted by the command interpretation sequence, and an image is created in the image memory 28 based on the command. The created image image is sent to the printing circuit 16 in the printing sequence.

On the other hand, at the time of manual printing, a command sequence for preparing a manual prepared in advance is stored in the manual data storage area of the read memory 24 and the manual data storage area of the extended read memory. Read memory 24 and extended read memory 42
The command sequence for creating the manual stored in the is sequentially interpreted by the command interpretation sequence, and an image image is created in the image memory 28 based on the command. The created image image is sent to the printing circuit 16 in the printing sequence.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 10 constructed using such a controller 44 will be described below.

First, FIGS. 19 and 20 show main processing in the normal or manual printing mode.

First, after the power is turned on, an initial process is performed in step S61. Then, step S6
In 3, the main process enters a data reception waiting loop from the host computer 14. Whether or not data has been received is determined by whether or not the read counter is 0. To write data to the read / write memory 26,
It is done by reception interruption.

If "NO" in the step S63, it is determined in a step S651 whether or not the present mode is the manual print mode. If "NO" in step S63 and "YES" in step S651 that is currently the manual print mode, it indicates that the manual printing is completed, and the process advances to step S671. In step S671, the manual print mode flag is cleared, the read pointer 32 is returned from the save area to the pointer of the normal read / write memory 26, the read counter is reset to 0, and the reception interrupt is permitted. Then, the process returns to step S63.

If “NO” in the step S651, the process proceeds to a step S652, and it is determined in the step S652 whether or not the instruction is a manual print start instruction. If the manual print start instruction is not given, step S652 becomes "NO" and the process returns to step S63. If the instruction to start manual printing has been issued, step S652 displays "YE".
S ”, the process proceeds to step S672, and step S67
In 2, the manual printing mode flag is turned on, the current data of the read pointer 32 is saved in the save area, the manual data address saved in advance is set in the read pointer 32, and the manual data size is set in the read counter. . Step S
When 63 is “YES”, the process directly proceeds to step S69,
Data is read from the read / write memory 26, the read memory 24, or the extended read memory 42. Then, the process proceeds to step S71.

Since the processing of steps S71 to S83 is similar to that of steps S7 to S19 shown in FIG. 8, duplicated description will be omitted.

The reception interrupt processing is processed as shown in FIG.

Further, the timer interrupt processing is processed as shown in FIG.

In the timer interrupt processing shown in FIG. 21, steps S91 to S103 are the same as step S4 shown in FIG.
Since the same processing as 1 to S53 is performed, the duplicated description will be omitted.

Then, if "YES" in the step S103, the process proceeds to a step S105. In step S105, it is determined whether the manual print instruction is for the manual data in the read memory 24 or the manual data in the extended read memory 42. If it is for the manual data in the read memory 24, it is determined in step S107 whether or not there is manual data in the read memory 24. If "NO", the process ends, and if "YES", the process proceeds to step S109.

On the other hand, in step S105, if the instruction for manual printing is for the manual data in the extended read memory 42, the process proceeds to step S111. In step S111, it is determined whether or not there is the extended read memory 42, and if "NO", the process ends. If step S111 is "YES", step S113
Proceed to. In step S113, it is determined whether there is manual data in the extended read memory 42,
If "NO", the process ends, and if "YES", the process proceeds to step S109.

Then, in step S109, the reception interrupt is prohibited, the manual print start instruction flag is set, and the address and size of the manual data in the read memory 24 or the extended read memory 42 are saved in the save area.

By configuring the printing apparatus 10 using such a controller 44, the manual can be used more easily and the cost can be further reduced.

Next, there may be a case where the user wants to print only a part of the chapters of the manual desired, instead of printing the entire manual.

In this case, the controller uses the controller 44 shown in FIG. 16 as in the above example. It is assumed that the manual data is stored only in the extended read memory 42. Overlapping description of the figures is omitted.

The difference between the printing of the entire manual and the printing of only some chapters of the manual lies in the data format.

That is, the data format of FIG. 14 is as shown in FIG.
You can do like 2. At the beginning of the data area, the attributes of the data of the following blocks are recorded. This indicates that the extended read memory of FIG. 14 does not exist "F.
One of "FFFH", "FONT" indicating that the data is font data, and "MANU" indicating that the data is manual data is recorded. In the next area, the start address of the block area is recorded. The data size of the block is recorded in the next area, and the data of the block is recorded in the next area.

In this example, "MANU" indicating that the data is manual data is the attribute of the data, and in the area of the start address, the start address of the manual information data area of Chapter 1 of the manual is the area of the data size. The manual data size of the first chapter is recorded in the, and the manual data of the first chapter is recorded in the data area.

Similar data of other chapters of the manual are also recorded in the subsequent block area, and the manual information of the second chapter is recorded as a continuation of the first chapter. That is, at the beginning of this block, "MANU" indicating that it is manual data, and in the following address area,
The manual data size of the second chapter is recorded in the area of the data size following the start address of the manual information data area of the second chapter, and the manual data of the second chapter is recorded in the data area.

Here, the entire block of the second chapter ("MAN
U ”, including the address area and the size area), the start address is calculated by the manual information data area start address of Chapter 1 + the manual data size of Chapter 1. The addresses of the subsequent blocks can be obtained by the same calculation.

Next, the main processing in the normal or manual print mode in the case of printing only a part of the chapters of the manual desired by the user will be described.

In this case, the details of the initial process of step S61 of FIG. 19 are performed based on the flowchart of FIG. That is, the expansion IC card is searched at the time of initializing, and the number of blocks of the stored manual information is calculated.

The flow will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S121,
The manual counter is reset to "0", and the search address holds the first address of the expansion IC card. The manual counter is a counter for counting the chapters of the manual, and holds the number of chapters of the manual after the initial processing. Also,
The search address is a pointer for searching the data of the expansion IC card.

Next, in step S123, the extension I
It is checked whether a C card is present. Whether or not there is an expansion IC card, the data of the search address is "FF
It is determined whether or not it is "FFH", and when it is not "FFFFH", it indicates that there is an expansion IC card.

If "YES" in the step S123,
In step S125, it is determined whether or not the data of the search address is "MANU" in order to check whether or not the block is manual information data. If "YES" in the step S125, it means that it is the manual information data, and therefore, the process proceeds to a step S127, increments the manual count by 1, and further proceeds to a step S129. If step S125 is "NO", the process of step S127 is not performed and the process proceeds to step S129 following step S127.

In step S129, the manual information data area start address + manual data size is stored in the search address. This means that when the first block in FIG. 22 is being processed, the first chapter manual information data area start address + the first chapter manual data size is stored in the search address. This search address points to the head address of the next block as described above.

Next, in step S131, it is determined whether or not the search address data is "FFFFH". Not "FFFFH", that is, step S131
If "NO", the process returns to step S125 to form a loop like an arrow, and the search address data is again "M".
It is determined whether it is "ANU". This loop is repeated until the data of the search address is "FFFFH", that is, step S131 becomes "YES".

If "YES" in the step S131, the process exits this loop, and in a step S133, the value of the manual count at this time is fixed to the number of manual chapters, indicating that the search is completed. The value of the manual count is used in the subsequent processing.

Finally, the timer interrupt processing will be described. The timer interrupt process is the same for printing for each chapter of the manual from step S91 to step S101 in FIG. The timer interrupt process of printing for each chapter of the manual is different from step S103 and subsequent steps in FIG. 21, and the step S103 and subsequent steps are performed as in step S141 and subsequent steps in FIG.

In step S141, it is determined whether a manual print instruction for panel processing has been issued. When the manual printing is instructed in the panel processing, if "YES" is determined in the step S141, subsequently, in a step S143, it is determined whether or not the value of the manual count is "0".

If "NO" in the step S143, since the manual count value is not "0", it is clear that the manual information exists in the expansion IC card, and the process proceeds to the step S145. In this example, the number of manual chapters is 10, and 10 is stored in the manual count.

In step S145, one of the values 1 to 10 is displayed on the LCD display, for example, so that the user can specify the chapter to be printed. This first value is
It may be always 1, or may retain the value of the previous setting. The user selects a desired value from 1 to 10 by operating the plus key or the minus key. For example, it is assumed that the user has instructed to print Chapter 7.

In S147, the chapter to be printed is determined. When the user presses the confirm key, the displayed 7 is confirmed and chapter 7 of the manual is selected. If selected, the receive interrupt is first disabled, as in the previous example. Next, the expansion IC card is searched for the address and data size of the data area of the manual information in Chapter 7. Next, the manual print start instruction flag is set, the manual data address and the size are saved in the save area, and step S147 ends.

By using such a controller 44, it is possible to print only the chapter desired by the user.

Here, the chapter is described as one unit, but the one unit can be applied to a subdivided section of the chapter, or to each page more finely.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view for explaining a process of a controller.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative view showing a data flow.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing a management method of receiving data reception.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative view showing a method of reading manual data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of a main process in a normal or manual print mode of an embodiment using the controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of main processing in a normal or manual print mode of an embodiment using the controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of reception interrupt processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of timer interrupt processing.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a second controller of the present invention.

12 is an illustrative view for explaining a process of the controller shown in FIG.

13 is an illustrative view showing a data flow of an embodiment using the controller of FIG.

FIG. 14 is an illustrative view for explaining a search operation of an extended read memory.

15 is a flowchart showing a timer interrupt processing operation of an embodiment using the controller of FIG.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a third controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an illustrative view for explaining a process of the controller shown in FIG.

18 is an illustrative view showing a data flow of the controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an operation of main processing in a normal or manual print mode of the embodiment using the controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an operation of main processing in a normal or manual print mode of the embodiment using the controller shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the timer interrupt processing operation of the embodiment using the controller shown in FIG.

FIG. 22 is an illustrative view showing a data format of each chapter of manual information.

23 is a flowchart showing details of the initial processing shown in FIG. 20.

FIG. 24 is another flowchart showing the timer interrupt processing operation of the embodiment using the controller shown in FIG. 16.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Printing device 12, 40, 44 ... Controller 14 ... Host computer 16 ... Printing circuit 18 ... CPU 20 ... Communication port 22 ... Control panel 24 ... Read memory 26 ... Read / write memory 28 ... Image memory 42 ... Extended read memory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first memory in which data for forming an image image is stored, a controller for forming the image image based on a command supplied with the data in the first memory, and formed by the controller. In a printing device including a printing circuit for printing the image image, the first manual information is stored in the first memory, and the first manual information is printed by the printing circuit as necessary. Characteristic printing device. 2. The first memory is configured to be removable.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The printer further includes a second memory in which data for assisting or expanding the function of the printing device and second manual information are stored and which is removable, and the second manual information by the printing circuit as required. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which prints. 4. A first memory in which data for forming a picture image is stored, a controller which uses the data in the first memory and forms the picture image based on a supplied command, and a controller formed by the controller. A printing circuit for printing the image image, and a removable second memory for auxiliary or expansion, wherein manual information for the second memory is stored in the second memory as necessary. A printing apparatus, wherein the manual information is printed by the printing circuit in response thereto.