JP3222675B2 - Printing apparatus and display control method for printing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a display unit capable of displaying various information related to print processing and capable of processing print information including control information received through communication with an external device. The present invention relates to a display control method for a printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing apparatus, power is always supplied to the operation panel even when the host computer can operate in the same manner as the operation panel of the printing apparatus, and a panel display (liquid crystal panel) is used. , Fluorescent display tubes, etc.), LEDs, and the like, are controlled to be in a certain display (lighting) state.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional example, when the same operation as the operation panel of the printing apparatus is being operated on the host computer side, the control state on the host computer side is changed to the state of the printing apparatus. There has been a problem in that confirmation cannot be performed sequentially on the panel display, and another person erroneously operates the operation panel of the printing apparatus.

When the status of the printing apparatus can be confirmed on the host computer side, there is a case where it is not necessary to display the status on the display unit. In this case, the power supply to the display unit is wasteful power consumption. There was a problem that it would be.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a panel display control method of the printing apparatus which can achieve the following objects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to respond to an analysis of whether or not a control code transmitted from an external device is a panel power control command. By controlling the power of a display unit provided in the printing apparatus while retaining the printing function related to the print output, the printing function related to the print output is controlled in accordance with a panel power control command transmitted from the external device at an arbitrary timing. The power supply state of the display unit provided in the printing apparatus is switched to the power stop state while maintaining the display state, and the wasteful power consumption related to the display of the printing apparatus main body can be saved. The purpose is to provide a control method. Also,
Another object is to determine whether or not to display a result of state control when performing state control of the printing apparatus according to a control code transmitted from an external apparatus on a panel provided in the printing apparatus, Even if display processing on the panel occurs due to the status display of the printing device, if setting for the panel display is not necessary, the power supply for useless display accompanying the status display is restricted, and the status of the printing device is reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a display control method for the printing apparatus, which are excellent in convenience and can save unnecessary power consumption related to the display of the printing apparatus main body for the display caused by the fluctuation.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing function relating to print output in accordance with an analysis as to whether or not a control code transmitted from an external device is a panel power control instruction. And a panel power control unit for controlling the power of the display unit provided in the printing apparatus while holding the power.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the display section includes a panel section and a panel control section for controlling display on the panel section, and the panel power supply control means controls the panel power supply in accordance with the control code. The power supply of the panel section and the power supply of the panel control section can be controlled independently of each other.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the panel power control means controls a power supply of the panel unit to be turned off and a power supply of the panel control unit to be turned on.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a means for performing a process relating to a state control in accordance with the control code after controlling the power supply of the display unit.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display control means for displaying a state of the printing apparatus main body, and a state control means for controlling the state of the printing apparatus in accordance with a control code from an external device of the printing apparatus. And determining means for determining whether to display a result of the state control performed by the state control means on a panel provided in the printing apparatus,
If the determination means determines that the display is not to be displayed on the panel, the display control means does not display the result of the state control on the panel.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display control method for a printing apparatus communicable with an external device, the control method comprising: determining whether a control code transmitted from the external device is a panel power control instruction; According to the analysis, there is provided a panel power control step of controlling a power supply of a display unit provided in the printing apparatus while maintaining a printing function relating to print output.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the display unit includes a panel unit and a panel control unit for controlling display on the panel unit, and the panel power control step is performed in accordance with the control code. The control of the power supply of the panel section and the control of the power of the panel control section are performed independently of each other.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the panel power control step, the power of the panel unit is turned off.
The power of the panel control unit is controlled to be turned on.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a step of performing a process relating to a state control according to the control code after controlling a power supply of the display unit.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display control method for a printing apparatus, comprising display control means for displaying a state of a printing apparatus main body, and capable of communicating with an external apparatus. A state control step of performing state control of the printing apparatus in accordance with the control code, and determining whether or not to display a result of the state control performed in the state control step on a panel provided in the printing apparatus. A determination step, and when the determination step determines that the display is not to be displayed on the panel, the display control means does not display the result of the state control on the panel.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, a power supply for a display unit provided in a printing apparatus is controlled in accordance with an analysis as to whether or not a control code transmitted from an external device is a panel power control instruction. The control of the power supply by the panel power control unit and the control of the output unit provided in the printing apparatus are performed independently.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display control method for a printing apparatus communicable with an external device, the control method comprising: determining whether a control code transmitted from the external device is a panel power control instruction; In accordance with the analysis, it has a panel power control step of controlling the power of the display unit provided in the printing device, the control of the power by the panel power control step and the control of the output unit provided in the printing device It is done independently.

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

【Example】

[First Embodiment] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Description of Laser Beam Printer] FIG. 1 is a sectional view for explaining an output mechanism of a printing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. In particular, a laser beam printer (L) for executing an electrophotographic process
BP).

In the figure, 100 is the LBP main body,
Character information (character code), form information, macro instructions, etc., supplied from an external device (external device 2 in FIG. 2 described later) connected to the outside are input and stored, and corresponding characters are stored in accordance with the information. A pattern or a form pattern is created, and an image is formed on a recording paper as a recording medium. Reference numeral 101 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operation, LEDs, a display, and the like are arranged. Reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit that controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from an external device. Except for 9, each of the means 3 to 11 is provided.

The control unit 1 mainly converts the character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern, and
02 is output. The laser driver 102 is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 103, and switches on and off a laser beam 104 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 according to an input video signal.

The laser beam 104 is swung right and left by a rotary polygon mirror 105 to scan on an electrostatic drum 106. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 107 around the electrostatic drum 106 and then transferred to a recording sheet. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is a paper cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100.
And the paper feed roller 109 and the transport roller 110
The toner is taken into the apparatus by the registration roller 111 and supplied to the electrostatic drum 106. [Explanation of Printer Control System] FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the control configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 2 is an external device, 3 is an input unit, 4 is a control code analysis unit, 5 is an output unit, 6 is a panel control determination unit, 7 is a panel control unit, 8 is a panel display unit, and 9 is a panel display unit. An output mechanism, 10 is a power supply control unit, 11 is a power supply unit, and 12 is a recording medium. The data transferred from the external device 2 is temporarily stored in the input unit 3 and then sent to the control code analysis unit 4. When the control code analysis unit 4 analyzes the state control instruction, the control code analysis unit 4 sends an instruction relating to panel control to the panel control determination unit 6.

The panel control judging section 6 judges the start, end and state of the state control, and judges whether to display the control state on the panel display section 8 or to control ON / OFF of the panel power. At that time, when displaying, a command for displaying the state is sent to the panel control unit 7. The panel control unit 7 outputs the state after state control to the panel display unit 8 based on the command received from the panel control determination unit 6.

Further, the power of the panel display section 8 is turned on,
When the control of F is performed, the power supply to the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 is turned on and the
Send F command. Then, the power supply control unit 10 turns on and off the power supply from the power supply unit 11 to the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8. Further, when the control code analyzing unit 4 analyzes the command as a command related to the power control of the panel, the control code analyzing unit 4 sends the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8
The command to turn on and off the power supply is sent.

The power control unit 10 suspends only the control of the panel control unit 7 or lowers only the display power of the power supply of the panel display unit 8 by the control code analysis unit 4 in accordance with a command relating to the power control of the panel. It is also possible to turn off the power of both the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8. The panel display section 8 may be composed of a liquid crystal display and a backlight, or may be a plasma display, an LED display, or a combination thereof.

In the power supply control unit 10, the power supply from the power supply unit 11 to the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 is turned off.
N, OFF. Output unit 5 for other control codes
To send processing instructions related to output. And the output unit 5
Prints a print result on a recording medium 12 such as paper by performing ON / OFF control of a laser beam with respect to the output mechanism 9. Hereinafter, the correspondence and operation between the first embodiment and each unit of the first to sixth printing apparatuses of the present invention will be described.

In the printing apparatus configured as described above, the display determining means determines the change in the state of the main body based on the result of the determination by the determining means for determining whether the state of the main body changes by analyzing the input from the external device. It is determined whether to control the display state by the display means in conjunction, the display control means controls the display state by the display means based on the determination result,
It is possible to control the presence / absence of status display on the display means in accordance with an input from an external device.

The external device 2 includes a computer device such as a host computer, a filing device for outputting stored data, and a data terminal. The external device 2 communicates with the printing device 100 to print information including commands and data. Page description language (PostScript, LI
PS, CaSL, etc.) according to a predetermined protocol. The display means is constituted by the panel display section 8, but a liquid crystal panel display section having low power consumption is preferable.

In the present embodiment, the determination means is configured as the control code analysis unit 4. However, it is preferable that the determination means be configured with a processor mechanism such as a programmable processor, a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM.

In the present embodiment, the display determining means is constituted as the panel control judging section 6. However, it is desirable that the display judging means is constituted by a processor mechanism such as a programmable processor, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like.

The display control means comprises a panel control section 7 in this embodiment, and controls the display state of the panel display section 8 based on the output of the panel control determination section 6 (state display enabled,
The program is configured to control the status display suspension or the like.

Further, in the printing apparatus configured as described above , the display control means starts display control on the display means according to the display state determined by the display determination means.
According to the input from the external device, the display control for the display means which has been paused is started. In this embodiment, the power control unit 10 controls the display on the panel display unit 8 according to the display state determined by the panel control determination unit 6. However, in order to flexibly cope with a change in the control procedure, a programmable processor, a CPU, an R
It is desirable to adopt a configuration in which program control (having a procedure shown in a flowchart shown in FIG. 3 described later) is performed by a processor mechanism such as an OM and a RAM.

In the printing apparatus configured as described above , the display control means suspends the display control corresponding to the display means according to the display state determined by the display determination means,
In this embodiment, the power supply control unit 10 suspends the display control on the display unit that has been displaying the image according to the input from the external device 2. Although the control is suspended, in order to flexibly respond to changes in the control procedure, a programmable processor, a CPU,
A configuration in which program control (having a procedure shown in a flowchart shown in FIG. 4 described later) by a processor mechanism or the like using a ROM, a RAM, or the like is desirable.

Further, in the printing apparatus configured as described above , the display control means controls the power supplied to the display means in accordance with the display state determined by the display determination means, and based on the input from the external device 2 When the state of the main body changes, the power supply to the display means provided in the printing apparatus main body is controlled.
Is configured to control the power supply to the panel display unit 8 according to the display state determined by the panel control determination unit 6. However, in order to flexibly respond to a change in the control procedure, a programmable processor, a CPU, a ROM, RA
It is preferable that the program control (having a procedure shown in a flowchart shown in FIG. 5 to be described later) be performed by a processor mechanism or the like using M or the like.

Further, in the printing apparatus configured as described above, the power supply control means may be configured to determine whether the input from the external device 2 is a command for controlling the display power supply to the display means based on a determination result by the instruction determination means. A display power control for controlling the power supplied to the display means is performed, and the power supplied to the display means is controlled based on the input from the external device. In this embodiment, the input from the external device 2 is a panel display. Although the power supply control unit 10 performs display power control to control the power supplied to the panel display unit 8 based on the determination result by the control code analysis unit 4 that determines whether the instruction is to perform the display power control for the unit 8. In order to flexibly respond to changes in control procedures, program control (such as a programmable processor, CPU, ROM, RAM, etc.) Configured to have a procedure) shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 to predicate is desirable.

Further, in the printing apparatus configured as described above , the power control means controls on / off of the power supplied to the display means based on the determination result by the command determination means, and controls the input from the external device 2. On or off of the power supplied to the display means based on the
In the present embodiment, the power supply control unit 10 is configured to control on / off of the power supplied to the panel display unit 8 based on the instruction determination result of the control code analysis unit 4; In order to cope with this, it is desirable that a program control (having a procedure shown in a flowchart shown in FIG. 6 described later) be performed by a processor mechanism or the like including a programmable processor, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a first panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (7) indicate each step.

When data is sent from the external device 2, the control code is analyzed in step (1), and when it is analyzed as a state control instruction in step (2), the state control in step (3) is performed. After performing the processing, it is determined in step (4) whether or not the result of step (3) is to be output to the display unit 8 of the panel. If the result is to be output, an output instruction is issued to the panel control unit 7 and step (5) ), The processing result of step (3) is output to the panel display section 8.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that it is another control code, step (6)
Perform processing related to output. This processing flow is repeated until it is determined in step (7) that the analysis of the control code has been completed.

Further, in the panel display control method for a printing apparatus configured as described above, the above steps (1) and (2) determine whether the state of the printing apparatus main body changes by analyzing the input from the external apparatus 2. (2) determining whether the display state of the display unit of the printing apparatus is controlled in accordance with the change in the state of the main body based on the determination result; and displaying the display unit based on the determination result. And step (5) of changing the display state of the display means to program-control the display state of the display means based on an input from an external device. If the correspondence with the second embodiment is shown, the determination step corresponds to step (2), the display determination step corresponds to step (4), and the change step corresponds to step (5).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a second panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. (1) to (8) indicate each step.

When data is sent from the external device 2, the control code is analyzed in step (1), and when it is analyzed as a state control command in step (2), the state control command is analyzed in step (3). It is determined whether or not the control is to be started. If it is determined that the control is to be started, it is determined in step (4) whether the power of the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 is turned off.

If it is determined that the power is off,
In step (5), the panel control determining unit 6
To the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8, and the power supply control unit 10 turns off the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 from the power supply unit 11. The processing related to the state control of (6) is performed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that there is another control code, processing related to output is performed in step (7). This processing flow is repeated until it is determined in step (8) that the analysis of the control code has been completed. If the correspondence between the third embodiment and the seventh description of the present invention is shown, the determination step is step (2), the display determination step is steps (3) and (4), and the change step is step (5). Respectively. [Fourth Embodiment] The control operation for turning on the power of the panel control section 7 and the panel display section 8 at the end of the state control from the external device 2 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a third panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. (1) to (8) indicate each step.

When data is sent from the external device 2, the control code is not analyzed in step (1), and when it is analyzed as a state control command in step (2), the state control is performed in step (3). After performing the processes related to the above, it is determined in step (4) whether or not the control is to be terminated.

If it is determined that the power is on, the panel control determining section 6 issues a command to the power control section 10 to turn on the panel control section 7 and the panel display section 8 in step (6). The power supply unit 1
The power of the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 from 1 is turned on.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that the control code is another control code, step (7)
Perform processing related to output. This processing flow is repeated until it is determined in step (8) that the analysis of the control code has been completed. If the correspondence between the fourth embodiment and the seventh invention according to the present invention is shown, the determination step is step (2), the display determination step is steps (3) and (4), and the change step is step (5). Respectively.

Hereinafter, the operation of turning on and off the power of the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 under the control of the external device 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. [Fifth Embodiment] FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a fourth panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. (1) to (8) indicate each step.

When data is sent from the external device 2, the control code is analyzed in step (1), and when analyzed as a panel power control command in step (2), the power is turned off in step (3). Determine whether to turn on, and
If N, the panel control discriminating unit 6 sends a command to the power control unit 10 to turn on the power of the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 in step (4). Then, the power supply of the panel control unit 7 and the panel control unit 8 from the power supply unit 11 is turned on by the power supply control unit 10.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (3) that the power is not ON, the power of the panel control unit 7 and the panel display unit 8 is turned off in step (5) according to the above-described ON processing procedure.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that the control code is another control code, processing related to output is performed in step (6). This processing flow is repeated until it is determined in step (7) that the analysis has been completed. If the correspondence between the fifth embodiment and the seventh invention according to the present invention is shown, the determination step is step (2), the display determination step is step (3), and the change step is steps (4) and (5). ) Respectively.

In the above embodiment, the display means for displaying a change in state due to an input from the external device 2 and the power supply control are not limited to the present printing apparatus, but may be performed by another printing apparatus (LE).
D, inkjet, dot matrix, etc.) and
It may control the display unit of the external device.

The display medium of the panel display section 8 shown in FIG. 2 may be another medium such as audio.

Further, the number of panel display sections 8 is not fixed, and a plurality of panel display sections other than those described above may be provided.

Then, by combining these display means, it is possible to produce a printing apparatus with higher efficiency of status display and power consumption.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the printing apparatus and the display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention, it is determined whether the control code transmitted from the external apparatus is the panel power control command or not. Since the power of the display unit provided in the printing apparatus is controlled while holding the printing function related to the print output, the printing function related to the print output is held according to the panel power control command transmitted from the external device at an arbitrary timing. While the power supply state of the display unit provided in the printing apparatus is switched to the power stop state, wasteful power consumption related to the display of the printing apparatus main body can be saved.

According to another printing apparatus and a display control method of another printing apparatus according to the present invention, the state control when the state control of the printing apparatus is performed according to the control code transmitted from the external apparatus. It is determined whether or not to display the result on the panel provided in the printing apparatus. Since power supply for useless display accompanying display is limited, useless power consumption related to display on the printing apparatus main body can be saved for display caused by state change of the printing apparatus.

[0069]

[0070]

[0071]

[0072]

[0073]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main body configuration of a printing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a first panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a second panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a third panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a fourth panel display control method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 printing device 2 external device 3 input unit 4 control code analysis unit 5 output unit 6 panel control discrimination unit 7 panel control unit 8 panel display unit 9 output mechanism

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. A control code transmitted from an external device
According to the analysis of whether or not is a panel power control instruction.
Provided in the printing device while retaining the printing function related to the printing output
And a panel power control unit for controlling the power of the display unit . 2. The display according to claim 1, wherein the display unit includes a panel unit and the panel unit.
A panel control unit for controlling the display of the
The power supply control means controls the panel unit in accordance with the control code.
And power control of the panel control unit independently of each other.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is configured to be able to perform the printing. 3. The panel power control means according to claim 1 , wherein:
Turn off the power of the panel control section and turn on the power of the panel control section.
The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control is performed in the following manner. 4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
Updated the means to perform processing related to state control according to
Printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a. 5. A display system for displaying a status of a printing apparatus main body.
Controlling means and a control code from an external device of the printing apparatus.
State control means for controlling the state of the printing apparatus; and a result of the state control performed by the state control means.
To determine whether to display on the panel provided in the printing device.
And a determination means for making a cut- off.
The display control means determines the result of the state control.
Is not displayed on the panel.
Place. 6. A display system for a printing device capable of communicating with an external device.
The control code transmitted from the external device is a panel power supply.
Depending on the analysis of whether or not the
Of the display unit provided in the printing device while maintaining the printing function
Having a panel power control step to control the power supply
A display control method for a printing apparatus characterized by the following. 7. The panel according to claim 7, wherein the display unit includes a panel unit and the panel unit.
It includes a panel control unit for controlling the display of the panel
The power supply control step includes the step of:
Control of the power supply of the panel unit and the panel control unit are independent.
7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein
Display control method. Claim 8. The panel power control step includes:
Turn off the power of the panel section and turn off the power of the panel control section.
8. The printing according to claim 7, wherein the printing is controlled to be on.
Device display control method. 9. After controlling the power of the display unit,
Steps for performing processing related to state control according to the control code
7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:
Display control method. 10. Display for displaying the status of the printer
Display of a printing device having control means and capable of communicating with an external device
A control method, According to a control code from an external device of the printing apparatus,
A state control step of performing state control of the printing apparatus; The result of the state control performed by the state control step
Whether to display on a panel provided in the printing device
And a determining step of determining In the determination step, it is determined that the display is not performed on the panel.
If the display control means is turned off,
Wherein the result of the above is not displayed on the panel.
Display control method for printing device. 11. Control code sent from an external device
Depending on the analysis of whether the command is a panel power control instruction,
Panel power for controlling the power of the display unit provided in the printing device
Source control means, Control of the power supply by the panel power supply control means and the mark
It is performed independently of the control of the output unit provided in the printing device
A printing device, characterized by: 12. Display of printing devices that can communicate with external devices
A control method, The control code transmitted from the external device is
Depending on whether the command is a power source control command or not,
Panel power control step to control the power of the
Have Control of the power by the panel power control step and before
It is independent of the control of the output unit provided in the printing device.
And a display control method for a printing apparatus.