JPH05131726A - Automatic emulation changeover type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decide automatically the model of an automatic emulation changeover type printer for the emulation of printer. CONSTITUTION:A buffer 11 for storing printing data of given volume, a control code collecting section 22 for retrieving and collecting control codes included in the printing data out of the printing data stored in the buffer 11 and storing them in a control code table 12, and a model deciding table 25 in which the models of printer for emulation and control codes used in said printer recorded are provided. The content of the control code table 12, a model deciding section 23 for deciding the model to be used from the model deciding table 25 and a selection starting section 24 for deciding the model for emulation from the result of decision and selecting and starting emulators 31, 32... are provided in the constitution of the printer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic emulation switching type printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional personal computers (hereinafter referred to as personal computers) and printers have been used as stand-alone (one-to-one) or similar personal computers with one printer shared by a printer switching machine.

In such an environment, by simply connecting a printer corresponding to the personal computer, the application program of the personal computer can automatically print by preparing a print control program for the corresponding printer. ..

However, several years ago, Net Ware and LAN Mane
Network software called ger has emerged, and personal computer networks are expanding. Along with this, a form of sharing a printer connected on the network has been established.

In this case, since personal computers connected to the network are different from each other, it is necessary to connect a printer supporting a plurality of printer emulations in order to deal with such various personal computers.

Currently, there is a method of switching the emulation by the operator panel of the printer or by issuing a command from the personal computer specifying the printer emulation.

FIG. 6 shows an example of emulation switching in a conventional printer. In the figure, 14 is a printing unit that executes printing, 15 is a personal computer that issues a print request to a printer, 16 is an application program that performs business processing, 17 is a driver that is incorporated in the application program and that gives print commands and print data to the printer. ,
18 is a switching program for issuing a command to switch the emulator of the printer to a predetermined emulator, 20 is a printer for printing, 28 is a switching unit for selecting and starting the emulator, 31, 32, 33, ... Are the models of the respective printers. Emulators 1, 2 and 3 for emulation.

In the configuration shown in the figure, the user of the personal computer 15 recognizes the model of the printer 20 when he / she uses the application program 16 to execute a job, and specifies the driver 17 corresponding to the model to be incorporated in the application program. In addition to the above, the switching program 18 is started before execution of the application program 16 to switch to an emulator (31, 32, 33, ...) Of a predetermined printer model.

That is, the switching program 18 issues an emulator switching instruction to the printer 20. Switching unit 28 of the printer 20
Receives the emulator switching instruction and selectively activates the specified emulator (31, 32, 33, ...). After that, the user activates the application program 16 to execute the work. The application program 16 activates a built-in driver 17 for printing in business, and the driver 17 sends print data to the printer 20 in a command and data format corresponding to a designated model. The protocol of the personal computer 15 and the printer 20 at this time will be described with reference to the print protocol explanatory diagram of the printer in FIG.

First, the personal computer 15 issues a START command to activate the printer 20. The printer 20 returns a READY signal when the print command can be executed, and a BUSY signal when the print command cannot be executed.
When the READY signal is returned, the personal computer 15 sends print data to the printer 20. The print data includes a control code that specifies the printer function. When the print data is completed, the personal computer 15 sends an END OF FILE signal, and the printer 20 recognizes that the print data is completed by this signal and starts printing.

The selected and activated emulator in the printer 20 receives the print data sent from the personal computer 15 and the control code for selecting and specifying the print function of the printer, and the print control equivalent to the print control of the model of the printer to be emulated. Is executed by the printing unit 24 to perform printing equivalent to printing by the printer model to be emulated. Therefore, when printing with this printer, it is necessary to issue an emulator switching command to the printer in advance, which increases the work load on the personal computer side. Such a method has been proposed separately.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-178725 discloses an invention in which an emulation output device is automatically switched according to a specific control command or information. Here, a higher-order model called an emulation identification code present in the control command is used. It is disclosed that the emulation output device is automatically switched according to the information of.

However, if the information from the special upper model such as the emulation identification code is required for switching, a special function is required for that purpose, which increases the work load of the upper model.

[0014]

In the conventional printer, there is a problem that the model to be emulated by the printer must be designated by the host device or the operator must set the printer. In view of such a point, the present invention has an object to provide a means for automatically determining a model to be emulated.

[0015]

The above problems can be solved by an automatic emulation switching type printing apparatus having the following configuration. FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention. (1) A buffer 11 that stores a predetermined amount of print data, and a control code table 12 that retrieves and collects control codes included in the print data from the print data stored in the buffer 11.
A control code collection unit 22, a model determination table 25 in which the model of the printer to be emulated and the control code used in the printer are recorded in correspondence, the contents of the control code table 12 and the model determination table It is configured to have a model determining unit 23 that determines the model to be used from 25 and a selection starting unit 24 that determines the model to be emulated based on the result of the determination and selectively starts the emulators 31, 32 ,. (2) In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, the selection activation unit
When the determination result shows that there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated, the plurality of emulators are sequentially selected and activated. (3) In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, the model determination unit
When the determination result shows that there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated, the next predetermined amount of print data is received and the model determination is performed again with the print data.

[0016]

[Action]

(1) Store a predetermined amount of print data in the buffer 11. The control code collection unit 22 retrieves and collects the control code included in the print data from the print data stored in the buffer 11 and stores the control code in the control code table 12.

In the model determination table 25, the model of the printer to be emulated and the control code used in the printer are recorded in association with each other. The model determining unit 23 determines the model to be used from the contents of the control code table 12 and the model determining table 25.

The selection start-up unit 24 determines the model to be emulated based on the result of the determination and determines the emulator 31,3.
Select 2 ,. With the above configuration, the model to be emulated can be automatically determined from the print data and the corresponding emulator can be selected and activated. (2) In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, the selection activation unit
If there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated according to the determination result, the unit 24 sequentially selects and activates the plurality of emulators to perform printing.

Therefore, the output that needs to be printed is always available. (3) In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, the model determination unit
If there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated according to the determination result, 23 receives the next predetermined amount of print data and performs model determination again with the print data.

Therefore, more control codes can be collected with the next predetermined amount of print data, which increases the possibility of model selection.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an emulation automatic switching type printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 10 is a CPU for controlling the printer 20, 11 is a page buffer for storing one page of print data to be printed, and 12 is a control code for storing a control code extracted from the print data of the page buffer 11. A table, 13 is a storage unit that stores a control program, an emulator, various tables in the printer, 14 is a printing unit that performs printing, 21 is a print data input unit that receives print data from the personal computer 15 and stores it in the page buffer 11. Reference numeral 22 is a control code collection unit that retrieves and collects control codes from the print data stored in the page buffer 11 and accumulates them in the control code table 12. Reference numeral 25 corresponds to the printer model to be emulated and the control code used by the printer. And a model determination table 23 recorded by the control code table 12 and Model determination unit for determining a model to be emulated from the seed determination table 25, 24 is a selective activation unit for selecting start emulator determines the type determination unit 23. In addition, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 are the same.

3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A shows an example of print data stored in the page buffer 11, and FIG. 3B shows a control code from the page buffer 11. It is an example of the content of the control code table 12 that is extracted and accumulated, and (C) is an example of the content of the model determination table 25.

FIG. 4 is a control flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a more detailed control flow chart of the model determining section 23 in the control flow chart. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, in step 70, the print data input unit 21 receives print data. Print data input section in step 71
21 stores the received print data in the page buffer 11. In step 72, the control code collection unit 22 sets the page buffer
The control code included in the print data in 11 is retrieved and collected and stored in the control code table 12. The control code is called an escape sequence and is described by an escape symbol and the character code that follows it. In FIG. 3A, 40 is an escape symbol, which becomes a control code together with the subsequent "H". The control code is different for each printer model and is common only in that it starts with an escape symbol, and the model can be determined by what kind of character code group the character code following the escape symbol is.

Therefore, in order to collect the control code, the escape symbol is searched for and stored in the control code table 12 together with the characters following it. Therefore, the escape code and the character code following it are stored in the control code table 12 as shown in FIG.

In step 73, the model determination section 23 causes the model code to be stored in the control code table 12 and the model determination table.
25 and the above character groups are compared to determine the model to be emulated. The details will be described later in the flowchart of FIG.

If the model is determined, the process proceeds to step 74. If not, the process proceeds to step 77. In step 74, the model determination unit 23 notifies the selected activation unit 24 of the determined model. In step 75, the selection activation unit 24 activates the emulator (any one of 31, 32, 33, ...) Corresponding to the determined model and passes the print data in the page buffer 11. The emulator (any one of 31, 32, 33, ...) Selected in step 76 commands the printing unit 14 to print the print data in the page buffer 11. This completes emulator selection and printing, and proceeds to print the next page.

If the model to be emulated cannot be determined in step 73, the process proceeds to step 77. In step 77, the model determining unit 23 selects a plurality of candidate printer models when there is a plurality of models to be emulated and the model cannot be determined. Notify the selective activation unit 24.

In step 78, the selection activation unit 24 sequentially activates the emulators of a plurality of candidate printer models and passes the data in the page buffer. The emulator selected in step 79 commands the printing unit 14 to print the print data in the page buffer 11. In step 80, it is checked whether or not all the plurality of candidates have been started, and if completed, the process ends and proceeds to printing of the next page. If not completed, the process returns to step 78 to selectively start the emulator for the next candidate.

In this way, when there are a plurality of candidates, by printing in any case, when the personal computer 15 to the printing device comes to pick up the printed matter, the required printed matter is always available.

Next, the operation of the model determining section will be described with reference to the flowchart of the model determining section shown in FIG. In step 81, the duplicate control codes in the control code table 12 are integrated into one. The blanks of the control code table 12 generated by the integration in step 82 are moved up and filled. In step 83, the number of control codes is counted. This is to set the number of times the control code is checked in the model determination table.

At step 84, the first control code is taken out from the control code table 12 and a flag is prepared for each model. In step 85, the control code and the control code of each model in the model determination table are compared and compared, and the flag of the model that does not have the matching control code is reset. Figure 3
The example will be described. When the first escape symbol in the figure (B) and the character code following it are "H", the figure (C)
Then, among the respective models (A, B, F), it is found that only the model F has the escape code and the control code whose character code is "H", and the flags of the models which do not match are reset. In this way, the control code in the print data for one page is sequentially checked.

If there are no more control codes remaining in the control code table 12 in step 86, the process proceeds to step 88, and if there are any, the process proceeds to step 87. In step 87, the next control code is fetched from the control code table 12 and the process returns to step 85 to compare the next control code.

In step 88, since all the control codes have been checked, the flags prepared for each model are checked and the models remaining without being reset are set as candidates for emulation. In step 89, it is determined whether the candidates are narrowed down to one, and if the number becomes one, the model is determined, the result is notified to the selection activation unit 24, and the operation of the model determination unit 23 is ended.

In general, when printing is performed from an application program, a printing format is designated and a large amount of control codes are issued when the first page is printed. Therefore, it is normal to be able to determine the model when printing the first page.

However, when there are a plurality of candidates to be emulated, the control data is collected from the next page again and the model is used to increase the determination data, so that the probability of determining the model becomes high.

According to the present invention described above, when a user of a conventional personal computer executes a task by an application program, he / she recognizes what kind of printer model, and specifies a driver corresponding to the model to be incorporated in the application program. In addition to this, I started the switching program before executing the application program and switched to the emulator of the specified printer model, but without doing anything, emulate the appropriate printer model inside the printing device. be able to.

In the present embodiment, the model is determined for each page, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be determined for each half or one half of one page.

[0040]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, there is a remarkable industrial effect that the model to be emulated can be automatically determined based on the control code included in the print data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a processing procedure

[Fig. 5] Flowchart of model determination unit

FIG. 6 A conventional printer emulation switching method

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a printing protocol of the printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 CPU 11 buffer,
Or page buffer 12 control code table 13 storage unit 14 printing unit 15 personal computer 16 application program 17 driver 18 switching program 20 printer 21 print data input unit 22 control code collecting unit 23 model determining unit 24 selection starting unit 25 model determining table 28 switching unit 31, 32, 33 emulators 71-89 operation steps

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A buffer for storing a predetermined amount of print data
(11), and a control code collection unit (22) for searching and collecting control codes included in the print data from the print data stored in the buffer (11) and storing the control codes in the control code table (12),
A model determination table (25) in which the model of the printer to be emulated and the control code used in the printer are recorded in correspondence, the contents of the control code table (12), and its use from the model determination table (25) A model determining unit (23) for determining a model, and a selection starting unit (24) for determining a model to be emulated based on the result of the determination and selectively starting the emulator (31, 32, ...). Printing device with automatic emulation switching method. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection starting unit (24) sequentially selects and starts the plurality of emulators when there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated according to the determination result. Printing device with automatic emulation switching method. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the model determination unit (23) receives the next predetermined amount of print data and prints the print data when there are a plurality of model candidates to be emulated based on the determination result. An automatic emulation switching system printing device characterized by performing model determination again based on data.