JP2000272203A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] In a printer device such as a network printer device used in a network environment, the printing time and order are controlled from the viewpoint of power saving, thereby realizing printing in the power saving mode of the printer. It is intended to further improve the power saving effect of a typical printer device. SOLUTION: A printing time control means 14 includes control information indicating printing priority such as “normal” and “immediate” sent from each terminal, a power saving mode of a currently set printer, and a power saving mode. The printing time and order are controlled by the corresponding printing method stored in the power printing mode storage unit 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for more effectively utilizing a power saving mode in a printer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in power saving, and many printers, which are peripheral devices used in personal computers and the like, are capable of setting power saving. Further, it is becoming common for printer devices to be used in a network environment and to be printed in response to print requests from a plurality of personal computers. In these printer apparatuses, power saving is realized by providing a power saving mode in which a standby mode is entered when a printing request does not come for a certain time and power is supplied to only a minimum part.

[0003]

However, most of the conventional printers are output in the order in which the print requests are received, and when used in a network environment, even if a power saving mode is provided, a plurality of printers are output. Since the power is turned on and off repeatedly each time an output request is issued from the terminal device, the power consumption is increased substantially, and the power saving effect is reduced.

[0004] Further, even in a printer device in which a priority is given to a print request instead of outputting in the order in which the print requests are received, the order of printing is controlled from the viewpoint of power saving. Did not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems. In a printer such as a network printer used in a network environment, the order of printing is controlled from the viewpoint of power saving. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to improve a substantial power saving effect of the printer device in printing in the power saving mode of the printer.

[0006]

A print request sent from each terminal such as a personal computer to a printer device is attached with control information indicating printing priority such as "normal" or "urgent", and is printed on the printer device side. At this time, the power saving mode of the printer that is currently set and the printing time and the order of printing are controlled based on the control information, thereby reducing the power saving effect of the printer without sacrificing the usability of the printer device. It is possible to increase.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printer device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a print control device for acquiring print control information for a printer device included in print request data received from a terminal device such as a personal computer. Information obtaining means, power saving control information extracting means for extracting information about the power saving mode from the obtained print control information, and information based on the power saving mode extracted by the power saving mode control information extracting means. A print time control unit that controls a time at which print data from the terminal device is actually printed, and a printer device based on information on power saving from the terminal device. The control has the effect that the power saving effect of the printer can be enhanced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the first aspect, the printing time control means starts printing immediately in response to an urgent print request. This is a printer device characterized by giving an instruction to start printing when a predetermined number of print requests are accumulated, and has the effect of increasing the power saving effect without sacrificing usability. Have.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printer device according to the first aspect, further comprising a power saving check unit for checking a power saving state, and the printing time control unit transmits a print request to the printer. If the status obtained from the power saving check means is not the power saving mode, printing starts immediately.If the status is the power saving mode, printing is performed when a certain number of print requests are accumulated or when the power saving mode is released. The printer device is instructed to start printing, and the printing time is determined according to the power saving state when a print request is issued, so that the power saving effect can be reduced. It has the effect of enabling printing as soon as possible.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device of the first aspect, the printing time control means performs printing collectively at a predetermined time except for an urgent print request. The printer device is characterized in that it is possible to reduce the power saving mode at other times by printing together, so that the power saving effect can be further improved. Has an action.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein a time for printing together is set to a time when an electricity rate is low. This has the effect that it is possible to reduce not only the power saving effect but also the electricity rate.

A printer device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a terminal device such as a personal computer has print request means for making a print request to the printer device with control data relating to power saving attached. This is a terminal device, and has the effect that it is possible to set the power saving by judging the contents on the printer device side by sending the information on power saving to the printer device.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a printer apparatus having the same effect as the first aspect.

The invention according to claim 8 of the present invention is a control method of a terminal device having the same effect as in claim 6.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes print control data acquisition means for acquiring print control data from print request data from a terminal device, 11 denotes print data spool means acquired from print request data from a terminal device, and 12 denotes print control data. Power saving control data extracting means for extracting power saving control data from the data obtaining means 10; power saving control data storing means 13 for storing data extracted by the power saving control data extracting means 12; printing time control means 14; Is a printed matter, 16 is a power saving mode control means for controlling a power saving mode of the printer device, 17 is a power saving mode checking means for checking a power saving state, 18 is a power saving printing mode storage means,
Reference numeral 19 denotes a power saving print mode setting unit that sets a print mode for power saving.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a system using the printer device according to the embodiment. 20 to 22
Indicates terminal devices A, B, and C, respectively. Also,
Reference numeral 23 denotes a printer device, 24 denotes a print data spool unit which is one of the components inside the printer device, and 25 denotes a printed matter (output document data).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a printing operation of the printer device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a panel screen for setting print priorities and the like at the time of printing in the terminal device. In this example, the print priorities are "normal", "urgent", and "night". "Can be set.

Hereinafter, the operation of the printer according to the present embodiment and the system using the printer will be described.

(Terminal side) When a print request is made to the printer, the setting screen shown in FIG. 4 is opened, and in addition to the usual printer settings of "paper type" and "paper size", "print priority" Is set. In this example, the items that can be set for “print priority” are “normal”, “urgent”,
Three types of settings, “night”, are possible.

After the above settings are made, when "OK" is pressed, the information set above is sent to the printer device as print control information attached to the print data.

(Printer side) Of the print request data sent from the terminal, the control data is acquired by the print control data acquisition means 10, and the print data itself of the main body is accumulated by the print data spool means 11. Data necessary for setting power saving among the control data acquired by the print control data acquiring means 10 (data relating to the print priority set in the terminal device) is extracted and extracted by the power saving control data extracting means 12. The stored data is stored in the power saving control data storage unit 13.

The power-saving print mode setting means 19 is a means for instructing how to control printing with respect to power-saving settings.
This is a unit for storing the information set by the power saving printing mode setting unit 19. An example is shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the power mode 61, the priority 62, and the printing time 63 are stored as a pair. In this example, the items of the power mode 61 are "standby", "standby", "standby", "standby", and "standby". Normal “,” “Normal”, “Normal”
Corresponding to the items of “normal”, “urgent”, “night”, “normal”, “urgent”, “night”, and the items “AFTER”, “NOW”, “ MID ”,“ NO
Each data of "W", "NOW", and "MID" is stored.
Note that “NOW” means that printing is performed immediately regardless of the power mode state, and “AFTER” means that printing is performed with “NOW” during printing or when the power mode is a normal mode. In this example, printing is started when three “AFTER” print jobs are accumulated. “MID” means printing at a specified time at night. For example, this time may be set by the user, or may be set in advance in the printer so that printing is performed at a time when the electricity rate is low.

Next, the detailed operation of the printing time control means 14 will be described below.

In FIG. 2, "normal", "
It is assumed that print requests of “normal”, “night”, and “urgent” are sequentially sent.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation procedure for controlling the printing time, and FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the print request data arrives. Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 3A will be described.

(Step 31) The print request data is separated and extracted into the print data main body and the power mode data, and the print data main body is stored in the print data spool unit 11, and the power mode data is stored in the power saving control data storage unit 13. save.

(Step 32) The current power saving mode is acquired from the power saving mode checking means 17.

(Step 33) Based on the data saved in the power saving control data storage means 13 and the power saving mode acquired in Step 32, the corresponding printing time 63 is acquired from the table shown in FIG. The acquired printing times are sequentially stored in the job stack shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of the final state when the print requests come in the order of FIG. (However, JO
The state before B4 arrives and before printing starts, and as an initial condition of the processing procedure in FIG. 2, the power mode is “standby” and it is assumed that nothing is stored in the job stack). The print request data is processed as described above.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for actually performing a printing process at a fixed cycle. Figure 3 below
The flowchart of (b) will be described.

(Step 34) It is checked whether there is print data (the job stack in FIG. 5 is checked). If there is no print data, the process ends. If there is print data, the process proceeds to step S35.

(Step 35) The current power mode is confirmed. If it is in the standby mode (by the power saving mode check means 17), the process proceeds to step 37, and if it is in the normal mode, the process proceeds to step.

(Step 36) The priority is “NOW”, “AFT
Printing is performed in the order of “ER”. In the example of FIG. 5, “JOB4”,
"JOB1" and "JOB2" are printed in this order. Next, the process proceeds to a step 39.

(Step 37) It is checked whether or not there is a job of which priority is "NOW". (Confirm the job stack in FIG. 5) If there is no priority of "NOW", the process proceeds to step 38, and if there is, the process proceeds to step 36.

(Step 38) It is confirmed whether or not the number of jobs having the priority "AFTER" is three or more. (Confirm the job stack in FIG. 5) If there are three or more, the process proceeds to step S36.

(Step 39) It is checked whether or not the time is night, and if it is night, a job with priority "MID" (confirm the job stack in FIG. 5) is printed.

As described above, the print data is actually printed. Although not described above, data relating to each print job is stored in the print data spooling unit 11 after printing is completed.
And is deleted from the job stack. In the above description, printing is performed when a predetermined number or more (in this example, 3) of jobs with the priority “AFTER” are accumulated, but the job is printed after the first “AFTER” job arrives. The printing may be performed when the time has elapsed.

When data is stored in the printer spool, a configuration for notifying the terminal side of the fact may be added. When the printing of the print data is actually completed, the terminal is notified that the printing has been completed. A configuration for notifying the side may be added.

7 and 8 are diagrams for explaining the effect of power saving according to the present invention. FIG. 7 shows an example of a change in power consumption in a conventional printer device, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in the printer device according to the embodiment.

7 and 8, the horizontal axis represents the time axis, and the vertical axis represents the power consumption. The power consumption changes in three stages during standby, during printing, and during initial drive (drum heating, etc.) for shifting from standby to printable state. In this example, for simplicity, the power consumption is calculated as 1 for standby, 2 for printing, and 3 for initial driving. Also, four of “JOB1”, “JOB2”, “JOB3” and “JOB4”
It is assumed that one job is submitted at a predetermined interval (5 in this example). From the print request time of “JOB1” at this time, “JOB4”
When the power consumption at the time until the printing is completed is calculated, the power consumption is 34 in the case of the conventional printer of FIG. 7 and 29 in the case of the printer of the present invention in FIG. There is.

In the above description, application to a printer device has been described, but application to facsimile transmission is also possible.

[0044]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, control information indicating the priority of printing such as "normal" or "urgent" is included in a print request sent from each terminal such as a personal computer to a printer. Attach, when printing on the printer device side, since the power saving mode of the printer device that is currently set and the control of the printing order based on the control information is configured, the usability of the printer device The power saving effect of the printer device can be enhanced without sacrificing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a system using a printer device and a terminal device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example for print setting by a user on a terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a job stack of the printer device.

FIG. 6 is a structural diagram of a power saving printing mode storage unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing power consumption in a conventional printer device.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining power consumption in the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Print control data acquisition means 11 Print data spool means 12 Power saving control data extraction means 13 Power saving control data storage means 14 Printing time control means 15 Printing (printed matter) 16 Power saving mode control means 17 Power saving mode checking means 18 Power saving Print mode storage means 19 Power saving print mode setting means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP03 HH11 HJ06 HJ10 HK02 HK05 HK11 HL01 HN05 HN15 HN19 HT02 HT08 HT11 5B021 BB01 BB09 CC04 EE01 MM00

Claims (8)

[Claims] A print control information acquisition unit for acquiring print control information for a printer device included in print request data that has received a print request from a terminal device such as a personal computer; Power saving control information extracting means for extracting information about the power mode, and controlling the time at which print data from the terminal device is actually printed based on the information about the power saving mode extracted by the power saving mode control information extracting means. And a printing time control unit. 2. The printing time control means according to claim 1, wherein printing is started immediately in response to an urgent printing request, and otherwise, printing is started when a predetermined number of printing requests are accumulated. The printer device according to claim 1. 3. A power saving check means for checking a power saving state, wherein the printing time control means receives a print request,
If the status obtained from the power saving check means is not the power saving mode, printing starts immediately.If the status is the power saving mode, printing starts when a certain number of print requests are accumulated or when the power saving mode is canceled. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction is issued to perform the operation. 4. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printing time control unit issues an instruction to collectively print at a predetermined time except for an urgent print request. 5. The printer device according to claim 4, wherein the printing time is set to a time when the electricity rate is low. 6. A terminal device such as a personal computer, further comprising print request means for making a print request to a printer device with control data relating to power saving attached. 7. A print control information obtaining step of obtaining print control information for a printer device included in print request data received a print request from a terminal device such as a personal computer, and omitting the print control information from the obtained print control information. A power saving control information extracting step of extracting information about a power mode, and controlling a time at which print data from the terminal device is actually printed based on the information about the power saving mode extracted by the power saving mode control information extracting means. And a printing time control step. 8. A control method for a printer device in a terminal device such as a personal computer, the method comprising a print requesting step of making a print request to the printer device by attaching control data relating to power saving. Control method.