JP2003039784A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printer capable of shortening the printing time when a print command is actually issued from a portable terminal as compared with the related art. SOLUTION: A printer controller 110 and a printer engine 120 are provided. The printer controller exchanges command data between mobile terminals 101, and a printing function for identifying whether the mobile terminals have a printing function. Identification section 112, warm-up activation section 113 for activating a warm-up operation, and command / data processing section 1 for interpreting command data from a portable terminal
15, the printer engine includes an engine control unit 121 that performs a warm-up operation in accordance with an instruction from the warm-up start unit, and a printing unit 122 that prints print data interpreted by the command / data processing unit. When the mobile terminal moves within the predetermined range, the warm-up operation of the printer engine is started before the print command.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer having a printer controller having a wireless communication section for communicating with a wireless communication device such as a mobile terminal and a printer engine for printing based on an instruction from the printer controller. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printers having a function of directly printing a document such as an electronic mail from a mobile terminal using a wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth have appeared.

A conventional printer will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. 9 is a block diagram showing a conventional printer that does not use a wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth, and FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printer shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 900 is a printer, and 901.
Is a host terminal, 910 is a printer controller for communicating with the host terminal 901, and 911 is the host terminal 90.
Wired communication unit that exchanges command and data with 1.
Reference numeral 912 is a command / data processing unit that interprets command data from the host terminal 901, 920 is a printer engine that performs printing based on instructions from the printer controller, 921 is an engine control unit that performs warm-up operation of the printer 900, and the like. A print unit 922 prints the print data interpreted by the command / data processing unit 912.
Reference numeral 30 denotes an engine / controller communication unit for exchanging data between the printer controller 910 and the printer engine 920.

Further, in FIG. 10, a printer 900,
Host terminal 901, printer controller 910, printer engine 920, engine control unit 921, printing unit 9
22 and the engine / controller communication unit 930 are the same as those in FIG. 9, and the description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 1011 denotes a wired communication interface unit as a communication interface with the host terminal 901, 1012 is a reception buffer memory for temporarily storing reception data, 1013 is a work memory RAM, 1014 is a CPU (central processing unit), 101
Reference numeral 5 is a ROM and 1016 is a print buffer memory for temporarily storing data for printing.

The operation of the printer 900 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 10, print command data from the host terminal 901 is fetched into the reception buffer memory 1012 through the wired communication interface 1011 which is a component of the printer controller 910. CPU1
014 is the ROM 101 in which the control program is written
RAM 101 as a work memory according to the instruction of 5
3 is used to convert the print command data captured in the reception buffer memory 1012 into print data, and the print data is stored in the print buffer memory 1016. Next, the CPU 1014 processes the print data stored in the print buffer memory 1016 according to the instruction of the ROM 1015 in which the control program is written and by using the RAM 1013 as a work memory, and is a component of the printer engine 1020. A certain printing unit 922 prints the above-described processed print data on a sheet. At this time, the warm-up operation of the printer 900 is started using the engine control unit 921 only when the print command data from the host terminal 901 is to be printed on the paper using the printing unit 922.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional printer 900, the print command is issued from the host terminal 901 and the warm-up operation of the printer 900 is started for the first time. In this case, the warm-up completion is waited for. However, since printing is started after the warm-up is completed, there is a problem that there is a limit to the reduction of printing time. A printer that uses a wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth and has a function of directly printing a document such as an email from a mobile terminal is designed as an extension of the conventional printer described above, and uses the mobile terminal instead of the host terminal. In addition, the wireless communication unit is used instead of the wired communication unit, and the print command is issued from the mobile terminal to start the warm-up operation of the printer for the first time as in the conventional printer described above. It is necessary to wait until, and printing is started after the warm-up is completed, so there is a problem in that there is a limit in shortening the printing time.

This printer is required to shorten the printing time when the print command is actually issued from the portable terminal by starting the warm-up operation before the print command as compared with the conventional case.

According to the present invention, in order to meet this demand, the warm-up operation is started before the print command,
An object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of shortening the printing time when a print command is actually issued from a mobile terminal as compared with the conventional printer.

[0011]

In order to solve this problem, a printer of the present invention is a printer having a printer controller and a printer engine for performing printing based on an instruction from the printer controller. , A wireless communication unit for exchanging command / data with the mobile terminal, a print function identification unit for identifying whether or not the mobile terminal has a print function, and a warm-up activation unit for activating the warm-up operation And a command / data processing unit that interprets command data from the mobile terminal, the printer engine includes an engine control unit that performs a warm-up operation based on an instruction from the warm-up activation unit, and a command / data processing unit. A print unit that prints the print data interpreted by the copy unit, and moves the mobile terminal within the specified range. And a configuration to start the warm-up operation of the printer engine prior to the print command by using the engine control unit in advance when that has been in the warm-up starting unit.

Thus, by starting the warm-up operation before the print command, it is possible to obtain the printer which can shorten the printing time when the print command is actually issued from the portable terminal as compared with the conventional printer.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A printer according to claim 1 of the present invention is a printer having a printer controller and a printer engine for performing printing based on an instruction from the printer controller, and the printer controller is a portable terminal. A wireless communication unit for exchanging commands and data with a mobile terminal, a print function identification unit for identifying whether or not the mobile terminal has a print function, a warm-up activation unit for activating a warm-up operation, and a mobile unit. The printer engine has a command / data processing unit that interprets command data from the terminal, and the printer engine interprets the command / data processing unit and an engine control unit that performs a warm-up operation based on an instruction from the warm-up starting unit. When a mobile terminal moves within a predetermined range, it has a printing unit that prints the specified print data. In which it was decided to start a warm-up operation of the printer engine using an engine control unit at the warm-up start portion before the print command before.

With this configuration, when the portable terminal moves within the predetermined range, the warm-up starting section starts the warm-up operation of the printer by using the engine control section. There is no need to re-warm the printer when a command is issued, and the printing time in the printing unit can be shortened as compared with the related art.

A printer according to a second aspect is the printer according to the first aspect, further comprising a warm-up stop portion for stopping the warm-up operation, and the warm-up stop portion is provided when the portable terminal moves out of a predetermined range. In addition, the warm-up operation is stopped when the engine control unit is in the warm-up operation.

With this configuration, the warm-up operation can be stopped when the portable terminal moves out of the predetermined range, that is, when the warm-up operation is unnecessary, so that the energy consumption of the printer can be reduced. Have an effect.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the second aspect, the warm-up stop section is provided after the portable terminal moves within a predetermined range and the engine control section starts the warm-up operation. If there is no print command from the terminal for a predetermined time, or if printing from the mobile terminal is completed and no print command from the mobile terminal continues for a predetermined time, the low power consumption mode is set. It was done.

With this configuration, even when the portable terminal is within the predetermined range, the low power consumption mode can be set when the warm-up operation that does not require the print command continues for the predetermined time. Therefore, there is an effect that the energy consumption of the printer can be reduced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the printer is provided with an infrared communication section and an infrared mobile terminal that use a wireless communication standard such as IrDA, instead of the wireless communication section and the mobile terminal of the first aspect. .

With this configuration, the warm-up start-up unit can start the warm-up operation of the printer by using the engine control unit in advance when the infrared portable terminal moves within the predetermined range. It is not necessary to warm up the printer again when a print command is issued from the infrared mobile terminal, and the printing time in the printing unit can be shortened.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
~ Will be described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printer according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the printer of FIG.

In FIG. 1, 100 is a printer and 101
Is a mobile terminal (wireless mobile terminal) that communicates wirelessly, 110
Is a printer controller, 111 is a wireless communication unit for exchanging command / data with the mobile terminal 101, 112
Is a print function identification unit for identifying whether or not the mobile terminal 101 has a print function for the printer 100, 1
Reference numeral 13 is a warm-up starting unit that starts the warm-up operation of the printer 100, 114 is a warm-up stop unit that stops the warm-up operation of the printer 100,
Reference numeral 115 is a command / data processing unit that interprets command data from the mobile terminal 101, 120 is a printer engine, 121 is an engine control unit that performs a warm-up operation of the printer 100, and 122 is a command / data processing unit 115. Printing unit for printing the printed data, 13
0 is the printer controller 110 and the printer engine 1
20 is an engine controller communication unit for exchanging data.

Further, in FIG. 2, the printer 100, the portable terminal 101, the printer controller 110, the printer engine 120, the engine control section 121, and the printing section 12 are shown.
2. The engine / controller communication unit 130 is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and its description is omitted. Reference numeral 211 is a wireless communication interface unit as a communication interface with the mobile terminal 101, 212 is a reception buffer memory for temporarily storing reception data, 213 is a work memory RAM,
Reference numeral 214 is a CPU (central processing unit), 215 is a ROM in which a control program is written, and 216 is a print buffer memory for temporarily storing data for printing.

In such a printer 100, when the portable terminal 101 and the printer 100 are in the wireless communication range, the print command data from the portable terminal 101 is received in the receiving buffer memory through the wireless communication interface 211 which is a constituent element of the printer controller 110. Import to 212. The CPU 214 follows the instruction of the ROM 215 in which the control program is written, and uses R as a work memory.
By using the AM 213, the reception buffer memory 21
2 converts the print command data fetched into 2 into print data, and prints this print data.
Save to 6. Next, the CPU 214 processes the print data stored in the print buffer memory 216 according to the instruction of the ROM 215 in which the control program is written and by using the RAM 213 as a work memory, and is a component of the printer engine 220. Print part 2
Reference numeral 22 prints the processed print data on a sheet.

The operation of the printer 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure 3
4 is a positional relationship diagram showing the positional relationship between the mobile terminal 101 and the printer 100, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first monitoring task of the printer 100, and FIG.
00 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second monitoring task,
6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third monitoring task of the printer 100, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fourth monitoring task of the printer 100, and FIG. 8 is the printer 10.
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the 0th 5th monitoring task.

In FIG. 3, an example will be described in which the portable terminal 101 having the communication range 301 as the wireless portable terminal approaches the printer 100 having the communication range 302 as the wireless printer. In the case of FIG. 3A, in the first monitoring task of FIG. 4, it is NO in the determination (S1) as to whether or not the mobile terminal 101 is present nearby, and the first monitoring task is temporarily terminated. This determination is performed by the wireless communication unit 111.
The mobile terminal 101 is closer to the printer 100 as shown in FIG.
In the case of (b), the mobile terminal 101 determines YES in the presence determination (S1), and the print function identification unit 112 determines whether or not the mobile terminal has a print function (S2). Figure 3
In the case of (b), the device is recognized between the mobile terminal 101 and the printer 100. When the print function identification unit 112 determines YES in step S2, the warm-up activation unit 113 starts warm-up of the printer 100 (S3). Next, the warm-up activation unit 113 resets the low power consumption mode timer counter (not shown) (TC = 0) (S4), which is a counter for determining the transition to the low power consumption mode, and the low power consumption. The mode timer counter starts counting (S5), and the first monitoring task in FIG. 4 ends. The printer warm-up start (S3) is based on an instruction from the warm-up activation unit 113 of the printer controller 110, through the engine / controller communication unit 130, and the printer engine 120.
The warm-up is started for the first time by the engine control unit 121 which is a component of the above.

In the case of FIG. 3C in which the portable terminal 101 having the communication range 301 intersects with the printer 100 having the communication range 302, e.g., e-mail printing from the portable terminal 101 to the printer 100. 5 is issued, the wireless communication unit 111 determines YES in the print instruction reception determination (S11) of the second monitoring task in FIG. 5, and determines whether the printer 100 is in the low power consumption mode (S12). ), The warm-up of the printer 100 has already been completed, the determination of the completion of the warm-up of the printer 100 of FIG. 6 (third monitoring task) is performed (S21). ), The determination is YES, and the printer starts printing immediately (S22). At this time, printing is started using the printing unit 122, which is a component of the printer engine 120 (S22).
Is done. In step S12, the warm-up starting unit 1
If YES is determined in step 13, the printer 100 starts warming up (S13), and the process proceeds to FIG.

In the case of FIG. 3A in which the portable terminal 101 having the communication range 301 has moved out of the predetermined range from the printer 100 having the communication range 302, in the fourth monitoring task of FIG. The result of the determination (S31) is whether or not has moved out of the predetermined range. If the warm-up activation unit 113 determines YES during warm-up of the printer 100 (S32), the warm-up stop unit 114 stops the warm-up of the printer 100 (S33) and stops the count of the low power consumption mode timer counter. (S34) and resetting the low power consumption mode timer counter (TC = 0) (S35), which is a counter for determining the transition to the low power consumption mode,
Terminate the fourth monitoring task.

In the fifth monitoring task of FIG. 8, the low power consumption mode timer counter value TC in the warm-up start-up unit 113 ≧ YE in the judgment of a predetermined time T (S41).
In the case of S, that is, the portable terminal 101 has moved within a predetermined range from the printer 100, the printer 100 has started the warm-up operation, and the state in which there is no print command from the portable terminal 101 has continued for a predetermined time (warm-up operation start If the wireless communication unit 111 determines that a predetermined time has elapsed from the above), or if the print command from the mobile terminal 101 has been completed and a state without a print command has continued for a predetermined time, the wireless communication unit 1
If 11 determines, the warm-up stop unit 114
Stops the low power consumption mode timer counter (S42) and resets the low power consumption mode timer counter (TC = 0) (S43), which is a counter for determining the transition to the low power consumption mode, Printer 10
After setting 0 to the low power consumption mode (S44), the fifth monitoring task is ended. At this time, in step S44, the printer control unit 121, which is a component of the printer engine 120, is used to set the printer 100 to the low power consumption mode.

Although the wireless mobile terminal 101 is used as the mobile terminal in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this.
An infrared mobile terminal is used as the mobile terminal, and the wireless communication unit 11
By using the infrared communication unit as 1, the same effect can be obtained.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the wireless mobile terminal 101 approaches the printer 100, the print function identification unit 112 determines that the wireless mobile terminal 101 is a wireless mobile terminal with a print function. In this case, since the warm-up start-up unit 113 uses the engine control unit 121 to start the warm-up operation of the printer 100 in advance, the printer warm-up operation is actually performed when the print command is issued from the wireless mobile terminal 101. The up operation becomes unnecessary, and the printing time in the printing unit can be shortened as compared with the conventional case.

Further, a warm-up stop section 114 for stopping the warm-up operation is provided, and the warm-up stop section 114 is provided when the engine control section 121 is in the warm-up operation when the portable terminal 101 moves out of a predetermined range. By stopping the warm-up operation, it is possible to stop the warm-up operation when the portable terminal 101 moves out of the predetermined range, that is, when the warm-up operation is unnecessary, so that the energy consumption of the printer 100 is reduced. be able to.

Further, the warm-up stop unit 114 is
After the mobile terminal 101 moves within a predetermined range and the engine control unit 121 starts the warm-up operation, the mobile terminal 1
If there is no print command from the mobile terminal 101 for a predetermined time, or if there is no print command from the mobile terminal 101 for a predetermined time after printing from the mobile terminal 101 is completed, the low power consumption mode is set. As a result, even when the portable terminal 101 is within the predetermined range, the low power consumption mode can be set when the warm-up operation that does not require the print command and continues for the predetermined time does not need to be performed. The energy consumption of the printer can be reduced.

Further, by providing an infrared communication unit and an infrared mobile terminal using a wireless communication standard such as IrDA in place of the wireless communication unit 111 and the mobile terminal 101, the infrared mobile terminal has moved within a predetermined range. Since the warm-up start-up unit 113 can start the warm-up operation of the printer 100 by using the engine control unit 121 in advance, the warm-up operation of the printer 100 is actually performed when a print command is issued from the infrared portable terminal. There is no need to re-up the printing, and the printing unit 122
The printing time can be shortened.

[0036]

As described above, the printer according to claim 1 of the present invention is a printer having a printer controller and a printer engine for performing printing based on an instruction from the printer controller. The controller includes a wireless communication unit that exchanges commands and data with the mobile terminal, a print function identification unit that identifies whether the mobile terminal has a print function, and a warm-up that activates the warm-up operation. With the startup part,
Command that interprets command data from mobile terminal
The printer engine includes a data processing unit and an engine control unit that performs a warm-up operation based on an instruction from the warm-up activation unit, and a printing unit that prints the print data interpreted by the command / data processing unit. When the mobile terminal has moved within a predetermined range, the warm-up start-up section uses the engine control section in advance to start the warm-up operation of the printer engine before the print command. Since the warm-up start-up unit starts the warm-up operation of the printer by using the engine control unit in advance when moving within the predetermined range,
There is no need to re-warm the printer when a print command is actually issued from the mobile terminal, and the advantageous effect that the printing time in the printing unit can be shortened compared to the conventional case is obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the first aspect, a warm-up stop portion for stopping the warm-up operation is provided, and the warm-up stop portion moves the portable terminal out of a predetermined range. In this case, the warm-up operation is stopped when the engine control unit is in the warm-up operation, so that the warm-up operation is stopped when the portable terminal moves outside the predetermined range, that is, when the warm-up operation is unnecessary. Therefore, there is an advantageous effect that the energy consumption of the printer can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the second aspect, the warm-up stop portion is provided after the portable terminal has moved within a predetermined range and the engine control portion has started the warm-up operation. , If there is no print command from the mobile terminal for a predetermined time, or if the print command from the mobile terminal has not been issued for a predetermined time, the low power consumption mode is set. As a result, even if the mobile terminal is within the predetermined range,
When the warm-up operation that does not require a print command continues for a predetermined time, the low power consumption mode can be set, which has the advantageous effect of reducing the energy consumption of the printer. can get.

According to the printer of claim 4, the wireless communication unit and the portable terminal of claim 1 are replaced by IrD.
Since the infrared communication unit and the infrared portable terminal using the wireless communication standard such as A are provided, the printer can be used in advance by using the engine control unit in the warm-up starting unit when the infrared portable terminal moves within a predetermined range. Since the warm-up operation of the printer can be started, there is no need to re-warm the printer when a print command is actually issued from the infrared mobile terminal, and the printing time in the printing unit can be shortened. Can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a positional relationship diagram showing a positional relationship between a mobile terminal and a printer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first monitoring task of the printer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second monitoring task of the printer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third monitoring task of the printer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fourth monitoring task of the printer.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fifth monitoring task of the printer.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a conventional printer that does not use a wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printer of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 printers 101 mobile terminal (wireless mobile terminal) 110 Printer controller 111 Wireless communication unit 112 Print Function Identification Section 113 Warm-up startup section 114 Warm-up stop 115 Command / Data Processing Unit 120 printer engine 121 Engine control unit 122 Printing Department 130 Engine / Controller Communication Unit 211 Wireless communication interface 212 receive buffer memory 213 RAM 214 CPU 215 ROM 216 Print buffer memory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer having a printer controller and a printer engine for printing based on an instruction from the printer controller, wherein the printer controller is a wireless device for exchanging command data with a portable terminal. A communication unit, a print function identification unit that identifies whether or not the mobile terminal has a print function, a warm-up activation unit that activates a warm-up operation, and a command that interprets command data from the mobile terminal. A data processing unit, wherein the printer engine prints print data interpreted by the command / data processing unit and an engine control unit that performs a warm-up operation based on an instruction from the warm-up starting unit. And a printing unit, which is provided in advance when the mobile terminal moves within a predetermined range. Printer, characterized in that at Omuappu starting unit using said engine control unit starts the warm-up operation of the printer engine prior to the print command. 2. A warm-up stop section for stopping the warm-up operation, wherein the warm-up stop section is a warm-up operation when the engine control section is in the warm-up operation when the portable terminal moves out of a predetermined range. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the up operation is stopped. 3. The warm-up stop unit continues for a predetermined time without a print command from the mobile terminal after the mobile terminal moves within a predetermined range and the engine control unit starts a warm-up operation. 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the printer is set to the low power consumption mode when the printing is performed from the mobile terminal or when the print instruction from the mobile terminal is not issued for a predetermined time after the printing from the mobile terminal is completed. . 4. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising an infrared communication unit and an infrared mobile terminal that use a wireless communication standard such as IrDA, instead of the wireless communication unit and the mobile terminal according to claim 1. .