JPH06230909A - Output device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A higher-level device can easily perform desired output processing while easily identifying the output device. According to an input of instruction information for changing the stored identification information, the identification information to be changed is replaced with other identification information, and the replacement is performed in response to the input of the replaced identification information. The configuration is characterized in that a predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being executed is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer or display (CRT, LC) which receives a command group from a host device such as a host computer and changes subsequent data processing.
D) and other output devices and methods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a printer, a display (CRT, LCD) or the like is an output device that receives a series of commands from a host device and changes the subsequent data processing. These output devices have a function of identifying data and commands.

[0003]

However, in the same model, a series of character strings (character strings in the command table) for recognizing as a command is fixed. Therefore, in a system in which a plurality of the same output devices are connected to one host device, for example, in a system using a general-purpose interface in which the device number cannot be specified, such as SCSI, the host device cannot identify the device number, There has been a problem that the output devices simultaneously execute command processing in competition.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above prior art, and the upper device easily identifies the output device by rewriting the command table of the output device with a specific command from the upper device. However, the present invention provides an output device and an output method capable of selectively executing desired output processing.

In order to solve this problem, the output device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, in accordance with the input of the instruction information for instructing the change of the stored identification information, the replacement means for replacing the identification information to be changed with other identification information, and the input of the identification information replaced by the replacement means. Accordingly, there is provided execution means for executing a predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being replaced by the replacement means.

Further, the identification information represents a parameter of a control command indicating a predetermined operation.

The instruction information indicates identification information to be changed and identification information after the change.

The instruction information is set externally.

Further, the replacing means has a searching means,
The stored identification information is searched for the identification information to be changed indicated by the instruction information.

Further, the replacement means has a notification means,
If the identification information to be changed is not stored, the fact is notified to the outside.

In order to solve this problem, the output method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, in response to the input of the instruction information for instructing the change of the stored identification information, the replacement step of replacing the identification information to be changed with other identification information, and the input of the replaced identification information, An executing step of executing a predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being replaced by the replacing means.

The identification information represents a parameter of a control command indicating a predetermined operation.

The instruction information indicates the identification information to be changed and the identification information after the change.

The instruction information is set externally.

Further, in the replacing step, the identification information to be changed indicated by the instruction information is retrieved from the stored identification information.

Further, in the replacing step, when the identification information to be changed is not stored, the fact is notified to the outside.

[0017]

In the configuration or process of the present invention, the identification information to be changed is replaced with another identification information in response to the input of the instruction information for instructing the change of the stored identification information. In response to the input of the identification information, the predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being replaced is executed.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing the structure of the present invention, the structure of an output device suitable for applying this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be described with reference to.

It is needless to say that the output device to which the present embodiment is applied is not limited to the laser beam printer, and may be a printer of another printing system such as an inkjet printer described later.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the structure of a first output device to which the present invention can be applied, for example, a case of a laser beam printer (LBP).

In the figure, reference numeral 1500 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores print data (character code or the like) supplied from an external device such as a host computer externally connected, form data, or a macro command. A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created according to the data, and an image is formed on a recording paper, which is a recording medium. Reference numeral 1501 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operation and an LED display are arranged.
Is a printer control unit for controlling the entire LBP main body 1500 and analyzing print data and the like supplied from the host computer. This printer control unit 1000
Mainly converts a character code into a video signal having a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1502. The laser driver 1502 is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 1503, and switches on / off the laser light 1504 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1503 according to the input video signal. The laser light 1504 is oscillated in the left-right direction by the rotary polygon mirror 1505 to scan and expose the electrostatic drum 1506. As a result, an electrostatic latent image having a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 1506. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 1507 arranged around the electrostatic drum 1506 and then transferred to a recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording sheet, and the cut sheet recording sheet is a paper cassette 150 mounted on the LBP 1500.
8, the paper feed roller 1509 and the transport roller 15
It is taken into the apparatus by 10 and the conveyance roller 1511 and is supplied to the electrostatic drum 1506.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a system to which the output device of the present invention is applied.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a host device such as a host computer, to which an output device 2 and an output device 3 are connected via a predetermined interface 4.

Conventionally, the output device 3 for interpreting the same command as the above command is newly connected to the host device 1 for transmitting the command interpreted by the output device 2 to construct the system shown in FIG. , Each output device simultaneously interprets a predetermined command from the host device, and competingly executes the command processing.

Therefore, as will be described below, the newly connected output device 3 updates the parameters of each command stored in the command table to which it refers when interpreting the command, and uses the corresponding application program. By simply sending a new command from the host device to the output device 3, it is possible to easily prevent command processing conflicts.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed structure of the output devices 2 and 3 shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a non-volatile memory (for example, a RAM having a backup power source, a flash memory, etc.) in which a command table described later is stored. An interface control unit 12 is connected to the interface 4 and controls communication with the host device 1. Thirteen
Is RAM, and ROM14 mainly executed by MPU17
Functions as a work for executing the control program stored in the control program (such as the control program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4). An output unit 15 executes print output processing in this embodiment. An internal bus 16 connects the MPU 17 and each unit. The state of each output device 2, 3 after the power is turned on is the device non-selected state. It should be noted that the present embodiment is described by taking the print output process as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the display output process to a CRT or the like.

In the output device thus constructed,
When the output device 3 receives a specific command in a command sequence with the higher-level device 1, the MPU 17 causes the nonvolatile memory 1 to operate based on the specific command analyzed by the MPU 17.
By changing the setting value of the command table constructed as No. 1, it is possible to selectively execute a specific command sequence output from the higher-level device after the MPU 17 finishes rewriting the command table.

Further, the storage medium for storing the command table is constituted by the non-volatile memory 11, and the contents of the command table are held regardless of the power-on / off state, so that the host device can quickly output a specific output after power-on. Make devices identifiable.

Further, by enabling the setting of the mode for receiving the specific command by the functional processing of the MPU 17, the specific command reception timing can be arbitrarily set.

FIG. 3 shows the nonvolatile memory 11 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the command table memorize | stored in FIG.

In the figure, a, b, A to D, and X are commands, which correspond to the following instruction processing, for example.

ESCa device selection: Validate the following data ESCb Device non-selection: Invalidate all data until ESCA is received ESCA Enlarged character setting: Enlarge and display the following data in the horizontal direction ESCB Cancel enlarged characters: Cancel horizontal enlargement ESCCn Set / cancel italic characters: Start / end italic display ESCDn Set / cancel hatched characters: Start / end shaded display ESCXnm Change control code

The command sequence in the output device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a command sequence in the output device according to the present invention. In addition, (1) to (7) indicate each step, and M shown in FIG.
It is controlled by the PU 17.

First, since the state of each output device 2, 3 after the power is turned on is the device non-selected state, the determination in step (1) is NO, and until the ESCa command sequence is received (2), all of them are performed. Data is ignored (data is discarded) (4).

On the other hand, when the ESCa command sequence is received in the judgment of the step (2), the device is brought into the selected state (3) and the subsequent data is made valid.

As a result, the determination in step (1) is YE.
When S is received, it is determined whether the received command sequence is ESCb (5), and if YES, the device is deselected (6), and the data is ignored until the ESCa command sequence is received thereafter.

On the other hand, if the determination in step (5) is NO, the received data is analyzed and data is output (7),
The process ends.

Therefore, when the system is configured as shown in FIG. 1, when the host device 1 issues the above command sequence, the output device 2 and the output device 3 recognize each as a correct command, Both devices 2 and 3 execute the command processing.

Therefore, the output device 3 is started up in a mode in which only ESCX is executed, and thereafter, the higher-level device 1 uses the ESCXa
When the command x is issued, the command table (see FIG. 3) stored in the non-volatile memory 11 of the output device 3 is displayed as M
The PU 17 rewrites the contents of the command table shown in FIG. As a result, after that, the upper level device 1 can perform the data processing by regarding the command header as the same command sequence as the previous ESCa and perform the data processing only when the command header is received by the upper level device 1. And can be identified by software, and the same command sequence can be executed while identifying the output device 3 or the output device 2. Note that the rewritten FIG.
As for the contents of the command table shown in, the stored information is not lost even when the power is cut off.

Therefore, thereafter, the host device 1 sends various command groups to the output device 2 with ESCa (command header).
By sandwiching it with ESCb (command footer),
For the output device 3, ESCx (command header) and E
By sandwiching with SCb (command footer), it is possible to distinguish the output devices and output the data.

Next, the rewriting process of the command table in the non-volatile memory 11 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.
The rewriting process is performed before shipping the product (for example, the output device 3).

The command "ESCXn" for command rewriting
The first parameter n of "m" specifies the current command header, and the second parameter m specifies a new command header. As a result, when the output device 3 receives the command sequence including the command “ESCXax”, the MPU 17 searches the command table in the non-volatile memory 11 for the first parameter “a”.
The same character is searched for, and the matching part is replaced with the second parameter “x”. By this processing, “a” in the command table is changed to “x”, that is, the command sequence is updated.

To restore the contents once updated, for example, the command "ESCXn" for command rewriting is used.
The command "ESCXmn" in which the first parameter n and the second parameter m of "m" are exchanged is used. As a result, when the output device 3 receives the command sequence including the command “ESCXxa”, the MPU 17 searches the command table in the nonvolatile memory 11 to find the same character as the first parameter “x”, and matches the same. The replaced part is replaced with the second parameter “a”. By this processing, "x" in the command table is changed to "a", that is, the command sequence has the original contents (command "ESCax").
The contents before being updated in) will be updated.

In the above embodiment, the above-described embodiment has been described in the case where each of the above commands is input from the host device such as the host computer before the product is shipped. However, after the product is shipped, the operation panel 1501 shown in FIG. It is obvious that the present invention may be implemented by a user or service person setting the above commands or inputting them from a host device such as a host computer.

At this time, if the first parameter is the same as the "X" which is the header of the specific command, especially the rewriting command, malfunction is caused by executing the processing for invalidating the received command. Can be prevented. Similarly, as a result of searching the first parameter, when there is no corresponding character in the command table, that is, when there is no match, the received command is invalidated. When these inappropriate command sequences are received, an error notification can be sent to the host device 1 in the case of a bidirectional interface such as RS232C and Centronics.
Further, regardless of the type of interface, it is sure to display an error using the display function (for example, the operation panel 1501 shown in FIG. 7) provided in the output device 3 or the like. However, the output device 2, 3 determines whether or not the device is inoperable when an improper command sequence is received.
Since it depends on the environment in which is used, it may be configured so that it can be appropriately dealt with.

In the above embodiment, the process of rewriting the header "a" of the command table to "x" by the command "ESCXax" for command rewriting has been described as an example. It is also possible to rewrite "" with another character string.

Further, in the above embodiment, in order to prevent inadvertent rewriting of the command table in response to the issuance of the ESCX command sequence by the careless operation on the higher-level device 1, the output device 3 is commanded to change the command sequence. The case of starting up in the mode for receiving only "ESCX" has been described, but the mode does not have to be a special mode. For example, power on only the output device for which the command header is to be changed, and power off the other output devices. The same effect can be expected if it is kept.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the character string of one command is replaced has been described. However, the character string of a plurality of commands may be replaced, so that it is only necessary to select the output device. Instead, the output form can be changed for each output device. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the command table of the output device 3 using the ESCx command sequence is shown in FIG.
By replacing "C" and "D" shown in Fig. 2 to emphasize and output a specific character or part of a sentence, the output device 2 outputs italic characters and the output device 3 outputs hatched characters. Will also be possible.

Since the contents of the command table are retained regardless of the power-on / off state, the host device can quickly identify the specific output device after the power is turned on.

Further, since the mode for receiving the specific command can be set by the functional processing of the MPU 17, the specific command receiving timing can be set arbitrarily.

Therefore, it is possible to easily change the header of the command table of the output device, and to easily construct a system in which the output device number can be specified from the host device side even with an interface in which the output device number cannot be identified. Produce an effect.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

In the above embodiment, the laser beam printer was used as an example of the output device for the description, but it may be a printer of another printing type as shown in FIG. 8 described below or a display device such as a CRT. That is clear.

FIG. 8 is an external view showing the configuration of a second output device to which the present invention can be applied, for example, the case of an ink jet printer (IJRA).

In the figure, a spiral groove 5004 of a lead screw 5005 that rotates via driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in association with forward and reverse rotations of a drive motor 5013.
The carriage HC that engages with is a pin (not shown)
And is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An inkjet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. A paper pressing plate 5002 presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the carriage movement direction. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which function as home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 is a member that indicates a cap member 5022 that caps the entire surface of the recording head, and 5015 is a suction unit that sucks the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head through the opening 5023 in the cap. 5017 is a cleaning blade, which is a member 5
019 enables movement in the front-back direction. Reference numeral 5018 denotes a main body supporting plate which supports the above 5017 and 5019. Fifty
Reference numeral 12 is a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves in accordance with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is movement-controlled by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. .

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are performed so that desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the home position side area. It suffices if it is configured so as to perform the desired operation.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram for explaining the control configuration of the second output device shown in FIG.

In the figure, 1700 is an interface for inputting print data and the like consisting of character codes and control codes, 1701 is an MPU, 1702 is the MPU 17 described above.
A program RO for storing a control program (program based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 4) executed by 01.
M and 1703 are DRAMs for storing various data (the print data, the data supplied to the head, etc.).
A gate array 1704 controls data supply to the recording head 1708.
It also controls data transfer between the PU 1701 and the DRAM 1703. Reference numeral 1710 is a carrier motor for conveying the recording head 1708, 1709 is a conveyance motor for conveying recording paper, 1705 is a head driver for driving the recording head, 1706 is a motor driver for driving the conveyance motor 1709, and 1707 is A motor driver for driving the carrier motor 1710. 1711
Is a non-volatile memory (for example, a RAM having a backup power supply, a flash memory, etc.) in which the above-mentioned command table is stored.

In each of the output devices thus configured, when print data or the like is input from the host computer via the interface 1700, the gate array 1
The print data is converted between the 704 and the MPU 1701 into image data for printing. Then, the motor drivers 1706 and 1707 are driven, and the recording head is driven according to the image data sent to the head driver 1705 to execute printing.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, a new output device (for example, the output device 3) receives a specific command by the command sequence with the host device, and the MPU 1
Based on the analyzed specific command of 7, the MPU 17 changes the setting value of the command table, and by using the corresponding application program, simply sends a new command from the upper device to the new output device.
The command processing can be prevented from conflicting, and a specific command sequence sent from the higher-level device can be selectively executed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a system to which an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the output device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a command table stored in the nonvolatile memory shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a command sequence in the output device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram showing a rewritten state of a command table stored in the nonvolatile memory shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another rewritten state of the command table stored in the nonvolatile memory shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a first output device to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 8 is an external view showing a configuration of a second output device to which the present invention can be applied.

9 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a second output device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Upper device 2 Output device 3 Output device 11 Non-volatile memory 17 MPU

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A replacement unit that replaces the identification information to be changed with other identification information in response to an input of instruction information that instructs a change of the stored identification information, and the identification information replaced by the replacement unit. And an executing means for executing a predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being replaced by the replacing means, in accordance with the input of. 2. The identification information represents a parameter of a control command indicating a predetermined operation.
The output device described. 3. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction information indicates identification information to be changed and identification information after the change. 4. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction information is set externally. 5. The replacement unit further includes a search unit, and searches the stored identification information for the identification information to be changed indicated by the instruction information. Output device. 6. The replacement means further includes a notification means, and when the identification information to be changed is not stored,
The output device according to claim 1, wherein the fact is notified to the outside. 7. A replacing step of replacing the identification information to be changed with another identification information in response to the input of the instruction information for instructing the change of the stored identification information, and the inputting of the replaced identification information. Accordingly, there is provided an executing step of executing a predetermined operation indicated by the identification information before being replaced in the replacing step. 8. The identification information represents a parameter of a control command indicating a predetermined operation.
The output method described. 9. The output method according to claim 7, wherein the instruction information indicates identification information to be changed and identification information after the change. 10. The output method according to claim 7, wherein the instruction information is set externally. 11. The output method according to claim 7, wherein the replacing step further searches the stored identification information for the identification information to be changed indicated by the instruction information. 12. The output method according to claim 7, wherein in the replacing step, when the identification information to be changed is not stored, the fact is notified to the outside.