JP2006205383A - Image formation device and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation device which reduces printing overruns and a control program. <P>SOLUTION: The image formation device has a band data storage means to store band data for one page, a printing means to expand the band data stored in the band data storage means and print one page, a band data generation means to split printing data received into bands, generate band data of data compressed by bitmapping, bitmapped data or untreated data in accordance with the condition of the printing data split from the split printing data, and sequentially store in the band data storage means, and a speed control means to change the paper transfer speed of the printing means to a low speed when the value of the share of untreated data in band data stored in the band data storage means is obtained and the value of the share of the untreated data in one page is greater than a predetermined threshold value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control program that reduce the occurrence of print overrun.

In recent printing apparatuses, a method is used in which print data for one page received from a host computer is divided and processed in band units. In this case, the divided band data includes (1) data compressed after being converted into a bitmap, (2) data subjected to only bitmap conversion, and (3) unprocessed data that is not subjected to bitmap conversion or data compression. Become one. Based on the contents of the received print data, the optimum band data is selected and any one of these three types of band data is generated. In particular, unprocessed data that is not converted to bitmap data or compressed is processed by directly converting it into image data for printing by omitting intermediate processing, so printing of the first page of a print job is started quickly. It is effective for. However, depending on the contents of the band data, the speed of generating and outputting image data for printing may be slower than the speed of the printing process for transferring the image to the paper. There is a problem that an overrun error occurs.
Note that an image forming apparatus capable of performing print overrun occurrence prediction at high speed when generating bitmap data from a page description language is known as a prior art (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-0067401 A

  Of the three types of band data described above, (3) data that has not been subjected to bitmapping or data compression and is not generated as much as possible and (1) data that has been bitmapped and then compressed, or (2) Generation of print overrun can be suppressed by generating data that has only been bitmapped.

  However, the process of generating three types of band data divides print data for one page into a plurality of bands, and based on whether the divided bands satisfy a predetermined condition, Since data is generated and band data is not generated so that print overrun is unlikely to occur in the process of generating band data, depending on the contents of the received print data, There is a problem that a run may occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus and a control program capable of reducing the occurrence of print overrun.

  The present invention relates to band data storage means for storing band data for one page, printing means for expanding the band data stored in the band data storage means, and printing for one page, and received printing Divide the data into bands, and generate either band-compressed data, bitmap-compressed data, bitmap-converted data, or unprocessed data from the divided print data according to the status of the divided print data Then, the band data generating means for sequentially storing the data in the band data storing means, and the ratio of the unprocessed data in the band data stored in the band data storing means is obtained, and the unprocessed data in one page is obtained. Speed control for switching the paper conveying speed of the printing means to a low speed when the value of the ratio occupied by the printing means is larger than a predetermined threshold value Characterized by comprising a stage.

  The present invention is an image comprising band data storage means for storing band data for one page, and printing means for expanding the band data stored in the band data storage means to perform printing for one page. A control program that operates on the forming apparatus, which divides the received print data into bands and converts the divided print data into bitmap data according to the status of the print data divided, and bitmap Data generation processing for generating one of the band data of the converted data and the unprocessed data and sequentially storing the band data in the band data storage means, and the unprocessed data among the band data stored in the band data storage means When the value of the ratio occupied by unprocessed data in one page is greater than a predetermined threshold Characterized in that to perform the speed control processing for switching the sheet conveying speed of the printing means to slow the computer.

  According to the present invention, the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in the band data stored in the band data storage means is obtained, and the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in one page is determined in advance. When the value is larger than the value, the sheet conveying speed of the printing means is switched to a low speed, so that the effect of reducing the occurrence of print overrun can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit that controls the overall processing operation of the image forming apparatus. Reference numeral 2 denotes a data receiving unit that receives print data from the host computer. Reference numeral 3 denotes a print data buffer that temporarily stores print data received by the data receiving unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a band dividing unit that divides print data for one page into a plurality of bands and determines processing to be performed on the divided bands. Reference numeral 5 denotes a bitmap data generation unit that generates bitmap data from the divided band data. Reference numeral 6 denotes a data compression unit that compresses bitmap data. Reference numeral 7 denotes a band data buffer for temporarily storing band data after processing the divided band data. Reference numeral 8 denotes a development unit that performs data development in accordance with the content of processing performed on the band data stored in the band data buffer 7. Reference numeral 9 denotes a printing unit that conveys the printing paper and transfers the image onto the paper. Reference numeral 10 denotes a transport speed control unit that controls the paper transport speed of the printing unit 9 in accordance with the state of data stored in the band data buffer 7.

  Next, the printing operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the data receiving unit 2 receives print data from the host computer and stores the received print data in the print data buffer 3. The data receiving unit 2 notifies the control unit 1 that the print data has been received when the reception of the print data is completed. In response to this, the control unit 1 instructs the band dividing unit 4 to generate band data. In response to this instruction, the band dividing unit 4 reads out the print data stored in the print data buffer 3 for each page and divides it into a plurality of bands. The band dividing unit 4 determines processing to be performed on each of the divided bands based on a predetermined condition. Here, the processing options for each band are: (1) data compressed after bit map conversion, (2) data only converted to bit map, and (3) no bit map conversion or data compression. Processing data.

  In the case of generating data that has been compressed after being converted into a bitmap, the band dividing unit 4 outputs the divided band data to the bitmap data generating unit 5 and the bitmap data to the data compressing unit 6. The data compression of the bitmap data output from the generation unit 5 is instructed. In response to this, the bitmap data generation unit 5 generates bitmap data from the band data output from the band division unit 4, and outputs the generated bitmap data to the data compression unit 6. The data compression unit 6 receives the bitmap data output from the bitmap data generation unit 5, compresses the bitmap data, and stores it in the band data buffer 7.

  In addition, when performing only bitmapping, the band dividing unit 4 outputs the divided band data to the bitmap data generating unit 5. In response to this, the bitmap data generation unit 5 generates bitmap data from the band data output from the band division unit 4, and stores the generated bitmap data in the band data buffer 7. On the other hand, when neither bitmapping nor data compression is performed, the band dividing unit 4 stores the divided band data in the band data buffer 7 without being processed.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which band data is stored in the band data buffer 7. As shown in FIG. 2, the band data buffer 7 stores one page of any of the three types of band data. In this example, the print data for one page is divided into seven, and each band is converted into a bitmap, and then subjected to data compression processing and bitmap processing, and stored in the band data buffer 7. In this example, the data is stored in the band data buffer 7 as it is. Each band data includes information that can identify which of the three types of band data. That is, the band data stored in the band data buffer 7 includes information capable of identifying whether (1) compressed data of bitmap data, (2) bitmap data, or (3) unprocessed data. .

  Next, the control unit 1 outputs a print start instruction to the expansion unit 8 and the printing unit 9 when the band division processing is completed and the band data for one page is stored in the band data buffer 7. . In response to this, the expansion unit 8 calculates the ratio of unprocessed data included in one page stored in the band data buffer 7 and notifies the transport speed control unit 10 of the ratio value of the unprocessed data. In response to this, the conveyance speed control unit 10 compares the ratio value of the unprocessed data with a threshold value (for example, 50%) set in advance. When the ratio value notified from the developing unit 8 exceeds the threshold value, there is a high possibility that a print overrun will occur. Therefore, the conveyance speed control unit 10 sends the paper conveyance speed to the printing unit 9. Is set to “low speed”, and if the ratio value does not exceed the threshold value, an instruction to set the paper transport speed to “high speed (normal speed)” is issued to the printing unit 9. In response to this, the printing unit 9 sets the printing speed (paper transport speed) of the next page to the instructed speed.

  Next, the expansion unit 8 sequentially reads the band data stored in the band data buffer 7 from the top, and executes a band data expansion process based on the band data identification information included in the read band data. If the read band data is compressed data of bitmap data, the data is output to the printing unit 9 after executing the data expansion processing. If the read band data is bitmap data, it is output to the printing unit 9 as it is. If the read band data is unprocessed data, the bitmap data generation unit 5 generates bitmap data and outputs the generated bitmap data to the printing unit 9. As a result, a transfer process (print process) to the paper is executed in the printing unit 9. At this time, if the ratio of the unprocessed data in the band data buffer 7 is high (exceeds the threshold value), the printing speed (paper transport speed) of the printing unit 9 is set to “low speed”. It is possible to prevent the print overrun from occurring because the developing process in the section 8 cannot keep up with the printing speed (paper conveyance speed).

  In this way, the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in the band data stored in the band data storage means is obtained, and the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in one page is determined from a predetermined threshold value. When the size is large, the paper transport speed of the printing means is switched to a low speed, so that the occurrence of print overrun can be reduced.

  A program for realizing the function of the processing unit in FIG. 1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed to execute a print control process. You may go. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the band data buffer shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part, 2 ... Data receiving part, 3 ... Print data buffer, 4 ... Band division part, 5 ... Bitmap data generation part, 6 ... Data compression part, 7 ... Band data buffer, 8 ... Development part, 9 ... Printing part, 10 ... Conveyance speed control part

Claims (2)

Band data storage means for storing band data for one page;
Printing means for expanding the band data stored in the band data storage means and printing one page;
The received print data is divided into bands, and depending on the status of the print data divided from the divided print data, one of the bands of compressed data, bitmap data, and unprocessed data Band data generating means for generating data and sequentially storing the data in the band data storage means;
When the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in the band data stored in the band data storage means is obtained, and the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in one page is greater than a predetermined threshold value An image forming apparatus comprising: a speed control unit that switches a sheet conveyance speed of the printing unit to a low speed. On an image forming apparatus provided with band data storage means for storing band data for one page and printing means for expanding the band data stored in the band data storage means and printing one page. A control program that operates,
The received print data is divided into bands, and depending on the status of the print data divided from the divided print data, one of the band of compressed data, bitmap data, and unprocessed data Band data generation processing for generating data and storing the data in order in the band data storage means;
When the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in the band data stored in the band data storage means is obtained, and the value of the proportion of unprocessed data in one page is greater than a predetermined threshold value A control program for causing a computer to perform a speed control process for switching the paper transport speed of the printing means to a low speed.

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