Thermal printer local drive installation method
By integrating high-performance processors and virtual USB drive technologies into thermal printers, the function of automatically installing drivers when connected to computers is realized, solving the cumbersome problem of installing drivers in traditional thermal printers, and improving user experience and operation convenience.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510088052.7
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-01-21
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-18
AI Technical Summary
Traditional thermal printers lack USB drive functions, which leads to users who need cumbersome network download and manual copying processes when installing drivers, which are prone to errors, especially for users who are not familiar with the installation process.
Integrate high-performance processors and virtual USB drive technologies in thermal printers, allowing them to be identified as printer devices and USB drive devices when connected to a computer, automatically run the installation driver scripts, and match and install driver files matching the computer.
Simplifies the driver installation process, improves user operation convenience, reduces installation difficulty, and does not require additional costs.
Smart Images
Figure CN119847457A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The invention relates to the field of thermal printing, and in particular to a method for installing a local driver of a thermal printer. Background Art
[0002] Traditional thermal printers do not have USB flash drive functions and cannot store drivers and installation instructions. When installing drivers, users usually need to go to the official website of the printer supplier to search and then download the driver of the corresponding model and version. If the computer where the driver is to be installed cannot access the Internet, the user needs to download it from other channels and copy it to the computer to be installed. At the same time, it is also necessary to combine the installation instructions or the thermal printer operation manual to successfully complete the installation. This process is cumbersome and error-prone, especially for users who are not familiar with the thermal printer driver installation process. Therefore, the market is in urgent need of a thermal printer that can store various drivers and installation manuals, and can automatically assist users in installing drivers to improve user experience and lower the threshold for use. Summary of the invention
[0003] In order to solve the above problems, the present technical solution provides a method for installing a local driver of a thermal printer.
[0004] To achieve the above purpose, the technical solution is as follows: A method for installing a local driver of a thermal printer, comprising: The fuselage body is provided with a cover plate assembly, a front cover plate assembly and a bottom shell assembly, and the fuselage body is provided with a rubber roller assembly, a cover plate bracket assembly, a printer mechanism assembly, a button and indicator light assembly and a mainboard assembly, wherein the mainboard assembly has a virtual USB flash drive; Based on the above structure, the following steps are also included: S101, connect the thermal printer to the computer with a USB cable; S102, turning on the power switch of the thermal printer; S103, thermal printing obtains information related to the computer and the thermal printer driver installation through USB; S104, the thermal printer starts the driver installation script program of the virtual USB disk; S105, the installation script program matches the computer information obtained by the thermal printer with the driver installation file in the virtual USB disk; S106, the installation script determines whether the current computer has the latest driver installed, if yes, proceed to step S107, if not, proceed to step S108; S107, a prompt box pops up, click to confirm and proceed to step S112, the thermal printer enters normal working mode; S108, the installation interface pops up.
[0005] In some embodiments, after step S108, the following steps are also included: S109, input setting parameters; S110, click the confirmation button; S111, automatically install, and a prompt box will pop up after the installation is complete; Proceed to step S112.
[0006] In some embodiments, in the above structure, it also includes a USB interface socket connected to the mainboard assembly.
[0007] In some embodiments, in the above structure, it also includes an RJ11 interface socket connected to the mainboard assembly.
[0008] In some embodiments, in the above structure, it also includes an RJ45 interface socket connected to the mainboard assembly.
[0009] In some embodiments, the above structure also includes a power interface socket and a power switch connected to the mainboard assembly.
[0010] The beneficial effects of this application are: This application utilizes the built-in processor and virtual USB flash drive technology of the thermal printer so that when the thermal printer is connected to the computer via USB, it can be recognized by the computer as a printer device and a USB flash drive device at the same time, and then automatically runs the driver installation script through the USB flash drive, automatically finds the driver file that matches the computer, and runs the installation program. At this time, the user only needs to make simple settings to easily complete the driver installation, which greatly simplifies the installation process, improves user convenience, and does not require any additional costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for describing the embodiments are briefly introduced below.
[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects solved by the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.
[0014] Please refer to Figure 1-2 As shown, a method for installing a local driver of a thermal printer includes: The fuselage body 201 is provided with a cover plate assembly 202, a cover plate assembly 203 and a bottom shell assembly 204, and the fuselage body 201 is provided with a rubber roller assembly 301, a cover plate bracket assembly 302, a printer mechanism assembly 303, a button and indicator light assembly 304 and a mainboard assembly 401, wherein the mainboard assembly 401 has a virtual USB flash drive; Based on the above structure, the following steps are also included: S101, connect the thermal printer to the computer with a USB cable; S102, turning on the power switch of the thermal printer; S103, thermal printing obtains information related to the computer and the thermal printer driver installation through USB; S104, the thermal printer starts the driver installation script program of the virtual USB disk; S105, the installation script program matches the computer information obtained by the thermal printer with the driver installation file in the virtual USB disk; S106, the installation script determines whether the current computer has the latest driver installed, if yes, proceed to step S107, if not, proceed to step S108; S107, a prompt box pops up, click to confirm and proceed to step S112, the thermal printer enters normal working mode; S108, the installation interface pops up.
[0015] In order to implement the above solution, this application has the following: 1. Adopt integrated high-performance processor: A high-performance processor that can run a simple operating system and has USB slave function is integrated in the thermal printer to process the logical operations and data transmission inside the thermal printer; 2. Virtual USB disk technology: Make full use of the processor to virtualize part of the device's internal storage space as a USB disk device, so that the device can be recognized as a printer device and a USB disk device at the same time when connected to a computer; 3. Driver file storage: The driver files and installation instructions files corresponding to various operating systems of the thermal printer are stored in the virtual U disk in advance at the factory, or the above files are integrated into the application. When burning or upgrading the application, the system automatically stores the above files in the virtual U disk for the installation script to call, and can also be opened and consulted by the user; 4. Automatically run the script: Pre-install the driver installation script in the virtual U disk. When the device is recognized as a U disk device by the computer, the script will be automatically run to start the driver installation program.
[0016] Specifically, after step S108, the following steps are also included: S109, input setting parameters; S110, click the confirmation button; S111, automatically install, and a prompt box will pop up after the installation is complete; Proceed to step S112.
[0017] Furthermore, the circuit main board assembly 401 is integrated with the high-performance processor and auxiliary circuit elements for processing logical operations and data transmission inside the thermal printer.
[0018] Furthermore, the USB interface seat 403 is fixed on the circuit main board assembly 401, which can be connected to a computer via a USB cable, serving as a data connection channel for a virtual U disk, and is responsible for data communication between the computer and the thermal printer.
[0019] Furthermore, the RJ11 interface socket 404 is fixed on the circuit main board assembly 401, and can be connected to the cash box via a data line to detect the state of the cash box and control the opening of the cash box.
[0020] Furthermore, the RJ45 interface socket 406 is fixed on the circuit main board assembly 401, and is connected to a circuit host or a switch or a router via a network cable for network data transmission.
[0021] Furthermore, the power interface socket 405 is fixed on the circuit main board assembly 401, and an external power adapter is inserted into the port to supply power to the entire system.
[0022] Furthermore, the power switch 402 is connected to the circuit main board assembly 401 via an electronic wire, and is used to control the switching of the power of the entire system.
[0023] Please refer to the attached Figure 2 , the thermal printer local driver installation flow chart, detailed description of the driver installation method is as follows: First, the USB interface seat 403 of the thermal printer is connected to the computer via a USB cable.
[0024] Further, the power adapter of the thermal printer is inserted into the power interface socket 405 .
[0025] Further, the power switch 402 of the thermal printer is turned on to power on the thermal printer.
[0026] Thermal printing further obtains information related to the computer and the thermal printer driver installation through USB, including but not limited to the operating system and its version number, whether a thermal printer driver connected to it has been installed, and the driver version and other information.
[0027] Furthermore, the thermal printer starts the driver installation script program in the virtual U disk.
[0028] The script is further installed to match the computer information obtained by the thermal printer with the driver installation file in the virtual USB disk.
[0029] The further installation script will determine whether the current computer has the latest driver installed.
[0030] Further, if yes, a prompt box pops up, and then the thermal printer enters normal working mode.
[0031] Furthermore, if not, an installation interface will pop up, and the user only needs to enter the setting parameters, including or excluding initial parameters such as serial port baud rate, network port IP address, etc.
[0032] Further, the user clicks a confirmation button.
[0033] The script will then automatically install the driver, and a prompt box will pop up after the installation is complete; then the thermal printer will enter normal working mode; At this point, the entire driver installation is complete and users can use the thermal printer normally.
[0034] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: Simplified installation process: users only need to connect the thermal printer with USB disk function to the computer via USB, without manually searching and installing the driver, without the need to connect the computer to the Internet, and without querying the computer configuration and operating system information, to achieve one-click installation of the thermal printing driver, greatly improving installation efficiency.
[0035] Improve user experience: Reduce user operation steps and installation difficulty, so that users who are not familiar with computer operation and have no experience in thermal printer driver installation can easily complete the installation and use of thermal printer drivers. At the same time, it is convenient to read electronic user manuals, operating instructions and other related documents at any time without worrying about losing them.
[0036] No additional cost: Through software technology, the excess storage space of the processor is fully utilized to achieve one-click installation of the thermal print driver, and the whole process does not require additional hardware costs.
[0037] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of implementation of the present application. Other principles and basic structures that are the same or similar to those of the present application are within the protection scope of the present application.
Claims
1. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer, characterized in that: The method comprises the following steps: S101, connect the thermal printer to the computer with a USB cable; S102, turning on the power switch of the thermal printer; S103, thermal printing obtains information related to the computer and the thermal printer driver installation through USB; S104, the thermal printer starts the driver installation script program of the virtual USB disk; S105, the installation script program matches the computer information obtained by the thermal printer with the driver installation file in the virtual USB disk; S106, the installation script determines whether the current computer has the latest driver installed, if yes, proceed to step S107, if not, proceed to step S108; S107, a prompt box pops up, click to confirm and proceed to step S112, the thermal printer enters normal working mode; S108, the installation interface pops up.
2. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: After step S108, the following steps are also included: S109, input setting parameters; S110, click the confirmation button; S111, automatically install, and a prompt box will pop up after the installation is complete; Proceed to step S112.
3. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a USB interface seat (403) connected to the mainboard assembly (401).
4. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer according to claim 3, characterized in that: It also includes an RJ11 interface socket (404) connected to the mainboard assembly (401).
5. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer according to claim 4, characterized in that: It also includes an RJ45 interface socket (406) connected to the mainboard assembly (401).
6. A method for installing a local driver for a thermal printer according to claim 5, characterized in that: It also includes a power interface seat (405) and a power switch (402) connected to the mainboard assembly (401).