Printing system

Abstract

To provide a printing system capable of preventing a roll sheet from running out during printing, the running out having occurred in conventional banner printing where the printing length and the remaining amount of roll sheet are compared for each page.SOLUTION: A printing system according to the invention is configured to: for banner printing where a sheet cannot be replaced during printing, calculate size of a sheet received from a client before starting printing; and determine whether or not to print so as to eliminate waste of the sheet due to interruption of printing during the printing can be exchanged on the way of printing in banner printing. The printing system is configured to: calculate size of a sheet received from a mobile terminal before starting printing; and determine whether or not to print. The printing system is configured to: for IPP printing where sheet size for each page is included in raster data, analyze, after receiving, by a printer, page information, received data; and determine whether or not to print.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for detecting the remaining amount of roll paper before banner printing is performed. [Background technology]

[0002] In conventional recording devices, roll paper insufficiency errors in large format printers are determined by comparing the print length and the remaining amount of roll paper for each page, regardless of whether banner printing is being performed or not. Therefore, when banner printing starts, it is not possible to determine whether the remaining amount is insufficient, and an error may occur during printing. Furthermore, in order to determine the conditions for roll paper insufficiency errors, it is necessary to turn on the roll paper remaining amount management setting and either have the operator set the roll paper length on the panel or have the printer automatically estimate it. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that, after detecting that the remaining amount of long paper is approaching the end, changes the layout and image formation process to reduce paper and time wasted and improve printing operability near the end of the long paper.

[0003] Patent Document 2 discloses a technology that predicts when a paper shortage occurs at the time a job is submitted or at any timing during printing processing, and issues a warning. Furthermore, the IPP Production Printing Extension v2.0 of the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) specification specifies the method of allocating print pages. This makes it possible to specify banner printing, but does not specify the method of reducing page margins. The IPP specification is a specification established by the Printer Working Group, and is a standard for exchanging print data between a printer and a computer using a TCP / IP network. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-181850 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-270082 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, with the above technology, when printing banners, the print length and the remaining amount of roll paper are compared for each page, which poses the problem of the roll paper running out midway through printing.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can eliminate paper waste caused by interrupting printing midway. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and calculates the paper size received from the mobile terminal before printing starts, and judges whether printing is possible. In the case of IPP printing, the paper size for each page is included in the raster data, so after the printer receives the page information, it analyzes the received data and judges whether printing is possible. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate paper waste caused by interrupting printing midway. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a printing device and a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for executing banner printing on roll paper according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the data structure of PWG raster data. [Figure 4] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of output when banner printing is performed using multiple pages of PWG raster data. [Diagram 5]FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing a process for executing banner printing on roll paper when all PWG raster data has been spooled according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] This is a three-page banner printing image including different sizes. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. Note that the components described in the embodiment are merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these. EXAMPLES

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printing device 11 and a mobile terminal 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] The printing device 11 and the mobile terminal 15 are connected via a network.

[0013] The printing device 11 has an I / F device 2, a printing unit 3, paper 4, an ink consumption detection unit 5, an ink remaining amount detection unit 6, a paper consumption detection unit 7, a paper remaining amount detection unit 8, a controller unit 9, and an external storage device unit 10. The I / F device 2 may be connected to either a wired or wireless network.

[0014] The mobile terminal 15 includes an I / F device 2, an I / F section 12, a display section 13 for making a print request, and a job processing section .

[0015] When an operator designates printing, the job processing unit 14 of the mobile terminal 15 receives the drawing data passed from the application and the OS side, and performs processing such as color adjustment and color correction.

[0016] Finally, the data is generated after processing to convert it into a command that can be interpreted by the printing device 11, and the print data is sent to the printing device 11 via the I / F section 12 on the mobile terminal 15 side and the I / F device 2.

[0017] The transmission data is sent to the printer 11 via a network line, and the controller unit 9 interprets the command, and the print data is stored in the external storage device unit 10 while being printed out by the printing unit 3 .

[0018] The external storage device 10 can temporarily or long-term store the entire print data sent from the host PC 15, and when stored, the print data remains even after the printer is turned off. Thereafter, the print data is stored in the external storage device 10 in a state where it can be used for printing again.

[0019] When the printing unit 3 prints, ink is discharged and consumed from the ink tank. The ink consumption detection unit 5 detects the amount of ink consumed in units such as the count of dots discharged from the nozzles or the amount of ink, and in units of print jobs, and the controller unit 9 acquires this information.

[0020] At the same time, paper 4 is consumed by printing, and the paper consumption detection unit 7 detects how many mm this consumption has been in the length direction, and the controller unit 9 acquires this information.

[0021] Furthermore, the remaining ink amount detection unit 6 obtains the remaining ink amount, and at the same time, the remaining paper amount detection unit 8 obtains the remaining paper amount, and the controller unit 9 obtains this information.

[0022] The ink consumption, paper consumption, remaining ink amount, and remaining paper amount can be obtained by the mobile terminal 15 from the controller unit 9 via a network cable and can be used. EXAMPLES

[0023] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing a process for printing a banner on roll paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] First, the printing device 11 receives a banner print request from the terminal device 15. In S201, the printing device 11 stores information necessary for printing, such as media size, media type, quality, and margins, included in the print request data, in the internal storage device 11. In S202, the printing device 11 determines whether it is in a printing state, and if it is, returns a request permission to the mobile terminal 15 in S203. If other processing is being performed and printing cannot be executed, a request denial is returned in S211, and the processing ends. When the mobile terminal 15 determines that the printing device 11 is in a printing state, the mobile terminal 15 sends print data, and the printing device 11 receives the data in S204. The received print data is in PWG raster format and has a data structure as shown in FIG.

[0025] PWG raster data is a raster data format specification established by the Printer Working Group. The reference URL is https: / / ftp.pwg.org / pub / pwg / candidates / cs-ippraster10-20120420-5102.4.pdf. It is one of the data formats sent to the printer when performing IPP printing. Each page contains a total page count, width, height, and a bitmap image.

[0026] The printer 11 then analyzes the PWG raster data received by the controller unit 9, and in S205 determines whether the PWG raster data for the first page contains a total page count other than 0. Because the total page count is not required due to the specifications of the PWG raster, if the total page count is not included in the PWG raster data, in S209 the printer 11 displays whether or not to print, even though the paper size required for printing cannot be estimated. If it is determined that printing will be performed regardless of the remaining amount of roll paper, in S208 the printer 11 performs paper feeding processing and starts printing. If it is determined that printing will not be performed, the printer 11 notifies the mobile terminal 15 that printing is not possible in S210, and ends without printing.

[0027] Next, if the total page count is included in the PWG raster data, the estimated required paper size is calculated from the media size information and total pages of the print request in S206. For example, when performing banner printing with the total page count of the PWG raster data being 3 pages as shown in FIG. 4, the print data of 401 becomes 402 if it is the sum of the media size width and height information. In the case of banner printing, the margins between pages are deleted, so the paper size height can be reduced by 42. Therefore, the estimated required paper size becomes 41, and if there is a remaining amount of roll paper that is equal to or longer than the length of 41, printing is possible. This estimated required paper size is compared with the remaining amount of roll paper obtained by the remaining paper detection unit 8 of the printing device 11 in S207, and if the remaining amount of roll paper is less, it is determined in S209 whether to continue the printing process. Here, the operator may be prompted to check whether there is enough remaining paper, and if there is little remaining paper, a warning screen to replace the paper may be displayed. If it is determined not to print, the printing device 11 notifies the mobile terminal 15 in S210 that printing is not possible, and ends without printing. If the remaining amount of roll paper is greater than the amount of paper remaining, the printer 11 feeds the roll paper in S208 and starts printing.

[0028] As described above, this embodiment solves the problem of running out of printing paper in the middle of printing banner paper by performing the judgment process of comparing the remaining amount of roll paper with the estimated required paper size in S207 in Fig. 2. As a result, it is possible to create the effect of eliminating paper waste caused by interrupting printing midway. EXAMPLES

[0029] 5 is a flow diagram for executing banner printing on roll paper when all PWG raster data is spooled in one embodiment of the present invention. In implementation example 1, the printer 11 looks at the total page count of the PWG raster data for the first page of the PWG raster data to calculate the estimated required paper size. In this case, if the page size differs for each page, it is not possible to calculate an accurate estimated required paper size. Therefore, in embodiment 3, a process will be described for the case where all PWG raster data can be spooled in the printer 11.

[0030] First, the printing device 11 receives a banner print request from the terminal device 15. In S501, the printing device 11 saves information necessary for printing, such as media size, media type, quality, margins, etc., included in the print request data, in the internal storage device unit 11. In S502, the printing device 11 determines whether it is in a state where it can print, and if it is, returns a request permission to the mobile terminal 15 in S503. If other processing is being performed and printing cannot be executed, a request denial is returned in S514, and the processing ends. When the mobile terminal 15 determines that the printing device 11 is in a state where it can print, the mobile terminal 15 sends the print data, and the printing device 11 receives that data in S504.

[0031] The printer 11 then analyzes the PWG raster data received by the controller unit 9, and in S505 determines whether the PWG raster data for the first page contains a total page count other than 0. Due to the specifications of the PWG raster, a total page count is not required, so if the total page count is not included in the PWG raster data, in S515 the printer 11 displays whether or not to print, even though the paper size required for printing cannot be estimated. If it is determined that printing will be performed regardless of the remaining amount of roll paper, in S511 the printer 11 performs paper feeding processing and starts printing. If it is determined that printing will not be performed, in S516 the printer 11 notifies the mobile terminal 15 that printing is not possible, and ends without printing.

[0032] Next, if the total page count is included in the PWG raster data, the estimated required paper size is calculated from the media size information and total pages of the print request in S506. For example, if the media size information is A4 size and the total page count is 4, the estimated required paper size is 297 mm x 4. However, the estimated required paper size at this point is not the page size information included in each page of the actual PWG raster data, so it lacks accuracy. Therefore, the estimated required paper size is compared with the remaining amount of roll paper obtained by the remaining paper detection unit 8 of the printing device 11 in S507, and if the remaining amount of roll paper is less, a decision is made in S512 as to whether to continue the printing process. Here, the operator may be prompted to check whether there is enough remaining paper, and if there is little remaining paper, a warning screen to replace the paper may be displayed. If the printing process is not to be continued, the portable terminal 15 is notified in S513 that printing is not possible, and the process ends.

[0033] When it is determined that printing should continue, the same process as when it is determined in S507 that there is a lot of remaining roll paper is performed. For example, when printing a three-page banner containing different sizes as shown in FIG. 6, if the width and height information included in the page header of the PWG raster data is different for each page, the output layout will be as shown in 602. If the width and height information included in the page header of the PWG raster data is different for each page, a layout like 602 cannot be generated using only the media size information received when a banner print request is received. To avoid this, the determination in S512 is performed. To make the determination in S512, a screen may be displayed on the printer 11 to inquire whether to continue printing, or a notification may be sent to the terminal device 15, and the terminal device 15 may be caused to carry out the process on whether to continue processing.

[0034] Here, the operator may be prompted to check whether there is sufficient remaining paper, and if there is not enough remaining paper, a warning screen to change the paper may be displayed on the printer 11 or the terminal device 15. If there is more remaining roll paper, the PWG raster data will be processed. As shown in FIG. 3, the PWG raster data contains page width and height information for each page, and it is possible to specify a different size for each page. Therefore, in S508, the printer 11 acquires page size information (width and height information) from the page header contained in the data. In S509, the printer 11 calculates the paper size required for banner printing from the page size information acquired in S508 and the margin size information saved in S501. Then, in S510, the printer 11 compares the paper size calculated in S509 with the remaining roll paper amount obtained by the paper remaining amount detection unit 8 of the printer 11, and if there is not enough remaining roll paper, the printer 11 notifies the mobile terminal 15 that printing is not possible in S513 and ends the process. If there is more remaining roll paper, the printer 11 feeds roll paper in S511 and starts printing.

[0035] As described above, this embodiment solves the problem of running out of print paper in the middle of printing banner paper by comparing the remaining amount of roll paper with the estimated required paper size in S507 and S510 in Figure 5. As a result, it is possible to eliminate paper waste caused by interrupting printing midway. (Other Examples)

[0036] In the above embodiment 1, only the beginning of the PWG raster data is looked at to calculate the paper size required for banner printing. In addition, in embodiment 3, all PWG raster data is spooled, and the paper information and margin area included in each page of the PWG raster are looked at to calculate the paper size required for banner printing. In addition, when a banner printing request is received, the method of determining the required paper size may be changed depending on whether or not the printer 11 has a hard disk. In addition, when storing PWG raster data on a hard disk, if the hard disk has little free space, the compression mode during data transfer may be switched. Furthermore, if multiple rolls of paper can be loaded, the one with the most remaining paper may be forcibly selected and printed when printing a banner. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 2 I / F device 3 Printing Department 4. Paper 5. Ink consumption detector 6 Ink level detector 7 Paper consumption detector 8 Paper remaining amount detector 9 Controller section 10 External storage unit 11 Printing device 12 I / F device 13 Display for making print requests 14 Job Processing Unit 15 Terminal Equipment

Claims

1. A printing device including a roll paper supply unit that supplies roll paper, a paper transport means that transports the roll paper from the roll paper supply unit, and a memory element that stores a remaining amount of the roll paper, a print analysis unit that refers to page size information included in the print data when a banner print request is received; A calculation unit for calculating a total length of the banner; a determination processing unit that compares the calculated overall length of the banner with the remaining amount of roll paper; A printing device comprising:

2. A printing device including a roll paper supply unit that supplies roll paper, a paper transport means that transports the roll paper from the roll paper supply unit, and a memory element that stores a remaining amount of the roll paper, a storage device unit that spools print data on a printing device when a banner print request is received; a print analysis unit that refers to page size information included in the print data; A calculation unit for calculating a total length of the banner; a determination processing unit that compares the calculated overall length of the banner with the remaining amount of roll paper; A printing device comprising:

3. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the storage device is a hard disk.

4. 4. The printing device according to claim 2, wherein a compression mode for data transfer is changed when the capacity of the hard disk is small.

5. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when a plurality of rolls of paper can be loaded, the one having the largest remaining amount of paper is forcibly selected for printing during banner printing.

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