Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-10
2001-12-25
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C358S001120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06333789
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a printing system, a printing method and a printer wherein a plurality of types of information different in priority, such as print data, can be processed according to the priority.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional type printing system, a host computer such as a personal computer generates print data and sends the print data to a printer connected via a network or a local area network. The printer executes a predetermined printing process on a recording medium by interpreting the received print data and driving a print engine.
Data other than print data can be also sent from a host computer to a printer. For example, a host computer can request the status of the printer such as the residual quantity of paper and toner of a printer. A host computer can also request that the printer stop printing in an emergency.
As one logical channel is allocated to a physical interface between a host computer and a printer according to the above prior art, only one type of information can be sent at a time. That is, until data transmission is completed while first data is transmitted from a host computer to a printer, subsequent data cannot be transmitted because the logical channel is occupied until the transmission of the first data is completed.
Therefore, even if the cancellation of printing is requested after print data is sent to a printer, a cancel printing command cannot be sent to the printer until the transmission of all of the print data is completed. Therefore, the prior art has a problem in that data having a high priority, a command for an urgent stop and data for interrupt printing cannot be promptly processed. Further, the prior art is inefficient because only one logical channel is provided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is designed to solve the above problems by providing a printing system, a printing method and a printer wherein a plurality of types of information different in priority can be processed.
To solve the above problems, in a printing system according to the present invention, a plurality of logical channels which belong to a transport layer or an upper layer are provided and a plurality of types of information different in priority is transferred via each logical channel.
A printing system is provided with an information generating device for generating and transmitting a plurality of types of information different in priority and a printer for receiving the information from the information generating device via a network and processing the information according to the priority. The network includes a plurality of logical channels which belong to at least a transport layer or an upper layer and are different in priority. The information generating device transmits the information to the logical channel according to priority, the printer judges the priority of the information based upon the logical channel and processes the information according to the priority.
“Priority” in the description means the degree of precedence in processing. “A plurality of types of information” includes print data, an urgent stop command, normal print data, interrupt print data and others. “The information generating device” can be realized by a printer driver installed in a host computer for example and others. “A network” means a network connected via a telecommunication line independent of a wire circuit or radio transmission. “A transport layer” means a transport layer of
7
layer-model for open systems interconnection (OSI) which is architecture for intercommunication among systems defined by International organization for Standardization (ISO).
The information generating device generates a plurality of types of information different in priority. Next, the information generating device sends the information to a logical channel according to priority. That is, priority is allocated to each logical channel and information which is high in priority is sent to a printer via a logical channel assigned with high priority. Therefore, a printer can judge the priority of received information by identifying a logical channel used for sending the information and can execute processing according to the priority of the information. Accordingly, urgent information can be promptly processed and facility in handling is also enhanced.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the size of each receive buffer allocated to each logical channel can be set based upon the priority.
The higher the priority of information sent to a printer is, the lower the frequency may be. Conversely, the lower the priority of information is, the lower the frequency may be also. That is, if the priority of information and a frequency in which information is generated are related, an allocated area in a receive buffer can be set dynamically or statistically based upon the priority.
For example, if normal print data which is low in priority and a control command which is high in priority are sent, a large memory area is allocated to the normal print data and the residual memory area can be allocated to the control command. Accordingly, a receive buffer can be efficiently utilized.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the plurality of types of information can include normal print data and interrupt print data.
The priority of interrupt print data has only to be set so that the priority is relatively higher than the priority of normal print data. For example, even if a normal print job is issued from one of the following users in case where a plurality of users share one network printer, an urgent print job can interrupt before the transmission of print data is completed and facility in handling is enhanced.
According to the present invention disclosed in claim
4
, the a plurality of types of information can include print data and a control command.
The priority of a control command has only to be set so that the priority is relatively higher than the priority of print data.
As a result, even while print data is transmitted, a control command such as a request for canceling a print job and a request for the urgent stop of printing can be sent to a printer and executed, and waste of printing resources such as paper and toner can be prevented.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the printer is provided with a plurality of output trays and the plurality of types of information can include print data which specify one of the output trays.
If a printer is provided with a plurality of output trays, an output tray on which printed recording media are ejected can be specified for print data. If different priority is allocated to each output tray, print data for which an output tray high in priority is specified is processed in advance. Accordingly, virtual printers can be constructed by the number of output trays on a single printer.
According to the present invention disclosed in claim
6
, the a plurality of types of information can include print data the printing language of which is specified and print data the printing language of which is indefinite.
“Print data the printing language of which is indefinite” means print data the printing language of which is not specified and more specifically, means print data the printing language of which is required to be guessed.
If the printing language is specified, a printer interprets print data according to the specified printing language or an emulator and prints it. If a printer receives print data in which the printing language is not specified, the printer guesses the printing language using an intelligent emulation switch (IES) and interprets print data as a known printing language. If the priority of print data in which the printing language is specified is set so that the priority is relatively higher than the priority of print data in which the printing language is no specified, the print data the printing language which is specified can be processed in first. Therefore, time required for switching a task a
Grant II Jerome
Seiko Epson Corporation
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
LandOfFree
Printing system, method and apparatus for processing a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Printing system, method and apparatus for processing a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Printing system, method and apparatus for processing a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2599948