Patent ID: 6075618
Filing Date: 2000-06-13
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
A terminal printer connected to a plurality of host devices via an interface configured by a single line, the terminal printer receiving transmission data from the respective host devices in a form of one or more packets for printing via a print mechanism, wherein the transmission data contains print data to be printed and station numbers for identifying the respective host devices, the terminal printer comprising:a reception buffer memory divided into a plurality of allocation regions in a data region based on a number of the host devices;a buffer management memory which stores the station numbers of the host devices and the allocation regions of the reception buffer memory in correspondence with each other, wherein each time a packet is received, a station number of a host device in the packet is compared with the station numbers of the host devices stored in the buffer management memory to store the packet in an allocation region corresponding to a coincident station number;a capacity information storing unit that stores information indicating capacities of the respective allocation regions which are allocated in the reception buffer memory in correspondence with the station numbers; anda capacity changing unit that, when a capacity of the allocation region becomes insufficient in a course of reception of transmission data, changes information indicating the capacity of the allocation region, wherein capacities of the allocation regions of the reception buffer memory which are allocated to the host devices can be changed on the basis of the information stored in the capacity information storing unit.