Abstract:
A method of evading printing errors for use with a printing system having a language monitor receiving commands generated by a driver unit from a spooler to transmit the commands to a frame buffer, including detecting errors in an operation of the language monitor, displaying that the errors are detected, and canceling a function of the language monitor based on a selection of a user.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2005-45052, filed May 27, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     Aspects of the present invention relates to a method of evading printing errors and a printing system therefor, and, more particularly, to a method of evading printing errors by canceling a function of a language monitor, and a printing system therefor.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates an operation principle of a printing system employing a conventional image forming apparatus.  
         [0006]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the conventional printing system includes an engine unit  70 , and an image forming apparatus having a graphics device interface (GDI) unit  10 , a driver unit  20 , a spooler  30 , a language monitor  40 , a frame buffer  50 , and a port monitor  60 .  
         [0007]     Windows for transmitting objects to the image forming apparatus according to printing commands from application programs are built in the GDI unit  10 . The driver unit  20  receives the objects from the GDI unit  10  and then generates commands accordingly so that the frame buffer  50  makes the objects into bitmaps.  
         [0008]     Windows for transmitting the commands from the driver unit  20  to the language monitor  40  are built in the spooler  30 . The language monitor  40  transmits the commands received from the spooler  30  to the frame buffer  50 .  
         [0009]     The frame buffer  50  converts the commands transmitted from the language monitor  40  into bitmaps so that the image forming apparatus may form images.  
         [0010]     The operation of the conventional image forming apparatus will be described with reference to  FIG. 1 . When printing commands are transmitted from a user, an application program (not shown) calls the GDI unit  10 , and the GDI unit  10  then creates the objects corresponding to the above-described printing commands. Then, the GDI unit  10  transmits the objects to the driver unit  20 .  
         [0011]     After receiving the objects from the GDI unit  10 , the driver unit  20  generates commands so that the frame buffer  50  converts the objects into the bitmaps, and transmits the generated commands to the spooler  30 . The spooler  30  receives the commands from the driver unit  20  and then transmits the commands to the language monitor  40 .  
         [0012]     Next, the language monitor  40  transmits the commands received from the spooler  30  to the frame buffer  50 . The frame buffer  50  converts the commands transmitted from the language monitor  40  into the bitmaps that the image forming apparatus interprets to form images, and then transmits the bitmapped commands to the language monitor  40 . The language monitor  40  transmits the above-described bitmapped commands through the port monitor  60  to the engine unit  70 . After receiving the bitmapped commands, the engine unit  70  performs printing in accordance with the commands.  
         [0013]     The above-described language monitor  40  receives the commands generated by the driver unit  20  from the spooler  30  to transmit the commands to the frame buffer  50 . However, the language monitor  40  has been found to not be essential in printing. This is due to the fact that the spooler  30  may directly transmit the commands of the driver unit  20  to the frame buffer  50  itself. However, it is possible to show a state of the image forming apparatus by using the language monitor  40 . However, the printer may abnormally operate due to errors of the language monitor  40  during the use of the image forming apparatus. In such a case, the user has to re-install the printer.  
         [0014]     That is, according to the conventional art, when something is wrong with the language monitor  40  that is not directly related to the printing but serves as an additional factor that improves a performance of the image forming apparatus or shows the state of the image forming apparatus, the printing has to be stopped and the image forming apparatus has to be re-installed. This causes inconvenience and a waste of time.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     Aspects of the present invention have been developed in order to solve the above and/or other problems associated with the related art. A feature of the present invention is to provide a method of evading printing errors in a language monitor, and a printing system therefor.  
         [0016]     In order to achieve a feature of the present invention, a method of evading printing errors, comprises detecting errors in an operation of a language monitor receiving commands generated by a driver unit of an image forming apparatus from a spooler to transmit the commands to a frame buffer, displaying that the errors are detected, and canceling a function of the language monitor based on a selection of a user. On the other hand, according to the present invention a printing system comprises a driver unit which generates commands to print data, a spooler which provides an intermediate path of the generated command, and a language monitor which receives the command through the spooler to transmit to a frame buffer. The driver unit detects errors in an operation of the language monitor and cancels a function of the language monitor when printing in a state in which the function of the language monitor is canceled is selected after the operation errors detected.  
         [0017]     Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  illustrates the operation principle of a printing system employing a conventional image forming apparatus;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  illustrates the structure of a printing system employing a image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  illustrates a dialog window provided to a user according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a principle of realizing a method of evading printing errors.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0024]      FIG. 2  illustrates the structure of a printing system employing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus and an engine unit  170 . The image forming apparatus, which generates print data and transmits the data to the engine unit  170 , includes a host computer. The engine unit  170 , which prints the print data received from the image forming apparatus on a paper, includes a printer, a facsimile, and a multifunctional device.  
         [0026]     The image forming apparatus includes a graphics device interface (GDI) unit  110 , a driver unit  120 , a spooler  130 , a language monitor  140 , a frame buffer  150 , and a port monitor  160 .  
         [0027]     Windows for transmitting objects to the image forming apparatus according to printing commands from application programs are built in the GDI unit  110 .  
         [0028]     The driver unit  120  receives the objects from the GDI unit  110 , and then generates commands to cause the frame buffer  150  to convert the objects into bitmaps.  
         [0029]     Windows for transmitting the commands from the driver unit  120  to the language monitor  140  are also built in the spooler  130 . The language monitor  140  transmits the commands received from the spooler  130  to the frame buffer  150 .  
         [0030]     The frame buffer  150  converts the commands that are transmitted from the language monitor  140  into bitmaps so that the engine unit  170  can form images.  
         [0031]     The operational principles of the present invention are substantially similar as those which apply to the conventional image forming apparatus illustrated in  FIG. 1  when the language monitor  140  normally operates without errors. Differences in the operational principles between the present invention and the conventional art when errors are generated in the language monitor  140  will be described hereinafter.  
         [0032]     First, the GDI unit  110  that receives printing commands from an application program (not shown) transmits the objects corresponding to the printing commands to the driver unit  120 . After receiving the objects, the driver unit  120  generates commands accordingly to cause the frame buffer  150  to convert the objects into bitmaps.  
         [0033]     The generated commands are then transmitted to the language monitor  140  through the spooler  130 . The driver unit  120  determines a state of the language monitor  140  immediately before the commands are transmitted. Where the driver unit  120  determines that the language monitor  140  cannot normally operate due to errors, the image forming apparatus asks a user whether to continuously perform printing through a dialog window. This will be explained in more detail with reference to  FIG. 3   
         [0034]      FIG. 3  illustrates the dialog window according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0035]     Here, if the image forming apparatus is a host computer, and a dialog window  200  indicating an error occurrence is displayed on a monitor screen (not shown), when the user selects an OK button  230  through a mouse, or other input device of the host computer, the GDI unit  110  receives the selection command of the user and transmits the selection command to the driver unit  120 .  
         [0036]     The driver unit  120  receives the selection command and, accordingly, cancels a function of the language monitor  140 . The driver unit  140  then directly transmits the above-described printing commands to the frame buffer  150 , and the frame buffer  150  transmits a bitmapped image to the spooler  130 . After the spooler  130  receives the bitmapped image, the spooler  130  transmits the bitmapped image to the engine unit  170  through the port monitor  160 . Next, images in accordance with the printing commands are output from the engine unit  170 .  
         [0037]     When the user selects a cancel button  270  from the dialog window  200  through the mouse of the host computer (or some other input mechanism), the GDI unit  110  receives the cancel command of the user and transmits the cancel command to the driver unit  120 .  
         [0038]     The driver unit  120  that received the cancel command does not cancel the function of the language monitor  140  but, rather, cancels the printing work of the engine unit  170 .  
         [0039]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a method of evading printing errors.  
         [0040]     The operational principle of the method will also be described with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 4 . First, when the printing work starts (S 410 ), the driver unit  120  periodically checks whether errors in an operation of the language monitor  140  are generated (S 420 ).  
         [0041]     Once the driver unit  120  determines that the errors in the operation of the language monitor  140  are not generated, the printing work continues (S 430 ). When the driver unit  120  determines that the errors in the operation of the language monitor  140  are generated, the dialog window  200  illustrated in  FIG. 3  is displayed on the monitor of the image forming apparatus such as the host computer to let a user select whether to continuously perform the printing after a cancellation of the function of the language monitor  140  (S 440 ).  
         [0042]     If the user selects the cancel button  270  to cancel the printing, the driver unit  120  cancels the printing of the engine unit  170  (S 450 ).  
         [0043]     However, if the user selects the OK button  230  from the dialog window  200  to continuously perform the printing, the driver unit  120  cancels the function of the language monitor  140  (S 460 ) and directly transmits the printing commands to the frame buffer  150  so that the printing is continuously performed (S 470 ).  
         [0044]     As is described above, according to aspects of the present invention, when the language monitor, which is a module to improve the performance or function of the image forming apparatus, and which is not related to printing, does not normally operate, printing operations may be performed without the use of the language monitor. As a result, it may not be necessary for the user to cancel the printing work, to re-install a image forming apparatus driver, or to re-execute his/her operating system upon an error in the language monitor.  
         [0045]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.