Output apparatus

Abstract: An output apparatus includes a memory for storing output environment setting information for setting an output environment in units of output environments, a registration unit for registering the output environment setting information in the memory, a read-out unit for reading out desired output environment setting information from the memory in units of output environments, and an output environment setting unit for setting an output environment on the basis of the output environment setting information read out by the read-out unit.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output method and apparatus having a function of setting an output environment. Related Background Art As printers in which overlay forms, character pattern information, and the like can be registered, for example, laser beam printers, and the like are known. Conventionally, in a printer of this type, when character fonts, which are not built in the printer, or overlay forms (e.g., frames, ruled lines, logograms, and the like), which are frequently used by a user, are to be registered, or when an emulation program for realizing another print protocol is to be added, a card comprising a programmable memory element such as an EPROM, or an expansion memory, which is available in the form of a printed circuit board, is used. Normally, such a printer is used commonly by a plurality of host computers (shared use). As described above, when a plurality of users share a single printer, and use different character fonts, overlay forms, and the like, all these character fonts and overlay forms must be registered in the printer in advance. In this case, since the expansion memory using a programmable memory such as an EPROM has a small memory capacity, a large number of character fonts and overlay forms cannot be simultaneously registered. For this reason, the users must individually possess such expansion memories, and must replace the expansion memory when they use the printer. Such operations are troublesome for the users. In particular, when the host computers and the printer are coupled through, e.g., a network, such troubles are still worsened. Furthermore, when the plurality of users share the single printer, as described above, if they register the formats of approval stamps or important documents, such formats may be freely used by other users. US-A-5 047 957 discloses, as set forth in the preambles of claims 1 and 5, a printer controller capable of controlling a printer shared by plural users by selecting various set values of the printer. This printer has a memory which stores printing environment data corresponding to a user ID code. After a particular code has been designated, the printing environment data corresponding to the designated code are read out from the memory. The printing environment is then set based on the read printing environment data. Each of the set values can be selected on the basis of a user ID code transmitted to the printer controller. However, the printing environment data is not read in response to an input code. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus having an improved operability and reliability, and a corresponding printing method. According to the invention this object is accomplished by a printing apparatus as set out in claim 1 and by a printing method as set out in claim 5. The present invention will be described hereinbelow by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of a laser beam printer; Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the laser beam printer of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows the formats of data stored in an expansion memory; Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a print environment setting operation; Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a laser beam printer according to the embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 6 shows a memory map of an expansion memory of the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that output environment setting information is a general name of various kinds of information (emulation program, character fonts, overlay forms, and the like) which are required upon execution of an output operation in an output apparatus. Therefore, the output environment setting information includes both multipurpose information prepared in advance in the output apparatus, and user information prepared by a user himself or herself. Note that an output environment unit is a group of some pieces of output environment setting information necessary for setting a predetermined output environment of the output apparatus. Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of a laser beam printer. This laser beam printer allows registration of character patterns, form data, and the like from a data source (not shown). Referring to Fig. 1, a laser beam printer main body 1 receives and stores print information (character codes, the like), form information, macro commands, or the like supplied from an externally connected host computer, and generates corresponding character patterns, form patterns, and the like according to these pieces of information, thereby forming an image on a recording sheet as a recording medium. The laser beam printer 1 comprises an operation panel 300 provided with operation switches, LED indicators, and the like, and a printer control unit 101 for controlling the entire laser beam printer 1, and analyzing character information, and the like supplied from the host computer. Mainly, the printer control unit 101 converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern, and outputs the video signal to a laser driver 102. The laser driver 102 is a circuit for driving a semiconductor laser 103, and ON/OFF-controls a laser beam 104 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 according to the input video signal. The laser beam 104 is scanned by a rotary polygonal mirror 105 in the horizontal direction to expose an electrostatic drum 106. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. The latent image is developed by a developing unit 107 arranged around the electrostatic drum 106, and the toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet. A cut recording sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 108 loaded in the laser beam printer 1. The recording sheet is picked up into the printer by a paper feed roller 109, and is fed to the electrostatic drum 106 by convey rollers 110 and 111. Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the laser beam printer. In Fig. 2, the laser beam printer main body 1 is constituted by a print section 2 for actually printing an image, and a main control section 3 for controlling the print section 2. The main control section 3 comprises a CPU 4 for controlling the overall printer. A main memory 5 comprises a read-only memory (ROM), and stores an operation processing sequence (program), character pattern information, and the like. An expansion memory 6 comprises a rewritable large-capacity memory such as a hard disk drive, and can additionally store an emulation program, character pattern information, and the like. Furthermore, the expansion memory 6 can be attached/detached by a user. An input buffer 7 temporarily stores input data. An image generator 8 generates image data to be drawn. A bit map memory 9 stores developed bit map data of the image data. A shift register 10 converts parallel data into serial data, and outputs the serial data as a video signal to the print section 2. In the above-mentioned arrangement, print data output from an external host computer 11 are stored in the input buffer 7 in the main control section 3. The CPU 4 sequentially analyzes print data in the input buffer 7, causes the image generator 8 to generate pixel unit information of a print image using pixel unit information of, e.g., characters stored in the main memory 5, and develops the generated information as image data for one page on the bit map memory 9. The CPU 4 sequentially transfers the image data to the shift register 10 to generate a video signal, and outputs the video signal to the print section 2. The print section 2 forms an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic drum 106 by ON/OFF-controlling the laser beam 104 according to the input video signal. Fig. 3 shows the formats of data to be stored in the expansion memory 6. The expansion memory 6 is used for compensating for a memory element such as a RAM, a ROM, and the like in the main memory 5 of the main control section 3. More specifically, the expansion memory 6 has the following areas: an emulation area 13 used for adding and assuring emulation programs; a multipurpose overlay form area 14 used for adding and assuring multipurpose overlay forms; a multipurpose font area 15 used for adding and assuring multipurpose character font patterns; an input buffer area 16 as an auxiliary input buffer; and a user information area 17 used for adding and assuring user print environment information. Furthermore, the user information area 17 includes a user ID 18, a user font area 19, a user form area 20, and a print environment information area 21. The user ID 18 is used for identifying a user, who inputs information. A user can register fonts and forms (e.g., forms with stamps or signatures) exclusively used by himself or herself in the user font area 19 and the user form area 20. The print environment information area 21 is an area for storing user print environment information, which designates multipurpose character fonts, multipurpose forms, an emulation program, and the like. A series of processing operations in the above arrangement will be explained below. Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a print environment setting operation by the laser beam printer 1. When one of the plurality of host computers 11 transmits print data to the laser beam printer 1, it transmits a pre-registered user ID to the laser beam printer 1. When the CPU 4 receives the user ID in step S1, the flow advances to step S2. In step S2, the CPU 4 searches the user information area 17 in the expansion memory 6 to find out user print environment setting information corresponding to the received user ID. The flow then advances to step S3 to download an emulation program, character fonts, form data, and the like stored in the main memory 5 and the expansion memory 6 with reference to the print environment setting information found in step S2. In step S4, a print environment of the laser beam printer 1 is set. Thereafter, when the laser beam printer 1 receives print data from the host computer in step S5, the main control section 3 outputs video data to the print section 2 according to a predetermined program. Each user need not always perform a print operation under the same print environment. That is, when no user ID is transmitted from the host computer, the flow jumps from step S1 to step S5, and the laser beam printer operates according to the current print environment. When a user wants to add or rewrite print environment information, he or she designates a user ID via the host computer, and then transmits a command for a function of saving print environment setting information, thereby executing addition or rewriting of information. Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a laser beam printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals in Fig. 5 denote the same parts as in Fig. 2, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In Fig. 5, an operation section 22 is arranged in the laser beam printer, and can input various kinds of information including those to be stored in the user information area 30. Fig. 6 shows the content of information stored in an expansion memory 6 in the embodiment. The same reference numerals in Fig. 6 denote the same parts as in Fig. 3, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In Fig. 6, a user information area 30 includes a user ID 18, a user font area 19, a user form area 20, a print environment information area 21, and pass code information 23. When a pass code is set in the pass code information 23, only a user who set the pass code can access the user information area 30 in the expansion memory 6. Processing operations will be described below. The processing operations upon execution of a print operation in the embodiment are substantially the same as those in Fig. 4, except for operations to be described below. When a user inputs the user ID 18 from the operation section 22, he or she can call a print environment without using the host computer. Similarly, a user can execute rewriting of stored user information. In this case, user font data 19 and user form data 20 must be supplied from the host computer. When a pass code 23 is added to the user information area 30, only a specific user can output registered print environment setting information. Therefore, the forms of, e.g., approval stamps, important documents, and the like can be stored in the expansion memory 6, so that a specific user can use these data. As described above, according to the above embodiment, the laser beam printer main body comprises the large-capacity rewritable storage medium such as a hard disk drive, and the storage medium has an area for storing user print environment setting information. Thus, when a user uses the laser beam printer, a corresponding print environment can be immediately realized, thereby eliminating troublesome change operations of print environments when the laser beam printer is commonly used by a plurality of users (shared use). Furthermore, according to the embodiment, when a pass code is registered, forms of, e.g., approval stamps, important documents, and the like can be registered. In the above embodiment, print environment setting information is managed in units of users using user IDs. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, print environment setting information may be stored in units of document format names, so that the print environment setting information can be managed in units of document formats. In the above embodiment, the laser beam printer is used as a printer. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, any other printers, such as an ink-jet printer, may be used. Note that the present invention may be applied to a system constituted by a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus consisting of a single device. Also, the present invention may also be applied to a case wherein the invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus. As described above, when a user uses a printer, a desired print environment can be set, thus eliminating a troublesome change operation of print environments of the printer. When a pass code is registered, forms of, e.g., approval stamps, important documents, and the like can be registered.

Claims: A printing apparatus which stores a plurality of pieces of information each for setting a printing environment to provide a function of setting a plurality of printing environments, said apparatus comprising: memory means (6) for storing the plurality of pieces of printing environment setting information, each of which is in correspondence to a code set by a user; read means (4), responsive to a designation of one of the codes, for reading one of the plurality of pieces of printing environment setting information corresponding to the designated one code from said memory means (6); and setting means (4) for setting one of the plurality of printing environments based on the one piece of printing environment setting information read by said read means (4); characterized in that each piece of printing environment setting information is also related to a pass code (23) and that said read means (4) is further responsive to an input of said pass code (23). A printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising an operation section (22) for setting said pass code (23). A printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said printing environment setting information comprises multipurpose information prepared in advance in said printing apparatus and user information prepared by a user. A printing apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said multipurpose information comprises emulation programs, character fonts and overlay forms. A printing method wherein a plurality of pieces of information each for setting a printing environment is stored to provide a function of setting a plurality of printing environments, said method comprising the steps: storing the plurality of pieces of printing environment setting information, each of which is in correspondence to a code set by a user; designating one of the codes; reading one of the plurality of pieces of printing environment setting information corresponding to the designated one code; and setting one of the plurality of printing environments based on the read one piece of printing environment setting information; characterized in that each piece of printing environment setting information is also related to a pass code (23) and that said reading step is performed responsive to an input of said pass code (23). A printing method according to claim 5, characterized in that said printing environment setting information comprises multipurpose information prepared in advance in said printing apparatus and user information prepared by a user. A printing method according to claim 6, characterized in that said multipurpose information comprises emulation programs, character fonts and overlay forms.

Inventors: HAYASHI MASAO, HAYASHI, MASAO, Hayashi, Masao, c/o Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Applicants: CANON KK, CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G06K15
IPC codes: G06K15, B41J21, G06F3, B41J29