Abstract:
A device for printing a presentation document comprises a printing unit for printing data received from a computer, a print medium register unit which set up a print medium for printing the data, a print feeding unit which feeds the predetermined print medium to the printing unit, and a control unit which generates a control signal so as to output the data to the printing unit after reading the print medium type determined at the print medium register unit and selecting the corresponding print medium at the print feeding unit.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY  
         [0001]    This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. §119 from my application DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRINTING PRESENTATION DOCUMENT filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on May 27, 1998 and there duly assigned Serial No. 19222/1998.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Technical Field  
           [0003]    The present invention is related to a printer and, more particularly, to a device and method for printing a presentation document on both transparency film and normal paper according to a mode of a printing medium selected by a user.  
           [0004]    2. Related Art  
           [0005]    Generally, a printer is the most common means for inspecting and storing computed results from a computer, and for printing the results in a document form to deliver to a third person. Thus, the printer has become a basic factor in such applications as multimedia, personal computer, facsimile, electronic cash register, automatic cash teller, etc. Currently, the daisy wheel type printer, pin type printer, inkjet type printer, and laser type printer have been developed, but the inkjet printer and laser printer are the most commonly distributed types.  
           [0006]    Recently, along with fast developing office automation equipment, such as the scanner and facsimile, the demand for printers is increasing, and such office automation equipment is being developed with high technology in order to expand its own functions.  
           [0007]    In addition, office automation equipment has been developed in combined types to replace devices which were used independently, and this spares users an economic burden and space requirements. Thus, there is a trend toward manufacture and sale of products with multi-document printing functions.  
           [0008]    The present description describes a laser printer as an example selected from many printers. The laser printer controls printing of character fonts by laser. A controlled and processed beam is generated in a laser generator, and the beam is sent to a mirror at an opposite site.  
           [0009]    Since the mirror is rotating at a very fast speed, the reflecting angle varies according to the beam generating time, and a reflected laser beam having different reflection angles is exposed to a drum in the printer.  
           [0010]    Since the drum has a characteristic of changing its surface when exposed to light, it is divided into exposed and unexposed parts. When a powder type coloring matter called toner is stained on the drum, the exposed parts and unexposed parts are clearly distinguished, and if a paper is supplied and pressed in printing fashion, the desired character or figure is obtained.  
           [0011]    Since the toner is not inclined to attach onto paper in a normal environment, a high temperature is applied in order to attach it to the paper and the paper is then exposed to an outer environment so as to produce a printed paper.  
           [0012]    The laser printer can change the font of a character, can also print a picture similar to that of an inkjet printer, and has very excellent speed and resolution.  
           [0013]    Currently an overhead projector (OHP) is a device used generally for making a presentation. While making the presentation using the OHP, generally, one copy of the presentation material is printed on a transparency film and several copies are either photocopied or printed on normal paper for provision to those attending the presentation. That is, in order to prepare the documents for the presentation, one transparency film and the same number of normal paper copies are printed for the presentation attendee. Thus, the conventional printing method as described above, has the inconvenience of requiring performance of the printing job twice to obtain the same results. Also, in order to get the same results, the same data has to be transferred to the printer twice, thereby having the disadvantage of consuming excessive printing time.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0014]    The present invention is created to solve the problems described above. The purpose of the present invention is to provide users with a printer and its data printing method for printing as many is copies as desired of presentation data on both transparency films and normal paper with one printing command.  
           [0015]    To achieve the above object and other advantages, there is provided a presentation document printing device with printing unit to print the data received from a computer, the device including: a print medium register unit that sets up the printer to print the data; a print feeding unit that feeds predetermined print to the printing unit; and a control unit which reads predetermined print type set-up data from the print medium register unit, which selects print at the print feeding unit, and which initiates a control signal to print the data at the above printing unit.  
           [0016]    Preferably, the print device prints the data using either normal paper for general purpose use or a transparency film for presentation purposes. Accordingly, the print medium register unit uses the computer printing driver to setup the print medium. In addition, the print medium register unit uses a panel unit of the print device to setup the print device.  
           [0017]    To achieve the above object, there is provided, in the present invention, a presentation document printing method including: a decision stage to determine whether the data is to be printed; a setting stage to set up the print device to print the data when printing data is called for; and a printing stage to print the data using a predetermined print device to print the data.  
           [0018]    Preferably, the print device prints the data using either normal paper for general purpose use or a transparency film for presentation purposes. Selectively, the print device further comprises a step to determine the number of print copies on which to print the data. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]    A more complete appreciation of the invention, and may of the attendant advantages, thereof, will be readily apparent as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference symbols indicate the same or similar components, wherein:  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a general connection between a computer and a printer to print data;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data printing process with the computer and the printer connected thereto;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a structure of a data printing device using a printer driver to select printing methods according to the present invention;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram of a data printing example using the printer driver to select printing methods according to the present invention;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIGS. 5A, 5B and  5 C are illustrative diagrams of data printing examples using a panel unit to select printing methods according to the present invention; and  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing data printing flow by selecting the printing methods according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0026]    The objectives, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be described more fully in details hereafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a general connection between a computer and a printer to print data; and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data printing process with the computer and the printer connected thereto. As seen in FIG. 1, a general computer system comprises a computer  100  connected to a printer system  200 . As seen in FIG. 2, the computer system includes a central processing unit (CPU)  110 , a read only memory (ROM) or program memory  112 , a random access memory (RAM)  114 , a power supply  116 , a display controller  118 , a keyboard controller  120 , a serial/parallel interface  122  and a storage controller  124 , all interconnected by an input/output bus  126 . The system further includes a display device  128  connected to display controller  118 , a keyboard  130  connected to keyboard controller  120 , printer  200  connected to serial/parallel interface  122 , and an auxiliary memory storage  132  connected to storage controller  124 .  
         [0028]    As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printing operation in a general computer system is controlled by an input-output controller (not shown) in central processing unit (CPU)  110  which controls data flow on the input-output bus  116 . In order to control input-output of data in the computer system, the CPU  110  receives an input-output control command from program memory  112  through the input-output bus  126  and, after the interpreting of an interface, sends a control signal to a printer controller (not shown) in interface  122 , thereby accomplishing the printing operation in printer  200 .  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a structure of a data printing device after using a printing driver to set up printing methods according to the present invention.  
         [0030]    A print medium register unit  300  selects a print medium to print data developed in computer  100 . A printing unit  220  prints the data transferred from the computer  100  with a predetermined format according to a print control signal from control unit  210 . When the printing unit  220  prints data, a print feeding unit  230  feeds paper according to the format selected by the user.  
         [0031]    In addition, the print feeding unit  230  comprises two sections, a normal paper feeding unit  240  which feeds normal paper, and a transparency film feeding unit  250  which feeds transparency film, according to the present invention. In the thus-structured print device of the present invention, the operation of the device for printing a presentation document and a method of using the printing device will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to FIGS.  1  to  6 .  
         [0032]    Firstly, the control unit  210  decides whether the data from the computer  100  should be printed at the printing unit  220  (Stage:S 100 ). When printing the data, the control unit  210  decides whether the print medium is set up to print the data (Stage:S 200 ). Additionally, the decision as to whether the print medium is set up can be made, as shown in FIG. 3, where the print medium register unit  300  performs accordingly, by a print mode register unit  310  which decides whether a normal mode or a presentation mode is selected to print the data as shown in FIG. 4.  
         [0033]    When the printing device is set up, it is decided whether the data printing mode is selected to be the presentation mode (Stage:S 310 ). The number of print copies is selected in the presentation mode (Stage:S 320 ).  
         [0034]    When the print medium is set up, it is decided whether the data printing mode is selected to be the normal mode (Stage:S 410 ), and the number of print copies for the normal mode is selected (Stage:S 420 ).  
         [0035]    When a print commend  320  is input, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit  210  receives information related to the predetermined number of print copies of the normal and presentation mode. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, a normal feeding unit  240  and a transparency film feeding unit  250  connected to the print feeding unit  230  feed the predetermined number of print media, and accordingly the printing unit  220  prints the data (Stage:S 500 ).  
         [0036]    Another performance example of the present invention can be found using a panel unit  330  (FIG. 5A) of a laser printer  200  as the print medium register unit  300 .  
         [0037]    When printing data from the computer  100  with the laser printer  200 , and when the presentation mode  332  is selected to print the data on transparency film as shown in FIG. 5A, a number generating unit  335  is used to set up the feeding unit  250  and the number of print copies of presentation mode data on an LED display device  331 .  
         [0038]    In a similar manner, when the normal mode  333  is selected to print the data on normal paper as shown in FIG. 5B, the number generating unit  335  is used to set up the paper feeding unit  240  and to print copies of normal mode data on the LED display device  331 .  
         [0039]    After setting the environment to print in the presentation mode or normal mode, when a print commend  334  is input, as shown in FIG. 5C, the predetermined environment is displayed on the LED display device  331  and the printing unit  220  of FIG. 3 prints the data.  
         [0040]    With reference to the aforementioned, according to the present invention, when printing presentation materials on transparency film, it is possible to obtain the results more quickly and with simple operation by the user. Also, the possibility to print on normal paper simultaneously increases work efficiency, and thus promotes user convenience.  
         [0041]    This invention has been described above with reference to the aforementioned embodiments. It is evident, however, that many alternative modifications and variations will be apparent to those having skill in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, the present invention embraces all such alternative modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.