Abstract:
An apparatus for printing comprises a comparator configured to compare an amount of information with a preset value, and a controller configured to control printing of the information. The controller suspends printing when the comparator detects an amount of information that is smaller than the preset value, causes a printer to print the information smaller in amount than the preset value, and causes a printer to restart the printing suspended, after the information smaller in amount than the preset value is completely printed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing information transmitted from an external apparatus.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    An apparatus for printing is connected with a plurality of terminals through a network. Printing information is created at each terminal, sent through a network to an apparatus for printing, and stored in a memory. The stored printing information is sequentially read and printed.  
           [0005]    Therefore, the printing information stored later in the memory is not printed until printing of the information stored earlier is finished. Generally, a small amount of information can be printed in a short time. However, a waiting time must be added if there is other information stored earlier. Particularly, when other information requires a long time to print, the waiting time becomes longer by the time needed to print the other information. As a result, it sometimes takes a long time to print information requested by a terminal user. The user must wait for a long time to execute printing.  
           [0006]    Thus, there has been demanded an apparatus for printing which can suspend printing when receiving a small amount of information, and print the smaller amount first.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    According to aspects of the prevent invention, there is provided an apparatus for printing information transmitted from an external apparatus.  
           [0008]    An apparatus for printing of the present invention comprises a comparator configured to compare an amount of information with a preset value, and a controller configured to control printing of the information.  
           [0009]    The controller suspends printing when the comparator detects an amount of information that is smaller than the preset value, causes a printer to print the information smaller in amount than the preset value, and causes the printer to restart the printing suspended, after the information smaller in amount than the preset value is completely printed.  
           [0010]    Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
       [0011]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and comprise a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for printing according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a view showing main storage areas of a disk unit of the apparatus for printing;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a view showing main storage areas of a main memory of the apparatus for printing;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the main operations of a system controller of the apparatus for printing;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the steps of the interrupt printing shown in FIG. 4;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is a timing diagram explaining the effects of the apparatus for printing;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 is a timing drawing explaining the effects of the apparatus for printing; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing another embodiment of the interrupt printing. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]    Hereinafter description will be given on an apparatus for printing according to an embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 1-FIG. 5.  
         [0021]    In FIG. 1, an apparatus for printing  10  is connected to a network  1 . A plurality of terminals  2  is connected to the network  1 . Print job information is created at each terminal  2 . The created print job information is sent to the apparatus for printing  10  through the network  1 . Print job information comprises printing information such as characters, graphics, images and so on, and print control information such as paper size, number of copies, font and so on.  
         [0022]    The apparatus for printing  10  comprises a network interface  11 , a system controller  12 , a printer controller  13 , a main memory  14 , a page memory  15 , a disk unit  16 , a printer engine  17  and an input unit  18 .  
         [0023]    The input unit  18  includes a power switch of the apparatus for printing  10 . The input unit  18  is constructed to make various settings. The information set by the input unit  18  is supplied to the system controller  12 .  
         [0024]    The system controller  12  is connected to the network interface  11 , printer controller  13 , main memory  14 , page memory  15 , disk unit  16  and printer engine  17 , through a system bus  19 .  
         [0025]    The network interface  11  is constructed to receive print job information through the network  1 . The printer controller  13  is constructed to form bit map images of printing information based on the print job information. The main memory  14  is constructed to store various data. The page memory  15  is constructed to store the bit map images formed by the printer controller  13 . The disk unit  16  is constructed to store the print job information and various setting values. The printer engine  17  is constructed to supply the printing information developed into bit map images to the page printer  20  to make printing on paper.  
         [0026]    The page printer  20  is constructed to print on one piece of paper the bit map images for one page supplied from the apparatus for printing  10 . A laser beam printer, an ink jet printer or a thermal transfer printer can be used as a page printer  20 .  
         [0027]    Referring now to FIG. 2, the main data storage area in the disk unit  16  will be explained.  
         [0028]    Storage areas  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24  and  25  are formed in the disk unit  16 . The storage area  21  sequentially stores print job information sent from each terminal  2  through the network  1 .  
         [0029]    Other storage areas  22 - 25  previously store the information entered through the input unit  18 ; the area  22  stores the default value of an interrupt mode flag entered from the input unit  18 , the area  23  stores a first preset information volume S, the area  24  stores a second preset information volume L, and the area  25  stores a preset residual volume N.  
         [0030]    The preset information volumes S and L are compared to the initial information volume of printing information. The second preset value L is larger than the first preset value S. For example, when the second preset value L is equivalent to 10 pages of standard size paper, the first preset value S is equivalent to 1 page. The preset residual volume N is compared to the residual information volume of the printing information being printed in units of page by the page printer  20  for each page. For example, the preset residual volume N is equivalent to 2 pages of standard size paper.  
         [0031]    The apparatus for printing  10  has an interrupt mode to change the order of printing according to the amount of printing information. When an interrupt mode flag is ON, the interrupt mode is valid. When the interrupt mode is valid, interrupt priority is given to the printing information whose information volume is smaller than the first preset value S. The chosen printing information can be printed during printing the information larger than the second preset value L. However, when the residual information volume of the printing information larger than the second preset value L is less than the preset residual volume N, interrupt printing is disabled.  
         [0032]    The main data storage areas of the main memory  14  will be explained by referring to FIG. 3.  
         [0033]    Storage areas  31 ,  32 ,  33  and  34  are formed in the main memory  14 . These storage areas  31 - 34  are used as work areas of the system controller  12 . The storage area  31  stores an interrupt mode flag. When the power switch  18  is turned on, the system controller  12  reads the interrupt mode flag in the disk unit  16 , and stores it in the storage area  31  of the main memory.  
         [0034]    The storage area  32  stores an interrupt enable flag F. The interrupt enable flag F is set to 1 to enable interrupt printing of the printing information smaller than the first preset value S. The flag is reset to 0 to disable interrupt printing.  
         [0035]    The storage area  33  stores data indicating the interrupt position (address), when printing of information is suspended for interrupt printing of other information smaller the first preset value S. The storage area  34  stores a counter K to count the amount of printing information queued for interrupt printing.  
         [0036]    Main operations of the system controller  12  will be explained by referring to the flow chart of FIG. 4.  
         [0037]    When the power switch is turned on, the system controller  12  makes initial setting. In the initial setting, the interrupt mode flag in the disk unit  16  is read and stored in the storage area  31  of the main memory  14 .  
         [0038]    After the initial setting, the system controller  12  starts the processes shown in FIG. 4. First, the system controller  12  waits for print job information, in step ST 1 . When print job information is sent from the terminal  2  to the network interface  11 , the system controller  12  notifies that print job information has been received. Then, the system controller  12  stores the print job information in the storage area  21  of the disk unit  16 , in step ST 2 .  
         [0039]    Next, the system controller  12  examines the interrupt mode flag, in step ST 3 . The interrupt mode flag is stored in the storage area  31  of the main memory  14 . When the interrupt mode flag is ON, the system controller  12  sets the interrupt enable flag F to 1, in step ST 4 . If the interrupt mode flag is OFF, the system controller  12  resets the interrupt enable flag F to 0, in step ST 5 .  
         [0040]    After resetting the interrupt enable flag F, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to start printing of one print job information, in step ST 6 .  
         [0041]    Commanded to start printing, the printer controller  13  reads first print job information from the storage area  21 . Then, the printer controller  13  creates bit map images of printing information page-by-page based on the print control information included in that print job information. The bit map images created in units of page are sequentially stored in the page memory  15 . The bit map images are then sent from the page memory  15  to the page printer  20  through the printer engine  17 , and printed on paper. Therefore, in the page printer  20 , the printing information included in the print job information is outputted and printed page-by-page.  
         [0042]    After commanding to start printing, the system controller  12  waits until the printing started by one print job information is finished, in step ST 7 . During this waiting period, the system controller  12  monitors in step ST 8  whether the next print job information is received or not. When the next print job information is received, the system controller  12  sequentially stores that print job information in the storage area  21 , in step ST 9 .  
         [0043]    After the printing is finished, the system controller  12  judges in step ST 10  whether the next print job information is stored in the storage area  21 . If the print job information is not stored, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 1 .  
         [0044]    When the next print information is stored, the system controller  12  examines the interrupt mode flag, in step ST 11 . When the interrupt mode flag is OFF, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 5 . Therefore, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to start printing the print job information.  
         [0045]    When the interrupt mode flag is ON, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 4 .  
         [0046]    When the interrupt enable flag F is set, the system controller  12  obtains the initial information volume of the printing information included in a first print job information stored in the storage area  21 , in step ST 12 . Then, the system controller  12  compares the initial information volume to the second preset information volume L, in step ST 13 . The second preset information volume L is stored in the storage area  24  of the disk unit  16 .  
         [0047]    When the initial information volume is equal to or smaller than the second preset information volume L, the system controller  12  goes to step ST 5 . Therefore, after resetting the interrupt enable flag F to 0, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to start printing the print job information.  
         [0048]    When the initial information volume is larger than the second preset information volume L, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to start printing the print job information, in step ST 14 . Thereafter, the system controller  12  waits until the printing of one print job information is finished, in step ST 15 .  
         [0049]    During this period, the system controller  12  monitors in step ST 16  whether the residual volume of this print job information being printed is equal to or less than the preset residual volume N. The preset residual volume N is stored in the storage area  25  of the disk unit  16 . The residual printing volume is controlled by the printer controller  13 . When the residual printing volume of the print job information becomes equal to or lower than the preset residual volume N, the system controller  12  resets the interrupt enable flag F to 0, in step ST 17 .  
         [0050]    The system controller  12  monitors in step ST 18  whether the next print job information is received or not. When the next print job information is received, the system controller  12  sequentially stores that print job information in the storage area  21  of the disk unit  16 , in step ST 19 .  
         [0051]    Then, the system controller  12  examines the interrupt enable flag F, in step ST 20 . When the interrupt enable flag F is reset to 0, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 15 .  
         [0052]    When the interrupt enable flag F is set to 1, the system controller  12  obtains the initial information volume of the printing information from the print job information stored in the storage area  21 , in step ST 21 . Then, the system controller  12  compares the initial information volume to the first preset information volume S, in step ST 22 . The first preset information volume S is stored in the storage area  23  of the disk unit  16 .  
         [0053]    When the initial information volume is equal to or larger than the first preset information volume S, the system controller  12  returns to step  15 .  
         [0054]    When the initial information volume is smaller than the first preset information volume S, the system controller  12  sets this print job information as interrupt job, in step ST 23 . Then, the system controller  12  executes printing of this interrupt job. After finishing the interrupt printing, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 15 .  
         [0055]    When finishing the printing of the first print job information stored in the storage area  12 , in step ST 15 , the system controller  12  goes to step ST 10 . Therefore, when the next print job information is not stored in the storage area  12 , the system controller returns to step ST 1 .  
         [0056]    When the next print job information is stored in the storage area  12 , the system controller  12  examines the interrupt mode flag. When the interrupt mode flag is OFF, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 5 . When the interrupt mode flag is ON, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 4 .  
         [0057]    Description will now be given of the procedures of interrupt printing executed by the system controller  12  by referring to the flow chart of FIG. 5.  
         [0058]    After starting the interrupt printing, the system controller  12  waits until the printing reaches the end of a page, in step ST 31 . Detecting the printing reached the end of a page by the signal from the printer controller  13 , the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to suspend the printing, in step ST 32 .  
         [0059]    When the printing is suspended, the system controller  12  takes in the position data from the printer controller  13 , in step ST 33 . The position data indicates the restart position of the suspended printing information. The system controller  12  stores this position data in the storage area  33  of the main memory  14 .  
         [0060]    Then, the system controller  12  resets the counter K to 0, in step ST 34 . The counter K is stored in the storage area  34  of the main memory  14 .  
         [0061]    Then, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to start the interrupt printing of one print job information, in step ST 35 .  
         [0062]    Then, the printer controller  13  reads the print job information of the interrupt job from the storage area  21 , and prints it as already explained.  
         [0063]    After commanding to start the interrupt printing, the system controller  12  waits until the printing of that interrupt job is finished, in step ST 36 . During this waiting period, the system controller  12  monitors whether the next print job information is received or not, in step ST 37 . When the next print job information is received, the system controller  12  sequentially stores that print job information in the storage area  21  of the disk unit  16 , in step ST 38 .  
         [0064]    Then, the system controller  12  obtains the initial information volume of the printing information from the print job information stored in the storage area  21 , in step ST 39 . Then, the system controller compares the initial information volume to the first preset volume S, in step ST 40 .  
         [0065]    When the initial information volume is equal to or larger than the first preset volume S, the system controller returns to step ST 36 .  
         [0066]    When the initial information volume is smaller than the first preset volume S, the system controller sets this print job information as interrupt job, in step ST 41 . Then, the system controller  12  adds 1 to the counter K, and returns to step ST 36 .  
         [0067]    After finishing the printing of the print job information set as an interrupt job, the system controller  12  examines the counter K, in step ST 42 . When the counter K is equal to or larger than 1, the system controller  12  judges that the other job information set in the interrupt job is stored in the storage area  21 . Therefore, after subtracting 1 from the counter K in step ST 43 , the system controller  12  re-commands the printer controller  13  to start interrupt printing.  
         [0068]    When the counter K is 0, the system controller  12  reads the interrupt position data from the storage area  33  of the main memory  14 , in step ST 44 . Then, the system controller  12  commands the printer controller  13  to restart printing from this interrupt position.  
         [0069]    Description will now be given on the effects of the apparatus for printing  10  when the interrupt mode flag is ON, with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.  
         [0070]    In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the job A is print job information having printing information whose initial information volume is larger than the second preset value L, and the job B is print job information having printing information whose initial information volume is larger than the first preset value S and smaller than the second preset value L. The jobs C and D are print job information having printing information whose initial information volume is smaller than the first preset value S.  
         [0071]    [0071]FIG. 6 shows the timing when the apparatus for printing  10  sequentially receives the jobs A, B and C.  
         [0072]    Receiving the print job information (the job A) at the time t0 waiting for printing, the apparatus for printing  10  starts printing the print job information (the job A).  
         [0073]    Receiving the print job information (the job B) at the time t1 (t0&lt;t1) during printing the print job information (the job A), the apparatus for printing  10  stores the print job information (the job B) in the storage area  21  until the printing of the print job information (the job A) is finished.  
         [0074]    When receiving the print job information (the job C) at the time t2 (t1&lt;t2) during printing the print job information (the job A), the apparatus for printing  10  takes a different action depending on whether the residual volume of the print job information (the job A) is smaller than the preset residual volume N or not.  
         [0075]    When the residual printing volume is equal to or larger than the preset residual value N, the apparatus for printing  10  suspends printing the printing job information (the job A) at the end of page. Then, the apparatus for printing  10  starts interrupt printing of the print job information (the job C). When the interrupt printing is finished at the time t3 (t2&lt;t3), the apparatus for printing  10  restarts printing the print job information (the job A). When the printing is finished at the time t4 (t3&lt;t4), the apparatus for printing  10  starts printing the print job information (the job B).  
         [0076]    When the residual volume of the print job information (the job A) is smaller than the preset residual value N at the time t2 receiving the print job information (the job C), the print job information (the job C) is stored in the storage area  21 . The print job information (the job C) is stored after the printing job information (the job B).  
         [0077]    Therefore, after the printing of the print job information (the job A) is finished, the printing of the print job information (the job B) is started. After the printing of the print job information (the job B) is finished, the printing of the print job information (the job C) is started.  
         [0078]    [0078]FIG. 7 shows the timing when the apparatus for printing  10  receives the print job information of job D instead of job B. Receiving the print job information (the job D) at the time t1, the apparatus for printing  10  takes a different action depending on whether the residual volume of the print job information (the job A) is smaller than the preset value N or not.  
         [0079]    When the residual volume is equal to or larger than the preset residual value N, the apparatus for printing  10  suspends printing the print job information (the job A) at the end of page. Then, the apparatus for printing  10  starts the interrupt printing of the print job information (the job D).  
         [0080]    Receiving the print job information (the job C) at the time t2 during the interrupt printing, the apparatus for printing  10  adds the counter K. The print job information (the job C) is stored in the storage area  21 . Therefore, after the interrupt printing of the print job information (the job D) is finished (at the time t6), the interrupt printing of the print job information (the job C) is started. After the interrupt printing of the print job information (the job C) is finished (at the time t7), the printing of the print job information (the job A) is restarted.  
         [0081]    When the residual volume of the print job information (the job A) is smaller than the preset residual value N at the time t1 receiving the print job information (the job D), the print job information (the job D) and print job information (the job C) are stored in the storage area  21 . Therefore, after the printing of the print job information (the job A) is finished, the printing of the print job information (the job D) is started. After the printing of the print job information (the job D) is finished, the printing of the print job information (the job C) is started.  
         [0082]    Thus, as described above, the present invention prevents inconvenience that the printing information whose information volume is smaller than the first preset value S is not printed for a long time, owing to the printing of the information whose information volume is larger than the second preset value L.  
         [0083]    However, when the residual volume of large amount printing information becomes smaller than the preset residual volume N, the apparatus for printing  10  chooses printing of the residual volume of the large printing information. While the information whose volume is smaller than the second preset value L is being printed, interrupt printing is disabled. Therefore, printing of the information requiring a shorter time will not be interrupted by another printing information.  
         [0084]    When the interrupt mode flag is OFF, information is printed in the order it comes from the terminals  2 .  
         [0085]    The present invention is not limited by the aforementioned embodiment.  
         [0086]    Another embodiment of interrupt printing will now be explained by referring to FIG. 8. The same reference characters are given to the same steps as those in FIG. 5.  
         [0087]    When the counter K is added by 1 instep ST 41 , the system controller  12  judges whether the counter K exceeds a limited value 2, in step ST 51 . When the counter K exceeds 2, the system controller  12  resets the counter K to 2, in step ST 52 . Then, the system controller  12  returns to step ST 36 .  
         [0088]    When other interruptible printing information comes in during the interrupt printing, it will be printed successively after the current interrupt printing. In this embodiment, the number of successive interrupt printing is limited to 2 or less.  
         [0089]    The present invention includes the case where a preset information volume is limited to one value, and when another information smaller than the preset value occurs during printing the information larger than the preset value, the later information is printed as interrupt printing.  
         [0090]    Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.