Patent ID: 8284410

Claim:
A printer to perform a printing operation by driving hardware provided thereto according to a printing command received from a user, comprising: a firmware unit to store function information of a plurality of printer models, supported by a common firmware, of the printer, and control the printer to selectively perform the function of one of the plurality of printer models which corresponds to a model index designated by a manufacturer as the printer is initialized, and wherein the common firmware is a multi-model firmware that can be used in the plurality of printer models, and the firmware unit comprises a storage unit to store the function information of the plurality of printer models therein; a model index processing unit to store a model index designation command received from outside the firmware unit, extract from the storage unit the function information which corresponds to the model index designated by the model index designation command upon the initialization of the printer, and output the extracted function information; and a firmware driving unit to control the hardware to receive the function information and perform a corresponding function, wherein the model index designation command is transmitted along with initialization files through a printer interface during the manufacturing of the printer, so that the model index designation command is processed upon the initialization of the printer.