Printing system, method and apparatus for processing a plurality of types of information different in priority
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorToshihiro Shima
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To process a plurality of types of information having different priority according to the priority, multiple logical channels are generated by combining a protocol in a transport layer of a network and a print queue in an application layer and priority is allocated to each logical channel. A host computer sends generated information to a predetermined logical channel by referring to a priority table. A printer discriminates the priority of received information by referring to a priority table and executes the processing of the information according to the priority. As a result, interrupt print data can be processed prior to normal print data or a control command can be processed prior to than print data.
Claims14
A printing system comprising:
- an information generator for generating and sending a plurality of types of information which are different in priority;
- and
- a printer for receiving the information from the information generator via a network and processing the information according to the priority, wherein the network includes a plurality of logical channels which are different in priority and belong to at least a transport layer or an upper layer, the information generator sends the information to the logical channels according to the priority of the information, and the printer determines the priority of the information based upon the priority of the logical channel through which the information was received and processes the information according to the priority.
A printing method for generating and sending a plurality of types of information different in priority and processing the information received via a network according to the priority, wherein the network includes a plurality of logical channels which belong to at least a transport layer or an upper layer and a different priority is allocated to each channel, the printing method comprising the steps of:
- transmitting information via the logical channels according to the priority;
- receiving the transmitted information and determining the priority of the information based upon the logical channel through which the information was received;
- and
- processing the information is processed according to the determined priority.
A printer for receiving a plurality of types of information different in priority via a network and processing the information according to the priority, comprising:
- a plurality of receive buffers which belongs to at least a transport layer or an upper layer and which are respectively allocated to a plurality of logical channels included in the network;
- discriminating means for discriminating the priority of information received in the receive buffers;
- and
- processing means for executing requested processing according to the discriminated priority of the information.
A program recording medium for storing a predetermined computer program for generating information to be sent to a printer, the program comprising:
- a function for discriminating the priority of a plurality of logical channels of a network which belong to at least a transport layer or an upper layer;
- a function for generating a plurality of types of information for transmission to a printer;
- a function for discriminating the priority of the information;
- and
- a function for transmitting the information to a particular logical channel according to the discriminated priority.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.