Print system and host device therefor

A product set for use in configuring a print system comprising:

• a printer;
• and
• a computer-readable recording medium on which there is recorded a program for activating a computer as a host device for controlling said printer, wherein
• (a) said printer comprises:
• memory used as a receiving buffer;
• receiving means which receives print data transmitted from said host device and stores the thus-received print data into the receiving buffer;
• print means which performs print operation based on the print data stored in the receiving buffer;
• status data means which determines the current status of or an error in said printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data;
• and
• response means which, in response to an individual command sent from said host device, prepares a reply including the currently-retained status data and sends the reply back to said host device;
• and
• (b) said host device comprises:
• print data preparation means for preparing the print data;
• data transmission means which divide the thus-prepared print data pertaining to a single job into a plurality of fractional data sets, prepare a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the fractional data sets, and sequentially transmits the data transmission command to said printer;
• status acquisition means which, in response to each of the data transmission commands, receives a reply transmitted from said printer and acquires the status data included in the thus-received reply;
• and
• user interface means which informs a user of the status of or error in said printer, based on the thus-acquired status data.

A host device for controlling the printer, wherein the printer comprises:

• memory used as a receiving buffer;
• receiving means which receives print data transmitted from the host device and stores the thus-received print data into the receiving buffer;
• print means which performs print operation based on the print data stored in the receiving buffer;
• status data means which determines the current status of or an error in the printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data;
• and
• response means which, in response to an individual command sent from said host device, prepares a reply including the currently-retained status data and sends the reply back to said host device,
• wherein said host device comprises:
• print data preparation means for preparing the print data;
• data transmission means which divide the thus-prepared print data pertaining to a single job into a plurality of fractional data sets, prepare a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the fractional data sets, and sequentially transmits the data transmission command to the printer;
• status acquisition means which receives a reply transmitted from the printer in response to each of the data transmission commands and acquires the status data included in the thus-received reply;
• and
• user interface means which informs a user of the status of or error in the printer, based on the thus-acquired status data.

A method of activating a host device for controlling a printer, wherein the printer includes:

• memory used as a receiving buffer,
• receiving means which receives print data transmitted from the host device and stores the thus-received print data into the receiving buffer,
• print means which performs print operation on the basis of the print data stored in the receiving buffer,
• status data means which determines the current status of or an error in the printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data, and
• response means which prepares a reply including the currently-retained status data in response to an individual command sent from the host device and which sends back the reply to the host device,
• wherein said activating method comprises:
• a print data preparation step for preparing the print data;
• a data transmission step of dividing the thus-prepared print data pertaining to a single job into a plurality of fractional data sets, preparing a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes each of the fractional data sets, and sequentially transmitting the data transmission command to the printer;
• a status acquisition step of receiving a replay transmitted from the printer in response to each of the data transmission commands and acquiring the status data included in the thus-received reply;
• and
• a user interface step of informing a user of the status of or error in the printer, based on the thus-acquired status data.

A computer-readable recording medium on which there is recorded a program of a method for activating a computer as a host device for controlling a printer, wherein the printer includes:

• memory used as a receiving buffer;
• receiving means which receives print data transmitted from the host device and stores the thus-received print data into the receiving buffer;
• print means which performs,print operation on the basis of the print data stored in the receiving buffer;
• status data means which determines the current status of or an error in the printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data;
• and
• response means which, in response to an individual command sent from the host device, prepares a reply including the currently-retained status data and sends the reply back to the host device;
• and
• wherein said activating method comprises:
• a print data preparation step for preparing the print data;
• a data transmission step of dividing the thus-prepared print data pertaining to a single job into a plurality of fractional data sets, preparing a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the fractional data sets, and sequentially transmitting the data transmission command to the printer;
• a status acquisition step of receiving a reply transmitted from the printer in response to each of the data transmission commands and acquiring the status data included in the thus-received reply;
• and
• a user interface step of informing a user of the status of or error in the printer, on the basis of the thus-acquired status data.

A print system comprising:

• a printer;
• and
• a host device which is connected to said printer in a communicable manner and controls said printer, wherein
• (a) said printer comprises:
• print means which receives print data transmitted from said host device;
• status data means which determines a current status of or an error in said printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data;
• and
• status report means which informs said host device of the currently-retained status data in response to a status request transmitted from said host device;
• and
• (b) said host device comprises:
• status request means for sending the status request to said printer, whenever necessary;
• data transmission means for transmitting the print data to said printer;
• and
• control means which, based on the status data reported by said printer in response to the status request, checks whether a problem has arisen in said printer and, in the event a problem has arisen, suspends or aborts transmission of the print data.

A computer-readable recording medium on which there is recorded a program for activating a computer as a host device, the host device being connected to a printer in a communicable manner and controlling the printer, wherein

• the printer comprises:
• print means which receives print data transmitted from the host device;
• status data means which determines the current status of or an error in the printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status or error, and retains the thus-prepared status data;
• and
• status report means which, in response to a status request transmitted from the host device, informs the host device of the currently-retained status data;
• and
• the host device comprises:
• status request means for sending the status request to the printer, whenever necessary;
• data transmission means for transmitting the print data to the printer;
• and
• control means which, based on the status data reported by the printer in response to the status request, checks whether a problem has arisen in the printer and, in the event a problem has arisen, suspends or aborts transmission of the print data.

A print system comprising:

• a printer;
• and
• a host device connected to said printer in a communicable manner, wherein
• (a) said printer comprises:
• status data device operable to determine a current status of said printer, prepare status data representing the thus-determined status;
• and
• response device operable to prepare a reply including the status data and send the reply to said host device;
• and
• wherein further,
• (b) said host device comprises:
• data transmission device operable to divide the print data into a plurality of fractional data sets, prepare a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the fractional data sets, and transmit the data transmission commands to said printer;
• and
• status request device operable to transmit a status request command requesting the status data when the data transmission command has not been transmitted.

A print system comprising:

• a printer;
• and
• a host device which is connected to said printer in a communicable manner, wherein
• (a) said printer comprises:
• status data device operable to determine a current status of said printer, prepares status data representing the thus-determined status;
• response device operable to prepare a reply including the status data and send the reply to said host device;
• and
• sending device operable to send, to said host device, a page print completion report upon completion of printing of a page;
• and wherein further,
• (b) said host device comprises:
• data transmission device operable to divide the print data into a plurality of fractional data sets, prepare a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the fractional data sets, and transmit the data transmission commands to said printer;
• and
• management means for managing the print data on a per-page basis, and the management means retains the print data pertaining to the page that has already been transmitted to said printer, until receipt of a print completion report has been received by said host.

A print system comprising:

• a printer;
• and
• a host device connected to said printer in a communicable manner, wherein
• (a) said printer comprises:
• status data device operable to determine a current status of said printer, prepare status data representing the thus-determined status;
• and
• response device operable to prepare a reply including the status data and send the reply to said host device;
• and
• wherein further,
• (b) said host device comprises:
• data transmission device operable to divide the print data into a plurality of fractional data sets, prepare a plurality of data transmission commands, each of which includes a corresponding one of the transmit the data transmission commands to said printer;
• and
• error processing device operable to determine a type of error when the status data included in the reply represent an occurrence of an error, and execute an error processing routine corresponding to the thus-determined type of error.