Page printer and page print system

A page printer comprising:

• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from a host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• and
• a control section for controlling said reception section and said transfer section,
• wherein said control section permits said transfer section to transfer the data in the buffer at a predetermined start timing and the start timing is set variably in response to a parameter affecting an increase or decrease in the data in the buffer.

A page printer comprising:

• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from a host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• an error detection section for detecting an underrun error caused by a fact that a read address of said transfer section from the buffer catches up with a write address of said reception section into the buffer;
• and
• an error notification section for notifying the host of occurrence of the underrun error to cause the host to resend the data under a condition where the underrun error is harder to occur when the underrun error is detected.

A page printer comprising:

• memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from a host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• and
• an available buffer capacity notification section for notifying the host of information concerning an available capacity of the buffer to cause the host to transmit data of a size that can be received at said printer.

A page printer comprising:

• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on data and outputting the image;
• a reception DMA section for receiving data in a reception data size unit from a host and writing the data into the buffer by DMA;
• a transfer DMA section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section in a transfer data size unit by DMA, the reception data size unit being the same as the transfer data size unit;
• and
• a control section for controlling said reception DMA section and said transfer DMA section, said control section comprising:
• an error detection section for checking whether or not an underrun error occurs based on a transfer DMA start address of said transfer DMA section and a current reception DMA address of said reception DMA section whenever said transfer DMA section attempts to start data transfer in the transfer data size unit;
• and
• an error notification section for notifying the host of occurrence of the underrun error if the underrun error is detected.

A page print system comprising:

• a host;
• and
• a page printer for printing data transmitted from said host in page units, said page printer comprising:
• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on the data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from said host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• and
• a control section for controlling said reception section and said transfer section,
• wherein said control section permits said transfer section to transfer the page of data after at least a part as much as a predetermined amount P, of one page of data from said host is stored in the buffer, and
• wherein the predetermined amount P is equal to or less than a buffer size and is set before said transfer section is permitted to transfer data so that a predicted point in time at which said transfer section will complete transferring of all of one page of data from the buffer becomes later than a predicted point in time at which said reception section will complete writing of all of the page of data into the buffer.

A page print system comprising:

• a host;
• and
• a page printer for printing data transmitted from said host in page units, said page printer comprising:
• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on the data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from said host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• and
• a control section for controlling said reception section and said transfer section,
• wherein said control section permits said transfer section to transfer the data in the buffer at a predetermined start timing and the start timing is set variably in response to a parameter affecting an increase or decrease in the data in the buffer.

A page print system comprising:

• a host;
• and
• a page printer for printing data transmitted from said host in page units, said page printer comprising:
• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on the data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from said host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• an error detection section for detecting an underrun error caused by a fact that a read address of said transfer section from the buffer catches up with a write address of said reception section into the buffer;
• and
• an error notification section for notifying said host of occurrence of the underrun error,
• wherein, when said host is notified of occurrence of the underrun error from said page printer, said host resends the data to said page printer under a condition where the underrun error is harder to occur.

A page print system comprising:

• a host;
• and
• a page printer for printing data transmitted from said host in page units, said page printer comprising:
• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on the data and outputting the image;
• a reception section for writing data received from said host into the buffer;
• a transfer section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section;
• and
• an available buffer capacity notification section for notifying said host of information concerning an available capacity of the buffer,
• wherein said host transmits data of a size that can be received at said page printer based on a notification from said page printer.

A page print system comprising:

• a host;
• and
• a page printer for printing data transmitted from said host in page units, said page printer comprising:
• a memory containing a buffer;
• an image output section for forming an image based on the data and outputting the image;
• a reception DMA section for receiving data in a reception data size unit from said host and writing the data into the buffer by DMA;
• a transfer DMA section for transferring the data in the buffer to said image output section in a transfer data size unit by DMA, the reception data size unit being the same as the transfer data size unit;
• and
• a control section for controlling said reception DMA section and said transfer DMA section, said control section comprising:
• an error detection section checks whether or not an underrun error occurs based on a transfer DMA start address of said transfer DMA section and a current reception DMA address of said reception DMA section whenever said transfer DMA section attempts to start data transfer in the transfer data size unit;
• and
• an error notification section for notifying said host of occurrence of the underrun error if the underrun error is detected.