While eliminating the need for a dedicated on-line selector switch, a printing apparatus and control method is provided to improve the processes required to replenish consumable printing materials consumed during the printing operation. Using a transport mechanism for transporting the print medium and a printing mechanism for printing to the print medium, the printing apparatus accomplishes the printing process based on data received from a host device, selectively switches between an on-line state and an off-line state and notifies the host device of the currently selected state. The printing apparatus further comprises sensors for detecting the presence of consumable products, including roll paper and ink, that are consumed by the printing process, a switch with two functional settings, and a control device. The two functional settings of the switch are an on-line function commanding a transition from the off-line state to the on-line state, and a second function for specifying the process, such as a paper feed operation, to be executed by the printing apparatus when consumable materials are replenished. The control device causes the printing apparatus to shift to the off-line state when a sensor detects that a particular consumable material is not present, and selects the on-line function of the switch when a sensor detects after switching to the off-line state that a particular consumable material is again present and available for printing.
A printing apparatus, a control method therefor, and a medium on which the control method is stored, enable selection of a resume operation to be performed when the printing apparatus resumes operation following an off-line state. The resume operation to be performed after an off-line state is determined by a command received from a host device according to the cause for the off-line state. The resume operation thus determined is performed when the printing apparatus goes on-line again following the off-line state. A marker indicating a particular location in a continuous data stream can be set. If the marker is placed at the beginning of a particular data stream, printing can be resumed from the beginning of the data stream after recovery from an off-line state. By also storing various printer definitions (settings) when a marker is set, the printing apparatus can also be restored to the printer definitions in use when the printer went off-line. By setting a plurality of markers, printing can also be resumed from a selected marker.
A thermal printer free of the unevenness of an image is devised so that dust is prevented from adhering to an ink ribbon. In the thermal printer for generating a color image on a recording material by a thermal head and others using an ink ribbon, the ink ribbon is automatically rewound by a length within one image plane and kept on standby after printing is finished and at the time of next printing, the ink ribbon is automatically let out by the length formerly rewound and gets ready for printing.
A printer capable of printing to both roll paper and slips. The printer includes a condition setting unit 15 for setting or not setting the absence of roll paper in the printer as a set condition for taking the printer off-line. An off-line status determination circuit 16 for generating an output in response to the set condition of the condition setting unit 15 when the power is turned on or reset, and a print controller responsive to the output from said off-line status determination circuit for determining whether to set the printer to be taken off-line or not according to the set condition of the condition setting unit . Accordingly, when roll paper is not needed, the printer can thus print to slips without ever loading roll paper.
A device and a method for executing method steps wherein an output signal is produced. Dependent on whether an output mode is switched on, the output signal is outputted. The output signal comprises items of information concerning the environment wherein the output signal was produced.
The present invention relates to methods and systems for providing printing services over a communications network. In particular, the present invention enables a user to obtain print jobs at an unspecified location which may be remote from the source of the print job. A spooling server is used to store a print job received via the network from a print job source. A printer polling device, which may be at a location remote from the print job source, is capable of polling the spooling server via the network to identify whether any print jobs associated with the printer polling device are available for printing at an associated printer. The spooling server need not initiate contact with the printer through a firewall, since it is polled by the printer polling device. Thus, network security is maintained. A fee can be charged for the printing services provided.
