The principle of network printer classification and advantages (on)

The concept of "network printing" was actually proposed by Hewlett-Packard Company 10 years ago. At the same time, they also started the initial network printer development. However, the price of the first generation of network printers at that time was very high, so before the 21st century, China's network printing market did not really thrive.

However, with the development and popularization of network technology in recent years, the presence of the Internet can be said to be omnipresent. Not only is the traditional printer's wings plugged into the network more fully utilized, but also the sudden emergence of network printers has gradually emerged. Especially in recent years, with the reduction of its price and the popularity of corporate LANs, network printers have strided into all types of enterprises and institutions, becoming one of the indispensable members of office equipment.

Since network printing is a new technology that has only emerged in recent years, many people have only a superficial impression of network printing. Therefore, the author briefly introduces the market group, principle, classification and advantages of network printers so as to Leave a preliminary impression.

Network printing market groups and market roles

According to the different requirements of network print jobs, domestic and small-sized office users can be divided into two categories. The first category is an office environment with less than 20 PCs. Taking into account the overall office equipment performance level, at a more affordable price, flexible use of network printers to achieve the improvement of work efficiency is the most practical significance. The second category is users of departmental work. While achieving high-speed, high-quality printing, it is also crucial to reduce the total cost of ownership according to the nature of the work and the amount of work that it handles daily.

The advantage of dot matrix printers is that it can adapt to China's current special industries, such as telecommunications, finance, transportation, etc., and the requirements for print media are not high. Inkjet printers have the advantage of obtaining color output at a relatively low price and are continuously accepted by home users. However, as an output device for office use, laser printers undoubtedly have great advantages. From the perspective of technology and market, the location of laser printers is irreplaceable. In addition, in order to protect the office work environment, the low noise and low pollution of laser printers are also advocated by the green office.

The principle and classification of network printing

Currently, there are three main methods for implementing network printing services on the market: host printing, implementation through external print servers, and implementation through built-in print servers. In addition, network printing through wireless print servers is also emerging.

Host printing implementation

This is the most widely used print server method. Its working principle is to configure a PC directly connected to a printer as a print server. The printer is set as a shared device so that users on the network can connect to the computer. , share the computer's printing device. Obviously, this type of print server is served by a computer directly connected to the printer.

Sharing printing via PC is the most basic level of network printing. Network printing is not a simple "share a printer." Using PCs to implement sharing is not really a true network print. Although in the initial application environment, shared printing is the most used method for implementing network printing, and many traditional environments still use this method, there are many disadvantages in this approach.

　 Implemented by an external print server

An external print server is a single device built into the print server. There are 1 (or more) network interfaces in these external print server devices for connecting to the network, and one (or one) is also provided. The above) printer interface, some of these interfaces are parallel interfaces LTP, and some are USB interfaces. Through these interfaces, the printer can be connected to the external print server. In this way, the network printer can also be used as a network node, and the network user can directly access without going through any computer (as shown in FIG. 1).

The external server has strong compatibility because its interface is universal, so a print server is basically suitable for all brands of network printers. This type of print server technology is also less technically difficult. At present, many brands (some of which are not even printer brands originally) started the development of external print servers. At present, the use of a peripheral print server to achieve network printing is still popular. This is mainly due to its good compatibility and low price. The external print server is much cheaper than the built-in print server, and it is also more flexible to use. However, its performance is inferior to the built-in print server. In large and medium-sized enterprises, it is still generally based on the built-in print server. With the continuous development of technology and the improvement of its versatility, external print servers will be more suitable for low-end network printing environments.

Implemented via a built-in print server

When office users demand higher and higher network transmission speeds, network laser printers with built-in network cards have emerged. The network printer with a built-in network card is directly connected to the network through a network card. The data transmission speed is fast and can be consistent with the network, reaching 10Mb or even 100Mb per second. Generally, high-speed network printers use this method to achieve network printing. This network card used on the printer is called the built-in print server (as shown in Figure 2). The built-in print server can be directly inserted into the I/O slot of the printer's main board. Through the network interface on the interface card, the printer can be directly connected to the network node. Users on the network can directly access the network printer without re-use. Through the computer.

Implemented by wireless print server

There is also a new type of print server that is a wireless print server. This type of wireless print server also has built-in and external points. Their structure is of course similar to the corresponding built-in or external print server, but the wireless connection function is added to it, and the print server and the printer are not connected by cables, which facilitates the printer. Moving, it also eliminates the wiring trouble (as shown in Figure 3). The most common wireless printing is through infrared connection, because in addition to laptops, handhelds, and PDAs, many devices, including mobile phones, electronic organizers, portable scanners, and digital cameras, have infrared transmission ports. This type of connection can achieve a more general printout of mobile devices.