Alphatronics, Inc.
Language Monitor

The language monitor handles over-the wire interpretation of communications with the printer as it pertains to printer state and status.

Because some connections to a given printer do not involve individual wires to indicate status, or to extend the status reporting capabilities of the printer, a language may be used to communicate with the printer to get or set the state of the printer.

For example, a printer may support both Postscript and PCL interpreters, so in order to change the interpreter for the printer, the language monitor may send a command to the printer before the print stream is sent in order to set the printer state to the required interpreter.

In addition to setting the state of the printer, the language monitor may also be listening to any messages coming from the printer in order to detect errors.