HP PCL/PJL reference - Printer Job Language Technical Reference Manual
7-40 Status Readback Commands EN
TIMED Variable
The TIMED variable allows “automatic polling” of the printer without 
host intervention and without exiting the current printer language 
(back to PJL). Values from 5 to 300 indicate the time interval between 
status messages in seconds. This feature is turned off by setting the 
value to 0. The status message returned when this command is 
enabled is similar to that solicited by the INFO STATUS command.
Note The accuracy of the timer may vary +/– 10% due to delays in data 
transmission and other system variables. To allow for this use a timing 
window in your application.
The “CODE=” portion indicates a status code number. See 
Appendix D for a complete list of status code numbers. The 
“DISPLAY=” portion of the returned status indicates the message 
currently displayed on the control panel. The “ONLINE=” portion 
indicates whether the printer is online or offline.
Note The “string” portion of the “DISPLAY=string” status message is 
localized; the same message displayed on the control panel appears 
in whichever language is being used. 
For those printers supporting Japanese printing when the language is 
set to Japanese strings which correspond to a control panel message 
are displayed on the control panel using the JIS X0201-76 character 
set.
Example: Using Timed Unsolicited Status
In this example a status message is sent to the host every 30 
seconds. 
<ESC>%-12345X@PJL <CR><LF>
@PJL USTATUS TIMED = 30 <CR><LF>
<ESC>%-12345X










