Add USB hot-plug resilience and batch printing

USBPrinter no longer raises on init — the service starts and stays
running regardless of whether a printer is connected, reconnecting
automatically on demand.

Print jobs are now queued and batched: a 500ms collection window
groups consecutive labels into a single USB write, eliminating gaps
when printing multiple labels from InvenTree.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

bridge.py

@@ -41,34 +41,58 @@ PRODUCT_IDS = {
 logger = logging.getLogger("brother-ql-bridge")
 
 
+class PrinterUnavailableError(Exception):
+    """No printer found on USB."""
+
+
+class PrinterDisconnectedError(Exception):
+    """Printer was lost during a write operation."""
+
+
 class USBPrinter:
     """Handles USB communication with the Brother QL printer."""
 
     def __init__(self, device=None):
+        self._device_spec = device
         self.dev = None
         self.ep_out = None
         self.ep_in = None
+        self._connected = False
         self._lock = asyncio.Lock()
 
-        if device:
+    @property
-            # Parse device string like "usb://0x04f9:0x2028"
+    def is_connected(self) -> bool:
-            if device.startswith("usb://"):
+        return self._connected and self.dev is not None and self.ep_out is not None
-                parts = device[6:].split(":")
+
+    def _find_device(self) -> bool:
+        """Attempt to find the USB device. Returns True if found."""
+        self.dev = None
+
+        if self._device_spec:
+            if self._device_spec.startswith("usb://"):
+                parts = self._device_spec[6:].split(":")
                 vendor = int(parts[0], 16)
                 product = int(parts[1].split("/")[0], 16)
                 self.dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=vendor, idProduct=product)
         else:
-            # Auto-detect Brother QL printer
             self.dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=BROTHER_VENDOR_ID)
 
         if self.dev is None:
-            raise RuntimeError("No Brother QL printer found on USB")
+            return False
 
         product_name = PRODUCT_IDS.get(self.dev.idProduct, f"Unknown (0x{self.dev.idProduct:04x})")
         logger.info(f"Found printer: {product_name}")
+        return True
 
-    def connect(self):
+    def connect(self) -> bool:
-        """Initialize USB connection to the printer."""
+        """Initialize USB connection to the printer. Returns True on success."""
+        self.disconnect()
+
+        if not self._find_device():
+            logger.warning("No Brother QL printer found on USB")
+            return False
+
+        try:
             # Detach kernel driver if necessary
             try:
                 if self.dev.is_kernel_driver_active(0):
@@ -99,13 +123,43 @@ class USBPrinter:
             )
 
             if self.ep_out is None:
-            raise RuntimeError("Could not find USB OUT endpoint")
+                logger.error("Could not find USB OUT endpoint")
+                self.disconnect()
+                return False
 
+            self._connected = True
             logger.info("USB connection established")
+            return True
+
+        except usb.core.USBError as e:
+            logger.error(f"USB connection failed: {e}")
+            self.disconnect()
+            return False
+
+    def disconnect(self):
+        """Release USB resources. Safe to call repeatedly."""
+        self._connected = False
+        self.ep_out = None
+        self.ep_in = None
+        if self.dev is not None:
+            try:
+                usb.util.dispose_resources(self.dev)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+            self.dev = None
+
+    def ensure_connected(self) -> bool:
+        """Return True if connected, attempting reconnect if needed."""
+        if self.is_connected:
+            return True
+        return self.connect()
 
     def write_sync(self, data: bytes) -> int:
         """Write data to the printer synchronously with proper timeout."""
-        # Write in chunks with longer timeout (15 seconds)
+        if not self.ensure_connected():
+            raise PrinterUnavailableError("No printer available")
+
+        try:
             chunk_size = 32768
             total_written = 0
             for i in range(0, len(data), chunk_size):
@@ -113,22 +167,21 @@ class USBPrinter:
                 written = self.ep_out.write(chunk, timeout=15000)
                 total_written += written
             return total_written
+        except usb.core.USBError as e:
+            logger.error(f"USB write error: {e}")
+            self.disconnect()
+            raise PrinterDisconnectedError(f"Printer disconnected during write: {e}") from e
 
     async def write(self, data: bytes) -> int:
         """Write data to the printer asynchronously."""
         async with self._lock:
-            try:
             return await asyncio.get_event_loop().run_in_executor(
                 None, self.write_sync, data
             )
-            except usb.core.USBError as e:
-                logger.error(f"USB write error: {e}")
-                raise
 
     def close(self):
         """Release USB resources."""
-        if self.dev:
+        self.disconnect()
-            usb.util.dispose_resources(self.dev)
 
 
 class PrinterBridge:
@@ -140,6 +193,9 @@ class PrinterBridge:
         self.port = port
         self.server = None
         self.job_count = 0
+        self._job_queue = asyncio.Queue()
+        self._batch_timeout = 0.5
+        self._batch_task = None
 
     async def handle_client(
         self, reader: asyncio.StreamReader, writer: asyncio.StreamWriter
@@ -160,21 +216,76 @@ class PrinterBridge:
                 chunks.append(data)
 
             job_data = b"".join(chunks)
-            logger.info(f"[Job {job_id}] Received {len(job_data)} bytes, sending to printer...")
 
-            # Send complete job to printer
+            if len(job_data) == 0:
-            await self.printer.write(job_data)
+                logger.warning(f"[Job {job_id}] Skipped: empty job (0 bytes)")
-            logger.info(f"[Job {job_id}] Completed successfully")
+                return
+
+            logger.info(f"[Job {job_id}] Received {len(job_data)} bytes, queuing for print...")
+            await self._job_queue.put((job_id, job_data))
 
         except Exception as e:
-            logger.error(f"[Job {job_id}] Error: {e}")
+            logger.error(f"[Job {job_id}] Error receiving data: {e}")
 
         finally:
             writer.close()
             await writer.wait_closed()
 
+    async def _batch_sender(self):
+        """Background coroutine that drains the job queue in batches."""
+        while True:
+            try:
+                # Wait for the first job
+                first_job = await self._job_queue.get()
+                batch = [first_job]
+
+                # Collect more jobs within the batch window
+                deadline = asyncio.get_event_loop().time() + self._batch_timeout
+                while True:
+                    remaining = deadline - asyncio.get_event_loop().time()
+                    if remaining <= 0:
+                        break
+                    try:
+                        job = await asyncio.wait_for(
+                            self._job_queue.get(), timeout=remaining
+                        )
+                        batch.append(job)
+                    except asyncio.TimeoutError:
+                        break
+
+                job_ids = [jid for jid, _ in batch]
+                combined_data = b"".join(data for _, data in batch)
+
+                if len(batch) > 1:
+                    logger.info(
+                        f"[Batch] Sending {len(batch)} jobs "
+                        f"({job_ids}) as one write ({len(combined_data)} bytes)"
+                    )
+                else:
+                    logger.info(
+                        f"[Job {job_ids[0]}] Sending {len(combined_data)} bytes to printer..."
+                    )
+
+                try:
+                    await self.printer.write(combined_data)
+                    for jid in job_ids:
+                        logger.info(f"[Job {jid}] Completed successfully")
+                except PrinterUnavailableError:
+                    for jid in job_ids:
+                        logger.warning(f"[Job {jid}] Rejected: no printer connected")
+                except PrinterDisconnectedError:
+                    for jid in job_ids:
+                        logger.error(f"[Job {jid}] Failed: printer disconnected during print")
+
+            except asyncio.CancelledError:
+                raise
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.error(f"[Batch sender] Unexpected error: {e}")
+
     async def start(self):
         """Start the bridge server."""
+        self._batch_task = asyncio.create_task(self._batch_sender())
+
         self.server = await asyncio.start_server(
             self.handle_client, self.host, self.port
         )
@@ -187,6 +298,12 @@ class PrinterBridge:
 
     async def stop(self):
         """Stop the bridge server."""
+        if self._batch_task:
+            self._batch_task.cancel()
+            try:
+                await self._batch_task
+            except asyncio.CancelledError:
+                pass
         if self.server:
             self.server.close()
             await self.server.wait_closed()
@@ -227,13 +344,12 @@ async def main():
         datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
     )
 
-    # Initialize printer
+    # Initialize printer (never exits — printer may appear later)
-    try:
     printer = USBPrinter(args.device)
-        printer.connect()
+    if printer.connect():
-    except RuntimeError as e:
+        logger.info("Printer ready")
-        logger.error(f"Failed to initialize printer: {e}")
+    else:
-        sys.exit(1)
+        logger.warning("No printer detected at startup — will retry on first print job")
 
     # Create and run bridge
     bridge = PrinterBridge(printer, args.host, args.port)