Files
brother-ql-bridge/bridge.py
Tim Hadwen dc2fe2a8a0 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>
2026-01-26 16:07:59 +10:00

378 lines
12 KiB
Python

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Brother QL Bridge - USB to Network Bridge
Exposes a USB-connected Brother QL printer (e.g., QL-570) on the network
so it can be used with network-based printing tools like InvenTree's Brother plugin.
"""
import argparse
import asyncio
import logging
import signal
import sys
import usb.core
import usb.util
import config
# Brother printer USB vendor ID
BROTHER_VENDOR_ID = 0x04F9
# Known QL printer product IDs
PRODUCT_IDS = {
0x2015: "QL-500",
0x2016: "QL-550",
0x2027: "QL-560",
0x2028: "QL-570",
0x2029: "QL-580N",
0x201B: "QL-650TD",
0x2042: "QL-700",
0x2043: "QL-710W",
0x2044: "QL-720NW",
0x209B: "QL-800",
0x209C: "QL-810W",
0x209D: "QL-820NWB",
0x2020: "QL-1050",
0x202A: "QL-1060N",
}
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()
@property
def is_connected(self) -> bool:
return self._connected and self.dev is not None and self.ep_out is not None
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:
self.dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=BROTHER_VENDOR_ID)
if self.dev is None:
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) -> bool:
"""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):
self.dev.detach_kernel_driver(0)
logger.debug("Detached kernel driver")
except (usb.core.USBError, NotImplementedError):
pass
# Set configuration
try:
self.dev.set_configuration()
except usb.core.USBError:
pass # Already configured
# Get endpoints
cfg = self.dev.get_active_configuration()
intf = cfg[(0, 0)]
self.ep_out = usb.util.find_descriptor(
intf,
custom_match=lambda e: usb.util.endpoint_direction(e.bEndpointAddress)
== usb.util.ENDPOINT_OUT,
)
self.ep_in = usb.util.find_descriptor(
intf,
custom_match=lambda e: usb.util.endpoint_direction(e.bEndpointAddress)
== usb.util.ENDPOINT_IN,
)
if self.ep_out is None:
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."""
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):
chunk = data[i : i + chunk_size]
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:
return await asyncio.get_event_loop().run_in_executor(
None, self.write_sync, data
)
def close(self):
"""Release USB resources."""
self.disconnect()
class PrinterBridge:
"""TCP to USB bridge server."""
def __init__(self, printer: USBPrinter, host: str, port: int):
self.printer = printer
self.host = host
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
):
"""Handle incoming print job from TCP client."""
addr = writer.get_extra_info("peername")
self.job_count += 1
job_id = self.job_count
logger.info(f"[Job {job_id}] Connection from {addr}")
try:
# Buffer entire job first (Brother raster protocol works best this way)
chunks = []
while True:
data = await reader.read(4096)
if not data:
break
chunks.append(data)
job_data = b"".join(chunks)
if len(job_data) == 0:
logger.warning(f"[Job {job_id}] Skipped: empty job (0 bytes)")
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 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
)
addrs = ", ".join(str(sock.getsockname()) for sock in self.server.sockets)
logger.info(f"Bridge server listening on {addrs}")
async with self.server:
await self.server.serve_forever()
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()
async def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="Bridge a USB Brother QL printer to the network"
)
parser.add_argument(
"-p", "--port",
type=int,
default=config.TCP_PORT,
help=f"TCP port to listen on (default: {config.TCP_PORT})"
)
parser.add_argument(
"-H", "--host",
default=config.TCP_HOST,
help=f"Host/IP to bind to (default: {config.TCP_HOST})"
)
parser.add_argument(
"-d", "--device",
default=config.USB_DEVICE,
help="USB device (e.g., usb://0x04f9:0x2028). Auto-detect if not specified"
)
parser.add_argument(
"-v", "--verbose",
action="store_true",
help="Enable verbose logging"
)
args = parser.parse_args()
# Setup logging
log_level = logging.DEBUG if args.verbose else getattr(logging, config.LOG_LEVEL)
logging.basicConfig(
level=log_level,
format="%(asctime)s [%(levelname)s] %(message)s",
datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
)
# Initialize printer (never exits — printer may appear later)
printer = USBPrinter(args.device)
if printer.connect():
logger.info("Printer ready")
else:
logger.warning("No printer detected at startup — will retry on first print job")
# Create and run bridge
bridge = PrinterBridge(printer, args.host, args.port)
# Handle shutdown signals
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
def shutdown():
logger.info("Shutting down...")
loop.create_task(bridge.stop())
for sig in (signal.SIGINT, signal.SIGTERM):
loop.add_signal_handler(sig, shutdown)
try:
await bridge.start()
except asyncio.CancelledError:
pass
finally:
printer.close()
logger.info("Bridge stopped")
if __name__ == "__main__":
asyncio.run(main())