GB2274180A - Control of peripheral devices. - Google Patents
Control of peripheral devices. Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2274180A GB2274180A GB9226611A GB9226611A GB2274180A GB 2274180 A GB2274180 A GB 2274180A GB 9226611 A GB9226611 A GB 9226611A GB 9226611 A GB9226611 A GB 9226611A GB 2274180 A GB2274180 A GB 2274180A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- printer
- peripheral controller
- spooler
- instructions
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
- G06F11/07—Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
- G06F11/14—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation
- G06F11/1402—Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
- G06F11/1446—Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
- G06F11/1458—Management of the backup or restore process
- G06F11/1464—Management of the backup or restore process for networked environments
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
- G06F11/07—Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
- G06F11/14—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation
- G06F11/1402—Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
- G06F11/1415—Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying at system level
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
- G06F11/30—Monitoring
- G06F11/34—Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
- G06F11/3466—Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
- G06F11/3485—Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring for I/O devices
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
- G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
- G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
- G06F3/1202—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to achieve a particular effect
- G06F3/1203—Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
- G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
- G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
- G06F3/1223—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to use a particular technique
- G06F3/1237—Print job management
- G06F3/126—Job scheduling, e.g. queuing, determine appropriate device
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
- G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
- G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
- G06F3/1278—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to adopt a particular infrastructure
- G06F3/1285—Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
- G06F3/1288—Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server in client-server-printer device configuration
Abstract
A peripheral controller controls transmission of spooler printing instructions and data files to printers via ports (11 and 13). To do this, it monitors a number of parameters in the received instructions and also in the print file. The controller operates in communication with local printer controllers in the maintenance of generic queues (20), and execution queues (21) for each printer. The peripheral controller also controls the transmission of data to back-up tape drives (9) by carrying out sequential passes to ensure that data integrity is maintained. <IMAGE>
Description
"Control of Peripheral Devices in a Data Processing System"
The invention relates to the control of peripheral devices
in a data processing system, and more particularly to the peripheral devices to which data is outputted.
In data processing systems which handle a very large amount of data, the recording of data in peripheral devices such as printing on hard copies or recording in tape drives is an extremely important aspect. It is these
operations which ensure that if a hardware or indeed a
software fault occurs that there is a record of existing
data and that the system may be back up and running
relatively quickly. It is also important on a daily basis
in disseminating information for users. Where the data processing system is large and complex, and where there
are users spread over many geographical locations, the
task of outputting data to peripheral devices becomes
quite complex. If it were only a matter of, say, printing data at a single central printer or group of printers, there would be few technical problems.However, where it is vital that information is distributed very quickly to users spread over different geographical locations in order to work efficiently in an organisation, then the technical steps in transmitting the data and having it printed in a timely manner and also in outputting the data to tape drives for backup purposes becomes quite complex.
European Patent Specification No. 139,759 B1 describes a
system for connecting and controlling external devices.
In this method, information is applied at an input to the main apparatus indicative of external equipment to be
connected. However, if the data processing system is very
complex this approach would not necessarily be the best.
The invention is directed towards providing further control of peripheral devices which record data in an efficient manner with the requirement for the minimum of user instructions so that peripheral device control is coordinated.
According to the invention, there is provided a peripheral -device control method carried out by a peripheral controller connected to a processor which is also connected to a storage device, to a back-up tape drive and to a cluster cable, the cluster cable also being connected to a plurality of other processors, each connected to an associated storage device and a back-up tape drive, the data processing system further comprising a printer server connected to the cluster cable and having ports connected to printers, either local or remote and also a terminal server connected directly to the cluster cable and having ports connected to terminals for user inputting of instructions comprising the steps of::
monitoring a print instruction received from a
terminal and determining the terminal server port
at which it was received;
automatically determining a printer port
associated with the terminal port at which the
printing instruction is received;
monitoring size of the print file associated with
the printing instruction;
monitoring a priority indicator for the print
instruction;
automatically generating revised print
instructions according to the monitored parameters and transmitting the revised instructions together with the print file to a spooler; controlling storage of the print instructions and file in the spooler according to a plurality of generic queues, each associated with a group of printers; a printer controller associated with a group of printers communicating with the spooler and with the peripheral controller to maintain an execution queue for each printer, depending on the status of the printer and of the print instructions in the spooler; the peripheral controller carrying out a process of monitoring active contents of each of the storage devices connected to the processors of a cluster and carrying out sequential passes of comparing the number of active memory locations in each storage device with available space on backup tapes which may be driven by the tape drive; the peripheral controller carrying out automatic passes until all of the contents in each storage device have been flagged for writing to a single tape; the peripheral controller directing transmission of the data to the various tapes according to the flagged configuration; and the peripheral controller storing the configuration used in non-volatile memory for reference at the next back-up batch process.
The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 shows a data processing system incorporating a
peripheral controller of the invention; and
Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically the manner in which
printers are controlled.
A data processing system 1 is shown in Fig. 1 which comprises a cluster of processors 3, 4 and 5 connected to a cluster cable 2. The processors 3, 4 and 5 are connected to storage devices 6, 7 and 8. A back-up tape drive 9 is connected to each processor 3, 4, and 5. A printer server 10 which has a number of ports which are connected to various types of printers including an asynchronous laser printer and a fast dot matrix printer is connected directly to the cluster cable 2. A terminal server 12 having ports 13 for various printers and terminals is also connected directly to the cluster cable 2.
For control of the peripheral devices including the printers which are connected to the servers 10 and 12 and the back-up tape drives 9, the system 1 includes a peripheral controller 14 forming part of one of the processes, namely, the processor 3.
In operation, the processors 3, 4 and 5 carry out transaction data processing involving a very large amount of data. This involves frequent set cycles to the storage devices. In order to ensure data integrity and that appropriate use is made of the available data, the manner in which this data is outputted to peripheral devices including the back-up tape drives 9 and the various printers is extremely important. This is particularly so because the processing system involves a cluster of machines, with both local and remote printers, and even the local printers being at different locations within a large building. Other criteria involved in the outputting of data to printers is that there are many different printers and there are different requirements.
Where a document is to be printed, an instruction is received on one of the terminals connected to the terminal server 12. The peripheral controller 12 monitors the printing instruction and firstly detects the actual port 13 at which the instruction is received. According to stored look-up tables, the controller 14 automatically determines a printing port 11 or 13 associated with that user. The controller then transmits the printing instructions, together with the printing file (which has been retrieved from a storage device 6, 7 or 8 via the cluster cable 2) to a spooler (not shown) connected to the processor 3. While doing this, the peripheral controller 14 monitors the size of the file and inserts a disk parameter value according to the size within the instructions which are transmitted to the spooler.
Another parameter which is included with the instructions in the spooler is a priority number for the file, which value is extracted automatically from the printing instructions inputted by the user.
An important aspect of operation of the peripheral controller 14 is that it not only assigns the desired printer port 11 or 13 for a particular print job and inserts all of the necessary parameters and instructions, but it also controls the order in which printing occurs.
This involves setting up a number of generic queues 20 shown in Fig. 2. Each generic queue 20 has a group of printers associated with it, this group of printers being determined according to the port number. Different generic queues may share printers. For example, for printing on instructions from a remote user, the generic queue would be that associated with the remote data processing system and this generic queue will be associated with all of the printers in that system. In addition to the generic queues, there is additionally an execution queue 21 associated with each printer. The execution queues 21 are controlled by a local printer controller which communicates with the peripheral controller 14 via the ports 11 and 13. The printer controller continuously monitors the status of each printer.It may, for example, write a print file directly from the generic queue in a spooler to a printer, or it may take its place in an execution queue 21 depending on the priority indicator which has been included in the instructions, and the size of the file. Smaller files are printed first, provided a higher priority has not been given to the larger files.
For control of transmission of data from the storage devices 6, 7 and 8 to the tape drive 9, the peripheral controller 14 also acts in an automatic manner to ensure that this is done as efficiently as possible, with data integrity. In this embodiment, the total capacity of the storage devices, 6, 7 and 8 is 8.3 GB, while the total capacity of the back-up tapes is only 6 GB. However, there is never full utilisation of the storage devices 6, 7 and 8 and thus mapping of the contents of the storage devices to the tapes in the tape drive 9 are important.
In a first pass the peripheral controller 14 determines how much of the storage device 6 is active and subtracts this from the capacity of the tape drive and calculates the remaining space. It then determines the active locations of the second storage device 7 and compares this to the remaining capacity on the tape. In this first task, the controller 14 flags the remaining space on the tape for the storage device 7. The first pass is continued sequentially until the active portion of each of the storage devices 6, 7 and 8 have been flagged for storage in one or more of the tapes. This may require a second pass if it has not been possible to store the active contents of a particular storage device all on a single tape.Once these passes have been completed, the controller 14 then automatically controls writing of the data from the storage devices to the back-up tapes on the tape drive 9. In addition, the controller also automatically stores the configuration for the back-up and at the next back-up batch process it will automatically check if this configuration applies again. This is particularly important in reducing the processing time for the making of a back-up where the active contents of the various storage devices change relatively little between the two back-up time periods. It also ensures that all data is automatically backed up each time a log is generated.
It has been found that the operation of the peripheral controller is extremely important in ensuring the smooth functioning of a host processing system in disseminating information exactly where it is required and in a timely manner. This is extremely important where there is a large amount of data and the main purpose of the data processing system is providing information when and where it is required and ensuring that records are made of all data at regular time periods. An example of the type of data processing which the invention particularly assists is payroll processing for a large organisation.
The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described but may be varied in construction an detail.
Claims (2)
1. A peripheral device control method carried out by a
peripheral controller connected to a processor which is
also connected to a storage device, to a back-up tape
drive and to a cluster cable, the cluster cable also
being connected to a plurality of other processors,
each connected to an associated storage device, and a
back-up tape drive, the data processing system further
comprising a printer server connected to the cluster
cable and having ports connected to printers, either
local or remote and also a terminal server connected
directly to -the cluster cable and having ports
connected to terminals for user inputting of
instructions comprising the steps of::
monitoring a print instruction received from a
terminal and determining the terminal server port
at which it was received;
automatically determining a printer port
associated with the terminal port at which the
printing instruction is received;
monitoring size of the print file associated with
the printing instruction;
monitoring a priority indicator for the print
instruction;
automatically generating revised print
instructions according to the monitored parameters
and transmitting the revised instructions together
with the print file to a spooler;
controlling storage of the print instructions and
file in the spooler according to a plurality of
generic queues, each associated with a group of
printers;;
a printer controller associated with a group of
printers communicating with the spooler and with
the peripheral controller to maintain an execution
queue for each printer, depending on the status of
the printer and of the print instructions in the
spooler;
the peripheral controller carrying out a process
of monitoring active contents of each of the
storage devices connected to the processors of a
cluster and carrying out sequential passes of
comparing the number of active memory locations in
each storage device with available space on back
up tapes which may be driven by the tape drive;
the peripheral controller carrying out automatic
passes until all of the contents in each storage
device have been flagged for writing to a single
tape;
the peripheral controller directing transmission
of the data to the various tapes according to the
flagged configuration; and
the peripheral controller storing the
configuration used in non-volatile memory for
reference at the next back-up batch process.
2. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with
reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A peripheral device control method carried out by a
peripheral controller of a data processing system, the
peripheral controller being connected to a processor
which is also connected to a storage device, to a back
up tape drive and to a cluster cable, the cluster cable
also being connected to a plurality of other
processors, each connected to an associated storage
device, and a back-up tape drive, the data processing
system further comprising a printer server connected to
the cluster cable and having ports connected to
printers, either local or remote and also a terminal
server connected directly to the cluster cable and
having ports connected to terminals for user inputting
of instructions, the method comprising the steps of::
monitoring a print instruction received from a
terminal via a server and the cluster cable and
determining the terminal server port at which it
was received;
automatically determining a printer port of the
printer server associated with the terminal port
at which the printing instruction is received;
monitoring size of the print file associated with
the printing instruction;
monitoring a priority indicator for the print
instruction;
automatically generating revised print
instructions according to the monitored parameters
and transmitting the revised instructions together
with the print file to a spooler via the cluster cable and the printer server; controlling storage of the print instructions and file in the spooler according to a plurality of generic queues, each associated with a group of printers; a printer controller connected to a group of printers and to the spooler communicating with the spooler and with the peripheral controller to maintain an execution queue for each printer, depending on the status of the printer and of the print instructions in the spooler; the peripheral controller carrying out a process of monitoring active contents of each of the storage devices connected to the processors of the data processing system and carrying out sequential passes of comparing the number of active memory locations in each storage device with available space on back-up tapes which may be driven by the tape drive; the peripheral controller carrying out automatic passes until all of the contents in each storage device have been flagged for writing to a single tape; the peripheral controller directing transmission of the data from the storage devices via the cluster cable to the various tapes according to the flagged configuration; and the peripheral controller storing the configuration used in non-volatile memory for reference at the next back-up batch process.
Priority Applications (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9226611A GB2274180A (en) | 1992-12-21 | 1992-12-21 | Control of peripheral devices. |
| BE9201145A BE1005148A6 (en) | 1992-12-21 | 1992-12-23 | Peripheral control devices in a system data processing. |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9226611A GB2274180A (en) | 1992-12-21 | 1992-12-21 | Control of peripheral devices. |
| BE9201145A BE1005148A6 (en) | 1992-12-21 | 1992-12-23 | Peripheral control devices in a system data processing. |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB9226611D0 GB9226611D0 (en) | 1993-02-17 |
| GB2274180A true GB2274180A (en) | 1994-07-13 |
Family
ID=25662679
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9226611A Withdrawn GB2274180A (en) | 1992-12-21 | 1992-12-21 | Control of peripheral devices. |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| BE (1) | BE1005148A6 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2274180A (en) |
Cited By (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0945800A1 (en) * | 1998-03-02 | 1999-09-29 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Data backup system |
| EP1242890A1 (en) * | 1999-10-12 | 2002-09-25 | CMS Peripherals, Inc. | Automatic backup system |
| GB2395033A (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2004-05-12 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system |
| GB2410105A (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2005-07-20 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system with an extended event handler |
| CN100405356C (en) * | 2005-01-22 | 2008-07-23 | 鸿富锦精密工业（深圳）有限公司 | Multi-point file print control system and method |
| US7528973B2 (en) * | 2002-03-01 | 2009-05-05 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Image forming device capable of acquiring data from web server |
-
1992
- 1992-12-21 GB GB9226611A patent/GB2274180A/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1992-12-23 BE BE9201145A patent/BE1005148A6/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Cited By (11)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0945800A1 (en) * | 1998-03-02 | 1999-09-29 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Data backup system |
| US6330570B1 (en) | 1998-03-02 | 2001-12-11 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Data backup system |
| EP1242890A1 (en) * | 1999-10-12 | 2002-09-25 | CMS Peripherals, Inc. | Automatic backup system |
| EP1242890A4 (en) * | 1999-10-12 | 2007-06-20 | Cms Peripherals Inc | Automatic backup system |
| US7528973B2 (en) * | 2002-03-01 | 2009-05-05 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Image forming device capable of acquiring data from web server |
| GB2395033A (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2004-05-12 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system |
| GB2410105A (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2005-07-20 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system with an extended event handler |
| GB2395033B (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2005-12-21 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system |
| GB2410105B (en) * | 2002-09-27 | 2005-12-21 | Agilent Technologies Inc | Event management system |
| US7177925B2 (en) | 2002-09-27 | 2007-02-13 | Avago Technologies General Ip (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. | Event management system |
| CN100405356C (en) * | 2005-01-22 | 2008-07-23 | 鸿富锦精密工业（深圳）有限公司 | Multi-point file print control system and method |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| BE1005148A6 (en) | 1993-05-04 |
| GB9226611D0 (en) | 1993-02-17 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |