JP2000305725A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer for permitting the change of the order of printing for a printing job with emergency by setting fixed limit for preventing the overuse of a priority operation. SOLUTION: A printer 31 connected through a network 40 with plural PCs by an outside I/F part 13 for performing printing processing by rearranging the order of printing jobs requested by the PC is provided with a data storing part 17 which stores user information, a clocking part 18, a printing job managing part 14 constituted of a processing time predicting part 14a and a user certifying part 14b, a display part 11 which displays the printing jobs in the order of printing processing, and an operating part 12 constituted of an upper button, lower button, and OK button for changing the order of printing processing by designating the specific printing job from the printing jobs displayed on the display part 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of image forming apparatuses and printing apparatuses that can be shared via a network, and more specifically, received from a plurality of users via a connected information processing apparatus. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that can change the processing order of print jobs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A method of receiving print jobs from a plurality of users and freely and easily changing the output order of the print jobs from an information processing apparatus such as a host computer or a terminal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 06-155861 and 06-15861. −
No. 187112.

That is, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-155861 describes a print control circuit for making it possible to freely and easily perform an output printer and an output order in a local area network. −
Japanese Patent Application No. 187112 discloses a data processing device for efficiently using a printer by increasing or decreasing a serial number of a file output requested by each user at any time according to each user's request. .

In these prior arts, priority information is embedded in a file or attached to a print job.
The image data is sent from the host device to the image forming apparatus (or printer server), and the image forming apparatus controls the print processing order based on the priority information. This makes it possible for each user to easily change the processing order from his / her own host terminal when urgent printing is required.

[0005]

However, if the user can freely and easily raise the priority and operate the processing order without any limitation, not only the urgent printing but also the priority operation which always hastens the processing order can be performed. Abuse could have occurred.

[0006] When such abuse occurs, a user who keeps moderation suffers disadvantages, and even if the priority of the printing process which is truly urgent is increased, the order cannot be advanced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an urgent system with a certain restriction in order to prevent the abuse of the above-mentioned priority operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can change a print order for a print job.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a means for authenticating a user so that only the order of print processing of the authenticated user can be changed.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of information processing apparatuses are connected via a network, and the order of print jobs requested from the plurality of information processing apparatuses is rearranged. In a printing apparatus capable of performing print processing, a display unit that displays print jobs in the order of processing to be printed, and a change that changes a processing order of designating and printing a specific print job from the print jobs displayed on the display unit The printing apparatus includes an instruction unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a clock means for measuring time, a processing time required for a print job is predicted, and the predicted processing time and time information counted by the clocking means are used. 2. The end time estimating means for estimating the expected end time of the print job, wherein the display means further displays the expected end time estimated by the end time estimating means. Printer.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the processing order of the print job is changed by the change instructing means, a print job in which the scheduled end time of the print job fluctuates by a predetermined time or more compared to before the change is requested. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information processing apparatus is notified of the scheduled end time after the change.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided authentication data storage means for storing user authentication data, authentication data input means for inputting authentication data, and authentication data input from the authentication data input means. And authentication data comparison means for comparing the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage means, and permitting the change of the processing order by the change instruction means based on the comparison result of the authentication data comparison means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the print job has been advanced in the processing order, and if the print job has been advanced in the processing order, the authentication data is output every predetermined number of prints. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the authentication is performed through the input unit, and if there is no input of the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage unit within a predetermined time, the processing order is returned to the processing order before the change. is there.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the print job has been advanced in the processing order, and if the print job has been advanced in the processing order, the print job is processed before the processing of the print job is started. 5. The printing method according to claim 4, wherein the authentication is performed via the authentication data input means, and if there is no input of the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage means within a predetermined time, the processing order is returned to the processing order before the change. Device.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an identification information input means for inputting identification information of an operator when the processing order is changed,
Storage means for storing the change content of the processing order input from the change instruction means and the identification information input from the identification information input means; and the identification information and the change content stored in the storage means The printing device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the printing devices can be displayed or printed.

In the invention according to claim 8, the storage means further stores print data of a print job whose processing order has been changed, and can display or print the print data stored in the storage means. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein:

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a state is provided in a recording paper discharge section where recording paper after printing is stacked,
Ejection paper detection means capable of detecting a state in which the recording paper after printing is taken out and is not stacked, and a residence time timing for measuring the residence time when the ejection paper is loaded based on the detection result of the ejection paper detection means. And a dwell time storing means for storing a result of the counting by the dwell time measuring means, wherein the dwell time in the discharge unit is recorded for the print job whose processing order has been changed. It is a printing device of the description.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, when the print data whose processing order has been advanced is a print of more than a predetermined number of copies, the processing order is advanced only for the predetermined number of copies, and the print data which exceeds the predetermined number of copies is processed. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing order is not advanced.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an overview of the entire system. A printing apparatus (image forming apparatus) 31 and a plurality of PCs (information processing apparatuses, host terminals) 32 to 35 according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected to a network 40. Connected through.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus 31 according to the present invention. The display unit 11 includes a touch panel liquid crystal panel and the like for displaying a print job and the like.
An operation unit 12 for performing various operations of a device made of buttons and the like
And an external PC 32
An external I / F unit 13 for inputting a print job from the PCs 32 to 35 and outputting delay information to the PCs 32 to 35 and the like;
U (Central Procesing Unit) and RAM (Random Acces
s Memory), a print job management unit 14 including a processing time prediction unit 14a and a user authentication unit 14b, and a hard disk drive (HDD). The print job management unit 14 stores print jobs and user information (identification information). A data storage unit 17 for storing, a clock unit 18 composed of an oscillator or the like, an image forming unit 15 composed of a CPU, a RAM, software, and the like, which creates a bitmap from a print job, and an engine 16 for actually performing printing And a paper discharge unit 20 from which paper is discharged, and a paper discharge unit 19 with a sensor which is constituted by an optical sensor such as an infrared sensor and can detect the presence or absence of the paper to be discharged.

In FIG. 1, a print job input from the external I / F unit 13 via the network 40 is stored in the data storage unit 17 through the print job management unit 14, and is arranged at the end of the processing order. Print job management unit 1
4 transfers the top print job in the processing order to the image forming unit 15 as soon as there are no more print jobs to be processed by the image forming unit 15. Then, the image forming unit 15 sends the print job to the engine 16 from the end of the image formation and prints the print job. The printed paper is discharged to the paper discharge unit 20.

When the user intends to advance the processing order of print jobs, first, the operation unit 12 is used to display a list of print jobs stored in the data storage unit 17 on the display unit 1.
1 is displayed.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show examples of display on the display unit 11 and an example of the operation unit 12 in FIG. The user touches an arbitrary print job by referring to the displayed user name (the identification information of the PC or the user using the PC), the application name (the name of the program that created the file to be printed), and the file name. Can be specified.

The designated print job is displayed in reverse video on the screen section 11a, and the reverse display section is brought to an arbitrary position by pressing the upper button 12a or the lower button 12c.
When the print job is confirmed by pressing the OK button 12b and the processing order is advanced, the screen transitions to the display screen 11b in FIG. Since this operation can be performed only near the display unit 11 and the operation unit 12 of the printing apparatus 31, the printing apparatus 3
Only when there is an urgency to come before 1, it is possible to advance the processing order of the printing processing.

The print job management unit 14 predicts the processing time of each print job, and prints the print time on the display unit 11 using the current time stored in the clock unit 18 or the elapsed time based on a predetermined timing. It is also possible to display the scheduled time.

In this case, in order to calculate the expected printing end time, paper size information (for example, A3, A4, B4, B5) and print mode (color, monochrome, high resolution mode, The relationship between the printing speed (low-resolution mode) and the like is uniquely determined, and the time required for processing is obtained by storing these values in advance or using them for calculation.

In this way, the user can advance the order of any print job by the necessary amount with reference to the scheduled print end time. Thus, it is not necessary to increase the number of print jobs until the time desired by the user, so that it is possible to prevent the processing order from being unnecessarily increased.

A user whose scheduled end time is delayed by a predetermined time or more due to an increase in the processing order of a certain print job is notified to the host terminals 32 to 35 on the network via the external I / F unit 13. . In this way, the user whose processing order has been lowered can know that at the host terminal, and it is possible to prevent the user from picking up the device even though the printout has not been completed yet.

When the user attempts to change the processing order, the print job management unit 14 performs user authentication using the display unit 11, the operation unit 12, and the data storage unit 17 containing user information. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for changing the processing order of the print job.

When the user attempts to change the processing order (step S41, hereinafter abbreviated as S41), data input for user authentication is performed using the operation unit 12 (S42). The print job management unit 14 determines whether the input data is correct by comparing it with the user information registered in the data storage unit 17 in advance (S43). (S44), and if not correct, do not change. This makes it impossible to change another person's print job. Note that a numeric keypad or the like may be arranged on the operation unit for user authentication.

For a print job whose processing order has been raised, user authentication is performed every predetermined number of prints. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the user authentication of the print job. First, it is determined whether the print job is a job whose processing order has been raised (S5).
1) If not raised, normal printing is performed (S5).
2) If the print job has been raised, after printing a predetermined number of sheets (S53), it is determined whether the print job has ended (S54).

If not completed, it is determined whether data input for user authentication has been performed within a predetermined time (S5).
5) If not, return the print job to the original processing order (S
56). If there is a data input, it is determined whether the authentication is correct (S57). If not, it is determined again whether the user has been authenticated within a predetermined time (S55), and if it is correct, a predetermined number of sheets are printed (S53). ). As a result, it is possible to confirm that the user who wants the print output is in front of the output apparatus, and the print job with high urgency is output with priority.

For a print job whose processing order has been raised, authentication is performed when the processing of the immediately preceding print job is completed. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of user authentication of the print job. First, it is determined whether or not the print job is a job whose processing order has been raised (S61). If not, printing is performed (S6).
2).

If it has been raised, it is determined whether data for user authentication has been input within a predetermined time (S63), and if not, the print job is returned to the original processing order (S65).
If there is a data input, it is determined whether the data is correct (S64). If the data is correct, the data is printed (S62). If not, it is determined again whether the user has been authenticated within a predetermined time (S63). Thus, it is possible to confirm that the user whose processing order has been increased is in front of the apparatus even when the processing is about to be performed, and a print job with high urgency is output with priority.

The print job management unit 14 stores the user whose processing order has been raised in the data storage unit 17 and allows the administrator or the like to display the user on the display unit 11 or print it on paper.
It is possible to check who raised the order, when, and how much. This allows the user to be asked if it was necessary to increase the processing order. In addition, since the user information indicating that the processing order has been increased is stored in the device, an effect of suppressing the processing order from being easily increased can be expected.

Further, not only the user information indicating that the processing order has been raised, but also the print data itself whose processing order has been raised is stored, and the print data is printed or displayed on the display unit 11 at a later date. , Can be checked. with this,
It is possible to verify whether it is necessary to increase the order, including print data.

For a print job whose processing order has been raised,
The print job management unit 14 discharges the paper to the paper discharge unit 19 with the sensor, and records the staying time in the data storage unit 17. The administrator or the like displays the data on the display unit 11 or prints the data to check the recorded time. It is possible for the administrator to warn a user who has taken a long time to come to the site. In addition, by performing such an operation, an effect of suppressing the processing order from being easily increased can be expected.

If the number of copies of the print job whose processing order has been increased is larger than the predetermined number of copies, the order is increased only for the predetermined number of copies.
The rest remains in the original processing order. As an example where the predetermined number of copies is one, if the order of the third print job on the screen 11a in FIG. 2 is increased to the first, only one copy goes to the first as shown on the screen 11c, and the rest is the original position. Remains. This prevents a particular user from occupying the device.

[0039]

According to the present invention, as described above, in a printing apparatus shared by a plurality of information processing apparatuses (users) such as a plurality of host apparatuses, it is convenient if each user can freely advance the processing order of urgent printing. However, on the other hand, there is a possibility that the processing order can be easily manipulated even in a non-emergency case, so in order to prevent such a situation, only an urgent print is processed so as to go to the printing device and wait for print output. That is, the operation of the order can be permitted. Hereinafter, the effects of the present invention will be described for each claim.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a print job is connected to a plurality of information processing apparatuses via a network, and the order of print jobs requested from the plurality of information processing apparatuses is rearranged to perform print processing. In a printing device capable of
Display means for displaying print jobs in the order of processing to be printed, and change instructing means for changing a processing order of printing by designating a specific print job from the print jobs displayed on the display means. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing order of the urgent print job can be increased as it comes before the apparatus.

According to the invention of claim 2, according to claim 1,
A clock unit for measuring time, a processing time required for the print job is predicted, and a predicted end time of the print job is predicted from the predicted processing time and time information measured by the clock unit. End time predicting means for
The display means further displays the expected end time predicted by the end time prediction means, so that the user can only raise the processing order until a necessary time, so that the processing order is unnecessarily raised. This has the effect that it can be prevented.

According to the invention of claim 3, according to claim 2,
In the above, when the processing order of the print job is changed by the change instructing means, the information processing apparatus that has requested the print job in which the scheduled end time of the print job fluctuates by a predetermined time or more as compared with the time before the change is changed. Since the end time is notified, the user can know the delay at the terminal, and it is possible to prevent a problem that the user mistakenly goes to the apparatus before the printing is completed.

According to the invention described in claim 4, according to claim 1
, Authentication data storage means for storing user authentication data, authentication data input means for inputting authentication data, authentication data input from the authentication data input means and stored in the authentication data storage means Authentication data comparing means for comparing the authentication data with the authentication data, and based on the comparison result of the authentication data comparing means, permitting the change of the processing order by the change instructing means.
It is possible to prevent a problem that even a print job of another person is changed.

According to the invention set forth in claim 5, according to claim 4,
It is determined whether or not the print job has been advanced in the processing order, and if the print job has been advanced in the processing order, authentication is performed via the authentication data input means for each predetermined number of prints, and If there is no input of the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage means within the time, the processing order is returned to the one before the change, so that only the urgent print job is printed so as to wait in front of the apparatus. There is an effect that can be done.

According to the invention of claim 6, according to claim 4,
It is determined whether or not the print job has been advanced in the processing order, and if the print job has been advanced in the processing order, authentication through the authentication data input means is performed before the processing of the print job is started. If there is no input of the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage means within a predetermined time, the processing order is returned to the one before the change. There is an effect that only the job can be printed.

According to the invention of claim 7, according to claim 1,
, An identification information input means for inputting identification information of an operator when the processing order is changed, and a change in the processing order input from the change instruction means and identification information input from the identification information input means are stored. Storage means, wherein at least one of the identification information and the change content stored in the storage means can be displayed or printed, so that it is necessary to increase the order later. It is possible to ask the user whether the processing has been completed, and the effect of suppressing easily raising the processing order can be expected.

According to the invention of claim 8, according to claim 7,
In the above, the storage means further stores print data of the print job whose processing order has been changed, and the print data stored in the storage means can be displayed or printed, so that the storage means There is an effect that it is possible to verify whether the order has been increased, including the print data.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the seventh aspect is provided.
A discharge paper detecting means provided in the discharge section of the recording paper and capable of detecting a state in which the recording paper after printing is stacked and a state in which the recording paper after printing is taken out and is not stacked; A dwell time measuring means for measuring a dwell time in which the discharged paper is stacked based on a detection result of the paper detection means; and a dwell time storage means for storing a timing result of the dwell time clock means, and changing a processing order. Since the staying time in the discharging unit is recorded for the completed print job, it is possible to verify whether the urgency is high by recording the staying time.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, when the print data whose processing order has been advanced is a print of a number of copies larger than a predetermined number of copies, the processing order is advanced only for a predetermined number of copies. Since the processing order is not advanced for print data exceeding the number of copies, there is an effect that a specific user can be prevented from monopolizing the print data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for describing display contents and an operation method of a display unit and an operation unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for describing display contents and an operation method of a display unit and an operation unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing display contents and an operation method of a display unit and an operation unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state where the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is shared by a plurality of users.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 display unit 11a screen unit 12a up button 12b down button 12c OK button 12 operation unit 13 external I / F unit 14 print job management unit 14a processing time prediction unit 14b user authentication unit 15 image formation unit 16 engine unit 17 data storage unit 18 Clock section 19 Sheet discharge section with sensor 20 Sheet discharge section 31 Printing apparatus (image forming apparatus) 32 to 35 PC (information processing apparatus) 40 Network

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus connected to a plurality of information processing apparatuses via a network and capable of performing a printing process by rearranging the order of print jobs requested by the plurality of information processing apparatuses. A printing apparatus, comprising: a display unit that displays print jobs in a processing order; and a change instruction unit that changes a processing order in which a specific print job is designated and printed from the print jobs displayed on the display unit. 2. A ending means for ending a print job based on a clock means for measuring time, a processing time required for a print job is predicted, and the predicted processing time and time information counted by the time measuring means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an end time estimating unit for estimating a time, wherein the display unit further displays the estimated end time estimated by the end time estimating unit. 3. When the processing order of the print job is changed by the change instructing means, the information processing apparatus which requests the print job in which the scheduled end time of the print job fluctuates by a predetermined time or more as compared with before the change, The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printing apparatus notifies the end time after the change. 4. Authentication data storage means for storing user authentication data; authentication data input means for inputting authentication data; and authentication data input from the authentication data input means and the authentication data storage means. The authentication data comparing means for comparing the stored authentication data with the stored authentication data, wherein a change of the processing order by the change instruction means is permitted based on a comparison result of the authentication data comparing means. Printing equipment. And determining whether the print job has been advanced in the processing order. If the print job has been advanced in the processing order, the authentication through the authentication data input means is performed every predetermined number of prints. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein if the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage unit is not input within a predetermined time, the processing order is returned to the processing order before the change. 6. A process for determining whether a print job has been advanced in the processing order. If the print job has been advanced in the processing order, the print job is processed via the authentication data input means before the processing of the print job is started. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the authentication is performed, and if there is no input of the authentication data stored in the authentication data storage unit within a predetermined time, the processing order is returned to the processing order before the change. 7. An identification information input means for inputting identification information of an operator at the time of changing the processing order, a change content of the processing order input from the change instruction means, and identification information input from the identification information input means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit configured to store at least one of the identification information and the change content stored in the storage unit. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit further stores print data of the print job whose processing order has been changed, and can display or print the print data stored in the storage unit. Item 8. A printing device according to Item 7. 9. A discharge sheet detecting means provided in a discharge section of the recording sheet and capable of detecting a state in which the recording sheet after printing is stacked and a state in which the recording sheet after printing is removed and not stacked. A dwell time measuring means for measuring a dwell time in which the discharged paper is stacked based on a detection result of the discharged paper detection means; and a dwell time storage means for storing a timing result of the dwell time counting means. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the staying time in the discharge unit is recorded for the print job whose order has been changed. 10. When print data whose processing order has been advanced is a print of more than a predetermined number of copies, the processing order is advanced only for a predetermined number of copies. For print data exceeding the predetermined number of copies, the processing order is advanced. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is not provided.