JP2003330644A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability related with print by giving instruction on the necessary number of sheets and a proper feeding position to a user when an sheet absence error occurs, and to prevent sheets from being set more than necessary and being inappropriately used for the following job. <P>SOLUTION: This print system is provided with a means for confirming residual recording sheets, a means for managing the accepted job, a means for calculating the number of recording sheets for printing jobs managed by the job managing means for each job, a means for calculating the number of insufficient sheets for each job from the necessary number of recording sheets calculated for each job and the quantity of recording sheets obtained by a residual recording sheet detecting means, an information destination determining means for determining a host computer which should inform the job whose sheets are judged to be insufficient of a sheet absence error, and a necessary number instructing means for informing the host computer of the number of sheets obtained by the necessary number determining means, and for instructing the user on the necessary number. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system including a printing device and a host computer arranged on a network, and more particularly to a printing system for giving an appropriate instruction to a user when a paper out error occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when there is no paper in a printing device,
A warning is sent to the host computer determined by the method specified in advance, the job execution is stopped if it is determined that there is no required paper at the time when the job discharge processing is started, and it is specified in advance. There was a system that notified the host computer of the error.

In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-270082 and 1-2008
There is a system that predicts the occurrence of a paper out and notifies a warning when a job is input by a method such as 1-157174 or at an arbitrary timing during the printing process.

[0004]

However, since the conventional printing system does not have a function of instructing the number of sheets required for the job when a sheet-out error occurs, the user sets more sheets than necessary. However, it may be unintentionally used for the succeeding job, and there is a problem that expensive special paper is wastefully consumed and the succeeding job is not normally printed.

Further, since the paper feeding position where the paper should be inserted is not indicated at the time of the error instruction, the cassette to be used in the succeeding job is replaced, and the paper is not used when executing the succeeding job. There is a problem that an error occurs, or paper is improperly consumed by a subsequent job.

Further, in the conventional printing system, in the method of notifying the shortage of paper at the time of inputting a job, when there are a plurality of jobs in the printing apparatus, the cassettes necessary for the already scheduled jobs are required. Could have been replaced. Further, when the size of the paper used is larger than that of the mountable cassette, there are cases where the user cannot determine in what order the paper should be replenished.

Further, in the method of notifying when a paper-out error has occurred, there is a problem in that the job being executed is stopped, and the throughput at the time of printing the relevant job and multiple jobs is reduced.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and reduces throughput due to a paper out error,
The purpose is to prevent accidents caused by replenishing more paper than necessary when a paper out error occurs.

[0009]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing system for processing print data from a host computer in units of jobs, and a printing system comprising one or more host computers, Remaining recording paper detection means for confirming the remaining amount of recording paper set in the paper supply means on the printer, job management means for queuing and managing the received jobs, and management by the job management means Required sheet number determining means for calculating the number of recording sheets required for printing the specified job for each job,
A shortage sheet number calculating means for calculating, for each job, the required number of recording sheets calculated for each job, and the number of shortage sheets obtained from the recording sheet remaining amount detecting means, Notification destination deciding means for deciding a host computer for notifying a job out of paper to a job determined by the necessary number calculating means to be out of paper,
Notifying the host computer obtained by the notification destination determining means of the number of sheets obtained by the required number determining means,
A required number instruction unit for instructing the required number to the user is provided.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to properly instruct the user as to the required number of sheets and the sheet feeding position at which the sheets should be replenished at an appropriate timing. It is possible to prevent an accident caused by replenishing paper more than necessary with the minimum necessary operation.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the constituent elements described in this embodiment are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited thereto.

A printing system to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<System Configuration> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functions of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a host computer, and a printer 2
And a communication cable 3 capable of bidirectional communication with a printing device such as a Centronics cable or an Ethernet (registered trademark) cable.
It is physically or logically connected via a network such as an intranet.

In the host computer 1, a job generation unit 11 converts a document such as a word processor or a spreadsheet into job data in a format suitable for a printing apparatus and transfers the job data to the data transmission management unit 12.

The job generation unit may be configured to include the number of recording sheets required by the job data in the job data as an attribute.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a data transmission management, which sequentially transfers the job data created by the job generation unit 11 to the printing device 2 using a communication protocol such as LPR or IEEE1284.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a status display means, which is configured to instruct the user of the status, such as no paper, received from the printing apparatus 2 via the data receiving section 14 to the user.

In the printing apparatus 2, a data reception management unit 21 receives and manages job data and attributes input from the host computer 1. The data receiving unit 21 includes a reception buffer 211 for receiving data from the host 1 and temporarily storing the data.

Reference numeral 22 is a language analysis unit. The contents of the job data are analyzed in detail, and related control commands such as job management and drawing output are executed according to the instructions. Here, command groups are sequentially received one by one from the reception buffer 211 on the data reception management unit, the contents thereof are examined according to the description rule of the printer control language, and what processing the command requires is determined. Determine.

As a result of this determination, if the command is a job-related command such as a print job start or end declaration, or if it has job attributes such as paper size, number of sheets, stapling, etc., the job management unit A corresponding job management command is issued to 23.

If the command is for instructing the drawing of characters, figures, images, etc., the drawing output unit 2
4, the corresponding drawing output is instructed.

Reference numeral 23 is a job management unit. The job management unit 23 schedules and manages the attributes of the job sent from the host in job units according to the job management command from the language analysis unit 22.

In the job management section 23, the job management section 23
A job management table, which will be described later, is held in the upper job information management memory 231 to control the job unit.
The job information on the job management table is initialized and generated by the job start command and is determined by the job end command. Further, regardless of whether or not a job end command is received, subsequent job data or an instruction from the host computer 1 changes attributes, changes priority of a schedule (printing order), or cancels printing (deletes job data). ) Etc. can be performed. The job management unit 23 issues a command to select the paper or discharge bin to be used to the printer control unit 25 according to the attribute of the job to be executed,
The status of the printer device is acquired via the printer control unit 25, the status of the job being executed is constantly monitored, and a notification status is generated as necessary when an error occurs. The processing of the job management unit 23 will be described later in detail.

Reference numeral 24 is a drawing output unit for drawing and developing characters, figures, images, etc. for printer output. Here, according to the drawing output command from the language analysis unit 22, a corresponding character pattern is created,
The figure calculation and the image data development processing are performed, the data is developed into an output data format, and then sent to the printer engine 26.

The printer engine 26 is a device such as a laser beam printer engine or the like, and is a drawing output unit 2.
According to the output development data received from 4, the actual print output process is performed using a mechanism such as an electrophotographic method.

Further, the printer engine 26 has a recording paper remaining amount detecting means, and always sends a warning signal to the printer control unit 25, which will be described later, when the paper is not set. Also, if there is no paper in the development / printing process,
The recording means such as the printer drum is stopped and an error is sent to the printer control unit 25 by means such as interruption. It is assumed that the printer engine according to the present embodiment has a function of determining only the presence / absence of the sheets loaded in the sheet feeding unit and cannot detect the detailed remaining amount of sheets for each sheet. .

In the printer control unit 25, the job management unit 2
According to the printer device control command from 3, the printer device is controlled, for example, the paper to be used is selected and the printer device is initialized. Further, the printer control unit 2
In FIG. 5, the status of the entire printer apparatus such as the status of the paper feed cassette, door open, and no toner is constantly monitored, and the status of the printer apparatus is notified to other components as necessary.

The latest status of the printer such as the remaining amount of paper and the error status is stored in the printer information management memory 251 provided in the printer controller.

Reference numeral 27 is a status response processing section. Here, according to the status response request command received from the job management unit 23, the status notification expressed in the internal format of the printer is converted into an external expression that can be understood by the host computer 1, and the status response information is created. Then, this result is transmitted to the data transmission management unit 28.

Upon receiving the status response information returned from the status response section 27, the data transmission management section 28 temporarily stores it in a transmission buffer or the like and sends it back to the host computer 1 via the communication means 3. .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operating form of a system which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, three host computers and one shared laser beam printer are connected to the local area network 3.

Reference numerals 1 to 3 in this figure correspond to those in FIG. 1. In the laser beam printer 2, the paper out error notifying program shown in the configuration of FIG. Computers 1a, 1b, 1c
Above, the print data transmission and the paper-out error display program can operate.

FIG. 3 shows a part of the paper feed information stored in the printer information management memory 251 at a certain time. As is clear from this figure, in the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, two trays, tray 1 and tray 2, are used as paper feeding means.
The tray 1 holds 20 sheets of A4 plain paper and 5 sheets of A3 plain paper.

However, since the printer engine 26 according to the embodiment of the present invention can detect only the presence or absence of paper, it is assumed that the existence of the recording paper remaining amount is actually known.

FIG. 4 is a list of error notification destinations stored in the printer information management memory 251 at the time of FIG. Two notification destinations, a personal computer 1b and a personal computer 2b, are set in this printing apparatus. This notification destination is used when the notification destination for the job in which an error has occurred is not set in the paper out error notification processing (step S611) described below.

FIG. 5 shows a part of the job management table stored in the job information management memory 231 at the time of FIG. All jobs are managed for each unique identifier (Job ID) in the printing apparatus, and each job is
It has a status, an error notification destination, a job transmission source, and the required number of sheets for the paper feed unit, the number of printed sheets,
A flag indicating whether or not an error notification has been issued is managed. In the notification column, "-" indicates that notification is not necessary or the notification cannot be made because there is no space in the sheet feeding means. '
N'is not notified, that is, a paper error has occurred but has not been notified, 'Y' has been notified, that is, a paper error has occurred and the user has been notified of the error and is waiting for the user to clear the error. Means something.

In FIG. 5, compared with the state of FIG. 3, there is actually insufficient paper for processing the job of job ID-101. However, in the printing apparatus of the present embodiment, the correct number of paper is Since it cannot be detected, it is assumed that there is enough paper, and'- 'is set to indicate that notification is not required. For job ID-102, a paper out error is detected because the B5 cassette is not set in the printing apparatus, but the two paper feeding units provided in the printing apparatus of this embodiment are used by the preceding two jobs. I can't do it. Therefore, it is in the same state as'- 'is marked.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a procedure in which the job management unit 23 monitors the job data and performs the paper out notification processing by the paper out error notification from the printer control unit 25.

First, in step S601, the reception state of the job data in the reception data management unit 21 is monitored.

In step S602, it is determined whether the job is sent from the host computer. If it is determined in step S602 that the job has been sent, job processing is performed until it is determined in step S603 that the job has ended. In the job processing step S604, the job information is generated and the attribute is updated according to the instruction from the language analysis unit 22. The number of sheets used in the job is transmitted from the host computer 1 together with the job data, or is automatically updated in the process of expanding the drawing page by the language analysis unit, and is stored in the job management unit 23 for each type and size of paper. Of the job information management memory 231 (shown in FIG. 5). When the drawing image for each recording sheet 1 is generated or the drawing images of all pages are generated according to the setting of the printing apparatus or the attribute of the job, the job management unit 23 causes the printer control unit to feed or eject the paper. A finishing process such as paper and stapling is designated, and the printing process of S605 is started.

In the print processing S605, the drawing output unit 2
While the drawing image created in 4 is transferred to the printer engine, processing such as paper feeding, printing, and paper ejection is performed.

If a paper out error is detected in the paper determination of step S606 during the printing process,
Then, the process shifts to the required number calculation process in step S607.

FIG. 7 is an example of paper feed information in the printer information management memory 251 when a paper out error is detected.
From the state of FIG. 3A of job ID-100 shown in FIG.
It shows a state at the time when printing of three or five sheets is completed.

In the required number calculation process of step S607, the required number of sheets and the paper feed information currently provided in the printing apparatus for all the jobs stored in the job management table as well as the job currently being executed are The job management tables are sequentially compared from the beginning.

FIG. 8 shows the state of the job management table after the required number of sheets is calculated.
The notification flag of D-102 has been changed from'- 'to'N'.

In the subsequent shortage determination process in step S608, the notification flag in the job management table is scanned,
Search for jobs with N'flag. If there is a job for which the flag of "N" is set, the process moves to the empty tray selection process of the following step S609.

In the empty tray selection processing step S609, according to the paper feed information shown in FIG. 7, it is scanned from the beginning whether there is a job that uses each tray, and an empty tray is searched. The scanning processing of the empty tray is sequentially performed from the beginning of the job, and priority is given to a job having a higher schedule (printed first). The tray is selected by comparing the result with the paper feed information. For example,
In the state of FIG. 8, 10 sheets of A4 plain paper are ID-10.
Depending on the job of 0, 1 sheet of A3 plain paper has ID-10
It can be seen from the job of No. 1 that one sheet of B5 plain paper is used by the job of ID-102. From FIG. 7, since A4 plain paper is set in the tray 1 in the printing apparatus, the tray 1 is not changed, and the job ID-101 can use the A4 plain paper in the tray 1 as it is. In the succeeding job ID-102, the tray 1 is used, but since the tray 2 is not used for the job before the ID-102, the job ID-102 can be preferentially used. In this way, the empty tray is selected. Job ID-103 requires B5 paper, but ID-1
Since 01 and ID-102 use all the trays, it is still in a state where the paper cannot be fed.
Therefore, the notification flag of job ID-103 is from'N 'to'
-'Is returned to.

In a succeeding step S610, the notification flag of the job management table updated as a result of the above-mentioned empty tray selection processing is scanned, and it is determined whether or not there is any flag of "N". If none of them are'N ', even if an out-of-paper error has occurred, it does not affect the continuation of the job for the time being, and the process returns to the job processing of step S604. If some of them are'N ', the process moves to the error notification process of the subsequent step S611.

In the error notification processing step S611, the job management table is scanned and a notification destination and notification contents are created for the job whose notification flag is "N".

The notification destination is the notification destination information in the job management table, the notification destination list in the device information management memory 251,
Selected by the priority of the job sender. In the job ID-101 in FIG. 8, since the notification destination information of the job attribute is not set, the notification destination list in the device management memory 251 is selected as the notification destination at the time of error. In the present embodiment, the personal computer 1 according to the setting of FIG.
Two of b and 1c will be selected.

Next, regarding the notification content, the job ID-1
In 01, one A3 sheet is insufficient, and step S60
Since Tray 2 can be used from the empty tray selection process of 9, the message such as "Please set one A3 plain paper in Tray 2" is a status response based on the error information from the job management unit 23. Created by the processing unit 27,
The same message is sent to the personal computers 1b and 1c.

In this example, there is only one error for one communication destination, but for example, when the notification destination of the succeeding job ID-102 is the same personal computer and one A3 sheet is used, , The messages are put together and it becomes like "Please set two A3 plain papers in tray 2". If the printing device has three trays, set two A1 plain papers in Tray 2 and one B5 paper in Tray 3 for one message. It is also possible to notify as a message.

The status message created in this way is sent from the status response section 27 to the data transmission management section 2
The personal computer 1 is notified via 8 and the notification flag is set to “Y” for the job that has notified the error to prevent the same error from being notified many times.

FIG. 9 shows the state of the job management table at the time when the error notification processing step S611 is completed. The notification flag is reset to "-" when the paper is set in the tray and the error is released.

Thereafter, in step S612, it is determined whether or not the current job can be continued. In the present embodiment, the job ID-100 is being processed, and the A4 paper required by the job ID-100 is set in the tray, so the processing is continued and step S604.
Return to job processing.

If the user does not set A3 paper while processing the job ID-100, the succeeding job ID
In process step S606 in -101, a paper out error is detected, the processes of S607 to S613 are performed, the engine is stopped, and the user waits for paper supply (step S613).

FIG. 10 shows the paper feed information when it is assumed that the printer 2 has fed the job ID-100 immediately after the error notification processing in step S611. Figure 10
In comparison with FIG. 7, the information on the tray 2 is changed from “absent” to “present”. As described above, the notification column for job ID-101 in the job management table changes from'Y 'to'-' at this timing.

The error notification to the ID-102 in FIG. 10 is pending because the absence of the paper in the paper feed tray 1 is not detected, and steps S607 to S613 are performed at the time when the job ID-100 ends in the above-described step S603. Is performed in the process of.

As described above, in the printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to notify the user of the paper out error at the optimum timing.

When the job schedule is changed by the job priority change command or the interrupt print command, all the notification flags in the job management table are '.
Is reset to − ', and steps S607 to S6
A series of processing in 13 is performed. Therefore, even when the job schedule is changed, the present invention can be applied without any problem.

<Other Embodiments> The printing device 2
However, if it is possible to detect the remaining amount of paper in units of one sheet by having an optical remaining amount of paper detecting device or a mechanical sheet number counting device such as an auto seed feeder, or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-27
When it is possible to accurately calculate the remaining amount of paper on a sheet-by-sheet basis using a means such as 0082, the job is used at the time when the job is submitted or at the submitted job without waiting for the occurrence of a paper-out error. The error notification process can be performed when the number of sheets is fixed. In this case, the paper empty error determination in step S306 in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is only activated each time one page is discharged, and the present invention can be applied as it is.

(Other Embodiments) Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or an apparatus composed of a single device. May be applied to.

The present invention supplies a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus directly or remotely, and a computer of the system or apparatus reads out the supplied program code. Including cases that can be achieved by executing. In that case, the form need not be a program as long as it has the functions of the program.

Therefore, the program code itself installed in the computer to implement the functional processing of the present invention by the computer also implements the present invention. That is, the claims of the present invention include the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

In this case, the program may take any form such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to an OS as long as it has the function of the program.

As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD
-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM,
DVD-R).

In addition, as a program supply method,
It can also be supplied by connecting to a homepage on the Internet using a browser of a client computer, and downloading the computer program itself of the present invention or a compressed file having an automatic installation function from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from different homepages. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for implementing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the claims of the present invention.

The program of the present invention is encrypted to C
By storing the information in a storage medium such as a D-ROM and distributing it to the user, and having the user who satisfies the predetermined conditions download the key information for decrypting the encryption from the home page via the Internet, and by using the key information It is also possible to execute the encrypted program and install the program in a computer to realize it.

The computer executes the read program to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the OS operating on the computer executes the actual processing based on the instructions of the program. The function of the above-described embodiment can be realized also by performing a part or all of the above.

Further, after the program read from the recording medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program,
CPU provided on the function expansion board or function expansion unit
Performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0071]

According to the present invention, as described above,
In the printing system according to the present invention, it is possible to instruct the user at a proper timing on the required number of sheets and the sheet feeding position at which the sheets should be replenished. Of course, since only the required amount of paper can be replenished, it is possible to prevent the paper from being improperly used for the subsequent jobs during continuous printing.

Further, since an appropriate paper feeding position is designated, a drop in operability, such as replacing a cassette to be used in a subsequent job and causing a paper out error in the subsequent job, can be prevented. Things are possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operating form of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of paper feed information at a certain time point according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a list of error notification destinations set at the time of FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a job management table at the time of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of paper out error processing that can be placed in a printing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of paper feed information when a paper out error occurs.

8 is a diagram showing an example of a job management table at the time of FIG.

9 is a diagram showing an example of a job management table at the time of notifying a paper out error in FIG.

10 is a diagram showing an example of paper feed information at the time when the no-paper error in FIG. 7 is released.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Host computer 2 printing devices 3 communication cable or communication path 21 Data reception management unit 22 Language Analysis Department 23 Job Analysis Department 24 Drawing output section 25 Printer analysis unit 26 Printer Engine 27 Status response processing unit 28 Data transmission management section

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A printing system configured to process print data from a host computer on a job-by-job basis and a printing system including one or more host computers. The remaining recording paper detection unit for checking the remaining amount, the job management unit for queuing and managing the received jobs, and the number of recording sheets required for printing the job managed by the job management unit. The required number of sheets determining unit for each job, the required number of recording sheets calculated for each job, and the number of sheets insufficient from the amount of recording sheets obtained from the recording sheet remaining amount detecting unit Insufficient number of sheets calculating means for each job, and a host command for notifying a job out of sheet to a job determined by the required number of sheets calculating means to be out of sheets A notification destination determining means for determining a computer, a host computer, obtained by the notification destination determining means notifies the number of sheets obtained in necessary number determining means,
A printing system comprising: a required number instruction means for instructing a required number of sheets to a user. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein an operator host computer predetermined as an attribute of the printing apparatus or an error notification destination host set for each job input to the general printing apparatus. Insufficiency for each job calculated by the insufficient sheet number calculation means for one or more host computers determined by a computer or all users who have submitted jobs to the approximate printing device, or any combination of the above A printing system that has the function of sending the cumulative total number of sheets. 3. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein when the error notification destination for each job determined by the notification destination determining unit is duplicated in a plurality of jobs, an error notification message is set to 1 A printing system characterized by having the function of putting it together at one time. 4. The recording paper detection means is executed each time a recording paper is fed from the paper feeding means, periodically or every time job processing is completed, or by using a combination of any timings. , For each paper feeding means,
4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the presence or absence of recording paper and the type of recording paper such as size and material are managed in association with each other. 5. The required number determining means determines the number of logical pages (pages of a document for which a user has instructed to print), both sides, and the like for each type of recording paper size and material specified in a job.
The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the required amount of recording paper is calculated in consideration of a printing attribute such as 2in1. 6. The shortage number determining means is obtained by the sheet feeding means obtained from the recording sheet detecting means, the remaining amount for each type of recording sheets loaded therein, and the required number determining means. The printing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a function of specifying the number of insufficient recording sheets and a sheet feeding unit to which the recording sheets should be fed, from the required amount of recording sheets for each job. system. 7. Even if it is determined by the shortage number determination means that there is a shortage of recording paper required to process an arbitrary job, another job scheduled before the approximate job If it is determined that all the paper feed units on the printing device will be used for printing a job, there will be insufficient recording paper until the preceding job has been processed and the paper feed unit becomes empty. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an error notification is not issued to the job determined to exist. 8. The notification destination determining means uses the notification destination when the notification destination is designated as an attribute for each job, and uses the notification destination designated as the attribute in the printing device when not designated, 4. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising a function of determining a transmission source of the job as a notification destination when the notification destination is not set in the attribute of the job or the attribute of the printing apparatus. 9. The required number instruction means is necessary for executing one or a plurality of jobs based on the total number of jobs associated with each job or the host computer on which the approximate required number instruction means is executed. 4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing system has a function of instructing the number of different recording sheets and a sheet feeding unit to which the recording sheets should be fed.