JP2007230144A - Network printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit an efficient printing action to be made without centralizing print commands on a single printer from among a plurality of printers connected to a local area network. <P>SOLUTION: In a printing control system in a network 20 to which a server 5, client PCs, a printer and a combination machine are connected, the server 5 is provided with a printing information storage means 51 to temporarily store printing data and information of the client PC, a printer selection means 52 to select a printing device such as a printer or a combination machine which satisfies printing setting based on the printing data and set setting conditions in accordance with the printing setting data for the selected printer, and a printing completion and printer location reporting means 53 to report printing completion and the installation site of the printer to the client PCs after the completion of printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network printing apparatus in which a plurality of client PCs, a plurality of printing apparatuses, and a server are connected to a network, and printing is output from any of the printing apparatuses.

  Conventionally, a plurality of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs), client PCs composed of workstations, etc., facsimile machines, servers, printers, copy functions, multifunction machines having multiple functions such as printer functions and facsimile functions, etc. There is provided a print control system in which a local area network is connected and a print request is received from a client PC, and printing is performed by a printing apparatus in the local area network that can execute the request. Some own multiple client PCs depending on the size of the local area network.

  When printing a created document or the like in a local area network where a client PC and a plurality of printing devices are connected, the user must install a driver for the printing device connected to the local area network in advance on the client PC. In addition, when printing, the user has to select a printing apparatus by himself and make print settings.

Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, print job information from all information processing apparatuses is uniformly received, and the operation instruction burden by the user, such as designation of a transfer destination of the received print job information, is not required. It has been proposed that the environment can be easily constructed.
JP-A-9-190311

  In the network-connected printing apparatus as described above, even if an equivalent printing apparatus is connected to the local network to perform printing, only the printing apparatus closest to the client PC is set as the client PC. When the number of users is large, when traffic increases, it is difficult to print. Also, monochrome printing is sufficient, but printing is performed on a color printing apparatus with a lot of traffic, or printing is performed again on another printing apparatus because of the time required for printing, and paper and toner are wasted. There was also. In addition, there are printing apparatuses that are installed but are not used effectively, which may result in waste of work.

  The present invention has been made in view of the actual situation of the prior art, and the problem to be solved is that print commands are concentrated on one of the plurality of printing apparatuses connected to the local area network. Without causing the printing operation to be performed efficiently.

  In order to achieve the object, the first means includes: a server, a plurality of information processing apparatuses that transmit print information, and a network printing apparatus in which a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a network and perform printing output from the printing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes means for transferring print data to the server connected to the network, the server storing and storing the print data and information on the information processing apparatus, and print settings based on the print data And a means for setting a setting condition in accordance with print setting data transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the selected printing apparatus along with the print data. It is characterized by.

  The second means is the means for the first means for the server to manage jobs in the printing apparatus connected to the network, and the means for managing the status of the printing apparatus and collectively grasping and storing the information. And further comprising.

  The third means is characterized in that the second means further comprises means for switching to another printing apparatus to perform printing when the printing apparatus being printed by the server detects a problem. .

  According to a fourth means, in the first means, the printing apparatus includes means for informing the server of a notification of completion of printing after printing is completed, and means for notifying the server of the state of the printing apparatus after completion of printing. The server transmits a print completion notification to the information processing apparatus that has instructed printing based on the print completion information notified from the printing apparatus, and updates the status data of the printing apparatus.

  A fifth means is a means according to the first means, wherein when the printing apparatus receives an input of one process of copying, facsimile reception and transmission, the server notifies the server that there is an interrupt to use another function. And means for notifying the server of completion of interrupt processing when the interrupt processing is completed, the server receiving means for receiving interrupt processing information from the printing apparatus, and notification of completion of interrupt processing. Means for not outputting a print command until it is received.

  In the embodiment described later, the server is at reference number 5, the information processing apparatus is at the notebook PC 1, the desktop PC 2, and the workstation 3, the network is at reference number 20, and the storage and storage means is at the print information storage means 51. The setting unit is the printing device selection unit 52, the notification unit is the printing completion and printing device location notification unit 53, the job management unit is the job management unit 54, and the storage unit is the printing device information storage unit 55. The means for switching to another printing apparatus to perform printing is to the printing apparatus switching and notifying means 56, the means for notifying the server of the completion of printing after the printing is finished is to the termination notifying means 65, and the printing apparatus after the printing is finished. The means for notifying the server of the status of printing is the status notification means 66 at the end of printing, and the means for notifying that another function use interrupt is present is the interrupt notification sender 91, means for notifying completion of interrupt processing, means for notifying completion of interrupt processing 92, means for receiving interrupt processing information from the printing apparatus, means for not allowing the interrupt receiving means 60 to output a print command until the notification of completion of interrupt processing is received. Corresponds to the print command control means 61, respectively.

  According to the present invention, since the server grasps the status of a plurality of printing apparatuses and can collectively manage print jobs sent from the client PC, drivers for the plurality of printing apparatuses connected to the network with respect to the client PC. Need not be installed, and printing commands are not concentrated on one printing apparatus, so that resources of the printing apparatus can be used effectively. Thereby, the waiting time for printing can also be reduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a connection diagram of a general local area network. A local area network (hereinafter simply referred to as a network) 20 includes a client PC, a facsimile machine 4, a server 5, a printer 6, a scanner 7, a copying machine 8, a notebook PC 1, a desktop PC 2, and a workstation 3. A multi-function machine 9 having a multi-function such as a copy function, a printer function and a FAX function, a public line network 10 connected to the facsimile apparatus 4 or a FAX of the multi-function machine 9, and the Internet 11 are connected. Depending on the size of the local area network 20, there are a configuration in which a plurality of client PCs such as a notebook PC 1 and a desktop PC 2 are connected, and a configuration in which a plurality of multifunction devices 9 having a printer 6 and a printing function are owned.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the server 5 in this embodiment. The server 5 connected via the network 20 includes a printing information storage unit 51, a printing device selection unit 52, a printing completion and printing device location notification unit 53, a job management unit 54, a printing device information storage unit 55, a printing device switching unit, A notification unit 56, a printing device state temporary storage unit 57, a printing end state collection unit 58, a selected printing device state collection confirmation unit 59, an interrupt reception unit 60, a print command control unit 61, and the like.

  The print information storage unit 51 temporarily stores and stores print data, print setting data, and client PC information from the client PC. Based on the print setting data, the printing device selection unit 52 selects the printer 6 or the multifunction device 9 (hereinafter, the printer 6 and the multifunction device 9 are collectively referred to as a printing device) that the server 5 matches with the print setting. Alternatively, setting conditions are set according to the print setting data for the selected printing apparatus. The printing completion and printing device location notifying unit 53 notifies the client PC of the printing completion and the installation location of the printing device after the printing is completed. The job management unit 54 performs job management, status management, and monitoring in a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to the network 20. The printing apparatus information storage means 55 collects and stores each state as described above. When detecting a problem, the printing device switching and notifying unit 56 switches to perform printing with another printing device and notifies the client PC that the printed matter has been printed on a plurality of printing devices.

  The printing device state temporary storage unit 57 temporarily stores the state of the printing device connected to the network 20 as data. The print end state collecting means 58 collects the state data of the printing apparatus after the end of printing. The status collection confirmation unit 59 of the selected printing device obtains the status of the selected printing device before issuing a print command to the printing device connected to the network 2 and confirms that there is no problem compared with the print setting data. Check. The interrupt receiving unit 60 receives interrupt processing information from the printing apparatus. The print command control means 61 performs control so that a print command is not issued until an interrupt process completion notification is received.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer 6 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The printer 6 includes a print end notification unit 65, a print end state notification unit 66, a print information display unit 67, and the like. The print end notification means 65 notifies the server 5 of a print completion notification after printing is completed. The printing end status notifying unit 66 notifies the server 5 of the state of the printing apparatus after the printing is finished. The print information display means 67 displays print information such as the remaining number of print data currently being printed and client PC information. These configurations may be provided in the multifunction machine 9.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the multifunction machine 9 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the configuration of the printer 6, the multifunction device 9 includes an interrupt notification transmission unit 61 that transmits a notification of other function use interruption to the server 5 when processing such as copying, facsimile reception, and transmission is entered. Interrupt completion notifying means 92 for notifying the server 5 of completion of interrupt processing when the interrupt processing is completed is provided.

  Although not shown, any one of the client PCs includes transfer means for transferring print data and print setting data to the server 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a print command output from the client PC. For each command, a print command sent from the client PC is temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown) as information about the destination client PC, print data, and print setting data relating to the print data as one print job (job). Save to. At this time, it is only necessary to manage the print data and the setting data related to the print data so that the client PC can specify the command.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a command configuration for each printing apparatus connected to the network 20. Setting information, function information, and paper presence / absence information of a plurality of printing apparatuses such as a printer 6, a copier 8, and a multifunction machine 9 connected to the network 20 are stored as information of each printing apparatus in the storage medium. To do. The paper feed tray setting information is information on tray information connected to the printing apparatus, paper size setting information of each tray, setting direction, and the like. The function information is information such as color printing information, duplex printing information, stapler information, and sorter information in the printing apparatus.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display state of a display unit that displays a processing status of a print job processed by the printing apparatus. The display shows the remaining number of prints, the printing time, and how long the printer can be used when interrupting the copy process.

  A transfer unit that transfers print data and print setting data to the server 5 is provided in any one of the client PCs, and the server 5 includes the print information storage unit 51, the printing device selection unit 52, the printing completion, and the printing device location notification. By providing the means 53, the server 5 can be provided with a function to collectively control print processing from the client PC connected to the network 20. When the server 5 receives the print data and the print setting data from the client PC, the server 5 confirms the contents of the print setting data, and determines whether double-sided printing is set for monochrome printing, color printing, or print paper size. It is possible to perform printing by selecting a printing apparatus connected to the network 10 that satisfies the conditions in the print setting data. When the print data and the print setting data are received, the server 5 temporarily saves the information of the client PC from which the data is sent in the print information storage unit 51, and the print completion and printing device location notification unit 53 After printing is completed, the client PC is notified of which printing apparatus has performed printing. If a printing apparatus that can match the print setting data is not connected to the local area network, the client PC is notified to review the print setting data.

  As described above, the server 5 grasps the states of the plurality of printing apparatuses and collectively manages the print jobs sent from the client PC, whereby the plurality of printing apparatuses connected to the network 20 are connected to the client PC. There is no need to install a driver, printing instructions are not concentrated on one printing apparatus, resources of the printing apparatus can be used effectively, and the time required for printing can be reduced.

  Further, by providing the server 5 with the job management unit 54 and the printing device information storage unit 55, the server 5 can determine the paper size, the presence or absence of paper, the remaining amount of toner, etc. of a plurality of printing devices connected to the same network 20. Temporarily save the information in a storage medium, check the contents of the print setting data from the client PC, and if the print setting is A3, select the printing device that can print A3, and grasp information such as whether color printing is necessary. In addition, if there are multiple printing devices having the same functions and capabilities, the number of print processing jobs for the printing device is judged, and a printing device that does not take a long time to print is selected. Can be used effectively to reduce the time required for the printing process.

  Further, by adding a printing device switching / notifying means 56 to the server 5, information on the status of these printing devices can be accessed at a certain interval for a plurality of printing devices connected to the same network 20, and information can be obtained. By collecting the printer, it is possible to detect a paper out or toner end, or to know that a problem such as a paper jam has occurred, and distribute print processing to other printing devices without waiting for manual recovery. Thus, the printing process can be processed quickly. When printing is performed on another printing apparatus and the printed matter is printed on a plurality of printing apparatuses, the server 5 notifies the client PC to that effect. Since the server 5 can grasp the approximate printing time based on the print data, if a printing completion notification is not received from the printing device after a certain amount of time has passed since the printing command was issued, the printing device can be accessed by accessing the printing device after a certain amount of time has elapsed. You can grasp the state of.

  In this way, the server 5 monitors the status of the printing devices connected to the network 20 to grasp problems such as running out of paper or paper, that is, out of toner, and distributes printing items to other printing devices. By performing continuous printing or allocating jobs waiting for printing to other printing apparatuses, it is possible to reduce printing waiting due to problems with the printing apparatus. In addition, when the printing apparatus is changed during printing, a notification to that effect is sent from the server to the client PC, so that the user can know where the printed matter is printed, so that no problem occurs.

  Further, by adding a printing device state temporary storage unit 57 and a printing end state collecting unit 58 to the server 5, the server 5 grasps to which printing device the printing process from the client PC has been performed, and after executing the printing process. Information on the state of the printing apparatus can be collected from the printing apparatus and temporarily stored in the storage medium of the server 5. At this time, if information on the previous state is stored, the latest information on the printing apparatus can always be grasped by updating the data, and from the client PC connected to the network 20. It can be used as data when selecting which printing apparatus should perform the printing process for the next printing. As described above, after processing the print job from the server 5, the status of the printing apparatus is collected, so that the latest status of the printing apparatus connected to the network 20 can be grasped and printing from the client PC can be performed quickly. Can be processed.

  In addition, the multifunction device 9 having a print processing function has a copy function and a facsimile reception function in addition to the print processing, and even if information on the state of the printing apparatus is stored in the storage medium of the server, In some cases, a copy process, a facsimile reception process, and the like are performed before the print process. Therefore, the server 5 is further provided with the status collection confirmation unit 59 of the selected printing device, so that the printing selected from the status information of the printing device temporarily stored in the server 5 before performing the printing process from the client PC. The printer can collect the status information of the printing device, check whether there is no problem by performing the printing process under the conditions of the current printing process, and if there is no problem, for the printing device that has selected the printing process It can be carried out. If it is determined that printing is impossible by collecting the status information of the selected printing device, the next printing device is selected and the printing device status information is collected for the printing device, and there is no problem. Confirm that the print processing is performed. As described above, by collecting the states of the selected printing apparatuses, it is confirmed whether or not the print setting conditions are satisfied, and printing is executed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent problems such as running out of paper during printing.

  On the other hand, by providing the print end notification means 65 and the print end status notification means 66 of FIG. 3 in the printing apparatus such as the printer 6 or the multifunction machine 9, the printing apparatus completes the printing process when the printing process from the server 5 is completed. The server 5 can be notified of this, and information on the status of the printing apparatus after completion of the printing process, such as information on the remaining paper in the printing apparatus and toner information, can be sent to the server 5 together. When the server 5 receives a print completion notification from the printing device, it can also send to the client PC that has requested the printing process which printing device it has printed using e-mail or its own notification software. The information temporarily stored in the storage medium of the server 5 can be updated with the status information after the printing process from the apparatus. Thereby, after the printing apparatus is used, information on the state of the printing apparatus is updated, so that the latest data is always obtained. In addition, after the completion of the print job processing from the server 5, by notifying the server 5 of the completion of printing and simultaneously notifying the status of the printing apparatus, the server 5 can grasp the status data of the printing apparatus, and the client PC The printing apparatus can be quickly selected for the printing process.

    The multifunction machine 9 may be used as a printing apparatus, and there is a case where it is desired to perform a copy process during the printing process. Basically, when a print process is received from the server 5, if the print process job is not processed, the copy process and the facsimile reception print process cannot be performed. In addition, it is possible to determine whether or not copying is to be performed by a copier in another place if it takes time by displaying how many sheets of the printed matter currently being printed are to be printed. In response to this request, the print information display means 67 may be provided in the multifunction machine 9 or the printer 6 having the print processing function. This display content may be the remaining number or the approximate time required for printing. When used as a printing device, the display section is often set to non-display in consideration of the environment, and recently, there are many backlit display sections. It is possible to save power by displaying the remaining number of sheets and time while the light is turned off, or to display the remaining number of sheets and time when an operation for performing a copy process is performed. In addition, when there is a visible display such as an LED, and the print data is in the printing device, the data-in LED often blinks to inform the user, and the remaining data remains at the LED blinking interval. The user may be informed of the state. This allows you to know how long the printing process will be finished later. In the case of a multifunction device, if you want to make a copy with that device, you can copy it with another copier or wait for a while. It can be judged whether it can be taken.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation of the server 5 when a problem occurs in the printing apparatus for some reason during execution of printing in the printing apparatus. That is, the server 5 confirms to grasp the printing apparatus such as the printer 6 or the multifunction machine 9 on the network 10 (step S101), acquires the status information of each detected printing apparatus (step S102), and stores it in the storage medium. Save temporarily. Since the status information includes the case where an alarm has occurred (A-4), it is confirmed whether or not an alarm has occurred (step S103). For example, an alarm such as paper out or paper jam has occurred. If not, the current print job process is executed (step S104). If an alarm has been generated, it is confirmed whether there is a print job being printed (step S105), and if there is a print job being printed, another printing device is selected again and allocated (step S106). Then, it is confirmed whether printing is completed (step S106), and the completion of printing is notified to the client (step S108). If there is a print job in step S105, it is confirmed whether there is a print job waiting to be printed (step S109). If there is no print job, it is removed from the printing device selection candidates (step S110), and printing is performed on the printing device in which the alarm is generated. Do not do. If it is in step S109, the process proceeds to step S106.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure for acquiring the status information of the printing apparatus when the printing process is completed. That is, the server 5 issues a print command to the printing apparatus (step S201), and confirms whether printing is completed (step S202). If not finished, the process returns to step S202 again. When the processing is completed, when the server 5 receives a print completion notification, the printer 5 obtains the status data of the printing device (step S203), and updates the status data of the printing device stored in a storage medium (not shown) to the latest (step S203). S204).

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure for obtaining status information from the printing apparatus in order to determine whether printing is possible again before issuing a printing command to the printing apparatus. When the server 5 receives a print command from the client PC (step S301), it decodes the print setting data (step S302), reads the information of the printing device temporarily stored in the storage medium (step S303), and prints the printing device. Is selected (step S304). Status information is acquired from the selected printing apparatus (step S305), and a final determination is made as to whether printing is possible (step S306). If printing cannot be performed, the process returns to step S304, and the printing apparatus is selected again. If printing is possible, a printing command is issued to the selected printing device (step S307).

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation of transmitting status information to the server 5 in the printing apparatus. In the printing apparatus, a printing command is received from the server 5 and printing processing is performed. It is confirmed whether the processing of the print job is completed (step S401), and if it can be confirmed, the server 5 is notified of the completion of printing (step S402), and printing processing other than the print command from the server 5 is performed. If there is a print process (step S403), it is confirmed whether the process is completed (step S404), and then the status information of the printing apparatus is sent to the server 5 (step S405). If it is confirmed in step S403 that there is no printing process, the process proceeds to step S405. Send printer status information to the server.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of operations when facsimile reception and copy processing is entered in addition to printing from the server 5. When there is a facsimile reception or copy process in the multifunction machine 9 having the print function, it is confirmed whether or not the printing apparatus is processing a print job (step S501). Notification of processing occurrence (step S502), whether or not the processing of the print job is completed is confirmed (step S503), and when the processing is completed, the print job completion notification is set to the server 5 (step S504). Thereafter, an interrupt process is accepted (step S505). Then, it is confirmed whether or not the interrupt process has been completed (step S506), and if completed, it is further confirmed whether or not an interrupt process has occurred (step S507). If there is no further interrupt process, the server 5 is notified of the completion of the interrupt process (step S508). If an interrupt occurs in the idle state in step S501, the process proceeds to step S505 to start interrupt processing. If interrupt processing has not been completed in step S506, confirmation is again made in step S506. Also. If there is further interrupt processing in step S507, the process returns to step S504.

  The multifunction device 9 is used not only as a printing apparatus but also for copy processing and facsimile reception. Therefore, such processing occurs suddenly and cannot be managed by the server 5, and is one job of printing processing. Generally, copy processing or facsimile reception printing is performed after completion. Accordingly, the server 5 performs processing based on information that can be managed by the server 5 from the client PC.

  Therefore, when processing such as copying, facsimile reception and transmission is entered in the multifunction device 9, a transmission means for transmitting a notification of other function use interruption to the server 5 and a server when the interruption processing is completed. 5 is provided with a processing completion notification means for issuing a notification of completion of interrupt processing to the server 5, and a receiving means for receiving interrupt processing information from the printing apparatus and a print command are issued until an interrupt processing completion notification is received. When there is a copy process in the multifunction device 9 or when there is a facsimile reception and the received data is printed, the multifunction device 9 generates an interrupt to the server 5 This can be sent together when the previous print process notifies the completion server. When the server 5 receives the notification, the server 5 checks how many jobs are waiting for processing in the printing apparatus, and if many remain, the job can be allocated to another printing apparatus having an equivalent function. . Further, at the time when the copying process or the printing of the received facsimile document is completed, the multifunction machine 9 notifies the server 5 that these processes have been completed. Further, the server 5 can be notified of information on the state of the multifunction device 9 when the copy processing facsimile reception print processing is completed. Accordingly, it is possible to select another printing apparatus without assigning the printing process from the client PC to the apparatus, and it is possible to effectively use the printing apparatus connected to the network 20.

  Also, means for managing information on a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to the network on the client PC, means for selecting a printing apparatus according to print setting conditions, means for obtaining the status of the selected printing apparatus, and information on the printing apparatus And a means for confirming whether there is a problem in the print setting, the server 5 can be dispensed with. That is, when performing print processing in the client PC, a print device that matches the setting is automatically selected by performing print settings, and when the print device is selected, the state of the print device with respect to the print device is selected. If there is no problem, print processing is performed. A printing apparatus connected to the same network 20 as the client PC detects when the client PC is turned on, and temporarily stores information about the printing apparatus in a storage medium. The information may be minimum information for selecting a printing apparatus from print setting data such as an IP address, color printing is not possible, and duplex printing is not possible. As a result, when a failure occurs in the server 5, it is possible to prevent the printing process from becoming impossible and the printing process from being disabled from all the client PCs.

  In the multifunction device 9, recently, large information such as image data is often processed, and there is a device having a large capacity such as an HDD as a temporary storage medium. In the device having the HDD, not only can it be connected to the network 20, but various applications can be operated in the same manner as the client PC. Therefore, the printing apparatus such as the printer 5 or the multifunction machine 9 temporarily stores the storage medium, the printing process from the client PC connected to the network, the received print data, and the print setting data. Means for selecting a printing device based on the print setting data, and means for notifying the client PC of a print completion notification, so that the MFP manages the print processing from the client PC and receives it from the client PC. A printing device that matches the conditions is selected from the printing devices operating based on the print setting data, and printing processing is performed. This makes it possible to eliminate the server. This eliminates the server and eliminates the need to install a program on the client PC connected to the local area network.

It is a connection diagram of a general local area network. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server in embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the print command from client PC. It is a figure which shows the structure of the command with respect to each printing apparatus connected to the network. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display state of a display unit that displays a processing status of a print job being processed by the printing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement of the server 5 when a problem generate | occur | produces in a printing apparatus for some reason during printing execution in a printing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure for acquiring status information of a printing apparatus when a printing process is completed. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure which acquires status information from a printing device in order to judge that printing is possible again before issuing a printing command with respect to a printing device. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of transmission of status information to a server in a printing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure when facsimile reception and a copy process enter in addition to the printing from a server.

Explanation of symbols

1 Notebook PC
2 Desktop PC
Reference Signs List 3 workstation 5 server 6 printer 9 multifunction device 20 network 51 print information storage means 52 printing device selection means 53 printing completion and printing device location notification means 54 job management means 55 printing device information storage means 56 printing device switching and notification means 60 interrupt Reception means 61 Print command control means 65 Completion notification means 66 Print completion status notification means 91 Interrupt notification transmission means 92 Interrupt completion notification means

Claims (5)

In a network printing apparatus in which a server, a plurality of information processing apparatuses for transmitting print information, and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a network and print out from the printing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus comprises means for transferring print data to the server connected to the network;
The server selects means for storing and storing the print data and information of the information processing apparatus, and a printing apparatus that matches a print setting based on the print data, and the information processing apparatus selects the selected printing apparatus from the information processing apparatus. A network printing apparatus comprising: means for setting a setting condition in accordance with print setting data transmitted accompanying the print data. The server
Means for managing jobs in the printing device connected to the network;
Means for managing the status of the printing apparatus and collectively grasping and storing such information;
The network printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The server
3. The network printing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for switching to another printing apparatus to perform printing when the printing apparatus during printing detects a problem. The printing apparatus comprises: means for notifying the server of a notification of printing completion after printing is completed; and means for notifying the server of the state of the printing apparatus after printing is completed.
2. The server transmits a print completion notification to an information processing apparatus that has instructed printing based on print completion information notified from the printing apparatus, and updates data of the state of the printing apparatus. The network printer described. The printing apparatus includes means for notifying the server of the presence of another function use interruption when an input of one of copying, facsimile reception and transmission is received, and the server when the interruption processing is completed. Means for notifying completion of interrupt processing to
2. The network printing according to claim 1, wherein the server includes means for receiving interrupt processing information from the printing apparatus, and means for not outputting a print command until receiving an interrupt processing completion notification. apparatus.

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