JP2016053862A - Information processing device, program, and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device capable of monitoring a job by using only information obtained from an OS and image forming apparatus.SOLUTION: An information processing device includes: OS job state detection means; OS job information acquisition means; image forming apparatus job information acquisition means; and job information comparison means that compares job information obtained by the OS job information acquisition means and job information obtained by the image forming apparatus job information acquisition means so as to compare whether or not they are an identical job. The information processing device sets, when detecting the execution of a job by OS job detection means, the job as a monitoring target; obtains job information on an OS by the OS job information acquisition means; obtains, when referring to the OS job information and confirming job transmission to an image forming apparatus, job information on the image forming apparatus by the image forming apparatus job information acquisition means; and displays the job information if determining that the OS job information and image forming apparatus job information match each other by the job information comparison means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to job monitoring on an image forming apparatus.

  A print / fax transmission job is transmitted from an information processing apparatus (PC (Personal Computer) or the like) to an image forming apparatus (MFP (Multi-Functional Printer) or the like), and the information processing apparatus monitors the processing progress of the job. There is technology.

  In Patent Document 1, a system-specific identifier (job ID) is specified for a print or FAX transmission job to be transmitted, and a job on the image forming apparatus is monitored using the job ID as a key. In Patent Document 1, when a job is received by a print control program that runs on a PC that transmits a job to an image forming apparatus and the job is transmitted to an image forming apparatus to be output, a unique ID (UUID) is assigned to the job. Realizing job tracking to send.

JP 2008-158560 A

  However, the above-described prior art requires a process of acquiring and processing a job (designating a job ID) in the process of transmitting a job from the OS (Operating System) and the driver to the image forming apparatus. In addition, even in a configuration in which a unique job ID is assigned by the driver, it is necessary to acquire the job ID from the job in the transmission process using the IF provided by the driver for acquiring the job ID. is there. When job monitoring is realized with such a configuration, when an information processing apparatus that monitors a job is different from an information processing apparatus that transmits a job to an image forming apparatus, it may not be possible to process the job or acquire information for reasons such as authority. is there. In addition, acquisition of a transmission job (use of a port monitor or the like) and acquisition of job information using a driver IF are indispensable, and such processing cannot be realized if the OS configuration does not permit such processing.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an information processing apparatus capable of monitoring a job using only information acquired from the OS and the image forming apparatus without requiring the above-described configuration. The purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
In a job monitoring system for monitoring the status of a job (printing, fax transmission, etc.) to be transmitted to an image forming apparatus and displaying the status of the job,
OS job status detection means (204, S502) for detecting the processing status of a job processed by the OS (operating system) according to an instruction from the application and the driver program;
OS job information acquisition means (204, S505, S508) for acquiring information on jobs processed by the OS,
Image forming apparatus job information acquisition means (205, S511, S514) for acquiring information on jobs processed by the image forming apparatus;
Job information comparison means (201, S515) for comparing the job information acquired by the OS job information acquisition means with the job information acquired by the image forming apparatus job information acquisition means and comparing whether or not they are the same job;
Have
When the execution of the job is detected by the OS job detection unit, the job is monitored, the job information on the OS (OS job information) is acquired by the OS job information acquisition unit, and the OS job information is referred to as an image forming apparatus. If the job transmission to the image forming apparatus is confirmed, job information (image forming apparatus job information) on the image forming apparatus is acquired by the image forming apparatus job information acquiring unit, and the OS job information and the image forming unit are acquired by the job information comparing unit. When it is determined that the apparatus job information matches, the job information is displayed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to monitor a job even when job information cannot be acquired or processed in the job transmission process by the OS or driver due to a problem of authority or OS restrictions.

It is a figure which shows an example of a system configuration | structure and a hardware configuration. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of an information processing apparatus 101. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI of a job monitoring application 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of job information managed by a job monitoring application 200. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job monitoring flow of a job monitoring application 200. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the job monitoring flow (at the time of lost) of the job monitoring application. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a start / end processing flow of a job monitoring application 200. FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments do not limit the present invention, and all the configurations described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the means for solving the problems of the present invention.

<First Embodiment>
[System configuration and hardware configuration]
A system configuration and a hardware configuration according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration and a hardware configuration. The system configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  The information processing apparatus 101 is connected to a network and connected to the Internet via the network. A print server 110 and an image forming apparatus 111 are connected to the network / Internet. Further, although only one information processing apparatus 101 and print server 110 are shown in the present embodiment, a plurality of information processing apparatuses 101 and print servers 110 may be provided. The network and the Internet are communication line networks that support, for example, the TCP / IP protocol, and may be wired or wireless.

  The information processing apparatus 101 transmits a job to the image forming apparatus 111 via the network, and the image forming apparatus 111 executes the received job. Further, the information processing apparatus 101 may transmit a job to the print server 110. In this case, the print server 110 executes the job by transmitting the job received from the information processing apparatus 101 to the image forming apparatus 111.

  The information processing apparatus 101 includes various units (102 to 107). The configurations of the image forming apparatus 111 and the print server 110 shown in this embodiment are the same as those of the information processing apparatus 101.

  This will be specifically described with reference to FIG. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 102 is a unit that executes various programs and implements various functions according to the programs.

  A ROM (Read Only Memory) 104 and an external memory 107 (HDD (hard disk drive), FDD (flexible disk drive), etc.) are units for storing various programs and data.

  A RAM (Random Access Memory) 103 is a unit that stores various types of information. The RAM 103 is a unit that is also used as a temporary work storage area of the CPU 102. For example, the CPU 102 loads a program or data stored in the ROM 104 / external memory 107 into the RAM 103 and executes the program.

  The Input / Output interface 105 is a unit that transmits data to a display (not shown) connected to the information processing apparatus 101 and receives data from a pointing device (not shown).

  A NIC (Network Interface Card) 106 is a unit for connecting the information processing apparatus 101 to a network. The above-described unit is configured to be able to send and receive data via a bus (not shown).

  The image forming apparatus 111 further includes a printing unit (not shown) and a FAX unit (not shown). The print unit breaks a print job (page description language) received from the information processing apparatus 100 or the print server 110 into an internal execution command (including a developed image) and passes it to a printer engine (not shown) to output paper or the like. Print on media. The FAX unit develops a FAX transmission job (FAX control language) received from the information processing apparatus 100 or the print server 110 into an image, and transfers the image to another FAX apparatus or IP-FAX via a public line (not shown) or the Internet. Can do.

[Software Configuration (General)]
Next, the software configuration of the information processing apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the information processing apparatus 101.

  A program for realizing the function of the job monitoring application 200 shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the ROM 104 or the external memory 107 of the information processing apparatus 101. That is, the CPU 102 loads the program into the RAM 103 and executes it, thereby realizing the functions of the apparatus and the processing related to the flowcharts described later. In addition, you may implement | achieve all or one part of the process concerning the function of an apparatus and the flowchart mentioned later using dedicated hardware.

[Software configuration (OS, driver)]
The OS (Operating System) 210 will be described. The OS 210 provides known general OS functions (memory management, resource management, application management, etc.).

  The driver 211 is one of applications installed in the OS 210. In accordance with an output instruction from the application, the image forming apparatus 111 can convert the data into an interpretable data format. For printing, for example, PDL (Page Description Language), and for FAX transmission, for example, convert to raster data, and the like, and the image forming apparatus 111. Send to.

  A general application (not shown) such as document creation, spreadsheet, or draw system is installed in the information processing apparatus 101. When printing is performed from this application to the image forming apparatus 111, drawing data is output using a graphic engine (not shown). Here, a description will be given using a Windows (registered trademark) OS of Microsoft Corporation. The OS 210 is not limited to Windows (registered trademark) and can be applied to any OS having a drawing command.

  In Windows (registered trademark), a graphic engine which is a drawing means of an OS is generally called GDI (Graphic Device Interface), and an application outputs drawing data called a GDI function to GDI which is a graphic engine. The output of the GDI function from the application is converted into a DDI function (Device Driver Interface) based on the library, and the DDI function is output to the driver 211.

  Based on the DDI function received from the graphic engine, the driver 211 converts it into a control command that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 111, for example, PDL (Page Description Language). This processing can also be applied to a BDL (Band Description Language), a driver that creates a compressed bitmap, and the like. The converted control command is output as print data to the image forming apparatus 111 via a system spooler (not shown) provided by the OS 210.

  Job information in the system spooler can be acquired by an application program interface (API) provided by the OS 210. As information in this example, an OS job ID, job input time, machine name, and user name, which will be described later, can be acquired as at least OS job information. Even when a job is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 101 to the image forming apparatus 111 via the print server 110, the job information of the system spooler in the print server 110 can be acquired via the above-described API.

[Software Configuration (Job Monitoring App)]
Hereinafter, the software configuration of the job monitoring application 200 will be described in detail. The job monitoring application 200 includes various modules (201 to 206). The main control unit 201 controls the job monitoring application 200 and instructs and manages each control unit described later. The information display unit 202 provides the user with the UI of the job monitoring application 200 in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 201. The storage unit 203 stores and manages various data of the job monitoring application 200.

  The OS information acquisition unit 204 controls acquisition / setting of various information on the OS 210 via an API provided by the OS 210. In the present embodiment, the job processing status and job information on the system spooler are mainly acquired. The device information acquisition unit 205 acquires various types of information about the image forming apparatus 111. A job management unit 206 monitors jobs executed by the image forming apparatus 111 and manages job information based on job information acquired by the OS information acquisition unit 204 and the device information acquisition unit 205.

  FIG. 3 is a UI example of a job monitoring application 200 applicable to the present embodiment. The printer icon 300 is a UI that schematically represents the image forming apparatus, and is displayed on the desktop of the OS 210 and displays the job status of the image forming apparatus corresponding to the printer icon 300 being executed. The printer icon 300 can be created for each image forming apparatus, and in addition to the job status, the operating state of the image forming apparatus and the document file can be dropped on the printer icon 300 to execute printing or fax transmission to the image forming apparatus. (Not shown). When a job occurs, the printer icon 300 displays the job status on job status display icons (301, 303).

  A job status display icon 301 indicates a status in which a job is being transmitted from the information processing apparatus 101 or the print server 110 to the image forming apparatus 111. A job status display icon 303 indicates that transmission of the job to the image forming apparatus 111 has been completed and the job is being processed by the image forming apparatus 111. By hovering the mouse cursor over the job status display icon, the status is displayed as a tool tip (tool tip 302 is “transferring” in the case of job status display icon 301, and tool tip 304 is in the case of job status display icon 303. To indicate "transferred"). When the job is completed in the image forming apparatus 111, an end notification 305 is displayed on the printer icon 300 to notify the end of the job.

  The job monitoring application 200 may be configured to display the job status of the image forming apparatus 111 in the notification area 310 (task tray / system tray) of the OS 210. The task tray icon 311 is displayed on the notification area 310 of the OS 210 and indicates a “transferring” state, and the task tray icon 313 indicates a “transferred” state. When the mouse cursor is overlapped, the state is displayed as a tooltip (tooltip 312 indicates “transferring” and tooltip 314 indicates “transferred”). When the job is completed in the image forming apparatus 111, an end notification 316 is displayed on the desktop of the OS 210 to notify the end of the job.

  The job monitoring application 200 can further manage and display job results as a history. The history screen 320 shows a print job history, and displays the result, document name (file name), job completion time, and printer name used for printing (printer queue name installed in the OS 210) as the print job history. . The history screen 321 shows the history of the FAX transmission job. As the history of the FAX transmission job, the result, document name (file name), destination name and FAX number of the transmission destination, job completion time, FAX name used for FAX transmission ( The printer queue name installed in the OS 210) is displayed.

[Data structure (job information)]
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing job information managed by the job monitoring application 200. The job monitoring application 200 monitors a job executed by the image forming apparatus 111 based on information indicated by the job information.

  Job information 400 shows job information of a print job. An OS job ID 401 indicates a job identifier on the OS 210 that is assigned to each job by the OS 210. The job submission time 402 stores the time when the OS 210 sends a job. Reference numeral 403 denotes the machine name of the information processing apparatus that executes the job. Reference numeral 404 denotes a user name for executing the job.

  Reference numeral 405 denotes the name of a printer (queue) configured by a driver 211 installed and managed in the OS 210 and an output port (not shown) at the time of output. Reference numerals 401 to 404 denote job information in the OS 210, and information on jobs processed by the printer can be acquired by using the above-described API using the printer name of 405 as a key. The information 401 to 404 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 111 as part of a job as client job information, and can be referred to from the information processing apparatus 101 via the NIC 106.

  Reference numeral 406 denotes a job status indicating the processing progress of the job such as transferring, transferred, completed, etc. (even if a detailed status such as spooling, transmitted, waiting for execution, executing, paused, completed, etc. is stored) Good). A device job ID 407 indicates an identifier of a job in the image forming apparatus 111 that is uniquely assigned to each job when the image forming apparatus 111 accepts a job. A job completion time 408 indicates a job completion time in the image forming apparatus 111.

  Job information 410 indicates job information of a FAX transmission job. The job information 410 of the FAX transmission job is composed of the same 401 to 408 as the job information 400 of the print job, and further includes information related to the FAX transmission destination. Reference numeral 411 denotes a list of FAX transmission destinations, and information on one destination includes a destination number 412, a transmission result 413, and a transmission time 414. When transmitting to a plurality of destinations at once (broadcast transmission), the destination list 411 stores a plurality of pieces of destination information. A destination number 412 indicates a FAX number of a destination for FAX transmission. A transmission result 413 indicates a FAX transmission result to the destination. A transmission time 414 indicates the completion time of FAX transmission to the destination.

[Job monitoring process flow]
Job monitoring processing in the job monitoring application 200 of the information processing apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart relating to processing from job detection in the job monitoring application 200 to job completion in the image forming apparatus 111. This process starts when the job monitoring application 200 detects a job event notified by the OS 210 when a job is passed to the system spooler of the OS 210. The job event notification by the OS 210 is performed when the OS information acquisition unit 204 of the job monitoring application 200 designates an event notification request to the OS 210 using the above-described API, so that the OS 210 changes when the job status on the system spooler changes. You can receive event notifications from

  In step S <b> 501, when job transmission processing by the OS 210 is started, the OS 210 notifies the job monitoring application 200 of the above-described job event. In addition, the OS 210 transmits the job input to the system spooler to the image forming apparatus 111 that is the output destination. In step S503, the image forming apparatus 111 receives a job from the information processing apparatus 101, and executes output processing of the job. Specifically, control is transferred to a printing unit (not shown) and a FAX unit (not shown) according to a control language received from the information processing apparatus 101.

  The printing unit disassembles the print job (page description language) received from the information processing apparatus 101 into internal execution instructions (including a developed image), and passes them to a printer engine (not shown) to print on output media such as paper. . In the case of a FAX transmission job, the FAX unit develops a FAX transmission job (FAX control language) received from the information processing apparatus 101 into an image and transfers it to another FAX apparatus or IP-FAX via a public line (not shown) or the Internet. Forward.

  In step S502, when the OS information acquisition unit 204 of the job monitoring application 200 detects a job event notified by the OS 210, in step S505, the OS information acquisition unit 204 requests the OS 210 to acquire the job information regarding the notified job. The job information acquired here includes information on the OS job ID 401, the job submission time 402, the machine name 403, the user name 404, and the job status (spooling, transmitting, transmitted, etc.) on the system spooler. To do. Upon receiving a job information acquisition request from the job monitoring application 200 (S506), the OS 210 refers to the job information and returns it to the job monitoring application 200. The target job is identified using the internally defined job handle notified by the job event as a key, and the information of the job is referenced and returned in S507.

  In step S <b> 508, the OS information acquisition unit 204 of the job monitoring application 200 acquires job information from the OS 210, and generates a job and develops the job information in the main control unit 201. The main control unit 201 passes the job information to the job management unit 206, and the job management unit 206 manages the job information as a monitoring job.

  In step S <b> 509, the main control unit 201 further instructs the information display unit 202 to display the job status (during transfer) on the UI of the job monitoring application 200.

  In step S510, the main control unit 201 refers to the job information acquired in step S508, and determines that the job is being processed on the system spooler. After a certain period of time, the main control unit 201 acquires the job information again in step S505. Check. Here, as to the determination during processing, it is determined that the processing is in progress when it is not in a state indicating a completed state such as transmitted or deleted, and it is determined as complete when there is no other state or job.

  When determining in S510 that the job is completed (processing completion on the system spooler), the main control unit 201 instructs the device information acquisition unit 205 in S511, and the device information acquisition unit 205 that has received the instruction instructs the image forming apparatus 111. On the other hand, regarding the job currently being processed, the job information of the job is requested.

  In step S <b> 512, when the image forming apparatus 111 receives a job information acquisition request from the information processing apparatus 101, the image forming apparatus 111 inquires the printing unit and the FAX unit according to the type of the target job, and acquires information on the job currently being processed.

  In step S513, the image forming apparatus 111 returns the acquired job information to the requesting information processing apparatus 101. Here, the client job information (not shown), the above-described device job ID 407, the job status on the image forming apparatus 111, and the job completion time 408 when the job is completed are acquired. Further, when the job type is FAX transmission, the information of the destination list 411 is acquired. For each destination, if the transmission to the destination number 412 or the destination has been completed, values are stored and acquired in the transmission result 413 and the transmission time 414. The client job information includes an OS job ID 401, a job input time 402, a machine name 403, and a user name 404 specified by the information processing apparatus 101 that is the transmission source.

  In step S514, when the device information acquisition unit 205 of the job monitoring application 200 receives a reply to the acquisition request in step S511 from the image forming apparatus 111, the device information acquisition unit 205 expands the acquired job information to the main control unit 201.

  In step S515, the main control unit 201 determines whether there is a job that is the same as the job managed by the job management unit 206 as a monitoring job in the acquired job information. Specifically, the job information being executed acquired from the image forming apparatus 111 and the OS job ID 401, job input time 402, machine name 403, and user name 404 of the monitoring job managed by the job management unit 206 are compared and matched. Are determined to be the same job.

  In S515, the monitoring jobs that are not determined to be the same and are not included in the job being executed by the image forming apparatus 111 execute the processing from S511 again after a predetermined interval, and check the progress of the job processing. If they are not determined to be the same, they are checked a certain number of times. If there is still no job that is determined to be the same, the status of the job is determined to be unknown, and the monitoring of the job is terminated. Alternatively, when it is not determined that they are the same, a process for confirming log information described later of the image forming apparatus 111 may be performed (FIG. 6). If it is determined in S515 that they are the same, the main control unit 201 instructs the job management unit 206 to update the job status 406 of the job managed by the job management unit 206.

  In step S <b> 516, the main control unit 201 further instructs the information display unit 202 to display the job status (transferred) on the UI of the job monitoring application 200. When the job is completed, the completion of the job is notified.

  In step S517, it is determined whether the job is being processed for the monitoring job. Here, in-process determination is determined to be complete when the job status of the image forming apparatus 111 indicates completion status such as completed, failed, or cancelled, and is determined to be in process otherwise. In the case of FAX transmission, the state in which transmission to all destinations in the destination list 411 has been completed is regarded as complete. For a monitoring job that is not determined to be completed, the processing from S511 is executed again after a certain interval, and the progress of the job processing is confirmed. When determining that the job is completed, the main control unit 201 instructs the job management unit 206 to delete the job from the monitoring job of the job management unit 206.

  Further, the main control unit 201 adds job information 410 of the job as history information (not shown) of the job monitoring application 200 in S518. The history information is stored as data of the job monitoring application 200 in the external memory 107 via the storage unit 203.

[Job monitoring process flow (for lost)]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart relating to job monitoring processing (during loss) in the job monitoring application 200. In the job monitoring process shown in FIG. 5, when job information of the image forming apparatus 111 is acquired, if the job ends in the image forming apparatus 111 and has been deleted from already executed job information, the job information cannot be acquired (lost). ). The processing of this flow shows an example of processing for acquiring the job result by referring to the log information of the image forming apparatus 111 in such a case.

  The image forming apparatus 111 stores the completed job information in an external memory (HDD). As log information, at least one of the above-described client job information (OS job ID 401, job input time 402, machine name 403, user name 404) or device job ID 407 is stored. In this example, it is assumed that the device job ID 407 is stored. In addition, in the case of a job status 406 (result), job completion time (408), and FAX transmission log, information corresponding to the destination list 411 is stored.

  In the monitoring process of FIG. 5, when the monitoring job does not exist in the job of the image forming apparatus 111, the main control unit 201 of the job monitoring application 200 instructs the device information acquisition unit 205 in step S <b> 601 to log information of the image forming apparatus 111. To get. The device information acquisition unit 205 requests the image forming apparatus 111 to acquire log information. Upon receiving a log information acquisition request from the information processing apparatus 101 (S602), the image forming apparatus 111 refers to the external memory (HDD) and acquires log information.

  In step S603, the acquired job information is returned to the requesting information processing apparatus 101. Here, the device job ID 407, job status 406 (result) and job completion time (408) are acquired as log information, and the destination list 411 is acquired in the case of a FAX transmission log.

  In step S <b> 604, when the device information acquisition unit 205 of the job monitoring application 200 receives a reply to the acquisition request in step S <b> 601 from the image forming apparatus 111, the acquired log information is expanded to the main control unit 201.

  In step S <b> 605, the main control unit 201 determines whether the same job as the monitoring job managed by the job management unit 206 exists in the acquired log information. Specifically, the log acquired from the image forming apparatus 111 and the device job ID 407 of the monitoring job managed by the job management unit 206 are compared, and a matching job is determined as the same job.

  If it is not determined in step S605 that they are the same, it is determined in step S606 whether to continue monitoring the job. Specifically, the number of retries for acquiring job information for the job is added, and if the number is less than a predetermined number, the log information is acquired again after a predetermined interval. If it exceeds a certain number of times, the job is not retried, and the job is made unknown (unmonitorable) in S607. The main control unit 201 instructs the job management unit 206 to update the job status 406 of the job as unknown. When determining in S605 that the same job as the monitoring job exists in the log information, the main control unit 201 instructs the job management unit 206 to update the job status 406 of the job.

  In step S <b> 608, the main control unit 201 further instructs the information display unit 202 to display a job completion notification on the UI of the job monitoring application 200. Further, the main control unit 201 instructs the job management unit 206 to delete the job from the monitoring job.

  Further, the main control unit 201 adds job information 410 of the job as history information of the job monitoring application 200 in S609.

[Start / end processing flow]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart relating to a start process flow and an end process flow of the job monitoring application 200. When the monitoring job information in the job monitoring application 200 is stored only in the RAM 103, the job information being monitored last time is lost when the job monitoring application 200 is activated next time. More preferably, it is better to be able to confirm the status of the job being monitored last time when the job monitoring application 200 is activated. The processing of this flow stores the currently monitored job information in the external memory 107 when the job monitoring application 200 ends, and continues the previous monitoring job by reading the job information stored in the external memory 107 at startup. Shows the process to be monitored.

  S701 and S702 indicate processing when the job monitoring application 200 is activated. In step S <b> 701, the main control unit 201 of the job monitoring application 200 instructs the storage unit 203 to read monitoring job information (not shown) at the previous activation. The monitoring job information at the previous activation is stored in the external memory 107 in a format in which information equivalent to the job information 400 and 410 shown in FIG. In step S <b> 702, the main control unit 201 passes the read monitoring job information at the previous activation to the job management unit 206 and executes job monitoring. The job monitoring process corresponds to S511 to S518 shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 6, and description thereof will be omitted.

  On the other hand, S703 and S704 indicate processing when the job monitoring application 200 ends. In step S <b> 703, the main control unit 201 of the job monitoring application 200 acquires monitoring job information from the job management unit 206. In step S <b> 704, the main control unit 201 instructs the storage unit 203 to store the acquired monitoring job information in the external memory 107.

101 Information processing apparatus, 110 Print server, 111 Image forming apparatus

Claims (7)

In a job monitoring system that monitors the status of a job (printing, fax transmission) to be transmitted to an image forming apparatus and displays the status of the job,
OS job status detection means (204, S502) for detecting the processing status of a job processed by the OS (operating system) according to an instruction from the application and the driver program;
OS job information acquisition means (204, S505, S508) for acquiring information on jobs processed by the OS,
Image forming apparatus job information acquisition means (205, S511, S514) for acquiring information on jobs processed by the image forming apparatus;
Job information comparison means (201, S515) for comparing the job information acquired by the OS job information acquisition means with the job information acquired by the image forming apparatus job information acquisition means and comparing whether or not they are the same job;
Have
When the execution of the job is detected by the OS job detection unit, the job is monitored, the job information on the OS (OS job information) is acquired by the OS job information acquisition unit, and the OS job information is referred to as an image forming apparatus. If the job transmission to the image forming apparatus is confirmed, job information (image forming apparatus job information) on the image forming apparatus is acquired by the image forming apparatus job information acquiring unit, and the OS job information and the image forming unit are acquired by the job information comparing unit. An information processing apparatus that displays job information when it is determined that the apparatus job information matches. The OS job information acquisition unit (204, S505, S508) assigns an OS job ID (job ID for OS management) and job input time (job transmission time from the OS to the image forming apparatus) assigned by the OS as OS job information. ), Machine name (individual identification name assigned to the information processing apparatus), user name (OS logon user name) at least,
The image forming apparatus job information acquisition means (205, S511, S514) according to claim 1 includes the OS job ID, the job input time, and the machine included in the job information on the image forming apparatus as job issuer information. First, get at least the username,
The job information comparison unit (201, S515) according to claim 1 acquires the OS job ID, the job input time, the machine name, and the machine name acquired by the OS job information acquisition unit and the image forming apparatus job information acquisition unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user names are compared, and if they match, the same job is determined. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus job information acquisition unit (205, S 511, S 514) further acquires an image forming apparatus job ID uniquely assigned in the image forming apparatus. The information processing apparatus further includes image forming apparatus log information acquisition means (205, S601, S604) for acquiring log information stored on the image forming apparatus (history information of jobs stored on the HD nonvolatile memory). The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus log information acquisition unit acquires at least an image forming apparatus job ID uniquely assigned in the image forming apparatus as log information. The information processing apparatus further includes an image forming apparatus job information acquisition unit according to claim 3 when there is no job determined by the job information comparison unit (201, S515) according to claim 1 to be the same as the job to be monitored. The image forming apparatus job ID acquired by (205, S511, S514) is compared with the image forming apparatus job ID acquired by the image forming apparatus log information acquiring means (205, S601, S604) according to claim 4 (201, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the data match, the same job is determined. The program of the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The method for controlling the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.