JP3501913B2 - Printers and network printer systems - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network printer used by connecting to a LAN or other network, and more particularly to a network printer capable of causing a terminal printer to execute printing by using electronic mail. Related to printer system. It also relates to a network printer system that can be used on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer system for operating a shared printer device using electronic mail, that is,
A printer sharing system is known (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-25
No. 41). In this conventional technique, the electronic mail mechanism is used to make a print request by electronic mail, and a program is started to execute printing, thereby making it possible to use a printer device on another network.

In addition, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer P
rotocol) is also used to handle mail. An email handled by SMTP always has a header part and a message body. The header part has a destination, a sender,
It includes information such as copy distribution and titles. SMTP
The format of the header part of is specified in RFC822, but the format of the message body is not specified. Therefore, you can use any character code, but if you do not know the model of the other party, you can use ASCII (Amer
ican Standard Cord for Information Interchange: It is preferable to use only alphanumeric characters and some special characters of American standard code for information exchange.

[0004]

By the way, in the conventional network printer system, when printing is performed by network printers on different networks,
Since there is a firewall etc., there is a restriction that printing cannot be performed on different network printers due to security problems on the network . Further, since it is impossible to perform broadcast printing to a plurality of network printers, when printing to a plurality of network printers, for example, when printing to three network printers, it is necessary It takes time to spool the print data for the number of times, the terminal is not opened during that time, and the user needs to perform the same operation a plurality of times . Furthermore, when the network printer that is the operation target and wants to perform printing has some trouble and cannot print, there is no method for dealing with it.

[0005] In the present invention, when performing printing on multiple network printer, for example, when printing on three network printer, print data (print data) the time required for one spool only, it is an object of the present invention Unisuru'll perform broadcast transmission. Furthermore, if some of the network printers connected to the network become unavailable for some reason, print data can be transferred to another printable network printer so that printing can be performed. the shall be the issue.

[0006]

According to the invention of claim 1, an electronic mail communication means (24) , a mail server (25) , and the mail server.
Data conversion for converting the electronic mail format data received by the server via the electronic mail communication means into print data
Section (22) and print processing section for printing print data
(21), the printer (2) provided with the mail server
Receives e-mail addressed to himself and to other recipients
And sending the email via the email communication means.
Transfer the received email to another destination and change the data
So that printing with section and print processing unit
( Figure 8) . In order to make it easier to understand,
Are corresponding elements or corresponding matters of the embodiments shown in the drawings and described later.
The symbols of the terms are added for reference as an example. Same as below
It is like.

[0007] claimed in the invention of claim 2, in printer of claim 1, means for detecting the printing availability (26) and unprintable
Setting file with the email address of the forwarding destination when
When the print prohibition is detected, the mail server
The e-mail format data that cannot be printed
I am trying to transfer it to the dress ( Fig. 9) .

According to the invention of claim 3, the network
Computer system ( FIG. 6) is received via the electronic mail communication means connected to the network and the electronic mail communication means .
A printer (3) comprising a data conversion unit for converting the electronic mail format data into print data and a print processing unit for printing the print data ; and the network.
Connected to the printer and addressed to the printer and to other destinations.
Email, send the e-mail to the printer
And a mail server (5) for forwarding to the other destination ;
I am supposed to.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a printer and a network printer system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration and operation common to all the embodiments will be described. When you print the document created by the application on the terminal,
The printer driver converts the print data into, for example, Postscript format data. The data is inserted into the message body of the e-mail in de chromatography <br/> data conversion unit of the terminal, the message body MIME describe the header portion indicates that the data is postscript, the network as an email -Send to the printer. The network printer that received this e-mail determines from the MIME description in the header that this message body is Postscript format data, and the message body is extracted by the data conversion unit in the network printer, and the PostScript format is extracted. Print processing is performed as the data.

FIG. 1 shows a network printer system using the printer according to the present invention, showing a main configuration thereof.
It is a conceptual diagram of the system which shows a 1st example. In the figure, 1
Is a terminal, 2 is a first network printer, 3 is a second
Network printers, 4 is a local area network, SMTP is a local area network 4
The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protoc) provided above
ol) is shown.

The network printer system shown in FIG. 1 has one terminal 1 and two printers, that is, a first printer 1 on a local area network 4.
When the network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 of the
As a function to send and receive e-mail on the network 4,
It has SMTP as shown by the broken line. The terminal 1, the first network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 each have a mail address, and the terminal 1 and the printers 2 and 3 can exchange e-mail with each other. It is configured. The terminal 1 of FIG. 1 and the first network printer 2 or the second network printer 3 have the following configurations.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main configuration of the terminal 1 shown in FIG. In the figure, 11 is an application unit, 12 is a data conversion unit, and 13 is a network I / F unit. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 1 includes an application unit 11, a data conversion unit 12, and a network I / F unit 13.

The application unit 11 has a function of creating print data to be printed by the first network printer 2 or the second network printer 3, and is, for example, a word processor (word processor). The data conversion unit 12 has a function of inserting the print data into the message body of the e-mail and, conversely, extracting the print data from the message body of the e-mail.
Mainly print data is converted into electronic mail format data. The network I / F unit 13 is an SMTP that sends and receives electronic mail via the local area network 4.
It is an interface circuit having a function.

FIG. 3 shows a first network printer 2
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main configuration of the above. In the figure, 21 is a print processing unit, 22 is a print data / e-mail format data conversion unit, 23 is a mailbox unit, 24 is a network I / F unit, 25 is a mail server unit, and 26 is a status detection unit.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first network printer 2 has a print processing unit 21 and a data conversion unit 2.
2, mailbox section 23, network I / F section 2
4, a mail server unit 25 and a status detection unit 26. The print processing unit 21 is a printer unit having a print function for printing print data. The data conversion unit 22 has a function of inserting print data into the message body of the e-mail, or conversely, extracting the print data from the message body of the e-mail, like the data conversion unit 12 of FIG. Convert e-mail format data to print data. The mailbox part 23 is
It has a function of spooling the received e-mail.
The network I / F unit 24, like the network I / F unit 13 in FIG. 2 described above, is an interface circuit having an SMTP function for transmitting and receiving electronic mail via the local area network 4.

The mail server section 25 has a function of mapping an IP address and a host name and managing the mailbox section 23. The status detection unit 26 has a function of detecting the status of the local area network 4, for example, the status of whether printing is possible. The status detecting unit 26 is used in the invention of claim 3. Although the above is the configuration of the first network printer 2, the second network printer 3
Has a similar configuration and has an equivalent function. Next, the operation of the network printer system of FIG. 1 at the time of printing data by electronic mail will be described.

First, in the network printer system shown in FIG. 1, the user uses the application unit 11 of the terminal 1 to create print data using a certain application, such as word processing software. After that, a print request is issued from the terminal 1. In the terminal 1 of FIG. 2, the created print data is inserted into the message of the electronic mail in the data conversion unit 12, and the first network printer 2 on the network (4 in FIG. 1) is designated as the destination of the header part. To convert the print data into e-mail format data. The print data converted into the electronic mail format is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2 in the electronic mail format.

The electronic mail transmitted from the terminal 1 in this manner is received by the network I / F unit 24 in the first network printer 2 shown in FIG.
In the first of the network printer 2, by the mail server section 25, to check whether it etc. whether it is e-mail addressed to itself. When it is determined that the email is addressed to itself, the email is spooled in the mailbox unit 23. Then, the data conversion unit 22 takes out the print data from the message body of the received electronic mail, outputs the print data to the print processing unit 21, and prints it. The above-described SMTP communication procedure at the time of printing will be described with reference to a flowchart.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an SMTP communication procedure between the terminal 1 and the first network printer 2. In the figure, the left side shows the terminal 1, and the right side shows the first network printer 2.

When a user creates print data and makes a print request, as shown in FIG. 4, a connection request (Hel) is issued from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2.
o) is sent. In response to this request, the first network printer 2 returns a connection request response (250 OK) to the terminal 1. After that, specify the sender from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2 (Mail fro
m: <aaa @ zz. co. jp>) is sent,
A transmission source designation response (250 OK) is returned from the first network printer 2 to the terminal 1. Further, when a message body (Data) is sent from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2, a message body response (35) is sent from the first network printer 2 to the terminal 1.
4OK) will be returned. The transmission of the message body (Data) and the return of the message body response (354 OK) are repeated until the transmission of the message body is completed. When a connection termination request (Quit) is sent from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2, a connection termination response (250 OK) is returned from the first network printer 2 to the terminal 1. Then, the transmission of the e-mail is completed. The print data is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2 by the above communication procedure.

FIG . 5 is a flow chart showing the flow of main processing at the time of printing. In the figure, the left side shows the terminal 1, and the right side shows the first network printer 2. In the terminal 1, the user creates print data in the application unit 11 using, for example, word processing software.
Then, the data conversion unit 12 converts the print data into electronic mail format data. After that, the electronic mail is transmitted according to the SMTP communication procedure shown in FIG. When the reception of the electronic mail is completed, the first network printer 2 makes a determination based on the setting file. Then, the data is spooled. Then, the received e-mail, that is, the e-mail format data is converted into print data, and the printing operation is executed. As mentioned above,
By providing the terminal 1 with means for converting print data from an application into an electronic mail format, the SMT
It becomes possible to print from the terminal 1 to the network printer 2 using P.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a system showing a second example of the main configuration of the network printer system of the present invention. In the above first example , one terminal 1 and one network printer, for example, the first network printer 2 are connected on one local area network, and print data created by the terminal 1 is stored. First network printer 2 as e-mail
Transmitted to, it prints in the first network printer 2. This second example shows two different local areas
This is a case where networks (for example, A and B) exist and these are connected by, for example, a router or a public line.
Then, on one of the local area networks,
One of the terminal 1 and the mail server is connected, by performing the transmission by e-mail to network printers that are connected on the other local area network, you print. 6 are the same as those in FIG. 1, 5 is a mail server, 6 is a public line, and 7 is a third network.
Printer, A is the first local area network,
B shows a second local area network.

The second example is characterized in that the determination based on the setting file is performed by the mail server 5 that manages the local area network to which the terminal 1 is connected. As shown in FIG. 6, there are first and second local area networks A and B (hereinafter abbreviated as first and second networks A and B), and one first network A terminal 1 and a mail server 5 that manages this terminal 1 are connected on A, and a third network printer 7 is installed on the other second network B.
Are connected. The first network A and the second network B are connected to each other via the public line 6. In the network printer system of FIG. 6, from the terminal 1 on the first network A,
An operation when printing is performed by the third network printer 7 on the second network B which is a network will be described. The third network printer 7 is the first
The network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 have the same configuration and have the same functions .

In the case of FIG. 6, when an electronic mail is transmitted from the terminal 1 by the SMTP communication procedure described with reference to FIG. 4, the print data is converted into the electronic mail format, that is, Email is on terminal 1
Is received by the mail server 5 that manages the first network A to which is connected. Then, it is judged from the setting file in the mail server 5 that the electronic mail is addressed to the third network printer 7 on the second network B, and S
The electronic mail from the terminal 1 is transferred from the mail server 5 on the first network A to the third network printer 7 on the second network B using MTP.
In this way, the e-mail sent from the terminal 1
The third network printer 7 receives, performs print processing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of main processing factory Keru print to a network printer system of the second example. In the figure, the left side shows the terminal 1, the center shows the mail server 5, and the right side shows the third network printer 7. As is clear from a comparison between FIG. 7 and FIG. 4 described above, the operation of the terminal 1 shown on the left side is the same as in FIG. 7 and FIG. 4, and print data creation, data conversion,
E-mail transmission by SMTP is sequentially performed.

However, in FIG. 7, as shown in the center,
When the mail server 5 that manages the first network A receives the transmitted electronic mail, makes a judgment based on the setting file, and judges that the electronic mail is addressed to the third network printer 7 on the second network B. , And sends an e-mail by SMTP to the third network printer 7. Upon receiving the e-mail, the third network printer 7 spools the data, converts the received e-mail format data into print data, and executes the print processing, as in the case of FIG.

[0027] First Embodiment The first embodiment is simultaneously a plurality of network
In this mode, broadcast printing is performed by designating a printer. As the system configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, one terminal 1 is provided on one local area network 4.
If, when the first two printer network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 having the same function is connected to (claim 1), as shown in FIG. 6,
There are two different local area networks A and B connected by a public line 6 or the like, and on one of them, for example, the first network A, a terminal 1 and a first
Is connected to the mail server 5 that manages the second network A, and the third network printer 7 is connected to the second network B on the other side (claim)
There is item 3) .

First, the case of the network printer system shown in FIG. 1 (claim 1) will be described. The first network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 existing on the local area network 4 are network printers having equivalent functions. The two first and second network printers 2 and 3 are capable of exchanging electronic mail with each other by SMTP. Also, the terminal 1 is usually the first
Send an e-mail using the mail server function of the network printer 2. Also not a, on the end the end of 1,
The user makes a print request from an application in the application unit 11, for example, from word processing software. Next, this print data is inserted into the message body of the electronic mail in the terminal 1, and the first network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 on the network 4 are designated as the destination of the header part. Then, the print data is broadcast-transmitted in the electronic mail format to the first network printer 2 and the second network printer 3.

The mail server unit 25 of the first network printer 2 receives the broadcasted electronic mail, and the mail portion 25 of the first network printer 2 indicates that the mail is addressed to itself and that the second network printer 3 is addressed. Determine that it is an email. In the first network printer 2, the electronic mail sent from the terminal 1 is sent to the second network printer 2.
Since it is also an email addressed to the printer 3, the first network printer 2 transfers the email received from the terminal 1 to the second network printer 3 using SMTP. Thereafter, the first and second network printers 2 and 3, the mail addressed to the received respective handles, performs printing.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the flow of main processing at the time of printing. In the figure, the left side shows the terminal 1, the center shows the first network printer 2, and the right side shows the second network printer 3. In FIG. 8, the terminal 1
In this case, printing is performed by the first network printer 2 and the second network printer 3 by the broadcast transmission from the. As is clear from comparison between FIG. 8 and FIG. 4 described above, the operation of the terminal 1 shown on the left side is the same as in FIG. 8 and FIG. 4, and print data creation, data conversion, and SMTP E-mails are sent sequentially.

The first network printer 2 is shown in FIG.
When the e-mail is received, the judgment is made by the setting file, as shown in the center of FIG. Then, when it is determined that the electronic mail transmitted from the terminal 1 is also the electronic mail addressed to the second network printer 3, the electronic mail is transmitted to the second network printer 3 by SMTP. After that, in the first network printer 2, after spooling the data, the received electronic mail format data is converted into print data and the print processing is executed, as in the case of FIG. Similarly to FIG. 4, the second network printer 3 spools the data when it receives an e-mail, then converts the received e-mail format data into print data and executes the printing operation. The data conversion unit 12 in the terminal 1 has a function of inserting the print data into the message body of the e-mail and vice versa, and taking out the print data from the message body of the e-mail. Since it is converted into the data of (1), if a plurality of network printers are specified in the destination part of the header, broadcast transmission becomes possible.

The above broadcast transmission is a case of a network printer system shown in FIG. 1 (claim 1). This
Broadcast printing of, for the network printer system shown in previous FIG. 6, may be implemented (claim
3) . That is, the terminal 1, the mail server 5 that manages the terminal 1, the first network A, and the first network printer 2 are connected to the same first network A, and the third network printer 7 is , And the second network B, and the first network A and the second network B are connected by, for example, a router or a public line 6. Such first and third network printers 2, 2 respectively connected to two different first and second networks A, B
It is also possible to carry out broadcast printing on the No. 7.

As described with reference to FIG. 6 above, the mail server function is provided in the mail server 5 that manages the first network A, so that the mail server of the first network printer 2 is used. No function is used. The flowchart in this case is also basically the same as that in FIG. 8 described above, except that the third network printer 7 is used in place of the second network printer 3 on the right side. As specific effects of the second example of this, also like in the broadcast transmission services using the conventional facsimile apparatus can be applied. That is, if adopted by <br/> Ru configuration in the second example of this, since by using the Internet allows broadcast transmission is, usage fee costs to the public line that has been used in the conventional facsimile device Can be reduced.

Second Embodiment This second embodiment corresponds to the invention of claim 2 . In the first embodiment described above, the case of broadcast printing has been described. At the time of this broadcast printing, the first network printer 2 sent and received an electronic mail using SMTP. The second embodiment is a case where printing cannot be performed when the first network printer 2 transmits / receives an electronic mail using SMTP. At that time, the mail address of the second network printer 3 is set in the setting file of the first network printer 2 as the transfer destination when printing is impossible.
It Also, in the first network printer 2, in order to detect the first network printer 2 status (e.g., whether it can print) it is provided with a status detection unit 26, a first The network printer 2 has a configuration capable of monitoring its own status.

[0035] Figure 9, the <br/> network printer system using a printer according to claim 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of main processing during printing. In the figure, the left side shows the terminal 1, the center shows the first network printer 2, and the right side shows the second network printer 3.
FIG. 9 shows a case where the print data is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2 but cannot be printed, so that the data is transferred to another second network printer 3. As is clear from comparison between FIG. 9 and FIG. 8 described above, the operation of the terminal 1 shown on the left side is the same as in FIG. 9 and FIG. 8, and print data creation, data conversion, S
E-mail transmission by MTP is sequentially performed. That is, according to the method described in the third embodiment,
The print data is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the first network printer 2 in the electronic mail format. As shown in the center of FIG. 9, the first network printer 2 first receives an electronic mail from the terminal 1 by the network I / F unit 24. After that, the first network printer 2
Determines by the mail server unit 25 that it is an e-mail addressed to itself, at this time, the status detection unit 26
At, the first network printer 2 determines its own print-disabled function.

When it is determined that printing is impossible,
According to the setting file in the first network printer 2, from the corresponding processing when the first network printer 2 cannot print, the print data in the e-mail format is sent to the second network printer 3. Forward.
The print data thus transferred is received by the second network printer 3 and the same print processing as described in the first and third embodiments is performed. Therefore,
Even if the first network printer 2 which the user tried to print has some trouble and cannot print, another network printer capable of printing on the connectable network, for example, the second network printer -Print data can be transmitted to the printer 3 and printed.

[0037]

[Effect of the Invention] In the claims 1, 3 of the printer or network <br/> work-printer system, it is possible to specify multiple network printer to be output at the same time,
Broadcast printing can be performed for multiple network printers. In addition, the time required for spooling one e-mail to the mail server to which the terminal is connected is only required, and the time for opening the terminal is usually shortened as compared with the conventional case of printing to a plurality of network printers. In addition, the user only needs to perform one operation to broadcast to a plurality of network printers.

[0038] In the printer according to claim 2, even when it becomes impossible to print if there is some problem in the original network printer you are trying to print, that other possible printing that are connected on the same network network -Printing can be performed by transferring print data to the printer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a network using the printer of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system showing a first example of a main configuration of a printer system.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a main configuration of the terminal 1 shown in FIG.

For [3] first network printer 2 shown in FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main structure.

FIG. 4 shows the terminal 1 and the first network shown in FIG .
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an SMTP communication procedure with the printer 2.

5 is a network printer system shown in FIG .
Is a flow chart showing the primary processing flow of the printing time of definitive to beam.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a system showing a second example of the main configuration of the network printer system of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart showing a flow of main processing factory Keru print to a network printer system illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a main processing flow during printing in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of main processing during printing according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 terminal 2 First network printer 3 Second network printer 4 Local Area Network 11 Application Department 12 Data converter 13 Network I / F section 21 Print processing unit 22 Print data / email format data converter 23 Mailbox section 24 Network I / F section 25 Mail server section 26 Status detector

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] [Claim 1] e-mail communication means, mail server, 該Me
Day Rusaba converts the <br/> e-mail format data received via the e-mail communication means to the print data
Data conversion unit and print processing for printing print data
In the printer , the mail server may send electronic mail addressed to itself and to another destination.
When the e-mail is received,
Forwarding the received e-mail to the other destination via
Printing using the data conversion unit and the print processing unit ,
A printer characterized by the above. 2. The printer means for detecting whether or not printing is possible.
And the forwarding e-mail address when printing is not possible is set.
If a print- disabled state is detected,
Email server format data that cannot be printed
Is forwarded to the email address.
Linta . 3. E-mail communication connected to a network
Means , data conversion for converting electronic mail format data received via the electronic mail communication means into print data
And the print processing unit that prints the print data.
Equipped printer ; and connected to the network, addressed to the printer and others
When you receive an e-mail addressed to
The network printer system comprising: a mail server for sending to the printer and transferred to the another destination.