JP5900071B2 - Information terminal device, printing device, and printing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information terminal device, a printing device, and a printing system.

  Computer networks are widely used today. For example, based on document image information created by connecting a printing device to a network such as a LAN (local area network) and using application software from a host device such as a personal computer (PC). A printing system that transmits print data and performs print processing is used. In such a system, network devices are monitored and controlled using, for example, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). Monitoring and control of the network device by the SNMP program is performed using an MIB (Management Information Base) that is disclosed in order to inform the outside of the state of the network device itself.

  In SNMP, for example, a network device to be managed such as a printer device is called an SNMP agent, and a system to be monitored is called an SNMP manager. Three operations of information acquisition, information setting, and information notification are performed between the SNMP manager and the SNMP agent. For example, a request for requesting information acquisition or information setting of the device from the SNMP manager to the SNMP agent (request) The SNMP agent makes a response to the request. In addition, when a situation occurs in the SNMP agent, trap processing for notifying the SNMP manager is also performed.

  As described above, the MIB is information that is disclosed by the devices on the network in order to notify the external state of the device, and is a database of management information of the network device corresponding to SNMP, and the request (request) from the SNMP manager. In contrast, the response of the SNMP agent returns information in the MIB.

  The network device information stored in the MIB is managed in units of objects, and each object is managed in a tree structure by information elements. Further, an object ID (identifier) is assigned to each object, and when a request (request) from the SNMP manager, a response (response) from the SNMP agent, or a notification (trap) is made, the object ID is described above. The information is identified by.

  The invention according to Patent Document 1 creates a packet including data and instructions in a format that can be processed by the device according to the type of device information requested by the client, and transmits the packet to the device. And a device management system that flexibly performs processing corresponding to a device change or the like even when the MIB configuration is changed.

JP 2005-258691 A

  As described above, in the network device monitoring system using the conventional SNMP, the response of the SNMP agent returns information in the MIB in response to the request from the SNMP manager. Here, the MIB includes a standard MIB to be implemented as a network device defined by RFC (Request for Comments) and an extended MIB that can be independently expanded by, for example, a vendor of a printer device manufacturer. However, the SNMP manager can only acquire information defined in the MIB. Therefore, for example, the user of the network device cannot add the extended MIB independently and monitor the state desired by the user by SNMP.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information terminal device, a printing device, and a printing system that can monitor a state desired by a user by SNMP .

In order to achieve the above object, an information terminal device according to a first aspect of the present invention is an information terminal device that generates print data based on print setting information, and stores a user-defined MIB in a predetermined storage means. When the same setting item as the stored setting item is included in the print setting information, an SNMP trap transmission command for transmitting an SNMP trap from the printing device to the monitoring device is added to the print data to add the printing device. It is characterized by comprising a control means for transmitting to.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus capable of receiving print data generated based on print setting information from an information terminal apparatus, and storing it as a user-defined MIB in a predetermined storage means. The SNMP trap is monitored when the SNMP trap transmission command added to the print data is detected when the print data is received when the same setting item as the set item is included in the print setting information. Control means for transmitting to the device is provided.
A printing system according to a third aspect of the invention is a printing system in which an information terminal device and a printing device are connected via a network, and the information terminal device generates print data based on print setting information. If the print setting information includes the same setting item as the setting item stored as the user-defined MIB in the print data generation unit and the predetermined storage unit, an SNMP trap transmission command is added to the print data to Control means for transmitting to a printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus transmits an SNMP trap to a monitoring device when the SNMP trap transmission command is detected when the print data is received from the information terminal device. It is provided with.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information terminal device which can monitor the state which a user desires by SNMP, a printing apparatus, and a printing system can be provided.

FIG. 2 is a diagram specifically illustrating a connection configuration of a printer device, a client computer, a server computer, and the like. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram explaining the process of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of a user definition MIB description file. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a printer driver. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the printer apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of the printing system of the present embodiment. In the figure, the printing system according to the present embodiment includes two printer apparatuses P1 and P2, three client computers C1 to C3 that perform printing using the printer apparatuses P1 and P2, and network device monitoring. And a server computer PC2 that manages a user-defined MIB description file to be described later. The printer apparatuses P1 and P2, the client computers C1 to C3, the monitoring computer PC1, and the server computer PC2 are connected by a network such as a LAN (local area network). The user-defined MIB description file may be stored in the storage unit 3 in each of the client computers C1 to C3, or may exist in a shared folder in a memory provided in the server computer PC2 accessible from each client computer. good.

  Here, the SNMP manager operates on the monitoring computer PC1 to monitor and control the network device as described above. The server computer PC2 manages user-defined MIB description files. In the system described with reference to FIG. 2, two printer apparatuses P1 and P2 are used and three client computers C1 to C3 are used. However, when more printer apparatuses and client computers are connected. However, this example can be implemented similarly.

  The client computers C1 to C3 include a print application, a printer driver, a spooler, and the like, which will be described later, create print data using the print application, and use the print driver to generate intermediate data corresponding to the printer device P1 or P2. (PDL data) is converted and transmitted to the printer apparatus P1 or P2 via the spooler. In addition to the above configuration, the client computers C1 to C3 include a keyboard, a mouse, a display, and the like, for example.

  The printer apparatuses P1 and P2 include a receiving unit 5, a control unit 6, a printing mechanism unit 7, and a transmitting unit 8 as shown in FIG. 1 to be described later, and print data (PDL data) transmitted from the client computers C1 to C3. ) Is received by the receiving unit 5, the command analysis is performed by the control unit 6, the image data is converted into image data, and the printing mechanism unit 7 prints it on a recording medium (paper). Further, it is also possible to perform authentication printing in which, after printing image data once in the storage unit, for example, after performing user authentication, printing output is performed without printing immediately.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram specifically showing a connection configuration of the printer apparatuses P1 and P2, client computers C1 to C3, a monitoring computer PC1, and a server computer PC2. The two printer apparatuses P1 and P2 and the three client computers C1 to C3 are shown as one representative in the figure.

  The client computer C1 (C2, C3) includes the print application 1, the printer driver 2, and the storage unit 3 as described above, and a user-defined MIB description file that stores the user-defined MIB is registered in the storage unit 3. The user-defined MIB description file is also registered in the server computer PC2. The user-defined MIB description file registered in the client computer C1 (C2, C3) is only the user-defined MIB description file of the client computer, and the three user-defined MIB description files registered in the server computer PC2 are three. It is a user-defined MIB description file of the client computers C1 to C3.

  As described above, the print data converted into the intermediate data by the printer driver 2 is transmitted to the printer device P1 or P2. At that time, the printer driver 2 adds an instruction command for transmitting an SNMP trap related to the user-defined MIB to the print data. Then, it can be transmitted to the printer apparatus P1 or P2. When the printer device P1 or P2 receives the print data, performs command analysis, and includes an instruction command for transmitting the SNMP trap, the printer device P1 or P2 is an SNMP manager from the transmission unit 8 of the printer device P1 or P2. An SNMP trap is transmitted to the monitoring computer PC2.

In the above configuration, the processing of this example will be described below.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the processing of this example. In the figure, the print application 1 and the printer driver 2 are functions of the client computers C1 to C3 as described above, and the user-defined MIB description file is a file registered in the storage unit 3 of the client computers C1 to C3 or the server computer PC2. It is. Further, the SNMP trap is transmitted from the printer apparatus P1 or P2 to the monitoring computer PC1 which is the SNMP manager as described above.

Here, the user-defined MIB description file will be described. The user-defined MIB description file is a file that describes a plurality of user-defined MIBs. By using the user-defined MIB creation application 4, the user can create a desired user-defined MIB and is configured in the following format. ing.
FIG. 4 shows the structure of this file. As shown in the figure, the file includes an object ID of the target MIB, a condition type, and a condition definition. For example, if the condition definition described in this file matches the print data setting information, the client computer C1 The SNMP trap transmission command is included in the print data output from .about.C3.

  As the above condition types, there are cases where XQuery is used as a setting language and cases where an external program is used. XQuery is a query language for XML (Extensible Markup Language) data, and when this condition is used, If the XQuery specified in the condition definition matches the XML data representing the settings and environment information managed by the printer driver, an SNMP trap transmission command is added to the print data. On the other hand, when an external program is designated, the printer driver executes the external program when printing to the printer apparatus P1 or P2, and if the end code of the external program is true, it corresponds to the printer apparatus P1 or P2. An SNMP trap transmission command is issued.

  On the other hand, the condition definition for transmitting the SNMP TRAP notification includes, for example, the IP address of the client computers C1 to C3, printer driver settings such as color settings, toner save settings, the document name of the document file to be printed, and sequence information of the drawing command Any information such as information detectable by the printer driver can be set as a condition definition for sending an SNMP TRAP notification to the manager.

  Accordingly, the user-defined MIB creation application 4 provides a reserved area for user definition, for example, under the above-mentioned vendor's extended MIB, creates the above-described condition definition desired by the user for the range, The MIB object ID is set, and a user-defined MIB description file is created. The user-defined MIB description file created in this way is registered in the server computer PC2 and the corresponding client computers C1 to C3.

  Next, in the state where the user-defined MIB description file is registered in the client computers C1 to C3 or the server computer PC2 by the above processing, the printer driver 2 performs the following processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the process of the printer driver 2. The process of the printer driver 2 will be explained using the conceptual diagram shown in FIG.
First, when the print application 1 creates print data and the printer driver 2 receives a print instruction from the print application 1 (a shown in FIG. 3), a user-defined MIB description file registered in its own storage unit 3; Alternatively, the user-defined MIB description file registered in the server computer PC2 is read (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1, b shown in FIG. 3).

  Next, the setting information and environment information of the printer driver 2 itself are read (S2), the user-defined MIB is analyzed, and the setting information and environment information of the printer driver 2 itself matches the conditions applied to the user-defined MIB. It is determined whether it is included (S3).

  Here, when the setting information and environment information of the printer driver 2 itself include information that matches the conditions applied to the user-defined MIB (S3 is YES), an SNMP trap transmission command is transmitted to the printer devices P1 and P2. (S4, c shown in FIG. 3).

  For example, if color printing settings exist as user-defined MIBs, an SNMP trap transmission command is sent to the printer apparatuses P1 and P2 if the setting information of the printer driver 2 itself and the environment information also include color printing setting information. Send. If toner save print settings exist in the user-defined MIB, an SNMP trap transmission command is sent to the printer device P1, if the setting information of the printer driver 2 itself and the environment information also include toner save print setting information. Send to P2. The SNMP trap transmission command is transmitted to the printer apparatuses P1 and P2 together with the print data including the print command (S5).

  If the setting information and environment information of the printer driver 2 itself do not include information that matches the conditions applied to the user-defined MIB (S3 is NO), the print data including only the print command command is the printer device P1, It is transmitted to P2 (S5).

  On the other hand, in the printer apparatus P1 or P2, processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, print data from the client computers C1 to C3 is received (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 1), and it is determined whether the print data includes an SNMP trap transmission command (ST2). For example, the SNMP trap transmission command is described in the header portion of the print data, and the printer apparatus P1 or P2 analyzes the command of the header portion to determine whether the SNMP trap transmission command is included.

  If an SNMP trap transmission command is included (YES in ST2), an SNMP trap is notified to the SNMP manager of the monitoring computer PC1 (ST3, d shown in FIG. 3). As described above, the condition definition for sending the SNMP trap notification and the object ID which is the management information used at that time are set in the user-defined MIB description file. Accordingly, the monitoring computer PC1 that has received the SNMP trap can know the condition definition of the SNMP trap transmitted by the object ID. For example, in the case of setting for color printing, the client computer C1 to C3 transfers to the printer device P1 or P2. It can be seen that the print data with color settings has been transmitted.

  Therefore, the monitoring computer PC1 can monitor the print settings of the client computers C1 to C3 from the transmitted SNMP trap. For example, when the print setting of the client computer C1 is prohibited, the monitoring is performed. The computer PC1 can monitor the print setting of the client computer C1 by the SNMP trap.

  For example, when the setting of toner save is required in the print setting of the client computer C2, the print setting of the client computer C2 can be monitored by the SNMP trap from the printer apparatus P1 or P2.

  Furthermore, in the condition definition of the user-defined MIB description file, as described above, any information that can be detected by the printer driver 2 such as the document name of the document file to be printed and the sequence information of the drawing command can be set as the condition definition. Accordingly, it is possible to monitor the document name of the print data from the client computers C1 to C3, the sequence information of the drawing command, and the like. Therefore, for example, in the case of a print execution instruction from a user having an IP address that the system does not know, the fact can be known by the notification of the SNMP trap, for example, a countermeasure for prohibiting print output of a confidential document etc. Can also be done. In this way, by confirming the monitoring status of the monitoring computer PC1 by the system administrator or the like, whether or not the client computer on the system is using the printer device in the correct usage method has been promised in advance. Depending on how the user-defined MIB description file is created, such as whether it is used due to restrictions on the mode, whether or not illegal or confidential documents are printed, etc., it is possible to monitor and check the usage status of all kinds of printers. It becomes possible. As a result, for example, an administrator can send a warning to the client to warn how to use the correct printer, display an alarm, forcibly remotely control the specification of the device, etc. It is possible to perform other processing.

  If the SNMP trap transmission command is not included in the above determination (ST2) (NO in ST2), the print command included in the print data is executed (ST4), for example, image data is created and printed out. I do. Thereafter, it is determined whether all the print data has been received (ST5). When the reception of all the print data is completed (YES in ST5), the process is terminated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to monitor the status other than the standard MIB defined by RFC or the extended MIB by the vendor as the management information of the network device. For example, the setting status desired by each user can be monitored. It can be carried out. In other words, it is possible to monitor print settings related to ecology such as color printing and toner save printing desired by individual users, and even when the number of client computers C1 to C3 using the printers P1 and P2 increases, Maintenance and the like are also facilitated.
Also, according to the present embodiment, a reserved range that can be used by the user is provided in the vendor-defined extended MIB, and information on the reserved range can be notified to the SNMP manager as SNMP TRAP through the printer driver. Enables the user-defined event occurrence to be detected through the SNMP manager, so that the user can independently expand and perform desired monitoring on the network printer.
Furthermore, by using the printer driver, information about each client using the network printer can be acquired by using the printer driver. For example, a document at the time of printing that has been printed by a user having an unrelated IP address is used. According to the name, all information that can be detected by the printer driver can be managed by the SNMP protocol, such as when a certain confidential document is printed, printing that does not take into account savings such as double-sided printing and imposition printing is performed.
When the monitoring items are narrowed down to printing-related events, the SNMP manager monitors only the network printer even if the number of client computers increases by sending SNMP TRAP from the printer driver via the printer. As long as you do, maintenance work will not increase. Further, by using SNMP, it is possible to monitor with an existing SNMP manager, and there is no need to introduce a new tool.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is included in the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents. Hereinafter, the invention described in the scope of claims at the beginning of the filing of the present patent application will be added.

Appendix 1
In a printing system in which a client computer, a printing device, and a monitoring device are connected via a network,
The client computer is
A printer driver that generates print data in accordance with document image information and print setting information created by executing an application;
A transmission unit for transmitting the print data to the printing apparatus;
A storage unit for storing a user-defined MIB;
A control unit that transmits an SNMP trap transmission command to the printing apparatus when the print setting information matches the information registered in the user-defined MIB;
The printing apparatus includes:
A trap transmission unit that transmits the SNMP trap to the monitoring device when the SNMP trap transmission command is included in the print data transmitted from the client computer;
A print processing unit for performing print output on a recording medium according to the print data;
A printing system comprising:

Appendix 2
The printing apparatus has a function as an SNMP agent in SNMP,
The monitoring device has a function as an SNMP manager in SNMP,
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device identifies occurrence of an event in the printing apparatus defined in the user-defined MIB by TRAP in SNMP.

Appendix 3
The user-defined MIB is stored in a server computer connected to the network, and the client computer reads the user-defined MIB description file from the server computer and determines whether the user-defined MIB matches the print setting information of the print data. The printing system according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the printing system is performed.

Appendix 4
The user-defined MIB is a condition definition uniquely set by a user, and includes authentication information for specifying the condition definition. According to the authentication information, the monitoring device acquires print setting information of the print data that is the condition definition. The printing system according to appendix 1, 2, or 3, wherein:

Appendix 5
A control method of a printing system in which a client computer, a printing apparatus, and a monitoring device are connected via a network,
The client computer is
Generate print data according to the document image information and print setting information created by executing the application,
Reading the user-defined MIB from a user-defined MIB description file that stores the user-defined MIB of the client computer;
It is determined whether or not the read user-defined MIB includes a match with the print setting information of the print data. If there is a match, an SNMP trap transmission command is included in the print data and transmitted to the printing apparatus. ,
The printing apparatus includes:
When the SNMP trap transmission command is included in the print data transmitted from the client computer, the SNMP trap is transmitted to the monitoring device, and the print output is performed on a recording medium according to the print data.
A control method for a printing system.

Appendix 6
The user-defined MIB is stored in a server computer connected to the network, and the client computer reads the user-defined MIB description file from the server computer and determines whether the user-defined MIB matches the print setting information of the print data. The method of controlling a printing system according to appendix 5, wherein the control method is performed.

Appendix 7
The user-defined MIB is a condition definition uniquely set by a user, and includes authentication information for specifying the condition definition. According to the authentication information, the monitoring device acquires print setting information of the print data that is the condition definition. The control method for a printing system according to appendix 5 or 6, wherein:

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing application 2 ... Printer driver 3 ... Memory | storage part 4 ... User-defined MIB creation application 5 ... Reception part 6 ... Control part 7 ... Printing mechanism part 8 ... Transmitters P1, P2,... Printer devices C1 to C3 .. client computer PC1... Monitoring computer PC2.

Claims (4)

An information terminal device that generates print data based on print setting information,
When the same setting item as the setting item stored as the user-defined MIB in the predetermined storage means is included in the print setting information, an SNMP trap transmission command for transmitting an SNMP trap from the printing apparatus to the monitoring device is issued. An information terminal apparatus comprising control means for adding to print data and transmitting to the printing apparatus. A printing device capable of receiving print data generated based on print setting information from an information terminal device,
An SNMP trap transmission command added to the print data when the same setting item as the setting item stored as the user-defined MIB in the predetermined storage means is included in the print data, the print data is received A printing apparatus comprising control means for transmitting an SNMP trap to a monitoring device when detected. A printing system in which an information terminal device and a printing device are connected via a network,
  The information terminal device
Print data generation means for generating print data based on the print setting information;
Control that adds an SNMP trap transmission command to the print data and transmits it to the printing apparatus when the print setting information includes the same setting item as the user-defined MIB stored in a predetermined storage means Means, and
The printing apparatus includes:
A printing system comprising: control means for transmitting an SNMP trap to a monitoring device when the SNMP trap transmission command is detected when the print data is received from the information terminal device. The storage means is provided in a server device connected to the information terminal device via a network,
The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the user-defined MIB is configured to be registered in the storage unit from the information terminal device by a predetermined application. The printing system according to claim 3.