JPH03122715A - Printer selector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the probability of generating a state of printing being waiting by previously storing plural optional printers in a computer system, and in the case of printing out data from a printer, automatically selecting an optional usable printer out of the plural stored printers. CONSTITUTION:When an application program is executed by an optional computer in the computer system based upon operator's command input or the like and the printing-out of optional printing data from a printer is requested, a printer selecting means 2 successively checks the status of respective printers stored in a printer information storing means 1 in the priority order e.g. and selects an optional printer which is in the usable state at present. Thereby, printer printing-out at the time of outputting printer printing is executed by an optional usable printer selected out of plural printers. Consequently, the probability for generating a state that the printer printing is in waiting can be reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a method for selecting any one printer from among the plurality of printers in the system when printing output in a computer system to which a plurality of printers are connected. The present invention relates to a printer selection device.

〔overview〕

In a computer system to which a plurality of printers are connected, the present invention registers any plurality of printers in advance, and when printing output, selects one of the registered printers that are currently available for use. automatically selects any one printer that is present,
The probability of waiting for printing when a printer prints out is significantly reduced compared to the conventional method, and the printers in the system can be used effectively.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, an increasing number of companies are constructing office information systems by connecting various OA devices (office automation devices) to networks in order to automate and improve efficiency of office processes.

Such office information systems are most used for document processing such as document creation, storage, and printing, and handle the large amount of documents generated and distributed during office operations.
Materials are recorded and stored on magnetic disks, optical disks, etc. Such a system that records and manages a wide variety of document information and image information generated and distributed within an office or between offices on magnetic disks, optical disks, etc. is -
It is generally called an electronic file system.

In such an electronic file system, printers frequently print stored documents, created documents, and image information, and users can select any one of the multiple printers connected to the network. The specified printer is used to print document information and image information.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in a computer connected to multiple printers such as the above-mentioned conventional electronic file system, only one arbitrary printer can be specified at the time of printing. If the specified printer is currently printing or is not turned on at the time the printer is pressed, the printer will be waiting to print.
Business is interrupted.

In a network such as an electronic file system, one printer is shared by each computer as a system resource, so the above-mentioned waiting state for printing occurs frequently. This frequent occurrence of the printer waiting for printing not only has a negative effect on the effective use of the system, but also causes problems when printing is desired immediately. Additionally, when executing a job in batch processing mode, the operator is often away from the computer, and if the printer is waiting to print while the operator is away, another operator may be able to use the computer. However, there is a problem in that the operator has to wait until the operator who executed the job returns, resulting in a very inconvenient situation.

This is thought to be because even though multiple printers are connected to the system, only one printer can be specified with the second print command.

An object of the present invention is to store a plurality of arbitrary printers in the system in a computer system in which a plurality of printers are connected to at least one computer, and to store a plurality of arbitrary printers in the system at the time of printer printout. It is possible to select any printer that is available at that time from among the printers and print output using the selected printer.

[Means to solve the problem]

First, the present invention is applied to a printer selection device that selects a printer to be used for printer print output in a computer system in which a plurality of computers are connected to at least one computer. The above system may be, for example, a standalone computer system in which multiple printers are connected to one computer, or a bus type computer system or ring type computer system in which multiple computers and multiple printers are connected via optical fibers or a coaxial table. This is a tree-shaped network.

The means of the present invention are as follows.

The printer information storage means 1 (see the functional block diagram in FIG. 1; the same applies hereinafter) is composed of a semiconductor memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), and stores any number of printers in the computer system. There is.

The printer selection means 2 selects any one currently available printer from among the plurality of printers stored in the printer information storage means 1 at the time of printer printout.

The printer information storage means 1 stores a plurality of printers in the system together with their priorities, and in this case, the printer selection means 2 allows each printer to be used in the priority order. , and selects the first printer found that is currently available.

The above priority order is determined, for example, by giving priority to the printer that is closest to the computer, that is, the printer that is more convenient for collecting printed output paper.

[For production]

The operation of the means of the invention is as follows.

When an application program is executed on any computer in the computer system by an operator's command input, etc., and a request is made to print out any print data, the printer selection means 2 stores the information in the printer information storage means 1. The status of each printer that is currently available is checked in order of priority, for example, and an arbitrary printer that is currently available for use is selected.

Therefore, when printing to a printer, the printer printout is not fixedly performed by one specific printer, but by any currently available printer selected from a plurality of pre-registered printers. This is done by one printer. For this reason, the probability of waiting for printer printing during printer printout is significantly smaller than in the past.

Further, in the printer selection device according to claim 2, since priority can be added to the printers stored in the printer information storage means 1, for example, the printers can be placed closer to the computer making the print request. It is also possible to print out while giving priority to a certain printer, which is convenient for business purposes.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

2s! dynamic lambda two squares FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of one embodiment.

The system shown in the figure is a stand-alone system 1.
0, the computer 11 is a computer such as a workstation or an office computer, and two printers 12 and 13 such as a page printer (image printer) are connected to the computer 11. Although not particularly shown, an external storage device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk is also connected to the computer 11.

Part 1 of System FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of another embodiment.

The system shown in the figure is an Ethernet
It is a local area network 20 with a bus structure consisting of a coaxial cable or an optical fiber, etc., and a cable 21 such as a coaxial cable or optical fiber that connects two computers 22 and 23 such as a workstation and an office computer, and a page printer (image printer) etc. Two printers 24.2
5 is connected.

Although not particularly shown, in reality, the cable 21
In addition to the printers 24 and 25 mentioned above, a plurality of printers and external storage devices are connected to the computer.

Further, each printer (printer 12, 13, 24, 25) in the stand-alone system 10 or the local area network 20 is assigned a predetermined name (printer name) when the system is generated.

Each computer 11°22. shown in FIG. 2 or 3 above.
23 has internal memories such as a CPU (central processing unit) consisting of a microprocessor, ROM (read only memory), and RAM (random access memory), although not particularly shown in the figure. A designated printer table 30 shown in FIG. 4 is provided in a part of the storage area.

The designated printer table 30 shows, in priority order, the printer salts 31 assigned to each printer in the system shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. In the specific example shown in FIG. 4, which is a stored table, rl'', r2. ,...,rn, in order of priority, rPr+1'', 'Pr+2'', -...r, respectively.
Pr+n" printer names are stored.

The printer specification table 3o is created, for example, when the system is generated, and can be freely updated while the system is in operation by inputting a predetermined command from a keyboard (not shown).

Further, the CPU (central processing unit) of each computer has various registers such as a register MAX and a register N, respectively.

Register MAX: A register that stores the total number of printers registered in the designated printer table 30.

Register N: A register used to search for the printer name 31 in the designated printer table 30.

(Operation) Next, we will explain the operation when printing out a document file created on the computer shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. This will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In the explanation of the flowcharts that follow, all printers 12, 13, 24° 25 shown in FIG. 2 or 3 will be referred to as "
collectively referred to as "printers".

Computers 11, 22. When the CPU in 23 inputs a command to print a document, it prints the created document that is designated to be printed (the created document) stored in the RAM or is recorded on an external device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk. The document file in question is read out, and register N is initialized to "1" (Sl).

Next, read rPr+IJ, which is the printer name of the Nth printer, from the specified printer table 30 in the RAM (S2), and then use the printer name as a parameter to read 0P.
Execute EN command. The above 0PEN command starts the device driver for printer control, and the device driver controls the printer (
The printer receives a message indicating whether the printer (targeted by the OPEN command) is currently available for use.
Based on the received message, the CPU determines whether the Nth printer is usable (S3).

The computer stores a device driver for printer control, which is part of the kernel, in the RAM, and the application program is the system 7-file 0P.
When an EN command is issued, the device driver performs 0PEN processing for the printer, and the device driver returns status information to the application program indicating whether the printer is currently usable. There is. If the printer is currently printing, it sends an unusable (or printing in progress) response message to the device driver. Also, if the printer is not powered on, the CPU will
Even if you send a message to the printer asking if it is possible to print, the response message from the printer is CP.
Since the printer is not sent to U, the device driver returns an error code to the application program indicating that the printer is currently unavailable.

Then, in the process S3, if the Nth printer is currently unavailable due to printing or not being powered on, then "1" is added to the register N, and then 0PEN is added in the process S3. Set the Nth printer to CLO3
Execute the CLO3E instruction, which is a system call for
To determine whether the value is greater than the value of AX (S5), register M
If it is less than or equal to AX, the steps 32 to S5 are repeated again.

On the other hand, in the above process S5, the value of the register N is the total number rMAX of printers registered in the designated printer table 30,
If it is larger than , the value of the register N is reset to "1" (S6), and then the processes 52 to S5 are repeated.

Through the above operation, it is determined whether or not the printers are available for use, starting from the first printer registered in the designated printer table 30 and in order of priority. The determination process S3 is continued until a usable printer is found. In addition, if all the printers registered in the designated printer table 30 are in an unusable state, the printers registered in the designated printer table 30 are checked again in priority order to see if they are in a usable state or not. This determination is made until an available printer is found.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the process S3 that the N-th printer is currently available for use, the N-th printer prints, and after the printing is completed, the N-th printer that performed the printing and output is transferred to the CLO3E. A CLO3E command, which is a system call for this purpose, is executed (S7).

Through the above operation, the printer with the highest priority is selected from all the printers registered in the designated printer table 30 and currently available, and printing is performed using that printer.

In this way, each computer can specify any number of printers in the system in advance using the printer table 30.
By storing this in the memory, when printing, the printer with the highest priority currently available is automatically selected from among the multiple printers registered in advance, and the selected printer automatically selects the printer with the highest priority. Printout is performed. Therefore, the probability of waiting for the printer when printing is output is extremely small.

Although the above embodiment is an example of a standalone system and a network with a bus structure, the present invention is applicable to other architectures such as a star type, tree type, ring/loop type, etc. in which multiple printers are connected. It can be easily applied to any network configuration.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in a computer system having a plurality of printers, any plurality of printers in the computer system are stored in advance, and at the time of printer printout, one is selected from among the plurality of stored printers. Since any one available printer is automatically selected, the probability of waiting for printing to occur is significantly reduced compared to the prior art.

Further, as described in claim 2, each printer is stored together with its priority order, and at the time of printer printout, whether or not each printer is currently available for use is checked in order of priority. By doing so, printing can be performed using the printer that is most suitable for business execution at that time, which greatly contributes to improving the efficiency of business that involves printer printout.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a stand-alone system as one embodiment; Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a network as another embodiment; Fig. 4 is a designated printer table. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating printer selection processing performed by the CPU during printer printout. ■...Printer information storage means, 2...Printer selection means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A printer selection device that selects a printer to be used for printer printout when a printer printout is performed in a computer system in which a plurality of printers are connected to at least one computer, comprising: a printer information storage means that stores in advance a plurality of printers; and at the time of printer printout, selects any one printer that is currently available from among the printers stored in the printer information storage means. A printer selection device comprising: printer selection means for selecting a printer; 2) The printer information storage means stores a plurality of printers in the system along with their priorities, and the printer selection means checks whether each printer is currently available in order of priority. 2. The printer selection device according to claim 1, wherein the printer that is found first and is currently available for use is selected.