JPH04320520A - Computer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select a printing device which has a minimum printing wait time. CONSTITUTION:The computer device 1 which selects and uses a printing device 6 in a ready state among plural printing devices 6, 7, and 10 is equipped with queues 3, 4, and 9 which are independent among the printing devices 6, 7, and 10, whose printing wait times are calculated from the characteristics of the printing devices, transmission rates between computers, and the remaining amounts of print data in the queues to select the device having the shortest wait time.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention is applied to a computer device having a plurality of computers and a plurality of printing devices. In particular, the present invention relates to means for selecting a device with the minimum print waiting time from among printing devices connected to one's own computer and printing devices connected to other computers.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, one queue and printing device selection means are provided for a collection of printing devices to be automatically selected. When a user makes a print request, the print request and print data are placed in a queue in the order of request. If there is a printing device that does not have printing data, the printing device selection means takes out printing requests and printing data from the queue in order of request, and sends the printing data to the printing device. If there are multiple printing devices that do not have print data, the printing device that has not been used for the longest time is selected. At this time, characteristics of the printing device such as printing speed are not taken into account.

0003

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In recent years, computers can share a printing device among a plurality of computers and output to printing devices connected to other computers. Hereinafter, this method will be referred to as remote printing. This method is realized by transferring a user's print request and print data to another computer specified by the system, and placing them in a queue of the destination computer. Therefore, there is a problem in that the control of the printing device connected to the own computer and the control of remote printing are completely independent, and it is up to the user to decide which one to use. Further, in such a conventional example, the characteristics of the printing device are not considered, and all printing devices to be selected have the same characteristics in principle. Therefore, if you include a printing device with a slow printing speed in your selection,
There is a problem in which printing of a request that is later in the request order is completed first even though the amount of print data is the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks, and to provide a computer device that can select and use a printing device with the minimum print waiting time from among a plurality of printing devices.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a computer device including a plurality of computers and a plurality of printing devices, one of which is used by one of the computers, in which printing of the printing device is performed. A first means of obtaining characteristics including speed and transmission speed between this printing device and a computer to which this printing device is connected, and obtaining the transmission speed of a network between the computer that issued the printing request and another computer. a second means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue corresponding to the printing device on the computer that issued the print request; and a third means that connects the computer that issued the print request to the other computer. a fourth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue corresponding to the printing device on the other computer; and a fifth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue corresponding to the printing device on the other computer; and a sixth means for calculating a predicted printing waiting time of each printing device based on the information acquired by the first to fifth means, and selecting a printing device with a minimum printing waiting time by referring to the calculated value. It is characterized by

[0006]

[Effect] Characteristics of the printing device connected to the own computer,
The amount of remaining print data in the queue for that printing device, the characteristics of printing devices connected to other computers, the transmission speed of the network between your computer and other computers, and the printing devices connected to other computers. The remaining amount of print data in the queue on the own computer and the remaining amount of print data in the queue on the other computer for the printing device connected to the other computer are obtained, and the print waiting time is determined based on these information. is calculated and the printing device that minimizes this time is selected.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, there are two printing devices directly connected to the own computer and a printing device 1 for remote printing.
A total of three printing devices are used. This embodiment, as shown in FIG. As a characteristic means, printing devices 6, 7 and 1
a first means for obtaining characteristics including a printing speed of 0 and a transmission speed between the printing devices 6, 7 and 10 and the computers 1 and 8 to which the printing devices 6, 7 and 10 are connected; A second means for acquiring the transmission speed of the network between the issuing computer and another computer, and remaining print data in the queues 3 and 4 corresponding to the printing devices 6 and 7 on the computer 1 that issued the print request. a third means for acquiring the amount; and a fourth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue 5 corresponding to the printing device 10 connected to the other computer 8 on the computer 1 that issued the print request; a fifth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue 9 corresponding to the printing device 10 on the other computer 8; and a fifth means for calculating each predicted printing waiting time and selecting a printing device with a minimum printing waiting time by referring to the calculated value.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Upon receiving a printing request from a user (step S1), the system acquires the characteristics of each printing device (step S2). In this embodiment, the printing speed and the transmission speed between the printer and the connected computer are acquired as the characteristics of the printing device. In the case of remote printing, the transmission speed between computers is also acquired as a characteristic. next,
Obtain the remaining amount of print data in the queue of each printing device (
Step S3). For printing device 10, queue 5
The remaining amount of print data in the queue 9 and the remaining amount of print data in the queue 9 are both acquired and used as the remaining amount of print data in the queue of the printing device 10. The acquired characteristics of the printing device and the amount of remaining print data are applied to the evaluation formula shown in [Equation 1] to calculate the expected printing waiting time of each printing device (step S4). For each weighting coefficient in this evaluation formula, a value suitable for the operating mode is determined at the time of initial setting of the system. The printing device with the shortest calculated expected printing waiting time is selected (step S5). If there are a plurality of printing devices with the minimum expected printing waiting time, one of the corresponding printing devices is arbitrarily selected. The print request and print data are placed in the queue of the selected printing device (step S6).
). The print request and print data placed in the queue 5 are transferred to the queue 9. Notify the user of the selected printing device name. Print data in the queue is taken out in order from the head of the queue and sent to the printing device.

[0009]

[Equation 1] The evaluation expression [Equation 2] is an evaluation expression for the expected printing waiting time used in the second embodiment. In printing devices called page printers, the printing speed for the first page and the printing speed for the second and subsequent pages are generally different, so the evaluation formula shown in [Math. 2] is used instead of the evaluation formula shown in [Math. 1]. .

0010

##EQU00002## FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the third embodiment. In this embodiment, a printing device 15 connected to the own computer and a printing device 20 connected to the computer 18 are used. The printing device 20 is used by both the computer 11 and the computer 16 as a printing device for a remote printer. The remaining amount of print data in the queue of the printing device 20 is the sum of the remaining amounts of print data in the queues 14, 17, and 19. As the transmission speed between computers in the evaluation formula shown in [Equation 1], the one with the smaller transmission speed value of the two networks 21 and 22 is used.

[0011]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention allows printing to be completed earliest among a plurality of printing devices, including printing devices connected to the own computer as well as printing devices connected to other computers. Since the printing device that is expected to be able to perform the printing is automatically selected, there is an effect that the user does not have to select the printing device with the minimum waiting time. Further, since the printing device to be used is selected after acquiring the characteristics such as the printing speed of each printing device, there is an effect that even printing devices with slow printing speeds can be effectively utilized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Computer 2 Printing request 3 Queue 4 Queue 5 Queue 6 Printing device 7 Printing device 8 Computer 9. Queue 10 Printing device 11 Computer 12 Printing request 13. Queue 14 Queue 15 Printing device 16 Computer 17 Queue 18 Computer 19 Queue 20 Printing device 21 Network 22 Network

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: In a computer device comprising a plurality of computers and a plurality of printing devices, one of which is selected for one of the computers, the printing speed of the printing device, the printing speed of the printing device, and the printing speed of the printing device and the printing device. a first means for acquiring characteristics including the transmission speed between the device and the computer connected to the device; a second means for acquiring the transmission speed of the network between the computer that issued the print request and another computer; and the above-mentioned printing method. A third means for obtaining the remaining amount of print data in the queue corresponding to the printing device on the computer that issued the request, and a waiting section corresponding to the printing device connected to the other computer on the computer that issued the printing request. a fourth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue; a fifth means for acquiring the remaining amount of print data in the queue corresponding to the printing device on the other computer; and acquisition by the first to fifth means above. 6. A computer device comprising: a sixth means for calculating a predicted printing waiting time of each printing device based on the information and selecting a printing device with a minimum printing waiting time by referring to the calculated value.