JPH11154068A - Printing system in network environment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To equally use respective printers without any troublesome operation. SOLUTION: Printer servers 7 to 9 receive printing jobs sent through a network by a printing job reception part 21 and output them by a printing job output part 22, and also send an accounting consumption information generated as a result to an accounting server 10 by the accounting consumption information transmission parts 23. An accounting specification information from the server 10 is received by an accounting specification information reception part 24 and stored in an accounting specification information file 25. The server 10 receives the accounting consumption information by an accounting consumption information reception part 31 and stores it is an accounting consumption information file 32, totalizes the use frequencies by printers by a charge changing part 33 according to stored information to change charges for accounting resources by the printers, and sends information indicating the charges for the accounting resources after the change as accounting specific information to the corresponding printer servers by an accounting specific information transmission part 34.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing system in a network environment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a print system in which a plurality of printer servers are distributed and arranged on a communication network, it is necessary to enable centralized accounting management at a single location. JP-A-2-25
As shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 911, charging information relating to output of a network job (print job) in a computer network to which a plurality of computers are connected is stored as 1
There has been proposed a system in which charging information management of the entire network can be easily performed by automatically and centrally managing by one master computer.

[0003]

In such a conventional print system in a network environment, a printer is connected to each print server.
Of these printers, a printer with a slow printing speed and a printer installed at a position distant from the user are rarely used, but a printer with a fast printing speed and a printer with abundant functions are frequently used. As a result, there is a problem that a specific printer is frequently used and wears out quickly.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem,
A method is conceivable in which an administrator sets a different fee system for each printer according to conditions such as performance such as printing speed and resolution, functions, operability, and installation position. However, deciding a fee system for each printer and specifying billing charges for all printers in this way is a very complicated operation and requires much time and effort.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a print system in a network environment in which each printer is used equally without complicated work.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention centrally manages a plurality of printer servers each connected to a printer and accounting information generated by outputting a print job of each printer server. A print system in a network environment in which a charging server having a function is connected by a communication network, characterized in that the print system is as follows.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print job output means for outputting a print job transmitted via a communication network to a plurality of printer servers using a corresponding printer, and a print job output by the means. Charging information transmitting means for transmitting generated charging information to the charging server; and charging specification information receiving means for receiving charging specification information sent from the charging server. Charging information receiving means for receiving incoming charging information, charging information storing means for storing charging information received by the means, and counting the usage frequency of each printer based on the charging information stored in the means. Charge changing means for dynamically changing the charge of the resource to be charged for each printer in accordance with the aggregation result, Is obtained by a billing designation information transmitting means for transmitting to the printer server the corresponding identification information of the information indicating the price of a resource to be charged and said resource that is as the accounting specification information.

[0008] The invention of Invoice 2 provides the charge changing means,
In this method, the charge of the resource to be charged by the printer with high use frequency is set high, and the charge of the resource to be charged by the printer with low use frequency is set low.

In the print system according to the present invention, each of the plurality of printer servers outputs a print job transmitted via the communication network using a corresponding printer, and transmits charging information generated by the output to the charging server. . Also, it receives the charging designation information sent from the charging server.

On the other hand, the billing server receives billing information sent from each of the plurality of printer servers and stores the billing information in billing information storage means. Then, the usage frequency of each printer is totalized based on the charging information, and the fee of the resource to be charged (charging resource) for each printer is dynamically changed according to the totaling result (frequency of use).

For example, the charge of the billing resource of the printer server (printer) that is frequently used is set high, and the charge of the billed resource of the printer server that is not frequently used is set low. After that, the information indicating the fee of the changed accounting resource and the identification information of the resource are transmitted to the corresponding printer server as accounting designation information.

As described above, in this print system (billing system), the fee of the billing resource is dynamically changed in conjunction with the frequency of use of each printer. Therefore, a fee system reflecting the frequency of use of each printer is used. Generated automatically.
In other words, the administrator only needs to set a fixed basic fee for the billing resource in the billing server, and the billing server automatically changes the fee for the billing resource. Can be.

According to the fee system generated by the printing system, for example, the fee of the charging resource of the printer which is not frequently used is reduced and the fee of the charging resource of the printer which is frequently used is increased. Even if it is a slow printer or a distant printer, you can use this printer because the cost is low, and as a result, you can achieve the effect that the use frequency of each printer can be equalized it can.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a print system in a network environment showing one embodiment of the present invention.

This printing system includes a plurality of computers 1 to 3 for a user to submit a print job, a plurality of printer servers 7 to 9 having printers 4 to 6 to be charged, and printers 7 to 9 respectively. And an accounting server 10 having a function of centrally managing accounting information generated by the output of the print job 9 and connected to each other by a communication network 11.

Each user creates a document using an application such as a word processor or a database on each of the computers 1 to 3 and creates a print job for printing the document. The printer server 7 to 9 can be inquired of the status, the charge of the billing resource, and the like.
To 9, a printer server capable of executing the created print job can be selected.

Thereafter, the created print job can be submitted (transmitted) to the previously selected printer server via the communication network 11. The print job includes print options such as the paper size of the output document, the duplex mode, the number of copies, and the resolution, and print data.

When each of the printer servers 7 to 9 receives a print job transmitted from the user's computer via the communication network 11, it outputs the print job using a corresponding printer. That is, according to the print options specified by the print job,
The print content defined by the print data is printed on a medium such as paper using a printer connected to the own device.

After that, the consumption information (consumption amount) of the billing resource generated by the output of the print job, the ID (identification information) of the billing resource, and the I of the printer on which printing was performed.
D, billing information such as user ID is transmitted to the communication network 1
1 to the billing server 10.

The billing server 10 stores the billing information in a file or the like in order to charge the user based on the received billing information. In addition, it holds the IDs of the printers 4 to 6, the IDs of the charging resources, and information indicating the charges, and periodically charges the charging resources for each of the printers 4 to 6 according to the usage frequency of each of the printers 4 to 6. Change dynamically. The result of the charge change is notified to each of the printer servers 7 to 9 via the communication network 11.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the main parts of the printer servers 7 to 9 and the accounting server 10. Each of the printer servers 7 to 9 uses a print job receiving unit 21 that receives a print job transmitted from any one of the computers 1 to 3 via the communication network 11 and a printer corresponding to the print job received thereby. Print job output unit 22 that outputs the print job, charging consumption information transmitting unit 23 that transmits charging consumption information (charging information) generated by the output of the print job to charging server 10, and charging specification transmitted from charging server 10. It has a charging specification information receiving unit 24 for receiving information, and a charging specification information file 25 for storing the charging specification information received thereby.

The billing server 10 includes a billing consumption information receiving unit 31 that receives billing consumption information sent from each of the plurality of printer servers 7 to 9, and a billing consumption information file that stores billing consumption information received thereby. (Charging information storage unit) 32 and the usage frequencies of the respective printers 4 to 6 are totaled based on the charging and consumption information stored therein, and each printer 4 to 6 is summed up according to the totaling result (usage frequency). Charge changing unit 33 for dynamically changing the charge of the billing resource
And a charge designation information transmitting unit 3 for transmitting information indicating the charge of the charge resource changed thereby and the ID of the charge resource to the corresponding printer server as charge designation information.
4 and a charging specification information file 35 for storing the charging specification information.

Next, the processing according to the present invention in the printing system will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process relating to printing by the computers 1 to 3 and the printer servers 7 to 9 and a flow of operation by a user. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of a process when the billing server 10 receives billing consumption information. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing when the charging server 10 retrieves charging specification information.

The administrator inputs the ID of each printer, the ID of each charging resource, and information indicating the basic charge for each charging resource to the charging server 10 in advance. This information is
It is stored in the charging specification information file 35 of the charging server 10. Further, these pieces of information are notified to the printer servers 7 to 9 by the charge designation information transmitting unit 34, and are used to identify a charge resource to be sent or to calculate a printing cost.

A user creates a document using an application such as a word processor or a database on the computers 1 to 3, and sets a job (print option setting) when printing the document to create a print job. . Thereafter, a printer server capable of executing the created print job is selected from the printer servers 7 to 9 on the communication network 11, and the print job is input. At this time, it is possible to inquire each of the printer servers 7 to 9 about the functions and status of each of the printers 4 to 6, the charge of the billing resource, and the like.

In the printer servers 7 to 9, when a print job transmitted from the user's computer via the communication network 11 is received by the print job receiving unit 21, the print job is sent according to the print options specified by the print job. The output unit 22 prints the print content defined by the print data on a medium such as paper using a corresponding printer.

Thereafter, consumption information of the billing resource generated by the output of the print job, the ID of the billing resource,
The charging consumption information transmitting unit 23 notifies the charging server 10 via the communication network 11 of the charging consumption information including the ID of the printer on which the printing has been performed and the ID of the user.

When the accounting server 10 receives the accounting consumption information from the accounting consumption information receiving unit 31, the accounting server 10 stores the accounting consumption information in the accounting consumption information file 32. The billing consumption information in the billing consumption information file 32 is used for billing the user.

The charge changing unit 33 always sums up the usage frequency of each of the printers 4 to 6 based on the billing consumption information stored in the billing consumption information file 32 (from the number of received billing consumption information), and calculates the counting result. Printers 4 to 6 based on information indicating a basic charge for each charging resource input in advance.
Change the fee for each billing resource for each.

The change of the fee is specifically performed as follows. The charge of the charging resource of the printer that is frequently used is set high, and the charge of the charging resource of the printer that is not used frequently is set low. Therefore, the changed fee is calculated using, for example, the following equation. Charge after change = Basic charge × (1 + α · (F−Fav) / Fav) where Fav is the average usage frequency of the printer holding the charging resource to be changed, F is the usage frequency of the target printer,
Let α be a positive constant.

The charge is changed periodically after the usage frequency is accurately obtained to some extent, and each time the charge is changed for each charging resource for each of the printers 4 to 6 stored in the charging specification information file 35. Is replaced with the changed fee. Further, the charging designation information transmitting unit 34 transmits information indicating the changed fee of each charging resource and the ID of each charging resource to the corresponding printer server via the communication network 11 as charging designation information.

In the printer servers 7 to 9, upon receiving the charge designation information from the charge designation information receiving unit 24, the charge designation information is stored in the charge designation information file 25. That is, the charging specification information stored in the charging specification information file 25 is rewritten to the newly received charging specification information. The charge specification information in the charge specification information file 25 is used for inquiring of a charge from a user, estimating cost calculation of a print job, and the like.

Here, Table 1 shows an example of the types of charging resources possessed by each of the printers 4 to 6, their respective basic charges, and the frequency of use of each of the printers 4 to 6. In this example, A4 paper is held by all printers 4 to 6 and B4 paper is
The printers 4 and 5 have four sheets. The printer 3 can perform color printing. Usage frequency is printer 4
The printer 5 is lower than the printer 5, and the printer 6 capable of color printing is even lower.

[0034]

[Table 1]

According to the above formula, if α is set to “1.0”, the changed fee is as shown in Table 2. As can be seen from Table 2, A4 paper is used for all printers 4 to
6 has a printer A4 paper, which is frequently used, has a charge of A4 paper that is 3.6 yen higher than the basic charge, and a printer 6 has a charge of A4 paper that is 3.6 higher than the basic charge.
Yen lower.

Since the printers 4 and 5 have the B4 paper, the average use frequency Fav of the printer holding the charging resource to be changed is obtained by the average of the use frequencies of the printers 4 and 5. In this case, the charge of the B4 paper held by the printer 4 is 1.3 yen higher than the basic charge, and the charge of the B4 paper held by the printer 5 is 1.4 yen lower than the basic charge.

The charge for color printing is Fav, which is the frequency of use of the printer 6, since there is only the printer 6 capable of color printing, and there is no change from the basic charge. According to this calculation method, a charge system that always reflects the use frequency of the printers 4 to 6 is automatically generated for each of the printers 4 to 6.

[0038]

[Table 2]

[0039]

As described above, according to the print system of the present invention, the charge of the billing resource is dynamically changed in conjunction with the use frequency of each printer, so that the administrator can perform complicated work. Without doing so, each printer will be used equally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a printer server 7 to 9 and a billing server 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a main part of a zero.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a print system in a network environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process relating to printing by computers 1 to 3 and printer servers 7 to 9 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and a flow of an operation by a user.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when the billing server 10 receives billing consumption information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when the billing server 10 retrieves billing information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-3: computer 4-6: printer 7-9: printer server 10: accounting server 11: communication network 21: print job receiving unit 22: print job output unit 23: accounting consumption information transmitting unit 24: accounting designation information receiving unit 25, 35: charging specification information file 31: charging consumption information receiving unit 32: charging consumption information file 33: charge changing unit 34: charging specification information transmitting unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A network environment in which a plurality of printer servers each connected to a printer and an accounting server having a function of centrally managing accounting information generated by outputting a print job of each printer server are connected by a communication network. A print system, wherein the plurality of printer servers are respectively generated by a print job output unit that outputs a print job transmitted via the communication network using a corresponding printer, and a print job output by the unit. A charging information transmitting unit that transmits charging information to the charging server; and a charging specification information receiving unit that receives charging specification information transmitted from the charging server. A billing information receiving means for receiving the billing information sent thereto, and A billing information storage unit for storing the billing information received by the unit; and a usage frequency for each of the printers based on the billing information stored in the means. Charge changing means for dynamically changing the charge of the resource to be charged, and information indicating the charge of the resource to be charged changed by the means and the identification information of the resource are transmitted to the corresponding printer server as charge designation information. A print system in a network environment, comprising: charge designation information transmitting means. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charge changing unit increases a charge of a resource to be charged by a printer server with a high use frequency and decreases a charge of a resource to be charged by a printer with a low use frequency. Printing system in a network environment.