JPH11327855A - Print management system capable of maintaining printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to monitor trouble and perform maintenance when a printing process on a printer is carried out by indicating the execution of a maintenance process at a maintenance request and making a set trouble recovery if trouble occurs to the printer. SOLUTION: A print request managing means 102 receives requests to print data and to maintain the printer 107 from a print data generating means 101 and puts them in a queue. A print data output means 104 takes out a request held by the print request managing means 102, prints data or performs a maintenance process such as cleaning and ink replacement according to the kind of the request, and performs transfer to the printer 107. The print data output means 104 monitors the printer 107 and informs a printer trouble display means 106 of printer trouble occurrence if the trouble occurs in the printing or maintenance, so that processes after the trouble recovery are carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a system for managing printing by a printer, and more particularly to a print management system suitable for use in maintenance management of a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A print management system is a system for receiving a data print request from a processing device (computer), managing the data in a queue, for example, and controlling printing from a printer. 2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a network printer system has been used in which print requests from a plurality of client terminals connected to a network are allocated to a plurality of printers connected to the network by a print server. As an example of this type of conventional print management system, for example,
In order to efficiently operate a plurality of printers, JP-A-21021 discloses a job management apparatus that manages a print job and a plurality of printers that acquire print job data from the job management apparatus and perform print processing. A job management device stores print job data in page units and print attributes of each page of the print job and the print job of each page of the print job. Detects the current processing capacity of the printer every time the next print processing becomes possible, and outputs data having a print attribute suitable for the processing capacity of the printer from the job management apparatus in page units or job units. There is disclosed a system for acquiring and printing.

[0003]

However, this conventional printing system has the following problems.

[0004] The first problem is that printer maintenance cannot be performed from the printing system.

The reason is that information managed by the job management apparatus does not include information for performing printer maintenance.

[0006] The second problem is that it is not possible for a user who has submitted a print job to know that a failure has occurred in the printer.

The reason is that there is no means for notifying a printer failure from a printer or a job management device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a print management system capable of monitoring failures and performing maintenance on a printer when performing printing processing on the printer. It is to provide a system.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention receives and analyzes a print request from a host device or the like, and analyzes the print request when the print request is a maintenance request such as a cleaning process or an ink replacement process. Means for instructing execution of maintenance processing on the printer based on the maintenance request, means for monitoring the printer, and acquiring and displaying the failure information when a failure of the printer is detected in print processing or maintenance processing. And performing a set failure recovery process at the time of the printer failure.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a print data creating means for creating print data and a maintenance request and outputting a print request instruction, receiving queue management of the print request instruction and managing the corresponding print data. A print request management unit that outputs print data, and receives print data from the print request management unit, stores and manages the print data in a storage unit, and deletes the stored print data when printing of the print data is completed. A print data management unit that performs the following operations: inquires the print request management unit; if there is the print request, outputs the print data stored in the print data management unit to a printer; monitors the status of the printer; Print data output means for outputting statistical information;
A print state management unit that holds a print state of the printer, printing statistical information, and printer information; and displays information corresponding to the type of printer failure notified by printer monitoring by the print data output unit. A printer status display unit for returning an operation instruction after recovery from a printer failure to the print data output unit, receiving and printing the print data from the print data output unit, and detecting a printer failure during printing, And a printer for notifying the print data output means of a failure state.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In a preferred embodiment of the print (print) management system according to the present invention, referring to FIG.
01, a request for data printing or printer maintenance is received and held as a queue. Information on data printing is stored in the print data management unit 103.

The print data output unit 104 fetches the request held by the print request management unit 102, performs maintenance such as data printing, cleaning, and ink replacement according to the type of the request, and transfers the data to the printer 107. I do.

The print data output means 104 monitors the printer, and when a printer failure occurs during printing or maintenance, notifies the printer failure display means 106,
Perform processing after recovery from failure.

In this way, it is possible to perform fault monitoring and maintenance while performing printing processing on the printer.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to explain the above-mentioned embodiment in more detail, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, one embodiment of a print management system according to the present invention includes a print data creation unit 101, a print request management unit 102, a print data management unit 103,
Print data output unit 104 and print state management unit 105
, A printer status display means 106, and the printer 7.

Each of these means operates roughly as follows.

A print data creation unit 101 creates print data and a maintenance request, and print request management unit 102
To the print request.

The print request management means 102 receives a print request instruction, manages the queue, and stores the corresponding print data in the print data management means 103.

The print data management means 103 receives the print data from the print request management means 102, temporarily stores the print data, and when the print data is completely printed from the print data output means 104, the print data And delete it.

The print data output means 104 inquires the print request management means 102, and if there is a print request, print data stored in the print data management means 103
07, while monitoring the status of the printer 107, and printing status and statistical information of the printer 107.
Set to 05.

The print state management means 105 is provided for the printer 10.
7 printing status (printing empty, printing, printer failure, etc.)
, Print statistical information (such as the cumulative number of prints, the number of monochrome prints, etc.) and printer information (the remaining amount of ink, the number of printers, etc.).

The printer status display means 106 displays information corresponding to the type of printer fault notified from the print data output means 104 for monitoring the printer,
An operation instruction (print cancel, reprint instruction, etc.) after recovery from the printer failure is returned to the print data output unit 104.

The printer 107 includes a print data output unit 1
04, print data is received, printing is performed, and when a printer failure is detected during printing, a failure state is notified to the print data output unit 104.

Next, the operation of each means of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

The print data creation unit 101 can create one form including a plurality of continuous pages as print data in page units, and issues a print request instruction to the print request management unit 102 in page units. Further, it is possible to make a request for canceling the print request, a request for cleaning the printer, and a request for ink replacement to the printer.

The print request management means 102 can receive various requests shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the data print request includes a form number for identifying a form unit, a page number for identifying a corresponding page of the form, and a data file name in which print data is stored.

The ink replacement request and the cleaning request include
An ink type for identifying the ink that the printer can have is included.

For the cancel request, the print request management means 1
02 includes a distinction between cancellation of a print request managed by the user. To distinguish the cancellation, a form number for canceling an arbitrary form unit, the print request management unit 10
2 includes a current form for canceling all forms managed by the print data output unit 104 and a current form for canceling a form unit being printed by the print data output unit 104.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the print request management means 102 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

First, as a print request, in addition to the type of request and its related information shown in FIG. 2, the priority of the request in the queue is received (step A1).

It is determined whether the request type is an end request (step A).
2) In the case of a termination request (yes branch of step A2), the processing is terminated.

It is determined whether the print request is a data print request (step A3). If the print request is a data print request (yes branch of step A3), the print data management means 3 is instructed to store the designated data file name (step A3). Step A
4).

After the determination of the request type, the received request information is stored in a queue (step A5).

Requests with a higher priority are placed in front of the queue so that the request can be processed earlier. If the priority is the same, it is added to the end of the queue of the same priority.

The print data output means 104 performs print processing and the like in accordance with the contents of the queue held in the print request management means 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the print data output means 104 in one embodiment of the present invention.

First, the head request is checked from the queue held by the print request management means 102 (step B1).

If the request type is a data print request, data print processing is executed (steps B2 and B3).

If the request type is a cleaning request, a cleaning process is executed (steps B4 and B5).

If the request type is an ink exchange request, an ink exchange process is executed (steps B6 and B7).

If the request type is a cancel request, a cancel process is executed (steps B8 and B9).

When the processing of the checked request is completed, one request at the head of the queue is taken out (step B10).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of data printing processing of the print data output means 104 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The data file name is extracted from the information of the data print request, and the data file name is transferred to the printer 107 while converting the contents of the data file into the input format of the printer (steps C1 and C2).

When the transfer is completed or interrupted, the status at the time of transfer is obtained (step C3).

If the status at the time of transfer is normal end, the print data management means 3 is notified of the end of printing (step C).
4, C5).

If the status at the time of transfer is abnormal termination, the contents of the status are notified to the printer failure display means 106 as a printer failure (steps C4 and C6).

The response value is received from the printer failure display means 106, and the printer is initialized for failure recovery (steps C7 and C8).

When the response value from the printer failure display means 106 is executed, in order to reprint the data to be printed,
Print request management means 102 with high priority for data print requests
(Step C10).

If the response value from the printer fault display means is not executed, the corresponding data print request is deleted from the queue of the print request management means 102 as a form-based cancellation (step C11).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the cleaning processing of the print data output means 104 in one embodiment of the present invention.

From the information of the cleaning request, the cleaning corresponding to the ink type is instructed to the printer 7 (step D1).

When the cleaning instruction is completed or interrupted, the status from the printer 107 is obtained (step D2).

When the status is normal termination (step D)
(Yes branch of No. 3), and the cleaning process ends.

If the status is abnormal termination, the contents of the status are displayed as a printer failure and the printer failure display means 10 is used.
6 is notified (step D4).

The response value is received from the printer failure display means 106 (step D5), and initialization for recovery from the failure is performed on the printer (step D6).

When the response value from the printer fault display means 6 is "execute" (yes branch of step D7), the cleaning process ends to execute the next request.

If the response value from the printer fault display means is not “execute” (no branch in step D7), the corresponding data print request is deleted from the queue of the print request management means 102 as a form-based cancellation. (Step D8).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the ink exchange processing of the print data output means 104 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The ink replacement process is substantially the same as the cleaning process shown in FIG. 6, although the requirements for the printer for cleaning and ink replacement are different.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the cancel processing of the print data output means 104 in one embodiment of the present invention.

The cancel type of the cancel request is obtained (step F1).

If the cancel type is the form number, the data print request having the designated form number is deleted from the request queue of the print request management means 102 (step F2,
F3).

If the cancel type is all forms, all data print requests are deleted from the request queue of the print request management means 2 (steps F4 and F5).

If the cancel type is the current form, the data print request having the form number to which the data print request that is currently output to the printer is assigned is deleted (steps F6 and F7).

Upon receiving the status of the printer failure from the print data output means 104, the printer failure display means 106 displays a printer recovery method corresponding to the failure, receives an instruction after the recovery, and sends a response value to the print data output means 4. As Instructions after restoration include execution and cancellation.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

A first effect of the present invention is that reprinting can be performed in units of forms or pages of forms without depending on the format of print data or the type of printer.

The reason is that, in the present invention, print data is managed in page units to which numbers in form units are added.

A second effect of the present invention is that maintenance to the printer, such as cleaning and ink replacement, can be realized in the same manner as data printing.

The reason is that, in the present invention, the print request management means can receive a print request or a maintenance request in the same manner as data printing, and the print data output means not only prints data but also issues a maintenance instruction. Can be performed on the printer.

The third effect of the present invention is that when a printer failure occurs both during data printing and during maintenance,
It can be realized by the same recovery method.

The reason for this is that, in the present invention, the print data output means monitors the execution of data printing and maintenance, and if a failure occurs, the printer failure display means can receive an instruction after restoration. Because he did.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print request according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of a print request management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a print data output unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of data printing processing of a print data output unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of cleaning processing of a print data output unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of ink replacement processing of a print data output unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of cancel processing of a print data output unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print data creation means 2 Print request management means 3 Print data management means 4 Print data output means 5 Print state management means 6 Printer fault display means 7 Printer

Claims (7)

[Claims] A means for instructing a printer to execute a maintenance process on the basis of the maintenance request if the print request is a maintenance request such as a cleaning process or an ink replacement process; Means for monitoring and detecting and displaying the fault information of the printer when a fault of the printer is detected in a printing process or a maintenance process, performing the set fault recovery process at the time of the printer fault,
A print management system characterized in that: 2. A print data creating means for creating print data and a maintenance request and outputting a print request instruction; a print request managing means for receiving the print request instruction and managing a queue and outputting corresponding print data; A print data management unit that receives print data from the print request management unit, stores and manages the print data in a storage unit, and deletes the stored print data when printing of the print data is completed; Inquires whether there is a print request to the request management unit. If there is the print request, outputs the print data stored in the print data management unit to the printer, monitors the status of the printer, and outputs the print status and statistical information. Print data output means, and print status management for holding the printer print status, print statistical information, and printer information Means, and printer status display means for displaying information corresponding to the type of printer failure notified by printer monitoring in the print data output means, and returning an operation instruction after printer failure recovery to the print data output means. A printer that receives print data from the print data output unit, performs printing, and, when a printer failure is detected during printing, notifies the print data output unit of a failure state. Print management system. 3. The print data output means instructs the printer to perform cleaning corresponding to an ink type from information in a case where the print request is a cleaning request. When the cleaning instruction is completed or interrupted, the printer outputs the print data. From the printer, and terminates the cleaning process if the status is normally completed. If the status is abnormally completed, notifies the printer failure display unit of the content of the status as a printer failure. A response is received, an initialization instruction is issued to the failed printer for recovery from the failure, and if the response from the printer failure display means is "execute", the cleaning process is terminated to execute the next request. The print management system according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The print management system according to claim 1, wherein the print data is managed in a page unit to which a number in a form unit is added. 5. The print management system according to claim 2, wherein said print data creation means outputs a print request instruction to said print request management means by designating a form identification number, a page number, and a print data file. system. 6. When the print data output unit does not execute a response from the printer failure display unit, the print data output unit deletes the corresponding data print request from the queue of the print request management unit as a cancellation in a form unit. The print management system according to claim 1, wherein 7. A print data creating means for creating print data and a maintenance request, and outputting a print request instruction, and (b) receiving the print request instruction, performing queue management, and outputting the corresponding print data. Request management means, (c) receiving print data from the print request management means,
Print data management means for storing and managing the print data in the storage means, and deleting the stored print data when printing of the print data is completed; (d) inquiring of the print request management means whether there is a print request; Outputting the print data stored in the print data management means to a printer and monitoring the status of the printer,
Print data output means for outputting print status and statistical information; (e) print status management means for holding the printer print status, print statistical information, and printer information; and (f) print data output means. Printer status display means for displaying information corresponding to the type of printer fault notified by the printer monitoring and returning an operation instruction after recovery from the printer fault to the print data output means. Recording medium on which the program of the above is recorded.