JP2001075766A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system capable of reducing complicatedness due to a security function while holding the security function and capable of improving operability. SOLUTION: A new server personal computer(PC) 10 in the printing system PS is constituted by adding a printing system control part 11 provided with a printing history data management part 11a for collecting/storing the printing results of printers 131 to 133 and a limited number of prints management part 11b for managing how many prints can be printed out to a conventional server PC 110 and a new client PC 20 is constituted by adding a printing system control part 21 provided with a limited number of prints acquisition part 21a for acquiring information concerned with the limited number of prints, a printable printer display control part 21b for controlling the display of a message which printer can execute printing on a display 120a and an application limit judging part 21c for judging whether an application limit is exceeded or not to a conventional client PC 120.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system in which a network to which a plurality of printers are connected has a security function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of an example of a conventional print system. The conventional print system includes a server personal computer 110, a client personal computer 120, a first printer
1, 132, and 133 are connected. The server personal computer 110 includes first, second, and third printers 131,
132 and 133, the user executes various types of information processing using the client personal computer 120, instructs via the client personal computer, and outputs a processing result as a document from a desired printer.

In recent years, in order to prevent waste of printing paper, so-called security functions have been provided, such as limiting the number of sheets used per user / group, and limiting the range of users who can use a certain printer. Print systems have emerged. In this way, waste of printing paper can be reduced, and the running cost of the printer can be reduced. As a specific example of the security function, print history data such as paper size / paper type / double-sided / single-sided printing is collected and accumulated for each user or group, and these detailed data are used as a filter for the print limit number. May be.

[0004]

However, while the above security function is effective in reducing running costs, the system itself becomes complicated, and the user is told that "it is not known which printer is in a printable state". There was a problem in terms of usability. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a print system that has security functions, reduces complexity associated with the security functions, and improves usability.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention comprises connecting a plurality of printers to a network and a terminal device for giving a print instruction to the printers,
A print system having a security function for limiting at least the number of prints, comprising a less-than-limit printer search unit that searches for a printer with a number of prints less than the limit in response to a user's print request.

[0006] Further, there is provided a printable printer display control means for controlling display of a printer name searched by the under-restriction printer search means on a display.

Further, if the search result of the printer specified by the user's print request has already exceeded the print limit, the printer with the print limit less than the print limit is searched for, and proxy printing is performed.

With this configuration, a printer capable of printing is searched from among a plurality of printers by the under-limit printer searching means, the printable printer name is displayed on the display by the printable printer display control means, and proxy printing is performed. Therefore, while the user is at his / her desk, it is possible to determine which printer among the plurality of printers has printed the document, and the user does not perform unnecessary operations and thinking.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a print system PS applied to first and second embodiments described below. Note that the same reference numerals are given to the already described portions, and redundant description is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, a print system PS
Comprises a new server personal computer 10, a new client personal computer 20, a conventional network 101, and first to third printers 131 to 133.

The new server personal computer 10 is obtained by adding a print system control unit 11 to a conventional server personal computer 110 having a security function. The print system control unit 11 includes a print history data management unit 11a that is a “print history data management unit” that collects and accumulates print results of the respective printers 131 to 133, and a printer 1
A print limit number management unit 11b, which is a “print limit number management unit” that manages the number of printable sheets 31 to 133, is provided.

The new client personal computer 20 is different from the conventional client personal computer 120 having a security function.
The print system control unit 21 is added. The print system control unit 21 includes a print limit sheet number obtaining unit 21a that obtains information about the print limit sheet number from the server personal computer 10, and a printable printer display control unit that controls which printer is printable on the display 120a. 21b and a usage restriction determining unit 21c that is a “printer specifying unit” that determines whether the usage restriction is exceeded.
Is provided.

(1) First Embodiment Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment is a print system capable of searching for only a printer that does not exceed the usage limit in response to a print request (that is, a printer with less than the print limit number).

As shown in FIG. 2, the user inputs to the client personal computer 20 to select a printer for which printing is requested (step S11). Then, the limited print number obtaining unit 21a of the client personal computer 20 obtains, from the printer information obtained from the limited print number management unit 11b of the server personal computer 10, printer information that does not exceed the use limit for the print request (step). S12).
Then, based on the acquired information, the printer name (for example, a printer number assigned in advance) is displayed on the display 120a under the control of the printable printer display control unit 21b (step S13).

The user selects a printer name to be used for printing from the displayed printer names, inputs the printer name to the client personal computer 20, and makes a print request (step S14). The document is printed out from the printer (step S15).

In this manner, the user can display which printer is capable of printing on the display 120a of the client personal computer 20, so that the user can obtain the printed document without being confused by the identification of the printer capable of printing. In this case, useless operation can be omitted.

(2) Second Embodiment Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, when the printer that has requested printing has already exceeded the limited number of prints, it is possible to search for a printer that does not exceed the limited number of prints, and perform proxy printing by the searched printer. .

As shown in FIG. 3, when a user issues a print request to print a document from a desired printer via the client personal computer 20 (step S21), the print limit sheet number obtaining unit 21a of the client personal computer 20 sends the print request to the server. The information regarding the use restriction of each printer is acquired from the print history data management unit 11a and the limited print number management unit 11b of the personal computer 10 (step S22).

The use restriction determining unit 21c of the client personal computer 20 checks information on the printer designated by the user based on the acquired information (step S2).
3) If the usage limit is exceeded (step S2)
4: Yes), it is checked whether there is a printer that does not exceed the usage limit (step S25). If there is (step S26: YES), the document is printed by a printer (alternate printer) that does not exceed the usage limit (step S27). When the proxy printing is performed, the fact is notified by, for example, a dialog box. An example of the notification message may be "The first printer has exceeded the usage limit, so proxy printing has been performed by the second printer". In this way, the user can know at a glance which printer has been output.

In step S24, if the usage limit is not exceeded (step S24: NO), the document is printed by the printer designated by the user (step S28). If there is no printer exceeding the usage limit in step S26 (step S2).
6: No), printing is not performed (step S29), and a message indicating that printing is not performed is displayed on the display 120a.

In the above-described embodiment, the server personal computer 10 has the print history data management unit 11a and the print limit number management unit 11b, and the print limit number acquisition unit 21
a, the printable printer display control section 21b, and the use restriction determination section 21c are provided in the client personal computer 20. However, the print history data management section, the limited print quantity management section, the printable printer display control section, and the like have been described. It goes without saying that everything may be connected to somewhere in the print system PS.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which the information is displayed on the display as the notification means that the proxy printing has been performed. However, for example, voice may be used.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, a user of a printing system can determine which printer among a plurality of printers has printed a document while staying at his or her seat. There is no needless action or thinking.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram applied to each embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 PS: print system 10: server personal computer 11: print system control unit of server personal computer 11a: print history data management unit 11b: print limit number management unit 20: print system control unit of client personal computer 21a: print limit number acquisition unit 21b: printing Possible printer display control unit 21c Use restriction determination unit 110 Conventional server personal computer 120 Conventional client personal computer 120a Display of conventional client personal computer 131-133 First-third printer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising a network and a plurality of printers and a terminal device for issuing a print instruction to the printers, the system having a security function for limiting at least the number of prints. A printer search means for searching for a printer having a print number less than the limit. 2. The printer control unit according to claim 1, wherein the under-limit printer searching unit manages a print limit number for each of the plurality of printers, and a print history data management unit manages print history data for each of the plurality of printers. And a printer specifying unit for specifying a printer having a print number less than the print limit number based on the information on the print limit number management unit and the information on the print history data management unit.
Print system as described. 3. The print system according to claim 1, further comprising printable printer display control means for controlling display of a printer name searched by the under-limit printer search means on a display. 4. The printer according to claim 1, wherein when the search result of the printer specified by the user's print request has already exceeded the print limit, the printer with the print limit is searched and the proxy printing is performed. The print system according to claim 1. 5. The print system according to claim 4, further comprising means for notifying that the proxy printing has been performed when the proxy printing has been performed.