JP2001105691A - Information-processing apparatus and method for processing data and memory medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system which is convenient to use for a user by outputting a distributed printing result report showing the output result of a distributed printing after the printing out. SOLUTION: Based on a registered divided printing candidate, a printing job spooled in a job management part 26 is divided and distribute outputted to any of designated printers 13-15. At the same time, a distributed output report is formed on the basis of the result of the distributed output of the printing job. After the printing job is distributedly outputted, the formed distributed output report is outputted from any of the printers 13-15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a storage medium for dividing a print job to be generated and controlling the print data to be printed by a plurality of printing apparatuses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, in a printing system capable of performing a distributed printing process to which this type of information processing apparatus can be applied, information on which printer and how to print out has not been clearly notified to a user. .

[0003]

For this reason, in the above printing system, another job is output or a printer for distributed printing causes a failure such as out of paper or the like, and is automatically transferred to another printer. In this case, since the output destination is not notified to the user, there is a problem that it becomes difficult for the user to collect the output printed matter.

Further, since there is no method for indicating that the distributed printing has been completed, the next job is output, and the result of the distributed output print job and the result of the subsequent print job are mixed and integrated. As a result, a large sorting burden is imposed on the user after the end of the print job, and the improvement has been desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for outputting divided print jobs to a plurality of registered printing apparatuses.
By monitoring the print job output status of each printing device, creating a distributed output report and transferring it to the designated printing device and outputting it, the user can accurately grasp the distributed output result during the distributed printing process. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a storage medium that allow a user to freely construct a print processing environment in which a distributed printing result can be reliably collected from each printing apparatus.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus for dividing a print job and performing print processing on a plurality of printing apparatuses. Registration means (corresponding to the distribution control unit 106 shown in FIG. 4) for registering a plurality of printing apparatuses, and the print job is divided so that printing is performed by the plurality of printing apparatuses registered by the registration means. An output control unit (corresponding to the distribution control unit 106 shown in FIG. 4) for performing distributed output to a plurality of printing devices registered by the registration unit when a printing device that is to perform distributed output cannot perform printing processing. A reconstructing unit (corresponding to the distribution control unit 106 shown in FIG. 4) for reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses to be printed by dividing the print job, Based on the force is a result of creating means for creating a distributed output report (distributed control unit 10 shown in FIG. 4
And outputs the distributed output report created by the creating unit to any of the printing devices after the distributed output by the plurality of printing devices.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus which divides a print job and causes a plurality of printing apparatuses to perform print processing. The information processing apparatus includes a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job. A registration unit (corresponding to the distribution control unit 106 shown in FIG. 4) for registration and the print job are divided into a plurality of printing devices registered by the registration unit, and the printing job is divided by a printer driver corresponding to each printing device. A distributed data generation unit (corresponding to the distribution control unit 106 shown in FIG. 4) for generating print data, wherein the distributed data generation unit controls each printer driver to generate print data by adding an offline command. Is what you do.

A third invention according to the present invention is directed to a printer driver (printer driver 1 shown in FIG. 4) corresponding to a plurality of printing apparatuses registered by the registration means.
In step 03), print data is generated.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when print processing cannot be performed by all the printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus that should output a result report when an error occurs.

A fifth invention according to the present invention further comprises a spool means (corresponding to the EMF spooler 102 shown in FIG. 4) for spooling data output from the operating system in an intermediate data format. Means are
The print data is generated by acquiring data in the intermediate data format spooled by the spool unit.

In a sixth aspect according to the present invention, the registration means registers a printing device to which a distributed output report is to be output.

A seventh invention according to the present invention is to generate print data by adding an offline command at the time of distributed printing.

An eighth invention according to the present invention has a determining means for determining whether or not a print job for each divided printing device registered by the registering means has been normally output,
When the determination unit determines that a print job for each divided printing device cannot be output normally, the distributed output report created by the creation unit is output to a printing device that should output a result report when an error occurs.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a detecting means for detecting a print job processing error by monitoring the processing status of a print job distributed to each divided printing apparatus by the output control means (see FIG. 4). The reconstructing unit normally outputs a print job distributed to each divided printing device by the output control unit based on a detection result of a print job processing error by the detection unit. This is to reconstruct a combination of a plurality of possible printing apparatuses.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing method in an information processing apparatus for dividing a print job and performing print processing by a plurality of printing apparatuses. A registration process (not shown) for registering the printing devices, and an output control process for dividing the print job so as to print on the plurality of printing devices registered in the registration process and distributing and outputting to each printing device (FIG. 7). Step S59), and when the printing process cannot be performed in the printing device that is to perform the distributed output, the printing job is divided into a plurality of printing devices to be printed from among the plurality of printing devices registered in the registration process. A reconstruction step (step S57 shown in FIG. 7) for reconstructing a combination of devices;
A creation step of creating a distributed output report based on the results reconstructed and distributed output in the reconstructing step (FIG. 7)
Step S510), and after the distributed output by the plurality of printing apparatuses, the distributed output report created by the creating unit is output to any one of the printing apparatuses.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing method in an information processing apparatus for dividing a print job and performing print processing by a plurality of printing apparatuses. A registration step (not shown) for registering the printing apparatus, and the print job is divided so that printing is performed by the plurality of printing apparatuses registered in the registration step, and print data is generated by a printer driver corresponding to each printing apparatus. (Step S58 shown in FIG. 7). The distributed data generation step controls each printer driver to generate print data by adding an offline command.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, print data is generated by each printer driver corresponding to a plurality of printing devices registered in the registration step.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in a case where print processing cannot be performed in all the printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus to which a result report should be output when an error occurs.

A fourteenth invention according to the present invention further comprises a spooling step (not shown) for spooling data output from the operating system in an intermediate data format. The print data is generated by acquiring spooled data in the intermediate data format.

In a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the registration step, a printing apparatus to which a distributed output report is to be output is registered.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in distributed printing, print data is generated by adding an offline command.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a judging step of judging whether or not a print job for each divided printing device registered in the registering step has been normally output (FIG. 1).
3), and when it is determined in the determination step that the print job for each divided printing device cannot be output normally, the distributed output report created in the creation step (step S510 shown in FIG. 13). Is output to a printing device that should output a result report when an error occurs.

An eighteenth invention according to the present invention provides a detecting step (FIG. 13) for monitoring a processing status of a print job distributed and output to each divided printing apparatus by the output control step and detecting a print job processing error. Step S111),
In the reconstructing step, based on the detection result of the print job processing error in the detecting step, the output control step reconstructs a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses capable of normally outputting a print job distributed and output to each divided printing apparatus. .

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job are registered in an information processing apparatus which divides a print job and performs print processing on the plurality of printing apparatuses. A registration step (not shown); an output control step (step S59 shown in FIG. 7) in which the print job is divided so as to be printed by a plurality of printing apparatuses registered in the registration step and distributed to each printing apparatus. If the printing process cannot be performed on the printing devices to be distributed and output, the print job is divided from the printing devices registered in the registration step to reconstruct a combination of the printing devices to be printed. (Step S57 shown in FIG. 7), and a creation step of creating a distributed output report based on the results reconstructed and distributed and output by the reconstruction step. 7 is recorded on a computer-readable storage medium, and after the distributed output in the plurality of printing apparatuses, the distributed output report created by the creating unit is copied to any one of the plurality of printing apparatuses. Output to printing device.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job are registered in an information processing apparatus which divides a print job and performs print processing by the plurality of printing apparatuses. A registration step (not shown) and a distributed data generation step of dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of printing devices registered in the registration step, and generating print data by a printer driver corresponding to each printing device ( A program for executing step S58 shown in FIG. 7) is recorded on a computer-readable storage medium, and in the distributed data generation step, print data is generated by adding an offline command by each printer driver.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, print data is generated by each printer driver corresponding to a plurality of printing apparatuses registered in the registration step.

According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, when print processing cannot be performed by all printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus to which a result report is to be output when an error occurs.

A twenty-third invention according to the present invention further comprises a spooling step (not shown) for spooling data output from the operating system in an intermediate data format. And print data is generated by acquiring the data in the intermediate data format spooled in the printer.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, in the registration step, a printing apparatus to which a distributed output report is to be output is registered.

According to a twenty-fifth aspect of the present invention, at the time of distributed printing, print data is generated by adding an offline command.

A twenty-sixth invention according to the present invention relates to a judging step of judging whether or not a print job for each divided printing device registered in the registering step has been normally output to the information processing apparatus (see FIG. 13). A program for executing step S111) is recorded on a computer-readable storage medium, and if it is determined in the determination step that a print job for each divided printing apparatus cannot be normally output, the creation step (see FIG. 13) Step S51 shown
The distributed output report created in step (0) is output to the printing device that should output the result report when an error occurs.

A twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention provides a detecting step (FIG. 13) for monitoring the processing status of print jobs distributed and output to each divided printing device in the output control step and detecting a print job processing error. A program for executing step S111) is recorded on a computer-readable storage medium, and in the reconstructing step, each divided printing device is controlled by the output control step based on a detection result of a print job processing error in the detecting step. Reconstructs a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses that can normally output a print job distributed and output to a printer.

[0033]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing system to which an information processing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a host computer, which is a print control device according to the present invention, and 11 denotes an application program for creating document data to be printed.

A virtual distributed printer 12 receives a print request from an application. Distributed printer 12
Is a module which is set in the host computer 1 in advance as described later and performs processing for distributing print data to a plurality of printer drivers in page units.

When printing the document data created by the application 11, the distributed printing process described in this embodiment can be performed by designating the distributed printer 12 as the output destination port. The distributed printer 12 converts the data received from the application 11 via the OS into print data in a printer language that can be interpreted by each printer using each printer driver, and prints the data to each printer according to a print permission from the server 16. It is configured to transmit data.

The application 11 and the distributed printer 12 do not necessarily need to be mounted in the same apparatus. For example, the distributed printer 12 is located on the print server 16 side, and the application 11 is located on the host computer 1 on the client side of printing. It may be. In this case, a file is transferred from the application 11 in an intermediate file format such as a metafile. The case where a metafile is used will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a printing system to which an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a system bus.
A CPU 22 controls access to each device connected via the system bus 21.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a ROM in which control codes to be executed by the CPU 22 are written. 24 is a RAM, CP
Functions as a work memory of U22. An image management unit 25 stores (spools) an intermediate file such as a RAW format or an EMF. 26 is a job management unit,
The job is distributed and output to the registered printers according to the distribution algorithm registered in advance.
The job management unit 26 determines which page is to be output to which printer.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a key input unit for executing a key operation by the user. Reference numeral 28 denotes a display unit such as a CRT for allowing a user to perform an operation in a state where the contents of job management are displayed. Reference numeral 29 denotes a print control unit of the application, which receives a print request, and sends a request to the job management unit 26 in the case of a distributed print request.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a network interface (NetI / Net) for communicating with a server, a client, and a printer.
F), which controls the protocol of the LAN. Reference numeral 211 denotes a LAN line to which the printers 13 to 15 and the server 16 are communicably connected. The job management unit 26
Receives the distributed printing request from the printing unit 29, determines which printer among the printers 13, 14, and 15 is to be used for printing.

FIG. 3 shows the printers 13 and 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a distributed print result report output in any one of Nos. 4 and 15 and corresponds to a distributed print error report. When trying to print a 10-page job called doc to the printers 13, 14, and 15, the printer 14 is out of paper and cannot continue printing.
4 indicates that the page to be passed to No. 4 has been printed on the printer 15.

In the figure, the report 31 includes NC001.
The first three pages of the doc are output to the printer 13, and the report 32 indicates that the printer 14 is out of paper. Further, the report 33 is displayed on the printer 15.
Indicates that seven pages have been output.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the software module configuration in each device relating to the print control system of the present invention. Note that the same components as those in the above-described drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the figure, as described above, reference numeral 11 denotes an application module (application) for creating document data to be printed. When printing the created document data, GDI (Gra) is a drawing means of the OS.
phy Device Interface) 101
Is output as drawing data. Reference numeral 102 denotes an OS (Windows (registered trademark)) manufactured by Microsoft Corporation in the United States.
Is an EMF spooler, and 103 is a printer driver incorporated in the OS.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a RAW spooler for spooling print data in Windows, and reference numeral 109 denotes a control monitor for a network printer. Reference numeral 101 denotes Windows GDI. Reference numeral 104 denotes a configuration included in the printer driver, and a print request generation unit that generates print request information including information such as the name of the print job, the owner name, the name of the printer that is the print output destination of the print job, and the time of the print request. It is.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a configuration included in the printer driver, and a print data generation unit that generates print data in a printer language format that can be interpreted by the output destination printer.
Reference numeral 110 denotes a transmission control unit which requests the server 16 for print request information in order to receive print permission for outputting print data generated by the printer driver to a printer to be output, and performs control for receiving print permission. Reference numeral 106 denotes a distribution control unit 106 that controls distributed printing at the time of distributed printing, and can start a plurality of printer drivers 107A to 107C.

Reference numeral 111 denotes a module in the server 16, which is an order management unit that manages a print order based on a print request received from a host computer via a network. The print request information is divided and managed for each output destination printer, and stored in the order list 112. Also, 11
Reference numeral 3 denotes a printer management unit, which is communicably connected on the network, monitors the status of the printers under the control of the server 16, and manages the order when there is a print request for a printer waiting to be printed. Notify section 111. The printer management unit 113 polls the printer at predetermined time intervals, and obtains MIB information to know the status of the printer and the print completion page.

In the system configured as described above,
When printing is performed by the application 11, document data is output to the GDI 101 as a GDI function including drawing data, and the GDI 101 outputs a DDI function (Device Dri).
ver Interface), which is converted into a rendering command in an intermediate data format that can be executed by a driver and EMF
Spool to spooler 102. EMF spooler 102
The intermediate data spooled in the printer is divided into pages, and has a data format that is very easy to handle for this distributed printing process.

At the time of normal printing, the printer driver 103 designated as the output destination port receives the intermediate data format, that is, the DDI function, and print request information and print data are generated by the print request generation unit 104 and the print data generation unit 105. The print data in a printer language (page description language) that can be interpreted by the output destination network printer 503 is generated.
The generated print data is spooled in the RAW spooler 108, and transmission control is performed by the transmission control unit 110.

The print request information is transmitted from the monitor 109 by the transmission control unit 110 to the server 16 via the network.
Sent to. If the above-mentioned distributed printer is specified as the output destination port, it is distributed printing, so
The distribution control unit 106 receives the data in the intermediate data format from the EMF spooler, and passes the data in the intermediate data format to each printer driver according to the distribution setting set in advance by the user.

The printer driver that has received the data in the intermediate data format generates print request information and print data in the same manner as during normal printing, and spools it to the RAW spooler 108. However, at the end of the print data, an offline command is added or a buzzer is specified. At the time of distributed printing, the printer monitoring unit 113 of the server 16 waits for all the printers used for distributed printing to be in a print waiting state. A print permission is issued to the transmission control unit 110 of the host computer 1.

As described above, at the time of distributed printing, printing is not performed sequentially from the available printers, but is instructed to print after all the printers are in the Ready state. Therefore, printing processing can be performed simultaneously, and after printing is completed, Since each printer is off-line or has a buzzer, the user can recognize the end of printing, and does not process a print job described later. Therefore, the print result is not scattered, and it is very easy to collect the distributed printed matter.

For error processing described later,
The intermediate data and the print data spooled in the EMF spooler 102 and the RAW spooler 108 are stored after printing is requested until printing is completed. Hereinafter, the setting of the distributed printer will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen displayed on the display unit when setting a distributed printer. The illustration of the display unit is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 5, reference numeral 1501 denotes a window in which a printer name and a path set as a distributed printer are displayed. As shown in a window 1501, not only printers (printer A and printer B) managed by a server on the network but also a local printer (MY printer) connected to its own host computer are registered as distributed printers. Is also possible.

Reference numeral 1502 denotes an “add port button”, which can be added as a distribution destination printer by pressing this button with a pointing device such as a mouse. Reference numeral 1503 denotes a “port deletion button”, which is used to delete a printer registered in the window 1501. The distributed printer 12 is registered and updated as described above, and the distribution control unit 106 transmits data in the intermediate data format to each printer set in the distributed printer in accordance with the distribution algorithm shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen displayed when setting the distribution algorithm in the distribution printer shown in FIG.

In the drawing, reference numeral 41 denotes a number distribution setting unit, which comprises an equalization setting unit 42 and a number designation unit 43. When printing document data consisting of a plurality of pages, either one of the equal number distribution and the number designation is specified. It is configured to be selectable. In particular, the number-of-pages specifying section 43 can individually specify an arbitrary number of pages (number of pages) 44 for each printer.

Reference numeral 45 denotes a setting unit for selecting high-speed dispersion. When the setting unit 45 is selected, the number dispersion setting unit 4
The setting of 1 becomes invalid. That is, the sheet number dispersion and the high-speed dispersion are selected alternatively. When the high-speed dispersion is set, the PPM of the dispersion print registered in FIG.
The number of prints is distributed to each printer by the distribution control unit 106 according to (the number of prints per minute). For example, FIG.
Printer A, printer B, and MY printer are registered as distributed printers as described above. For paper size A4, printer A has 8 PPM, printer B has 16 PP, M
If the Y printer is 4 PPM, the printer A: printer B: MY printer is distributed in a 2: 4: 1 ratio. Reference numeral 46 denotes a distributed print result report setting unit. When the distributed print result report setting unit 46 is selected, the output of the distributed print error report shown in FIG. 3 is set, and the report output setting unit 47 is selected. In this case, a distributed printing error report is output to the designated printer for each distributed printing process. If the report output setting section 48 is selected, a distributed printing error report is output to the designated printer only when an error occurs. When the report output setting section 49 is selected, the output of the distributed printing error report to the designated printer is not always performed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a first data processing procedure in the host computer 1 and the server 16 constituting the print control system according to the present invention, and corresponds to a distributed printing processing procedure. Note that S51 to S5
9 and S510 to S514 indicate each step.

First, in the host computer, in step S51, when a print job is input to the distributed printer 12 from the print control unit of the application 11, a distributed print result report is requested in step S52 for outputting the distributed print job. Is determined from the setting of the distribution algorithm shown in FIG. 4, and if it is determined that the request has not been made, the process jumps to step S53 and proceeds to step S54. If it is determined that the request has been made, In step S53, the job guard flag secured on the RAM 24 is turned ON. Printing of the next job is stopped by setting this flag. That is, an offline command or the like is added to the print data transmitted to each of the distributed printers. Further, the host computer transmits the print request information created at the same time to the server 16.

Next, in the server 16, step S5
4, the status of the physical printer is monitored by the printer monitoring unit 1.
Acquire by 13. The status of each of the printers 13, 14, and 15 registered as the configuration contents of the distributed printer is obtained. As the status acquisition, a protocol for acquiring the status of the printer by SNMP or the like is generally known, and thus the details are omitted.

Next, a step S55 decides whether or not all the statuses of the distributed printer are normal. If it is decided that the statuses are normal, the process proceeds to a step S58.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S55 that the status is not normal, the flow advances to step S56 to determine whether or not all the distributed printers are abnormal. This is notified to the host computer 1. In the host computer 1,
In step S510, the distribution control unit 106 creates a distributed print result report. In this case, the report indicates that no printing has been performed and the status of each printer.

Then, in order to print this distribution result report, the GDI 101 is subjected to print processing. At this time, the output destination port is a normal print process for the printer designated as the report output destination at the time of error.

On the other hand, if the server 16 determines in step S56 that all the distributed printers are not abnormal, that is, if it determines that at least one normal printer exists, the server 16 notifies the host computer 1 to that effect. I do.
In the host computer, in step S57, the distribution control unit 106 reconstructs a printer group, and performs distributed printing again using the reconstructed printer.

Then, in step S58, the distribution control unit 1
06 divides the print job. The division method here is a generally known PJ without performing physical division of the file.
A method of designating a start page and an end page of an L code and a method of physically dividing an EMF to perform job division are conceivable. The distribution control unit 106 passes the intermediate data spooled to the EMF spooler to the printer driver 107 corresponding to the output destination printer for the distributed print job, and generates print data in each printer driver.

Next, in step S59, the distributed printer 1
2 transmits the job created in step S58 to each of the printers 13, 14, and 15. Then, step S510
Then, the distribution control unit 106 creates a distribution result report as shown in FIG. 3 and performs a printing process on the GDI. Although the server 16 determines whether the printer is normal or abnormal, the monitor 109 of the host computer 1 acquires the status of each printer and determines whether printing is possible, as in the processing of the server 16. May be.

Next, in step S 511, the process waits for the end of the creation of the result report.
To select a printer to output a distributed print result report. At this time, the user selects the output printer of the result report registered in advance by operating the registration screen shown in FIG.

Next, in step S513, the job of the distributed printing result report is input to the printer, and in step S51.
In step 4, the job guard flag set in step S53 is turned off, and the process returns. In step S514, if the job guard flag is “ON”, the control may be “OFF”.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the second data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention, and corresponds to the data processing procedure at the time of normal printing including various printing processes. S61 indicates a step.

First, at step S61, it is determined whether or not the job guard flag described in FIG. 5 is "ON". If the job guard flag is determined to be "ON", the printing process is waited. Job guard flag is "ON"
If it is determined that it is not, the process returns.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of the third data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention. FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams for the distributed printing shown in FIG. Job division processing procedure (Step S58 in FIG. 7)
Corresponding to the detailed procedure. In addition, S58-1, S58-
2, S58-11 to S58-13 show each step.

In FIG. 9A, after the job is divided in step S58-1 in step S58, the job is set as an offline job when the job is input to each of the printers 13, 14, and 15 in step S58-2. By doing so, after printing a distributed printing job, the printer itself goes offline, and printing of the next job can be stopped.

As a result, by using this offline function,
This makes it easy for the user to perform manual collection after distributed printing.

On the other hand, in FIG. 9B, step S58
In step S58-11, the job is divided.
In step S58-12, each of the printers 13, 14, 15
After a job is input to the printer in step S58-13, a buzzer sounding command is transmitted to the printer to facilitate the user to perform a collection operation.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the fourth data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention. FIGS. 8A and 8B show the results of the distributed print result report shown in FIG. Job processing procedure (Step S in FIG. 7)
This corresponds to the detailed procedure of (512). In addition, S512-1,
S512-2, S512-11 to S512-13 show each step.

In FIG. 10A, if a printer for outputting a distribution result report is selected in step S512-1 in step S512, the process proceeds to step S512-2.
Then, when a report job is input to the selected printer, the job is set as an offline job, and the process proceeds to another process. As a result, after printing the job of the distributed print result report, the printer itself goes offline and printing of the next job can be stopped. Further, the present off-line function is used to make it easier for the user to clearly indicate the end of the distributed printing and to collect the information.

On the other hand, in FIG. 10B, step S5
In step S512-11 in step S12-11, when the printer for outputting the distribution result report is selected, the process proceeds to step S51.
At 2-12, the report job is input to the selected printer. Then, in step S512-13, when the buzzer sounding command is transmitted to the printer, the process proceeds to another process. This also facilitates the collection operation by the user.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a memory map corresponding to each step of the first distributed printing processing program loaded on the RAM 24 shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, the distributed printing processing program sets the steps for performing the distributed printing, outputting the distributed printing result report, outputting the distributed printing result report only when an error occurs, and setting the printer for outputting the distributed printing result report. Performing a distributed printing result report, stopping the next job while the distributed printing result report is being output, taking the printer offline after completing the distributed printing result, taking the printer offline after completing the distributed printing result report, completing the distributed printing. The following shows a case where the process includes a step of sounding a buzzer by a printer, a step of sounding a buzzer by a printer after the end of the distributed print result report, and the like.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining an output state at the time of a distribution error in the distributed printer according to the present invention. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which 12 jobs are output to four printers. I do.

When the printer is normal, as shown in FIG.
Each page is printed, and a distribution result report is added next to the last page. As shown in this example, after outputting 7 pages by the printer Printer3,
When an error such as out of paper occurs, the printer Print
The report information including the banner shown in the figure is printed on ter2, and the next 8 to 9 pages are printed.
Output to r2. The user can know the printing status by looking at the banner report, and can collect the printed material distributed and printed.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the fifth data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention. Steps 59 and 51 shown in FIG.
This corresponds to a banner report output processing procedure that can be executed between 0 and 0. Note that S111 to S117 indicate each step.

At step S111 after step S59 shown in FIG. 7, it is determined whether or not all pages have been normally distributed and printed. If it is determined that distributed printing has been normally performed, the process proceeds to step S510.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S111 that distributed printing has not been performed normally, the flow advances to step S112 to create a banner for the erroneous job. Then, in step S113, a printer that outputs a non-output page and a banner is selected.

Next, in step S114, it is determined whether or not a printer to be output has been found. If it is determined that no printer has been found, the process proceeds to step S117, where a popup message or the like is output on a popup screen to notify the user of the error. Then, the process proceeds to step S514 shown in FIG.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S114 that a printer to be output has been found, the process proceeds to step S115.
Then, the banner is input to the printer. After that, when a non-output job is input in step S116, the process proceeds to step S116.
Returning to step 111, it is determined again whether or not the processing has been normally completed.
Proceed to 10.

FIG. 14 is a view for explaining a memory map corresponding to the main steps of the second distributed printing program loaded on the RAM 24 shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, a step of detecting a printer abnormality, a step of creating a report indicating an error result, a step of creating an error result report, and adding an error result report to a page that has not been output An example is shown in which the process includes an output step.

According to the above-described embodiment, after the distributed printing is completed, a distributed print result report is output to clearly indicate to the user whether the distributed printing has been normally performed or what kind of error has been interrupted. , The operator can quickly take the next action. Furthermore, it is possible to specify a printer for outputting a distribution result report, and it becomes easier to perform system management of distributed printing.

Furthermore, by stopping the next job after outputting the result report and always distributing the result report at the top, the user can be notified immediately and immediately of the end of the distributed printing. Further, the user can be notified of the end of the distributed printing by automatically taking the printer offline or notifying the buzzer at the end of the distributed printing.

Further, by automatically taking the printer that has output the distributed print result report off-line or notifying the buzzer, the user can be notified of the output of the distributed print report. When a change is made, the user can be notified that a distribution error has occurred by inserting a banner page and outputting the remaining jobs.

Hereinafter, the configuration of a data processing program readable by the print control system according to the present invention will be described with reference to a memory map shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a memory map of a storage medium for storing various data processing programs which can be read by the print control system according to the present invention.

Although not shown, information for managing a group of programs stored in the storage medium, for example, version information, a creator, etc. are also stored, and information dependent on the OS or the like on the program reading side, for example, a program is stored in the storage medium. An icon or the like for identification display may also be stored.

Further, data dependent on various programs is also managed in the directory. In addition, a program for installing various programs on a computer or a program for decompressing a program to be installed when the program to be installed is compressed may be stored.

The functions shown in FIGS. 11 to 13 in this embodiment may be executed by a host computer by a program installed from the outside.
In this case, the present invention is applied even when a group of information including a program is supplied to the output device from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or an FD, or from an external storage medium via a network. Things.

As described above, the storage medium storing the program code of the software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to the system or the apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MP) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
It goes without saying that the object of the present invention is also achieved when U) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

Examples of a storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, and C
DR, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, RO
M, EEPROM and the like can be used.

The functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented when the computer executes the readout program codes, and the OS (Operating System) running on the computer is executed based on the instructions of the program codes. ) And the like perform part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0106]

As described above, the first embodiment according to the present invention is described.
According to the twenty-seventh aspect, based on the registered divided print candidates, the spooled print job is divided and output to any of the designated divided printing apparatuses, and the distributed output result of the print job is output. Based on the above, a distributed output report is created, and after the distributed output of the print job, the created distributed output report is output to any of the divided printing apparatuses. Therefore, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

(1) It is possible to provide a user-friendly system by outputting a distributed print result report indicating the result after distributed print output.

(2) Since it is possible to output a distribution result report only when the output method is not in accordance with a previously registered output method, a distribution error can be easily understood.

(3) A printer for outputting a distributed printing result report can be registered in advance, thereby facilitating the management of the distributed printing system.

(4) If the printer that outputs the distributed print result report is the same as the output printer of the distributed print job, the next job can be stopped so as not to interrupt the job between the job and the report. This facilitates the collection work of the distributed printing.

(5) After the distributed print output, the printer can be automatically off-line or a buzzer can be sounded to indicate to the user that the distributed print has been output, thereby improving the user interface.

(6) After the output of the distributed print result report, it is possible to automatically indicate that the printer has output the distributed result report by automatically turning off the printer or sounding a buzzer, thereby improving the user interface.

(7) When an error occurs during distributed output, the printer is automatically switched, an error result report is added, and a page that has not been output can be output. Notification can be made and printing can be continued without stopping.

Therefore, an optimal divided print job for which one print job is to be subjected to distributed processing is determined using a plurality of registered printing apparatus resources, and each divided print job that has been appropriately divided is registered in the plurality of registered print jobs. While automatically transferring to the printing device, the user can accurately grasp the distributed output result during the distributed printing process, so that the user can reliably collect the distributed printing result from each printing device and notify the user of the print job processing error status An excellent effect is achieved such that a print processing environment can be freely constructed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system to which an information processing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a printing system to which an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a distributed print result report output by any of the printers illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a software module configuration in each device related to the print control system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface screen displayed on a display unit when setting a distributed printer in the print control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a setting screen of a distribution algorithm displayed on the distribution printer shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a first data processing procedure in a host computer and a server configuring the print control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a second data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a third data processing procedure in the print control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a fourth example of the print control system according to the present invention.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a data processing procedure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a memory map corresponding to each step of a first distributed printing processing program loaded on the RAM shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an output state at the time of a distribution error in the distribution printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows a fifth example of the print control system according to the present invention.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a data processing procedure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a memory map corresponding to a main step of a second distributed printing processing program loaded on the RAM shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the print control system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 22 CPU 23 ROM 24 RAM 25 Image management unit 26 Job management unit 210 Image communication unit 212-214 Printer

Claims (27)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus that divides a print job and prints the print job by a plurality of printing apparatuses, wherein the registration unit registers a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job. Output control means for dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of printing devices registered by the means and distributing and outputting the divided print jobs to each printing device; Means for reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses to be printed by dividing the print job from among a plurality of printing apparatuses registered by the means; and reconstructing and distributed output by the reconstructing means. Creating means for creating a distributed output report based on the result, and after the distributed output in the plurality of printing apparatuses, the distributed output report created by the creating means. The information processing apparatus and outputs the door to one of the printing apparatus. 2. An information processing apparatus which divides a print job and performs print processing by a plurality of printing apparatuses, wherein the registration unit registers a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job. Means for dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of printing devices registered by the means, and generating print data with a printer driver corresponding to each printing device, the shared data generating means comprising: An information processing apparatus for controlling each printer driver to generate print data by adding an offline command. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein print data is generated by each printer driver corresponding to a plurality of printing apparatuses registered by said registration unit. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when print processing cannot be performed by all of the printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus to which a result report is to be output when an error occurs. 5. Spool means for spooling data output from an operating system in an intermediate data format, wherein said output control means acquires data in an intermediate data format spooled on said spool means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data is generated by using the print data. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit registers a printing apparatus to which the distributed output report is to be output.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at the time of distributed printing, print data is generated by adding an offline command. 8. A printing apparatus comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether a print job for each divided printing device registered by the registration unit has been normally output; and a normal output of the print job to each divided printing device by the determination unit. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the report cannot be output, the distributed output report created by the creating unit is output to a printing device that should output a result report when an error occurs. 9. A detection unit for monitoring a processing status of a print job distributed and output to each divided printing device by the output control unit and detecting a print job processing error, wherein the restructuring unit includes the detection unit. And reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses capable of normally outputting a print job distributed and output to each divided printing apparatus by the output control unit based on a detection result of a print job processing error. The printing control device according to the above. 10. A data processing method in an information processing apparatus that divides a print job and causes a plurality of printing apparatuses to perform print processing, the registration step of registering a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job. An output control step of dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of printing apparatuses registered in the registration step and distributing and outputting the print job to each printing apparatus; A rebuilding step of reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing devices to be printed by dividing the print job from among a plurality of printing devices registered in the registration process; Creating a distributed output report based on the result of distributed output by the plurality of printing apparatuses. Data processing method and outputting the created distributed output report to any of the printing device. 11. A data processing method in an information processing apparatus that divides a print job and causes a plurality of printing apparatuses to perform a printing process, the registration step of registering a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting the print job. And a distributed data generating step of dividing the print job to generate print data with a plurality of printers registered in the registration step and generating print data by a printer driver corresponding to each printing apparatus. In the data generation step, a data processing method is characterized in that each printer driver controls to generate print data by adding an offline command. 12. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein print data is generated by each printer driver corresponding to a plurality of printing devices registered in the registration step. 13. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein when print processing cannot be performed by all of the printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus to which a result report is to be output when an error occurs. 14. A spool process for spooling data output from an operating system in an intermediate data format, wherein said output control process acquires data in an intermediate data format spooled in said spool process. 11. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein the print data is generated by performing the following. 15. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein the registering step registers a printing device to which a distributed output report is to be output. 16. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein at the time of distributed printing, print data is generated by adding an offline command. 17. A determining step of determining whether a print job for each divided printing device registered in the registering step has been normally output, and outputting a print job for each divided printing device normally in the determining step. 11. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein if it is determined that the report cannot be output, the distributed output report created in the creating step is output to a printing device that should output a result report when an error occurs. 18. A detecting step of monitoring a processing status of a print job distributed and output to each divided printing apparatus by the output control step to detect a print job processing error, wherein the reconstructing step includes the detecting step. And reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses capable of normally outputting a print job distributed and output to each of the divided printing apparatuses by the output control step based on a detection result of a print job processing error. Data processing method described. 19. A registration step of registering a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting a print job in an information processing apparatus which divides a print job and causes a plurality of printing apparatuses to perform print processing; An output control step of dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of registered printing apparatuses and distributing and outputting the print jobs to each of the printing apparatuses; A reconstructing step of reconstructing a combination of a plurality of printing apparatuses to be printed by dividing the print job from among a plurality of registered printing apparatuses; and a result reconstructed and distributed and output by the reconstructing step. Recording a program for executing a creation process of creating a distributed output report on a computer-readable storage medium based on the After dispersing power in location, storage medium and outputs to one of printing devices distributed output report created by the creation means. 20. A registration step of registering a plurality of printing apparatuses for dividing and outputting a print job in an information processing apparatus which divides a print job and causes a plurality of printing apparatuses to perform a printing process; A computer-readable program for dividing the print job so as to print on a plurality of registered printing apparatuses and executing a distributed data generating step of generating print data with a printer driver corresponding to each printing apparatus. A storage medium recorded on a storage medium, wherein the distributed data generation step controls each printer driver to generate print data by adding an offline command. 21. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein print data is generated by each printer driver corresponding to a plurality of printing devices registered in the registration step. 22. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein, when print processing cannot be performed by all the printing apparatuses, the fact is output to a printing apparatus to which a result report is to be output when an error occurs. 23. A spool process for spooling data output from the operating system in an intermediate data format, wherein the output control process acquires data in the intermediate data format spooled in the spool process. 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the print data is generated by performing the following. 24. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein said registering step registers a printing device to which a distributed output report is to be output. 25. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein at the time of distributed printing, print data is generated by adding an offline command. 26. A computer-readable storage program for causing the information processing apparatus to execute a determination step of determining whether a print job for each divided printing apparatus registered in the registration step has been normally output. Recording on a medium, and when it is determined in the determination step that the print job for each divided printing device cannot be output normally, the distributed output report created in the creation process is output to a printing device that should output a result report when an error occurs 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein: 27. A computer-readable storage program for executing a detection step of monitoring a processing status of a print job distributed and output to each divided printing apparatus by the output control step and detecting a print job processing error. A plurality of printing apparatuses capable of normally outputting a print job distributed to each divided printing apparatus by the output control step based on a detection result of a print job processing error by the detection step; 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the combination is reconstructed.