JP2001282494A - Printing processing system and printing processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing processing system and a printing processing method by which the processing speed of the whole system is improved by effectively utilizing network resources. SOLUTION: The printing processing system for performing rasterizing processing by plural arithmetic processing units(APUs) 2 on a network and outputting the result of the processing by using one or more printing processors on the network is provided with a capacity information management part 6 for managing the processing capacity and current processing states of the APUs 2, the transfer capacity of the network and a current transfer state, a printing job division part 5 for dividing a printing job on the basis of contents managed by the management part 6, a transfer part 7 for transferring the divided printing jobs to plural APUs 2, and a rasterizing processing part 8 for performing the rasterizing processing by the APUs 2 to which the divided printing jobs are transferred. The system is provided also with a pixel synthesis part 13 for synthesizing rasterized divided pixel information as the pixel information of each page and an output control part 14 for controlling the output of the synthesized pixel information of each page.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print processing system and a print processing method, and more particularly, to a rasterization process for obtaining pixel information for printing from a page description language describing a print job. The present invention relates to a print processing system and a print processing method which are performed by a processing device and output using one or more print processing devices on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of digital print processing apparatuses and the like, print control using a page description language has been performed. This page description language is
Character information, graphic information, and the like can be treated equally, and control such as enlargement, rotation, or deformation of the character or graphic can be freely performed.

In a print processing apparatus using the above-described page description language, it is necessary to convert the page description language into print pixels and output the print pixels. This conversion processing is called rasterization processing. In order to realize this rasterization processing by software, it takes a long time to perform the processing. Therefore, it is required to increase the processing speed and to reduce the load on an arithmetic processing unit that performs the rasterization processing as much as possible.

Therefore, with the recent progress of networking, a plurality of personal computers (arithmetic processing units) and printers (print processing units) are connected to a network such as a LAN (local area network). In such a case, they are frequently used as one of the network resources. As described above, various print processing systems and printers that improve the processing speed of a printer by efficiently using network resources have been proposed.

For example, a "print processing system" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-218763 divides a page of a print job, performs rasterization processing by a plurality of arithmetic processing units, and prints the rasterized print pixels. The information was collected efficiently.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-282115 discloses a "printer apparatus and printing method" which includes a host for analyzing a print job, a host for rasterizing, a host for storing rasterized print pixel information, and the like. By distributing the hosts for each processing, high printing performance is realized without imposing an extra load on the network.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional print processing system or printer, in the case of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-218763, when a print job is divided, a page is also divided. In addition to the division technology, the print job is not divided based on the processing capacity of the arithmetic processing unit or the network, or the current processing status thereof, so that efficient print processing cannot always be performed. was there.

The same applies to the case of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-282115. The print job is divided in consideration of the arithmetic processing units on the network, the processing capabilities of the network, or their current processing status. Therefore, there is a problem that efficient print processing suitable for each network situation cannot be performed.

[0009] For example, in a large office or the like, everyone wants to print using a nearby printer, but if rasterization processing and printing processing are concentrated on one machine, the processing speed is reduced, and network resources are reduced. It cannot be used efficiently.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances. A print job is created based on the processing capabilities of a plurality of processing units on a network and the current processing status, and the transfer capabilities of the network and the current transfer status. Provided is a print processing system and a print processing method capable of effectively using network resources and increasing the processing speed of the entire system by combining pixel information that has been dispersed and rasterized and output from the print processing apparatus. The purpose is to do.

[0011]

According to an aspect of the present invention, a rasterizing process for obtaining pixel information for printing from a page description language describing a print job is performed on a plurality of networks. Performed by an arithmetic processing unit,
In a print processing system that outputs using one or more print processing devices on a network, a capability information management unit that manages a processing capability and a current processing status of the arithmetic processing device, and a transfer capability and a current transfer status of the network. A print job dividing unit for efficiently dividing a print job based on the capability information managing unit; and a print job transferring unit for transferring the print job divided by the print job dividing unit to the plurality of processing units. Rasterization processing means for performing rasterization processing in the transferred arithmetic processing device, pixel synthesis means for synthesizing the rasterized divided pixel information into pixel information in page units, and page units synthesized by the pixel synthesis means. And output control means for controlling the pixel information to be output.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the capacity information management means manages the processing capacity of the arithmetic processing unit and the current processing status, and the network transfer capacity and the current transfer state, and the print job dividing means controls the capacity. The print job is divided into efficient print jobs based on the information management unit, the print job divided by the print job transfer unit is transferred to a plurality of processing units, and the rasterized processing unit of the transferred processing unit performs rasterization processing, The divided pixel information that has been rasterized by the pixel synthesizing unit is synthesized into pixel information in page units, and the output control unit is controlled to print out the pixel information in page units synthesized. In this way, the current processing capacity and processing status of the network resources are grasped, the print jobs are dispersed based on this, and the time-consuming rasterization processing is efficiently processed in parallel, so that the network resources are effectively used. And the processing speed of the entire system can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the print processing system according to the first aspect, when priority is given to functions such as print speed and image quality without designating a specific print processing apparatus, the print job dividing means includes: A printer selection unit for selecting a print processing device capable of efficiently outputting based on the processing capability and the current processing status of the arithmetic processing device, the transfer capability of the network and the current transfer status, and the presence or absence of a priority function; It is characterized by having.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the print job dividing means determines the processing capability of the arithmetic processing unit and the current processing status, the transfer capability of the network and the current transfer status, and the presence or absence of a priority function. Printer selection means for selecting a print processing device that can output data efficiently and efficiently.If priority is given to functions such as print speed and image quality without specifying the print processing device, a print processing device that satisfies the function is selected. Output.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the print processing system according to the first aspect, when printing a plurality of copies without designating a specific print processing apparatus, the print job dividing means includes A print distribution unit for efficiently distributing and printing to a plurality of print processing apparatuses on the network based on the processing capacity and the current processing status, and the network transfer capacity and the current transfer state; Notification means for notifying the user of the printing status of the processing device;
Is further provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the print job dividing means prints a plurality of copies based on the processing capability of the arithmetic processing unit and the current processing status, and the transfer capability of the network and the current transfer status. A print distribution unit for efficiently distributing and printing the data to a plurality of print processing apparatuses, and a notification unit for notifying a user of the printing status, so that a plurality of copies can be printed efficiently and quickly. Since it is possible for the user to determine whether the print processing is being performed using the print processing apparatus, it is possible to efficiently collect the print data.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of arithmetic processing units on a network perform rasterization processing for obtaining pixel information for printing from a page description language describing a print job, and perform one or more printing processes on the network. In a print processing method for outputting using a processing device, a step of acquiring the processing capability and the current processing status of the arithmetic processing device, and the transfer capability and the current transfer status of the network, and the efficiency based on the acquired information. A step of dividing a good print job, a step of transferring the divided print job to the plurality of processing units, a step of performing rasterization processing in each of the transfer destination processing units, and information of the rasterized divided pixel. And a step of outputting the combined page-by-page pixel information. The features.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the processing capability of the arithmetic processing unit and the current processing status, and the transfer capability of the network and the current transfer status are acquired, and an efficient print job is obtained based on the acquired information. Then, the divided print job is transferred to a plurality of processing units, rasterized by the transfer destination processing unit, and the divided pixel information is combined with pixel information on a page basis and output. As a result, network resources can be effectively used, and the processing speed of the entire system can be improved.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram illustrating a print processing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a print processing system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of arithmetic processing devices 2a, 2b, 2c including personal computers and the like, and print processing devices 3a, 3b including one or more printer devices. Are connected via a network 4 such as a LAN, and can be shared and used as network resources.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the arithmetic processing unit 2 and the print processing unit 3 in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the arithmetic processing unit 2 includes a print job dividing unit 5 as a print job dividing unit, a capability information managing unit 6 as a capability information managing unit, a transfer unit 7 including a print job transferring unit, a rasterizing process. The image processing apparatus includes a rasterizing processing unit 8 as a unit, a pixel synthesizing unit 9 as a pixel synthesizing unit, and the like. In the present embodiment, the print job division unit 5 includes a printer selection unit 10 as a printer selection unit, a print distribution unit 11 as a print distribution unit, a notification unit 12 as a notification unit, and the like. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this configuration.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Includes a pixel synthesizing unit 13 as a pixel synthesizing unit, an output control unit 14 as an output control unit, and a printer 15 which is controlled by the output control unit 14 and outputs pixel information.

When a print job, which is a program for performing printing, is input to the arithmetic processing unit 2, the print job dividing unit 5 divides the print job into several parts. In the present embodiment, the criteria for dividing the print job are based on the processing capabilities of the plurality of processing units 2 on the network 4 and the current processing status, and the transfer capabilities of the network 4 and the current transfer status. , So that the most efficient processing is performed. The capability information of the network resource used as the division criterion is constantly collected and managed via the network 4 in the capability information management unit 6 described later.

The capability information management unit 6 provides a reference for division in the print job division unit 5 described above.
The capability information of the network resources is constantly collected and managed via the network 4.

The transfer unit 7 transfers the print job divided by the print job dividing unit 5 to a desired arithmetic processing unit, and converts a print job divided and transferred by another arithmetic processing unit into a rasterizing process to be described later. Transfer to part 8
The divided pixel information rasterized by the rasterizing unit 8 is transferred to the pixel synthesizing unit of another arithmetic processing unit or the pixel synthesizing unit 13 of the print processing unit, or the divided pixel information rasterized by another arithmetic processing unit is processed. Is transferred to the pixel synthesizing unit 9 described later, or the pixel information synthesized by the pixel synthesizing unit 9 is transferred to the output control unit 14 of the print processing apparatus 3.

The rasterizing section 8 performs a rasterizing process for converting a page description language describing a print job into pixel information for printing. The pixel synthesizing unit 9 synthesizes the divided pixel information subjected to the rasterizing processing by the rasterizing processing units 8 in the plurality of arithmetic processing devices into pixel information for each page.

When priority is given to functions such as printing speed and image quality without designating a print processing device, the printer selection unit 10 provides the processing capability of the arithmetic processing device from the capability information management unit 6 and the current processing status, network The print processing apparatus that can output the data with the highest efficiency is selected based on the transfer capability, the current transfer state, and the presence or absence of a function to be prioritized.

When printing a plurality of copies without specifying a print processing device, the print distribution unit 11 determines the processing capability of the arithmetic processing device from the capability information management unit 6 and the current processing status, and the transfer capability of the network. Based on the current transfer state, a plurality of print processing apparatuses on the network are distributed most efficiently to perform printing. The notification unit 12 notifies the user of the printing status in which the printing is performed by the print processing units and distributed by the print distribution unit 11. As the notification means, it is conceivable to display the printing status on the monitor screen of the arithmetic processing unit to notify the user.

The pixel synthesizing section 13 is provided on the print processing apparatus 3 side and has the same function as that of the pixel synthesizing section 9 of the arithmetic processing apparatus 2 described above. This is combined with pixel information on a page basis. In the present embodiment, the pixel synthesis processing for synthesizing the divided pixel information into the pixel information in page units can be performed by either the arithmetic processing device 2 or the print processing device 3. However, at least one of them is sufficient. The output control unit 14 controls the output to the printer 15 that prints the pixel information in page units synthesized by one of the pixel synthesis units 9 and 13.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the print processing system according to the present embodiment. Here, there is a print instruction from the user of the arithmetic processing device 2a in FIG. 1, and the input print job is divided into other arithmetic processing devices 2b and 2c and rasterized, and the rasterized processing is performed by the pixel synthesis of the print processing device 3a. It is assumed that the print processing is performed by combining the print data and the print data.

First, the process is started, and if there is no print instruction, the process waits until there is a print instruction (step S1). As shown in FIG. 2, when a print job is input to the arithmetic processing device 2 and a print instruction is issued, the process proceeds to step S2, and the print job dividing unit 5 sends the print job division unit 5 Obtain information on processing capacity and current processing status. In step S3, the print job dividing unit 5 acquires information on the transfer capability of the network 4 and the current transfer status from the capability information management unit 6.

The print job division unit 5 divides the print job based on the information acquired from the capability information management unit 6 so as to perform the most efficient processing (step S4). The divided print job is transferred to the plurality of processing units 2b and 2c via the transfer unit 7 (Step S).
5). Then, the transferred rasterization processing units 2b and 2c respectively perform rasterization processing in the rasterization processing units 2b and 2c (step S6). The converted divided pixel information is transmitted to the pixel synthesis unit 13 of the print processing device 3a via the transfer unit.
And the combining process is performed in page units (steps S7 and S8).

Here, when a function is given priority without designating a print processing apparatus, a print processing apparatus suitable for the function is selected by the printer selection unit 10 (step S).
8). In that case, the pixel synthesis is performed by the pixel synthesis unit 9 on the arithmetic processing device side, and then transferred to the selected print processing device (step S9). In the transfer destination print processing device 3a,
Output control is performed by the output control unit 14 and the printer 15
The printing process is performed from (step S10).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, network resources can be effectively used, and the processing speed of the entire system can be improved.
If priority is given to functions such as print speed and image quality without specifying a print processing device, it is possible to select and print a print processing device that satisfies the function, and to print multiple copies efficiently and quickly Since the user can know which print processing apparatus is performing the print processing, the user can efficiently collect the print data.

[0034]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, network resources can be effectively used.
The processing speed of the entire system can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when functions such as printing speed and image quality are prioritized without specifying a print processing apparatus,
A print processing device that satisfies the function can be selected and printed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a plurality of copies can be printed efficiently and promptly, and the user can know which print processing apparatus is performing the printing process. can do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, network resources can be effectively used, and the processing speed of the entire system can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram illustrating a print processing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an arithmetic processing device and a print processing device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in the print processing system according to the exemplary embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print processing system 2, 2a, 2b, 2c Arithmetic processing unit 3, 3a, 3b Print processing unit 4 Network 5 Print job division unit 6 Performance information management unit 7 Transfer unit 8 Rasterization processing unit 9 Pixel synthesis unit 10 Printer selection unit 11 Print dispersion unit 12 Notification unit 13 Pixel synthesis unit 14 Output control unit 15 Printer

Claims (4)

[Claims] A rasterization process for obtaining pixel information for printing from a page description language describing a print job is performed by a plurality of arithmetic processing devices on a network, and output using one or more print processing devices on the network. A print information processing system, comprising: a capacity information management unit that manages the processing capacity and the current processing status of the arithmetic processing unit and the transfer capacity and the current transfer state of a network; and efficient printing based on the capacity information management unit. A print job dividing unit for dividing the job, a print job transfer unit for transferring the print job divided by the print job dividing unit to the plurality of processing units, and performing the rasterization process by the transferred processing unit Rasterization processing means, and a pixel synthesis unit for synthesizing the rasterized divided pixel information into pixel information for each page. Print processing system characterized in that it comprises a means, and an output control means for controlling to output the pixel information of the synthesized page unit by the pixel composition means. 2. When priority is given to functions such as printing speed and image quality without designating a specific print processing device, the print job dividing means includes a processing capability of the arithmetic processing device, a current processing status, and network transfer. 2. The print processing according to claim 1, further comprising a printer selection unit that selects a print processing apparatus that can output efficiently based on the capability, the current transfer state, and the presence or absence of a priority function. system. 3. When printing a plurality of copies without designating a specific print processing device, the print job dividing means includes a processing capability of the arithmetic processing device and a current processing status, and a transfer capability of a network and a current processing capability. A print distribution unit that efficiently distributes and prints to a plurality of print processing devices on the network based on the transfer state; and a notification unit that notifies a user of a print status of the print processing device that has performed printing. The print processing system according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. A rasterization process for obtaining pixel information for printing from a page description language describing a print job is performed by a plurality of arithmetic processing devices on a network, and output using one or more print processing devices on the network. Acquiring a processing capability and a current processing status of the arithmetic processing device, and a transfer capability and a current transfer status of a network; and dividing an efficient print job based on the acquired information. Performing the step of transferring the divided print job to the plurality of processing units; performing a rasterization process in the transfer destination processing unit; and converting the rasterized divided pixel information into pixel information in units of pages. And a step of outputting the combined pixel information on a page basis. Processing method.