JP2002032199A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system for more minutely and precisely performing charging by considering the use amount of toner. SOLUTION: On a printing client device A, printing data is generated in accordance with a prescribed condition and data is transferred to a printer device 20 through a network 10 so as to print data. The printer device 20 receiving a printing request analyzes a printing condition and updates charging data. In the case of figure 7, printing date/time and printer name: printer A, used paper size: A4, the number of printed sheets: 10 used toner: black, printing density: +20% and a printing reduction rate: standard are recorded. When charging is performed, it is calculated by the unit price of paper size × the number of printed sheets × used toner printing density × reduction rate. When designated printing density is lower than standard printing, a printer device side reduced a charging rate a little. Thus, charging is performed in accordance with the use amount of toner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system in which a plurality of printers or digital copiers are connected to a network and charging for printing on these devices is performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of IT technology, it has been widely practiced to connect a plurality of printers via a network and share and use them as one of network resources in order to increase efficiency of business processing. On the other hand, there is also a charge for collecting a predetermined fee for printing using this printer. However, in order for printer users to pay a fair fee, it is necessary to use toner. It is desirable to finely change the charging rate according to the amount. For example, see JP-A-11-15
According to the invention described in Japanese Patent No. 7179, a communication processing procedure with an external device is included in job data together with image forming data, and image formation is controlled based on a result of communication with the external device in accordance with the job data communication procedure. It is like that. For this reason, it is possible to communicate information related to print output, user information, and the like with other external devices. For example, connection with an accounting management device that performs accounting management based on the usage status of image processing for each user. By doing so, it is possible to charge for each user who has performed image formation. In the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-249836, an independent accounting server is provided separately from the conventional print server, and this accounting server performs centralized accounting for print processing.

[0003]

By the way, as described above,
JP-A-11-157179, JP-A-11-249
In the invention described in Japanese Patent No. 836, when charging for printing, charging is performed based on the size of paper used and the number of printed sheets. However, until charging is finely performed according to the amount of toner used, Not supposed. for that reason,
Even when the print density of the document to be printed is reduced by test printing for checking the layout or the like, the same charge as in normal printing has been charged. In this case, the printer prints normally without lowering the printing density, and loses the motivation to save toner and use it.As a result, the printer uses more toner than necessary. There was a problem that would.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of performing finer and more accurate billing in consideration of the amount of toner used. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a printing system capable of appropriately coping with a situation where the remaining amount of toner is low.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print system which is connected to one or more client devices via a network and performs print processing in response to a request from the client device. Print data receiving means for receiving data; printing means for printing the print data received by the print data receiving means; density designation receiving means for receiving a print density from the client device when printing with the printing means; When printing is performed by the printing unit, the printing unit includes a charging unit that performs charging according to the number of printed sheets and the paper size.When the charging unit performs charging, charging is performed in proportion to the amount of toner used. The first object is achieved by billing according to the print density designated by the density designation receiving means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a reduced print designation receiving means for receiving a reduced print designation from the client device, and the toner used when the accounting means performs accounting. In order to perform charging in proportion to the amount of the printing, the charging is performed in accordance with the reduction ratio specified by the reduced printing designation receiving means. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving a message to / from the client device, and a toner remaining amount detecting unit for detecting a remaining amount of toner. When the toner remaining amount detecting unit detects that a sufficient amount of toner does not remain to print the print data, the transmitting / receiving unit transmits a message to lower the print density, and receives the density designation reception. When the means is instructed to lower the print density, the printing means performs printing at the density to achieve the second object.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, a toner remaining amount detecting means for detecting a remaining amount of toner, and a toner remaining amount detected by the toner remaining amount detecting means. A printable sheet number detecting means for calculating a printable sheet number, and further comprising, when the toner remaining amount detecting means detects that the toner remaining amount is low,
When the possible number of prints detecting means determines that printing cannot be completed at the print density, the print density is automatically lowered so that printing of all the predetermined print data can be completed, and the billing means also reduces the toner usage of the reduced print density. The second object is attained by charging the user according to.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. Figure 1
1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a print system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the system includes a plurality of print client devices A and B and a printer device 20 connected to a network 10. Here, the user at the client device A is the user A, and the user at the client device B is the user B.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a print client device, which includes a print density setting function, a reduced print setting function, a print density change request transmission function, a message reception function,
It has a received message display function, print data creation function, and print data transfer function. FIG. 3 shows the printer device 20.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing condition analysis function, a billing data management function, a print data reception function, a remaining toner amount detection function, a remaining print number calculation function, a print data accumulation function, a message transmission function, and a printing function. It has a density change request reception function.

First, a first embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the print client apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the printer apparatus processing. First, as shown in FIG. 4, when user A instructs to start printing from client device A (step 10), a printing condition setting screen is displayed (step 11) (step 12). Then, the user A sets conditions such as print density and reduction designation, and executes printing. Then, the client device A:
The print data is created (step 13), the print data is transmitted to the printer device 20 via the network 10, and printing is performed.

On the other hand, the printer device 20 executes processing according to the flowchart of FIG. When a print request is received from the client device (step 30), print data is received and stored (step 31). Here, the remaining amount of toner is detected by the toner remaining amount detection function (step 32).
If the remaining amount of toner is not small, that is, if there is sufficient toner (step 33; N), printing is executed (step 40). On the other hand, when the remaining amount of toner is small (Step 33; Y), it is determined whether or not printing is possible (Step 3).
4). If printing is not possible (step 34; N), the printable density is calculated and set to that density (step 3).
6). The change of the print density is notified to the client device, and if the consent is obtained, printing is executed (step 40). If printing is possible (Step 34; Y), the fact that the remaining amount of toner is small is transmitted to the client device by the message transmission function (Step 35). When the print density change request is received (step 38), the print density is changed (step 39), and printing is executed (step 4).
0). Thereafter, the charging data is updated by the charging data management function (step 41).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a message indicating that the remaining amount of toner is low is received from the printer device 20. When a message indicating that the remaining toner amount is low is received (step 20), the fact is displayed on the screen to notify the user. Then, a print density change screen is displayed, and when the user (printer) specifies the density (step 22), a print density change request is transmitted (step 23). Thereafter, a message indicating that the print density has been changed and printing has been performed is received (step 24), and a message to that effect is displayed on the screen to inform the user (step 25).

The billing data management format used in the first embodiment has a format as shown in FIG. 10, and the billing data for each used paper size and toner has a format as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. I have.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of this embodiment. First, the user A starts printing from the print client device A. At this time, it is assumed that the use paper size is A4, the print density is + 20%, the number of printed pages is 10, and the use toner is black. The print client device A creates print data in accordance with the conditions, transfers the data to the printer device 20 via the network 10, and performs printing. Upon receiving the print request, the printer device 20 analyzes the printing conditions and updates the accounting data in FIG. In this case, the print date and time and the print name: printer A, the paper size used: A4, the number of printed sheets: 10, the used toner: black, the print density: + 20%, and the print reduction rate: standard are recorded. When billing is actually performed, the calculation is performed by the unit price of the paper size × the number of printed sheets × the used toner × the printing density × the reduction ratio. In this example, $ 15 x 10 sheets x 1.00 x 1.20 x
1.00 = ￥ 180. In this embodiment, if the designated printing density is lower than the standard printing, the charging rate is slightly reduced on the printer device side. Conversely, if the print density is high,
The billing rate can be increased, and billing can be performed according to the amount of toner used.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. Also in this embodiment, the print client device B executes the processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, and the printer device 20 executes the processing according to the flowchart of FIG. The billing data management format is the format shown in FIG. 10, and the billing data for each used paper size and toner is shown in FIGS.
2 format. First, the user B starts printing from the print client device B. At this time, the used paper size is A4, the print density is standard, the number of printed pages is 5, the used toner is black, and the print reduction ratio is 7
It is assumed that printing is specified at 1%. On the print client device B, print data is created in accordance with these conditions, the data is transferred to the printer device 20, and printing is performed. Upon receiving the print request, the printer analyzes the print conditions and updates the accounting data in FIG. In this case, the print date and time and the print name: printer B, paper size used: A4, the number of printed sheets: 5, toner used: black, print density: standard,
Print reduction ratio: 71% is recorded. In this example, $ 15
× 5 sheets × 1.00 × 1.00 × 0.71 = ￥ 53.25 In this embodiment, it is checked whether or not reduced printing is designated, and if so, the operation is performed so as to reduce the charging rate in consideration of the amount of toner used in accordance with the designation.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. The print client device A follows the flowchart of FIG.
The printer device executes processing according to the flowchart of FIG. The billing data management format has a format as shown in FIG. 10, and the billing data for each used paper size and toner has a format as shown in FIGS. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of this embodiment. First, the user A starts printing from the print client device A. At this time, the paper size used is A3, the printing density is standard, the number of printed pages is 1
It is assumed that 0 sheets, the toner used is black, and the print reduction ratio: printing is specified as standard. The print client device A creates print data according to the conditions, transfers the data to the printer device 20, and performs printing. At this time, it is assumed that the printer 20 that has received the print request has a small amount of remaining toner. The printer device 20 transmits a message to the client device A to notify that the toner is running low (see step 35 in FIG. 6). Upon receiving this, the client device A displays on the screen that the toner is running low and notifies the printer A.

The display indicates that the amount of remaining toner is very small, and allows setting of print density. The printer A can issue an instruction to continue printing without changing the print density, or can print at a lower print density (see step 38 in FIG. 6). Here, it is assumed that the print density is changed to -20% (FIG. 6, step 3).
9). From print client device A to printer device 2
0, a print density change request is transmitted to the printer device 20.
Prints at the density of -20% set in this request. When printing is performed with the print density lowered, the number of printable sheets in the printer device 20 increases, and the charge of the printer A also decreases. In the billing data, the print date and time and the print name: printer A, paper size used: A3, the number of printed sheets: 10, toner used: black, print density: -20%, and print reduction ratio: standard are recorded. . In this example, $ 20 × 1
0 sheets × 1.00 × 0.80 × 1.00 = ￥ 160.
In this embodiment, when the remaining amount of toner is low, a message is sent to the printer to request that the print density be reduced, if possible, so that the number of printable sheets in the printer device can be increased. And In that case, the billing rate is reduced more than usual, thereby promoting the reduction of the print density.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The print client device A executes the processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, and the printer device executes the process according to the flowchart of FIG. The billing data management format has a format as shown in FIG. 10, and the billing data for each used paper size and toner has a format as shown in FIGS. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of this embodiment. First, the printer A starts printing from the print client device A. At this time, the paper size to be used is A4, the printing density is standard, and the number of printed pages is 200.
It is assumed that printing is specified by the number of sheets, the toner used is black, and the print reduction ratio: standard. On the print client device A, print data is created according to these conditions, and the data is
0 and print. At this time, it is assumed that the printer 20 that has received the print request has a small amount of remaining toner. Therefore, in the printer device 20,
The remaining number of prints calculation function calculates how many subsequent prints can be made from the remaining amount of toner.

In this case, if it is possible to print the remaining 100 sheets, it is impossible to print 200 sheets of the print request.
Therefore, the printer device 20 automatically changes the print density to 50% to complete printing, and performs printing (FIG. 6,
See step 36). For client device A,
A message is transmitted to change the print density to 50% to indicate that printing has been performed (step 37). When the client device A receives this message, it displays it on the screen to notify the printer A. The billing data includes the print date and time and the print name: printer A, paper size used: A4, the number of printed sheets: 200, toner used: black, print density: -50%,
Print reduction ratio: Recorded as standard. In this example, $ 15x
200 sheets × 1.00 × 0.50 × 1.00 = ￥ 1500. In this embodiment, when the remaining amount of toner in the printer device is low and toner is insufficient to print all pages of the requested print data, the printer device
The print density is appropriately reduced so that all requested print data can be printed.

In FIG. 1, a front end PC and a printer are described as printer devices. However, there is no problem even in the case of a single printer in which the function of the front end PC is provided in the printer.

[0019]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, when a print density is specified or a print reduction is specified, the amount of toner used in accordance with the specification is taken into account, so that fine accounting can be performed. Can be performed. In addition, for example, when performing test printing such as for checking the layout of a document, the print density can be lowered, and therefore, when such printing is performed, the charge can be reduced. This is also effective in reducing the total amount of toner used.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the remaining amount of toner becomes small, the printer is informed of it and, if possible, lowers the print density, thereby enabling the number of printable sheets in the printer apparatus. Can be increased. As a result, it is possible to prevent wasteful use of toner and to increase the operation time of the printer device.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the remaining amount of toner is very small and the amount of toner is low enough to complete the desired printing, the printing is normally interrupted in the middle. By automatically changing the print density so that printing can be performed to the end by the printer device, printing can be completed without interruption. The printer does not need to take extra time such as replacing toner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print client device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of print client apparatus processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of print client device processing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printer device process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation sequence according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print accounting data management format.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a unit price for each printing paper size.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a coefficient at the time of charging according to the type of toner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 network 20 printer device

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A print system connected to one or more client devices via a network and performing print processing in response to a request from the client device, a print data receiving means for receiving print data from the client device; A printing unit that prints the print data received by the data receiving unit; a density designation receiving unit that receives designation of a print density when printing by the printing unit from a client device; and a printing number when printing is performed by the printing unit. A charging unit for performing charging in accordance with the paper size. When the charging unit performs charging, charging is performed in proportion to the amount of toner used. A print system, wherein billing is performed according to the bill. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a reduced print designation receiving unit for receiving a reduced print designation from a client device, wherein the charging unit charges when proportionally proportional to the amount of toner used. 2. The print system according to claim 1, wherein billing is performed in accordance with the reduction ratio specified by the means. A transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a message to / from the client device; and a toner remaining amount detecting means for detecting a remaining amount of toner, wherein the toner remaining amount detecting means prints the print data. , When it is detected that there is not enough toner remaining,
The transmission / reception unit transmits a message to lower the print density, and when the density designation receiving unit receives a designation to lower the print density, the printing unit performs printing at the density. The printing system according to claim 1 or 2. 4. A toner remaining amount detecting means for detecting a remaining amount of toner, and a possible printed number detecting means for calculating a printable number of sheets from the remaining amount of toner detected by the remaining toner amount detecting means, further comprising: When the remaining amount detecting unit detects that the remaining amount of toner is low, when the possible number of prints detecting unit determines that the printing cannot be completed at the print density, the printing of all the predetermined print data can be completed. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the print density is automatically reduced, and the charging means also performs charging in accordance with the amount of toner used at the lowered print density.
Alternatively, the print system according to claim 2.