JP2002244824A - Printing job managing server, method of managing printing job, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing job managing server for efficiently printing a printing material in a printer. SOLUTION: The printing job managing server is for managing a printing job to be printed in a printer, and is provided with a recognition part, a print judging part, a browsing information preparing part, and a browsing information holding part. The recognition part recognizes a destination to provide a printed material by the printing job, and the print judging part judges whether the destination wants to have the printed material printed or not. The browsing information preparing part prepares browsing information with the same contents as those to be printed in the printed material in the format to be browsed at the destination. The browsing information holding part stores the prepared browsing information when the print judging part judges that the destination doesn't want to have the printed material printed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a print job management server, a print job management method, and a program.
In particular, the present invention relates to a print job management server that manages a print job to be printed on a printer, a print job management method, and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the Internet has spread and various types of information have been transmitted and received. As a result, information that has been distributed as print documents until now has been increasingly distributed via the Internet.

[0003]

However, information can be easily distributed via the Internet, and the receiving side receives all necessary information and unnecessary information. There has been a problem that the processing is troublesome.

[0004] In addition, information to be managed as printed matter and information to be managed as electronic documents have been mixed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a print job management system and a program which can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print job management server for managing a print job to be printed on a printer, wherein the print job management server is configured to execute the print job when the print job occurs. A recognition unit for recognizing a destination to which a printed matter to be provided by a job is to be provided; a print determining unit for determining whether or not the provided destination requests printing of the printed matter; The browsing information generating unit that generates browsing information in a form that can be browsed at the providing destination, and the print determining unit determines that the providing destination does not request to print the printed matter. A browsing information holding unit that holds the generated browsing information.

[0007] The information processing apparatus may further include an authority granting unit that gives the authority to browse the browsing information at the provider. The browsing information holding unit may hold the browsing information in the providing destination terminal.

[0008] The information processing apparatus may further include a notifying unit for notifying that the browsing information has been stored in the providing destination.

[0009] The image processing apparatus may further include a receiving unit that receives a print request from the providing destination indicating that the printing of the printed matter is requested, and the print determining unit determines that the providing destination is based on the print request. It may be determined whether or not a request to print a printed matter is made.

[0010] The print job management server manages print jobs of a plurality of prints, the print request indicates which print is requested to be printed, and when the receiving unit receives the print request, the print request is received. The determination unit may determine, based on the print request, which print product the destination should request to print.

[0011] The print job management server may be capable of communicating with a plurality of destinations via a network. The image processing apparatus may further include a print request database that stores a print request indicating a request to print the printed matter in association with providing destination identification information for identifying the plurality of providing destinations. The print determining unit may determine whether the destination requests printing of the printed matter based on the destination and the print request stored in the print request database.

The print job management server may manage print jobs of a plurality of prints. The print request database further stores the print request so that it is possible to recognize which printed matter is to be printed, and the print determination unit determines that the providing destination is based on the print request stored in the print request database. It may be determined which printed matter is requested to be printed.

[0013] The print job management server may manage the printing of information provided from a plurality of sources that provide the content to be printed on the printed matter. The information processing apparatus may further include a print request database that stores provider identification information for identifying the provider of the printed matter in association with the printed matter identification information indicating the printed matter. The print determination unit may determine, based on the provider of the printed matter, whether the destination requests printing of the printed matter.

[0014] The print request database may store the print request in advance so that the order in which the printed matter is printed can be recognized. The image processing apparatus may further include a print command unit configured to print the plurality of prints in accordance with an order stored in the print request database when the plurality of print requests are received from the providing destination.

[0015] When a plurality of the print jobs are generated and the receiving unit receives the print requests for each of the plurality of printed materials from the providing destination, the print request database receives the plurality of the print requests. The order in which they are performed may be stored in a recognizable manner. The printing apparatus may further include a print command unit that causes the providing destination to print the plurality of printed matters in accordance with the order stored in the print request database when the providing destination requests printing of the plurality of printed matters again. .

[0016] The receiving unit may receive the print request from a plurality of destinations via a network. A printer table for storing printer identification information for identifying a printer on which the printed matter is to be printed, in association with the destination identification information for identifying the destination, and the receiving unit providing one of the plurality of destinations The printer table may further include a print command unit that causes the printer associated with the one destination to print the printed matter when the print request is received from the beginning.

The printer table further stores printer identification information so that it is possible to recognize which printed matter is to be printed, and the receiving unit transmits the print request from one of the plurality of destinations. The print command unit, when received, may cause the printer associated with the one destination and the printed material in the printer table to print the printed material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print job management method for managing a print job to be printed on a printer, wherein when the print job is generated, a printed material based on the print job is provided. A recognition step of recognizing a destination, a print determination step of determining whether the providing destination requests printing of the printed material, and a content equivalent to the content to be printed on the printed material, A browsing information generating step of generating browsing information in a form that can be browsed in advance, and the browsing generated when the print determining unit determines that the provider does not request to print the printed matter. Browsing information holding step of holding information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program for managing a print job to be printed on a printer, wherein, when the print job is generated, a destination to which a print according to the print job is to be provided A recognition module for recognizing the print destination, a print determination module for determining whether or not the providing destination requests printing of the printed matter, and a content equivalent to the content to be printed on the printed matter, A browsing information generating module that generates browsing information in a browsable form, and the browsing information generated when the print determining unit determines that the providing destination does not request to print the printed matter. And a holding module that causes the browsing information holding unit to hold the information.

The above summary of the present invention does not list all of the necessary features of the present invention, and a sub-combination of these features may also be an invention.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the present invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention and have the features described in the embodiments. Not all combinations are essential to the solution of the invention.

The "print determination unit" in the embodiment is described.
Has the functions of the “recognition unit” and the “print determination unit” described in the claims, and the “authorization unit” in the embodiment.
Has the functions of an “authorization unit” and a “notification unit” described in the claims. The “print request database” in the embodiment has the functions of the “print request database” and “printer table” described in the claims.

FIG. 1 shows a print job management system.
The print job management system includes the print job management server 10
0, an output system 200 for outputting browsing information provided by the print job management server 100 to a user or the like, a securities trading market 210 for trading securities,
System 220 for conducting a transaction with a customer terminal via the
And a sales support system 230 that supports securities transactions with the user.

The print job management server 100 in the present embodiment manages a print job when printing securities information on securities on a printer. The print job management server 100 is connected to the securities market 210 and the trading system 220 via a network such as the Internet 10, for example.
Communicate with the sales support system 230.

As another example, the print job management server 1
00 is the transaction system 220 and the sales support system 23
0 may be communicated via a LAN (Local Area Network).

The print job management server 100 receives securities information relating to the price of securities traded in the securities exchange market 210. The print job management server 100 also receives securities transaction information on securities traded in the transaction system 220 and the sales support system. The print job management system 100 processes the received securities information and securities transaction information, and generates information to be provided to an individual user or a company as browsing information that can be viewed at the providing destination. The print job management server 100 holds the generated browse information as a spool file that can be output by the output system 200.

The print job management server 100 also automatically sends a spool file of browsing information, which is determined to be printed in advance, to the output system 200.

The output system 200 outputs the spool file received from the print job management server 100.

Here, the output system 200 is, for example, a printer installed at each provision destination of the browsing information. The output system 200 includes, for example, the server 60 and the destination terminal 20.
And a printer 40, and may be connected to the Internet 10 via the server 60. Output system 200
May be, for example, a provision destination terminal 20 that can directly communicate with the print job management server 100 via the Internet 10, or, for example, a printer 40 that can directly communicate with the print job management server 100 via the Internet 10. It may be. The output system 400 may be installed in each company or may be installed in a user's home.

The print job management server 100 according to the present embodiment includes a printer 40 of a plurality of output systems 200.
Is registered in advance, and the browsing information is transmitted only to the registered printer 40. Therefore, each printer 40 can print only necessary browsing information, and can avoid printing useless information. Thus, the user of the output system 200 can receive only necessary browsing information as a printed matter.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the print job management server 100. A series of operations of the print job management server 100 mainly includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM.
It is realized by the cooperation of the programs stored in. However, the print job management server 100 may be realized by other components, and the design flexibility is high.
The print job management server 100 includes a reception unit 102, a reception information processing unit 104, a browse information generation unit 106, a browse information holding unit 108, a print determination unit 110, a print command unit 1
12, an authorization unit 114, a transmission unit 116, a browse information database 120, and a print request database 130.
And

The receiving unit 102 receives securities information from the securities trading market 210 via the Internet 10 and receives securities trading information from the electronic trading system 220 and the sales support system 230. The reception information processing unit 104 processes the securities information and the securities transaction information received by the reception unit 102. For example, the reception information processing unit 104 may perform a risk calculation process for each security based on the security information and the securities transaction information.

The browsing information generating section 106 generates browsing information requested by the output system 200 to which the information is provided, based on the information processed by the reception information processing section 104. When a plurality of output systems 200 request different browsing information, a plurality of browsing information is generated. Browsing information storage unit 1
Reference numeral 08 temporarily stores the browsing information generated by the browsing information generating unit 106. The browsing information database 120 stores the browsing information generated by the browsing information generating unit 106.

The print request database 130 stores a print request indicating a request for printing the browse information in association with output destination identification information for identifying a plurality of output systems 200 that provide the browse information. Print request database 13
0 may be stored in advance based on a request from the output system 200, or may be received from each providing destination via the receiving unit 102. Print request database 130
Stores printer identification information for identifying the printer to which the browsing information is to be output, in association with the browsing information.

The print determination unit 110 determines the output system 2 based on the information stored in the print request database 130.
00 is determined for each output system 200 as to whether or not printing of browsing information is requested. When the print determination unit 110 determines that the print determination unit 110 requests printing of the browsing information in one output system 200, the print instruction unit 112 corresponds to the one output system 200 in the print request database 130. A command is generated to cause the attached output destination terminal to print the printed matter. Print judgment unit 1
10 determines that the output system 200 has not requested the browsing information to be printed as a printed matter, the authorization unit 114 determines that the browsing information is
The notification information for notifying that the data is stored in the browsing information holding unit 108 of No. 00 is created. The authority granting unit 114 further creates authority to browse the browse information in the output system 200. The transmission unit 116 transmits the print command generated by the print command unit 112 to the output system 200. Transmission unit 1
16 transmits the notification information and the authority created by the authority granting unit 114 to the output system 200.

As described above, the print job management server 100
Manages the browsing information to be printed by each output system 200 in the print request database 130, so that when the browsing information is generated, the generated browsing information is automatically printed to a predetermined output system 200. Can be done.

Since the browsing information holding unit 108 holds the browsing information as a spool file in advance, the transmitting unit 1
16 is an output system 2 for efficiently outputting a browsing information print command.
00 can be sent.

FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the print request database 130. The print request database 130 has a table for each output system 200 to which the browse information is provided. Each table is managed by output system identification information for identifying the output system 200. When the output system 200 is the provision destination terminal 20, the output system identification information may be identification information for identifying the provision destination terminal 20. The output system identification information is also output system 200 information.
However, in the case of a system including a server 60 and a plurality of provision destination terminals 20 such as a company, identification information for identifying the server 60 that manages the system may be used. As a result, it is possible to recognize which request destination the request is from.

Each output system table has a provision request information field, a print request field, a printer ID field, a priority field, and an output time field.

The provision request information field stores browsing information identification information indicating browsing information requested by the output system 200 among browsing information generated by the print job management server 100. The provision request information field is, for example, FIL
A file name of browsing information such as E1 and FILE2 is stored.

Here, the file name of the browsing information will be described. The browsing information generation unit 106 generates a plurality of types of predetermined browsing information. The browsing information generating unit 106
Further, the file name is given to these pieces of browsing information so that the type of browsing information can be identified. For example, for the same type of browsing information, FILE1a, F1
A file name such as ILE1b may be given. As a result, the print determination unit 110 makes the print request database 1
The browse information can be identified by the file name of the browse information stored in 30. The browsing information database 120 stores the browsing information in association with the file name.

The print request field is stored in the output system 20.
Information indicating whether 0 is desired to be output is stored. The print request field in the present embodiment stores a flag in association with provision request information desired to be output. The printer ID field is the output system 2
00 stores printer identification information for identifying the printer designated as the output destination of the browse information.

As described above, the print request database 130
Stores a printer to be output for each piece of browsing information, so that a predetermined printer can print predetermined browsing information. Therefore, for example, when the output system 200 includes a plurality of printers installed in different regions, the output system 200 can specify the browsing information to be printed by each printer.

The priority field stores the priority when the printer outputs information. Thus, for example, if FILE1 is set to a higher priority than FILE5, and if FILE1 and FILE5 print jobs occur simultaneously in the printer, the printer prints FILE1 with a higher priority first. Thus, for example, F
If the capacity of the ILE 5 is large and printing requires a long time, and the information is not necessary immediately after reception, the priority of the FILE 5 can be set low. Thereby, the user of the provision destination can acquire more important information preferentially.

The output time field stores information indicating the time at which the browsing information is output. Therefore, the time at which the printer prints can be designated. Therefore, for example, when large-capacity browsing information is provided every day, the providing destination user can set the printing time of this browsing information to a time period during which printing processing is small, such as at night.

The priority and the output time need not be stored in association with all the browsing information. For example, the priority and the output time may be stored only when it is desired to specify the priority and the output time. In this case, only the designated browsing information is printed according to the designated conditions.

As described above, the print determination unit 110 can determine the browse information to be provided to each output system and the browse information to be printed by using the print request database 130. Print job management server 10
0 can further use the print request database 130 to recognize whether or not the browsing information is to be printed at the destination, and to further recognize which printer at the destination to print.

As described above, the print request database 1
30 stores the browsing information to be output, the output priority and the output time in association with the browsing information, so that the output system 200 can use the printer efficiently.

As another example, the print request database 1
30 may further store information about each printer. The information on the printer may be information indicating the performance of the printer such as the output speed and resolution of the printer, or may be information indicating the installation location of the printer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the print job management server 100. The receiving unit 102 of the print job management server 100 receives the securities information and the securities transaction information via the Internet 10 (S100). The reception information processing unit 104 processes the information received by the reception unit 102 (S102). Next, the browsing information generation unit 106
Generates browsing information based on the information processed by the reception information processing unit 104 (S104). Next, the browse information holding unit 108 holds the browse information generated by the browse information generating unit 106 as a spool file (S10).
6). Next, the transmission unit 116 provides the browsing information to the output system 200 (S108).

FIG. 5 shows the browsing information providing step (S10) of FIG.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed operation of the print job management server 100 in 8). The print determination unit 106 selects the output system 200 that requests the browse information stored in the browse information storage unit 108 based on the information stored in the print request database 130 (S200). Next, the print determination unit 110 determines that the selected output system 02
0, an output system 200 that requests printing of the browse information, that is, an output system 200 that wants to acquire the browse information as a printed matter is selected (S202). For the output system 200 that requests printing, the print command unit 1
The printer 12 specifies a printer associated with the output system and the browse information in the print request database 130 (S204).

Next, the print command unit 112 checks whether or not the specified printer currently has a print job of other browsing information (S206). If other browsing information is assigned to the specified printer, the print command unit 112 uses the print request database 130 to determine the priority of the current browsing information and the already assigned browsing information. Is confirmed (S208). Next, the print command unit 112 sends a print command for causing the printer to print a printed material to the transmission unit 116 in the order of confirmation (S21).
0). The transmission unit 116 transmits the received print command to the output system 200. The print command includes a spool file of browsing information and information specifying a printer. The print command transmitted directly to the printer connected to the print job management server 100 via the Internet 10 is:
This is a print command for instructing printing of a spool file, and is transmitted directly to a printer, which is a providing destination. When printing is performed by a printer connected to the Internet 10 via the server 60, a print command to which information specifying the printer is added is transmitted to the server 60.

When the output time of the specified browsing information is specified in the print request database 130, the transmitting unit 116 transmits the browsing information at the specified output time.

As another example, when the output time of the specified browse information is specified, the print command unit 112 creates a print command in which a program for outputting the browse information at the output time is embedded in the printer. Is also good. The print command unit 112 may create a program using, for example, Java.

When the print job management server 100 generates a plurality of different pieces of browsing information, the browsing information holding unit 108
If a plurality of pieces of browsing information are held, the print job management server 100 proceeds to S20 for the plurality of pieces of browsing information.
The processing from S0 to S210 is performed (S212).

The output system 200 receives the print command transmitted from the print job management server 100 to the output system 200 in S210, and prints the browsing information as a printed matter on the printer designated by the print command.

As described above, the print job management server 100
When the browsing information is generated, the browsing information can be printed by a printer of the output system 200 designated in advance.

In step S202, if there is no print request from the output system 200 for the browse information, the authority granting unit 114 creates notification information for notifying that the spool file has been stored in the browse information holding unit 108. (S220). Next, the authority granting unit 114 creates authority information indicating the authority to browse the browse information in the output system 200 (S222). Next, the authorization section 1
14 sends the created notification information and authority to the transmission unit 116. The transmitting unit 116 transmits the received notification information and authority to the specified output system 200 (S224).
Thus, the operation of the print job management server 100 ends.

As described above, the print job management server 100
Every time the browsing information is generated, the browsing information can be automatically provided by determining which output system 200 to provide the browsing information to and which printer to output. As a result, the print job management server 10
0 can provide browse information only to the output system 200 that requests browse information.

FIG. 6 shows that the print job management server 100
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when notification information and authority are received from the output system 200. The receiving unit 102 of the print job management server 100 receives the authority for the browse information from the output system 200 (S300). Further, when the receiving unit 102 receives the browsing request indicating the browsing request of the browsing information (S302), the printing determination unit 110
The authority and the browsing request are received from the receiving unit 102. The print determination unit 110 uses the print request database 130 to authenticate the output system 200 based on this authority. If the print determination unit 110 succeeds in the authentication, the print command unit 112 stores the designated browse information in the browse information holding unit 108.
And sends it to the transmission unit 116. The transmitting unit 116
The browsing information is transmitted to the output system 200 (S30
4). The output system 200 receives the browsing information and causes the display information to be displayed on a display unit such as a monitor.

As described above, the browsing information for which printing is not desired is output as display information to be displayed on the monitor according to the request from the output system 200.
Can be provided. Further, as described above, the output system 200 acquires only the authority to browse the browsing information, and acquires the browsing information only when the browsing is desired.
Therefore, the output system 200 does not receive unnecessary information, so that the memory can be used efficiently.

When the output system 200 requests printing of browsing information (S302), the print job management server 10
0 of the receiving unit 102 sends the authority to the print determining unit 110,
The print determination unit 110 authenticates the output system 200 based on the received authority. If the authentication is successful, the print command unit 112 receives the browse information stored in the browse information storage unit 108. The print command unit 112 specifies a printer to print a printed material using the print request database 130 (S306). The transmission unit 116 of the print job management server 100 transmits a print command for instructing the printer specified by the print command unit 112 to print the browsing information (S308). On the other hand, the output system 200 receives the print command, and the printed matter is printed on the designated printer. Thus, the operation of the print job management server 100 when the authority is received is completed.

As described above, when the browse information without a print request is held in the browse information holding unit 108, the output system 20
For 0, notification information and authority are transmitted. Therefore,
The output system 200 can know from the notification information that the browsing information is held in the print job management server 100. If the output system 200 further wants to acquire the browse information, the output system 200 can acquire the browse information from the print job management server 100 using the authority. Further, the output system 200 can select whether to acquire the browsing information as a printed matter or to display it on a display unit. Thus, the print job management server 100
Can provide browsing information in a form required by each output system 200.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the print job management server 100. The print job management server 100 includes a CPU 700, a ROM 702, a RAM 7,
04, a communication interface 706, a hard disk drive 708, and a database interface 710.
And a floppy (registered trademark) disk drive 712
And a CD-ROM drive 714. CPU7
00 operates based on the programs stored in the ROM 702 and the RAM 704. Communication interface 70
6 communicates with the outside via the Internet 10. The database interface 710 writes data to the database and updates the contents of the database.
Hard disk drive 708 as an example of a storage device
Stores setting information and a program for operating the CPU 700.

The floppy disk drive 712 reads data or a program from the floppy disk 720 and provides it to the CPU 700. The CD-ROM drive 714 reads data or a program from the CD-ROM 722 and provides it to the CPU 700. The communication interface 706 transmits and receives data by connecting to the Internet 10. The database interface 710 connects to various databases 724 to transmit and receive data.

The software executed by the CPU 700 is:
It is stored in a recording medium such as the floppy disk 720 or the CD-ROM 722 and provided to the user. The software stored on the recording medium may be compressed or uncompressed. The software is installed in the hard disk drive 708 from the recording medium, and is stored in the RAM 704
And executed by the CPU 700.

The software stored in the recording medium and provided, that is, the software installed in the hard disk drive 708 has, as functional components, a reception module, a reception processing module, a browse information generation module, a print determination module, A print instruction module;
It has an authorization module and a transmission module. Each of the modules works on a computer and the CPU 7
00 are the same as the functions and operations of the corresponding members in the print job management server 100 according to the present embodiment, and thus the description is omitted.

The floppy disk 720 or the CD-ROM 722 as an example of the recording medium shown in FIG. 7 stores some or all of the functions of the print job management server 100 in all the embodiments described in the present application. Can be stored.

These programs are directly stored in R
The program may be read out to the AM and executed, or may be read out to the RAM and executed once after being installed in the hard disk drive. Further, the program may be stored on a single recording medium or a plurality of recording media. In addition, it may be stored in an encoded form.

As a recording medium, a floppy disk,
In addition to CD-ROM, optical recording media such as DVD, MD
, A magneto-optical recording medium such as a PD, a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, and a semiconductor memory such as an IC card or a miniature card. Alternatively, a storage device such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the print job management server 100 via the communication network. Such a recording medium is used only for manufacturing the print job management server 100, and the manufacture and sale of such a recording medium as a business constitute infringement of a patent right based on the present application. It is clear.

FIG. 8 shows a print job management server 100 and an output system 20 corresponding thereto according to the second embodiment.
Indicates 0. In this embodiment, when the print job management server 100 generates browse information without a print request, the browse information is held in the output system 200. At this point, the browsing information is transferred to the print job management server 10.
0 is different from the first embodiment that holds 0.

FIG. 8A is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the print job management server 100 according to the present embodiment. Print job management server 100 in the present embodiment
Is a print job management server 100 according to the first embodiment.
, The browsing information holding unit 108 and the authority granting unit 114
Does not have In this respect, the print job management server 100 according to the present embodiment is different from the print job management server 100 according to the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, when the browsing information generating unit 106 generates browsing information without a print request, the print determining unit 110 specifies the browsing information in the print request database 130 as the providing request information. To identify. Transmission section 116
Transmits the browsing information to the specified output system 200 as a spool file.

FIG. 8B is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the output system 200 according to the present embodiment. The output system 200 includes a receiving unit 202, a browsing information holding unit 108, an input unit 204, a display unit 206, a printing unit 2
08. The receiving unit 202 receives a print command or browsing information from the print job management server 100 as a spool file. The receiving unit 202 sends the browse information to the browse information holding unit 108. The receiving unit 202 also sends a print command to the printing unit 208. The browsing information holding unit 108 holds the received browsing information. The display unit 206 displays the browse information stored in the browse information storage unit 108. The input unit 204 receives an input from a user of the output system 200. The printing unit 208 prints the browsing information according to the print command. The browsing information held in the print information holding unit 108 is output to the printer.

In this embodiment, the print job management server 100 transmits the browsing information in the print request database 130 to all output systems 200 designated as the provision request information. Print job management server 100
Output browsing information requesting further printing by the output system 20.
The print command is transmitted to the output system 200 as a print command to be printed by the printer No. 0. Receiver 202 of output system 200
When the printer receives the print command, it is sent to the print unit 208 to cause the printer to print. As described above, also in the present embodiment, the print job management server 100
0 can automatically print browsing information that requires printing.

The browsing information holding unit 108 of the output system 200 holds the browsing information received from the print job management server 100 as a spool file. The display unit 206 displays the browse information stored in the browse information storage unit 108. Further, when a user inputs via the input unit 204 an instruction to print the browsing information displayed on the display unit 206, the printing unit 206 outputs the browsing information to the printer. Thus, according to the present embodiment,
The output system 200 receives the desired browsing information,
It can output in a desired output form.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the output system 200 according to the present embodiment. The output system 200 receives the browse information from the print job management server 100 (S400). Next, the display unit 202 displays the received browsing information (S402). Thus, the user of the output system 200 can browse the received browse information. To print the browsing information displayed on the display unit 202, a print instruction is input via the input unit 204. When the input unit 204 receives a print instruction (S404), a print command is sent to the print unit 206, and the displayed browse information is printed (S412). S4
When the input unit 204 does not accept the print instruction in 04, the operation of the output system 200 terminal 20 ends here.

On the other hand, when a print command is received from the print job management server 100 (S410), the printing unit 206
The browsing information indicated in the print command is printed. Thus, the operation of the output system 200 terminal 20 ends.

As described above, the print request database 1
30 stores whether or not the browsing information is to be printed, so that the output system 200 terminal 20 automatically prints the browsing information for which printing is requested, and prints the other information. Can be obtained in the state. That is, the output system 200 is in a desired format,
Browsing information can be obtained.

As another example, in the present embodiment, the print request database 1 of the print job management server 100
30, the provision request information and the print request were stored,
Instead, the print request database 130 need not store the print request. In this case, the output system 20
0 may further include a print request database that stores a print request indicating whether or not to print the received browsing information in association with each other. Thus, the output system 200 can determine whether to automatically print the received browsing information.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It should be noted that such modified or improved embodiments may be included in the technical scope of the present invention.
It is clear from the description of the claims.

As a first modification, in the present embodiment, the output destination of the browse information is the output system 2
However, the output destination may be a display unit such as a monitor of a providing terminal. In this case, when the information indicated in the print command is transmitted to the output system 200, the information may be automatically displayed on the display unit. Thereby, the user of the output system 200 can browse the displayed browse information. In addition, if you want to print, you can print the displayed browsing information,

As a second modification, the print job management server 100 in the present embodiment determines the timing for providing each piece of browsing information based on the priority and the output time stored in the print request database 130. However, instead of this, the print job management server 100 may determine the timing of providing each piece of browsing information based on the history of the browsing information provided so far to each output system 200. For example, the print job management server 100
When the browsing information is transmitted to the output system 200, the time may be stored, and when the browsing information is provided again, the browsing information may be transmitted at the previously stored time. Also, for example, the print job management server 100 stores the order when a plurality of pieces of browsing information are transmitted in order, and when transmitting the plurality of pieces of browsing information again,
The browsing information may be transmitted in this order. by this,
The printed matter can be printed at the timing required by each output system 200.

As a third modification, the print job management server 100 in this embodiment determines which browsing information is to be output to the output system 200 based on a print request stored in the print request database 130 in advance. However, when the print job management server 100 receives a print request for the browse information displayed on the display unit of the output system 200, the print job management server 100 responds to the browse information associated with the output system 200 in the print request database 130. The print request may be stored. As another example, when a print request is received a predetermined number of times or more, the print request may be stored in the print request database 130 for the browse information.

As a fourth modification, the print job management server 100 according to the present embodiment generates browsing information and outputs the spool file of browsing information as information to be printed or information to be displayed on a display unit. , But instead of this, the print job management server 10
0 may generate browsing information and hold the generated browsing information in the form of a spool file for printing and a spool file for display.

[0085]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the print job management server 100 can efficiently print a printed matter on a printer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an entire print job management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the print job management server 100.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a print request database 130.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print job management server 100.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the print job management server 100 in the browsing information providing step (S108) of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print job management server 100 when the authority is received from the output system 200.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the print job management server 100.

FIG. 8 shows a print job management server 1 according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the output system 200;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the output system 200 according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Internet 100 Print job management server 102 Receiving part 104 Reception information processing part 106 Browsing information generation part 108 Browsing information holding part 110 Printing judgment part 112 Print command part 114 Authorization part 116 Transmission part 120 Browsing information database 130 Print request database 700 CPU 702 ROM 704 RAM 706 Communication interface 708 Hard disk drive 710 Database interface 712 Floppy disk drive 716 CD-ROM drive 720 Floppy disk 722 CD-ROM 724 Various databases

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A print job management server that manages a print job to be printed on a printer, comprising: a recognition unit that recognizes a destination to which a printed material according to the print job is to be provided when the print job occurs; A print determination unit that determines whether the providing destination requests printing of the printed matter; and browsing of a form that is equivalent to the content to be printed on the printed matter and that can be browsed at the providing destination. A browsing information generating unit that generates information; and a browsing information holding unit that holds the generated browsing information when the print determining unit determines that the providing destination does not request printing of the printed matter. And a print job management server. 2. The print job management server according to claim 1, further comprising an authority granting unit that gives the authority to browse the browsing information at the destination. 3. The browsing information holding unit holds the browsing information in a terminal of the providing destination.
The print job management server according to 1. 4. The print job management server according to claim 3, further comprising a notifying unit that notifies that the browsing information has been stored in the providing destination. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive a print request from the providing destination, the printing request indicating that the printing of the printed material is requested. The print job management server according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether to request printing of the print job. 6. The print job management server manages print jobs of a plurality of prints, wherein the print request indicates which print is requested, and when the receiving unit receives the print request, 6. The print job management server according to claim 5, wherein the print determination unit determines which of the printed materials the print destination requests to print based on the print request. 7. The print job management server is capable of communicating with a plurality of the destinations via a network, and identifies a print request indicating a request to print the printed matter by identifying the plurality of destinations. A print request database that stores the print matter in association with the print request database stored in the print request database, based on the print destination and the print request stored in the print request database. The print job management server according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether to request printing. 8. The print job management server manages print jobs of a plurality of prints, wherein the print request database further stores the print request so as to recognize which print is to be printed, and The print job management server according to claim 7, wherein the unit determines which of the printed materials the requester requests to print based on the print request stored in the print request database. . 9. The print job management server manages printing of information provided from a plurality of providers that provide the content to be printed on the printed matter, and associates the information with printed matter identification information indicating the printed matter. A print request database that stores supply source identification information for identifying the supply source of the printed matter, wherein the print determination unit requests the destination to print the printed matter based on the supply source of the printed matter. The print job management server according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the print job management is performed. 10. The print request database stores the print requests in advance so that the order in which the printed matter is printed can be recognized. When a plurality of the print requests are received from the providing destination, the print request is stored in the print request database. The print job management server according to claim 7, further comprising a print command unit configured to print the plurality of prints in an order stored in the request database. 11. When a plurality of the print jobs are generated and the receiving unit receives the print requests for each of the plurality of prints from the providing destination, the print request database stores the plurality of print requests. Are stored in a recognizable manner, and when the providing destination requests printing of the plurality of printed materials again, the plurality of printed materials are stored in the providing destination according to the order stored in the print request database. The print job management server according to claim 7, further comprising a print command unit for printing. 12. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit receives the print request from a plurality of the destinations via a network and associates the print request with the destination identification information for identifying the destination. A printer table storing printer identification information to be identified; and the receiving unit, when receiving the print request from one of the plurality of providing destinations, in the printer table, The print job management server according to claim 5, further comprising: a print instruction unit that causes the associated printer to print the printed matter. 13. The printer table further stores printer identification information so that it is possible to recognize which printed matter is to be printed, and the receiving unit transmits the print data from one of the plurality of provision destinations to the print destination. 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, when a request is received, the print command unit causes the printer associated with the one destination and the printed material to print the printed material in the printer table. The print job management server as described. 14. A print job management method for managing a print job to be printed on a printer, comprising: when a print job occurs, a recognition step of recognizing a destination to which a printed material according to the print job is to be provided; A print determination step of determining whether or not the providing destination requests printing of the printed matter; and browsing a form that is equivalent to the content to be printed on the printed matter and is viewable at the providing destination. A browsing information generating step of generating information; and a browsing information holding step of holding the generated browsing information when the print determining unit determines that the providing destination does not request printing of the printed matter. And a print job management method. 15. A computer program for managing a print job to be printed on a printer, comprising: a recognition module for recognizing a destination to provide a printed material by the print job when the print job occurs; A print determination module for determining whether a provider has requested to print the printed matter, and browsing information in a form that is equivalent to the contents to be printed on the printed matter and that can be browsed at the provider. A browsing information generating module that generates the browsing information, and causing the browsing information holding unit to hold the generated browsing information when the print determining unit determines that the providing destination does not request printing of the printed matter. A program comprising a holding module.