JP2002333966A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an effective use of printer in a printing system including at least one black and white printer and at least one color printer. SOLUTION: A scheduler 14 judges whether a printing job stored in a job data base 12 is a black and white output job or a color output job. When the printing job is the black and white output job, a printer in which the number of assigned jobs is the minimum at present is selected from among available black and white printers 2 by referring to a printer state table 16, and the black and white output job is assigned to this printer, and when the printing job is the color output job, a printer in which the number of assigned jobs is the minimum at present is selected from available color printers 2 by referring to the printer state table 16, and the color output job is assigned to the printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printing system and a job management method, and more particularly, to a printing system and a job management method including at least one black-and-white printer and at least one color printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method for realizing efficient printing in a printing system for performing distributed printing has been proposed.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-132347, when a job is divided into pages and printed and output, a monochrome page is preferentially printed and output. It is possible to reduce the waiting time from request to print output.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-259378, an output schedule is changed when a trouble occurs in a printer having a higher priority by giving a priority to an alternative printer in the event of a printer failure. They are able to respond quickly.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-170627 discloses that the priority order between print jobs can be set.

In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 5-324227 and 2000-163330 have proposed methods for effectively using printers in a printing system having a plurality of printers.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
When the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 000-132347 is applied to a printing system including a plurality of printers as it is,
The user of the color output has to wait for printing until the black and white output disappears, which is not preferable.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-259378 does not attempt to make effective use of the printer during normal use.

[0009] When the printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-170627 is applied to a printing system including a plurality of printers, a low-priority job waits for printing until a high-priority job is completed. Not preferred.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-324227,
In JP-A-2000-163330, black and white,
There is no mention of a mixed color printer environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system and a job management method that can effectively use a printer in a printing system including at least one black-and-white printer and at least one color printer.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 has a plurality of printers each including at least one color printer and at least one black-and-white printer, and distributes input print jobs. In a printing system for performing a printing process, a color / monochrome determination unit for determining whether the print job is a color output job to be output in color or a monochrome output job to be output in black and white, and a state of the printer Printer status determining means for determining the color / monochrome determination means, and job assignment processing means for allocating the print job to the printer based on the determination result of the printer status determining means. And

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the black-and-white output job is a black-and-white job or a color job for which black-and-white output is designated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the printer status determination means determines whether the printer is usable and determines whether the printer is usable. The number of print jobs already allocated is determined, and the job allocation processing unit allocates the print job to the printer for which the number of print jobs already allocated by the printer status determination unit is determined to be the smallest. Features.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the printer status determining means further determines whether the printer is a black-and-white printer or a color printer. Means for allocating the print job determined to be a monochrome output job by the color / monochrome determination means to a monochrome printer determined to have the least number of print jobs already allocated by the printer status determination means; The print job determined as a color output job by the black-and-white determining means is assigned to the color printer determined by the printer state determining means to be the least assigned print job.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the printer having the smallest number of print jobs already allocated is a color printer, The print job determined as a monochrome output job by the color / monochrome determination means is assigned to the color printer with the least number of print jobs already assigned.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a timing unit, wherein the job assignment processing unit determines that the print job is a monochrome output job by the output mode determination unit. When the printer status determination unit determines that the black-and-white printer is unusable, the timer unit measures the time, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, the printer status determination unit again disables the monochrome printer. When the determination is made, the monochrome output job is assigned to the color printer with the least number of print jobs already assigned.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the job assignment processing means assigns the print job based on a priority added to the input print job. And features.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the seventh aspect of the invention, the print jobs having the same priority are processed in the order of submission.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the seventh aspect, the priority is added to the print job in advance.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to claim 7.
The invention according to the above, further comprising a priority adding means,
The color output job may be given a higher priority than the monochrome output job.

The invention according to claim 11 is the third invention.
In the invention described above, the printer status determination unit determines a printable job size of the printer, and the job allocation processing unit determines a job size of the input print job by the printer status determination unit. The print job is assigned to the printer that fits within the printable job size.

The invention according to claim 12 is the first invention.
The invention according to claim 1, wherein the job size is a total number of bytes of the print job.

The thirteenth aspect of the present invention is the first aspect of the present invention.
In the invention according to the first aspect, the job size is the total number of pages of the print job, and the invention according to the fourteenth aspect is the invention according to the eleventh aspect,
The printing system according to claim 7, wherein the job size is an estimated output time of the print job.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a printing system and a job management method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system includes a printer server (device) 1, a monochrome printer 2 (2-1 to 2-m), and a color printer 3 (3-
1 to 3-n) At least a client 4 (4-1 to 4-1) is configured.

The printer server 1 receives a job from the client 4 and allocates the job to each printer. The monochrome printer 2 and the color printer 3 form an image on paper based on print data such as image data. , Use application software and access the printer server 1 and the like.

Next, the printer server 1 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the printer server 1.

The printer server 1 includes a job receiving unit 11,
Job database 12, queue 13, scheduler 1
4. A printer status management unit 15 is provided.

The job receiving unit 11 receives a print job from the client 4 or the like, stores the received print job in a job database (job DB) 12, and registers the print job in a queue 13.

The queue 13 holds the print jobs stored in the job database 12 in the order in which they are to be processed (usually, in the order in which the print jobs are submitted or in the order of priority).

The scheduler 14 has a scheduling algorithm for deciding which print job is to be assigned to which printer. The scheduler 14 refers to the printer status table 16 to grasp the status and processing capacity of each printer, and to schedule the print job assignment. I do.

The printer status management unit 15 manages the status of each printer and updates the printer status table 16.

The printer status table 16 records the processing capability and status of all printers managed by the printer server 1. The processing capacity of the printer is, for example, whether or not color output is possible,
The job size is a printable job size.

The operation of the printer server 1 when a print job is input from the client 4 to the job receiving section 11 will be described.

When accepting a print job from the client 4, the job accepting unit 11 stores the accepted print job in the job database 12 and registers the print job in the queue 13, and the queue 13 Is notified to the scheduler 14.

When the scheduler 14 is notified from the queue 13 that a new print job has been registered, the scheduler 14 prints a print job that can be output by a vacant printer among the print jobs registered in the queue 13.
, And to which printer the print job is to be assigned is determined using a scheduling algorithm described in detail below. The print job determined by the printer to be assigned is transmitted to the corresponding printer through the printer status management unit 15.

Now, the scheduling algorithm in the scheduler 14 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of allocating a print job to the printer 2 or 3 based on the scheduling algorithm in the scheduler 14.

According to the scheduling algorithm of the present invention, of the print jobs held in the queue 13,
Basically, a color job (hereinafter, referred to as a black-and-white output job) designated as a black-and-white output is preferentially assigned to one of the black-and-white printers 2.

That is, the scheduling algorithm in the scheduler 14 determines whether the print job stored in the job database 12 is a monochrome output job or a color output job (a color job for which monochrome output is not specified). (Step 101) If the job is a monochrome output job (YES in Step 101), the printer with the smallest number of currently assigned jobs is selected from the available monochrome printers 2 with reference to the printer status table 16. Then, the monochrome output job is assigned (step 102).

If the print job stored in the job database 12 is a color output job (step 10
1 is NO), referring to the printer status table 16,
From among the available color printers 3, the printer with the least number of jobs currently assigned is selected, and the color output job is assigned (step 103).

The client 4 can designate an arbitrary number of printers from the monochrome printer 2 and the color printer 3 when issuing a print job.

That is, since a plurality of printers can be designated for the same print job, for example, when the same document is to be printed out in three copies of color and one copy of black and white,
If three color printers 3 and one black-and-white printer 2 are designated as output destination printers, the scheduler 14 selects the optimal three color printers and one black-and-white printer using the above-described scheduling algorithm. Since the print job of the document is allocated by broadcast, even when the same document is to be printed in a plurality of copies in a mixture of color and black and white, it can be efficiently printed.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts illustrating another example of a method of assigning a print job to the printer 2 or 3 based on the scheduling algorithm in the scheduler 14.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a scheduling algorithm in consideration of a job size.

After determining the job size of the print job stored in the job database 12 (step 201), the scheduler 14 determines whether the print job is a monochrome output job or a color output job (step 20).
2).

If the job is a monochrome output job (step 2
01; YES), referring to the printer status table 16, referring to the printable job sizes set for each of the available monochrome printers 2 in ascending order of the number of currently assigned jobs. Then, the monochrome printer 2 capable of printing and outputting the job size of the monochrome output job is selected (YES in Step 204), and the monochrome output job is assigned (YES in Step 205).

When it is determined in step 201 that the job is a color output job, the same processing is performed (step 20).
6 to step 208).

The job size is defined by the total number of bytes of the job, the total number of output pages of the job, the expected output time of the job, and the like.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a scheduling algorithm particularly for a black-and-white output job.

In this scheduling algorithm, when it is determined in the scheduling algorithm shown in FIG. 3 that the job is a monochrome output job (YES in step 101),
If no monochrome printer 2 is available (NO in step 301), the time is counted (step 3).
02), if the black-and-white printer 2 cannot be used after the predetermined time has elapsed (NO in step 303), the monochrome output job is assigned to the color printer 3 (step 3).
05).

If the monochrome printer is usable (YES in step 301, YES in step 303), the monochrome output job is assigned to the monochrome printer 2.

By applying such a scheduling algorithm, it is possible to avoid a problem that a monochrome job cannot be printed when the monochrome printer 2 cannot be used in the scheduling algorithm shown in FIG. For example, by setting the counting time to zero in step 302, it is possible to allocate a job to a color printer, and to maximize the usage rate of the printer. Conversely, by increasing the counting time, it is possible to set the printer to be vacant for color output, making it possible to perform appropriate job scheduling according to the user.

In each of the scheduling algorithms described above, print jobs are basically assigned to printers in the order in which they are received. Assignment processing to printers may be performed in order from the one with the highest rank. At this time, if the priorities are the same, processing is performed in the order of acceptance.

In particular, for example, the printer server 1 automatically assigns a higher priority to a color output job than a monochrome output job, so that a color output job submitted after the monochrome output job is converted to a monochrome output job. Overtaking can be assigned to the color printer 3.

When the input print job is scan data read from the scanner, if the original reading mode is set to color or black and white in the scanner, the scheduler 14 executes the printing based on the setting. The job may be a color output job or a monochrome output job. If the original reading mode is set to automatic in the scanner,
A color or monochrome output is automatically determined from scan data input as a print job.

Similarly, a print job specifying PDL or TIFF is created, and PDL / TI
When it is not specified whether the FF is color or monochrome, the printer server 1 may automatically determine.

This is effective when it is not possible to specify whether the original is color or black and white as in the case of LPR.

When the printer specified as the output destination becomes unusable due to a failure or the like, the printer server 1 converts the print job already allocated to the printer by using the above scheduling algorithm. It is better to re-assign to another available printer.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an environment where a black-and-white printer and a color printer coexist, a printer to be output is assigned according to whether a print job to be output is a color output or a monochrome output. This makes it possible to print efficiently and to use the printer effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the printer server 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of assigning a print job to a printer based on a scheduling algorithm according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method of assigning a print job to a printer based on the scheduling algorithm of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method of assigning a print job to a printer based on the scheduling algorithm of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer server 2 Black and white printer 3 Color printer 4 Client 11 Job reception unit 12 Job database 13 Queue 14 Scheduler 15 Printer status management unit 16 Printer status table

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising a plurality of printers each including at least one color printer and at least one black-and-white printer, and performing a distributed printing process of an input print job, wherein the print job is to be output in color. A color / monochrome determination unit for determining whether the job is a job or a monochrome output job to be output in black and white; a printer status determination unit for determining the status of the printer; a color / monochrome determination unit; and the printer status And a job assigning unit for assigning the print job to the printer based on a result of the determination by the determining unit. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the black-and-white output job is a black-and-white job or a color job designated for black-and-white output. 3. The printer status determination unit determines whether the printer is usable, determines the number of print jobs already allocated to the printer determined to be usable, and determines the job allocation process. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer assigns the print job to a printer for which the number of print jobs already allocated by the printer status determiner is determined to be the smallest.
The printing system as described. 4. The printer status determination means further determines whether the printer is a monochrome printer or a color printer, and the job assignment processing means determines that the printer is a monochrome output job by the color / monochrome determination means. The print job that has been assigned by the printer status determination unit is assigned to the black-and-white printer that has been determined to be the least in number, and the print job determined by the color / monochrome determination unit to be a color output job is assigned to the printer. 4. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the printer status determination unit allocates the print job to the color printer for which the number of print jobs already allocated is determined to be the smallest. 5. The job assignment processing means, if the printer with the least number of print jobs already assigned is a color printer, prints the print job determined as a monochrome output job by the color / monochrome determination means. 5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the print job is assigned to the color printer with the least number of print jobs already assigned. 6. The job assignment processing unit further includes a timer unit, wherein the print job is determined by the output mode determination unit to be a monochrome output job, and the printer status determination unit disables the monochrome printer. When it is determined that the black-and-white printer is unusable, if the black-and-white printer is determined to be unusable again by the printer status determining unit after a predetermined time has elapsed, the monochrome output job is allocated. 5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the print job is assigned to a color printer having the smallest number of print jobs. 7. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the job assignment processing unit assigns the print job based on a priority added to the input print job. 8. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the print jobs having the same priority are processed in the order of submission. 9. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the priority is added to the print job in advance. 10. The printing system according to claim 3, further comprising a priority adding unit, wherein a higher priority is added to the color output job than to the monochrome output job. 11. The printer status determination unit determines a printable job size of the printer, and the job assignment processing unit determines the job size of the input print job by the printer status determination unit. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the print job is assigned to the printer that fits in the job size that can be printed and output. 12. The printing system according to claim 11, wherein the job size is a total number of bytes of the print job. 13. The printing system according to claim 11, wherein the job size is a total number of pages of the print job. 14. The printing system according to claim 11, wherein the job size is an estimated output time of the print job.