JP2003241942A - Data output system, data output program and data output method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data output system capable of optimizing productivity. <P>SOLUTION: In a host PC of this data output system comprising a plurality of printers of data output devices, and the host PC of a data processing device, a print flag process showing whether or not printing is in progress in the data output system is executed (S1). Next, a print instruction and image data required for the printer registered in the data output system are outputted (S2). The number of printed copies are counted based on information obtained from the printer and showing the processing state (S3). Trouble processing is executed according trouble of the printer (S4). An order of the printers to be stopped every time each copy is printed is decided based the information and a processing speed of each printer (S5). Each print stopping command process is executed at predetermined timing according to the decided order (S6). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data output system, a data output program and a data output method, and more particularly to a data output system, a data output program and a data output method capable of optimizing productivity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in work environments such as offices,
It is required to improve the productivity of image output. Therefore, for example, a plurality of image output devices (printers) are LA
A cluster system has been proposed which is connected to an N (Local Area Network) or the like and operates at a virtual high speed. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-163235 discloses a control method in which the same job is distributed and supplied to a plurality of image output devices connected to a network. Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-314438, a printing apparatus that transfers a remaining job to another image output apparatus on the network and continues the printing processing when a failure occurs in the image output apparatus during the printing processing. Is disclosed. Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-311072,
A network printing apparatus is disclosed that transfers the remaining jobs to another desired image output apparatus on the network and continues the printing process.

[0003]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned cluster system, there is a problem that the system scale is large and the economical burden is large.

Further, according to the control method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-163235, the amount of jobs transferred to each image output device cannot be changed according to the processing status, so that the processing status can be changed. There is a problem that it is difficult to improve productivity by optimizing productivity. In addition, a control method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-314438 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-3110.
Even in the network printing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 72-72, it is difficult to process jobs in parallel by a plurality of image output apparatuses, and it is difficult to improve productivity by optimizing productivity. there were.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object thereof is to provide a data output system, a data output program, and a data output method capable of optimizing productivity.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a data output system includes a data output device and a data processing device connected to a telecommunication line. An output system, wherein the data processing device receives a request for output of output data via a telecommunication line, and a plurality of data outputs when the request receiving means receives output requests for a plurality of copies of the output data. Transfer means for transferring an output command and output data to each of the devices, and acquisition means for acquiring information on the processing status of the output data from each of the plurality of data output devices, for each number of output copies of the output data. And issuing means for issuing an output stop command to each of the plurality of data output devices based on the obtained processing status information.

Further, when the data output device receives an output stop command from the data processing device while outputting the output data based on the output command received from the data processing device, the output of the relevant part of the output data being output is performed. It is desirable to stop the output of the output data after the end.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a data output program includes a receiving step of receiving an output data output request via an electric communication line, and a receiving step,
A transfer step of transferring the output command and the output data to each of the plurality of data output devices connected to the telecommunication line when receiving the output request of the plurality of output data units; and the plurality of data output devices. From each of the above, an acquisition step for acquiring information on the processing status of the output data for each number of output copies of the output data, and an output stop instruction to each of the plurality of data output devices based on the acquired processing status information. The issuing step for issuing is realized by the computer.

Further, the data output program is outputting when the output stop command is received from the data processing device while outputting the output data based on the output command received from the data processing device via the telecommunication line. It is preferable that the computer further realizes a stopping step of stopping the output of the output data after the output of the relevant portion of the data is completed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a data output method includes a receiving step of receiving an output request for output data via an electric communication line, and a step of receiving an output request for a plurality of copies of the output data in the receiving step. , For each of the plurality of data output devices connected to the telecommunication line,
A transfer step of transferring the output command and the output data, an acquisition step of acquiring information on the processing status of the output data from each of the plurality of data output devices for each number of output copies of the output data, and information on the acquired processing status. And an issuing step for issuing an output stop command to each of the plurality of data output devices.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts and components are designated by the same reference numerals.
Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing system which is a data output system according to this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, the printing system according to the present embodiment includes a host computer (hereinafter referred to as a host PC) 100, which is a data (image data) processing device connected to a network 300, and data (image data). ) Includes printers 200a-d that are output devices. Then, the printing system according to the present embodiment communicates with each other via the network 300. It should be noted that the communication by the network 300 that is an electric communication line includes wireless communication.

Further, FIG. 2 shows the host P shown in FIG.
It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of C100. Host P
C100 is composed of a general PC, printer 200
It manages print jobs for causing the printers 200a to 200d to represent the printers 200 to execute print processing.

Referring to FIG. 2, the host PC 100 is a C
A control unit 101 including a PU (Central Processing Unit) and the like for controlling the entire host PC 100, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 102 for storing various programs and data executed by the control unit 101, and a control unit 1
01 is a work area when the program is executed, a memory 103, a display unit and the like, a display unit 104 for displaying various information, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. Part 105
And a network I / F (interface) 106 for exchanging information via the network 300.
Including and

General processing in the above-mentioned host PC 100 will be described below. The control unit 101 is the HDD 1
Various programs and data are read from 02 and loaded into the memory 103. The control unit 101 executes a program on the memory 103 and controls output to the display unit 104, input control from the input unit 105, processing of print commands, and the like. According to the print command, the command and the image data are transferred from the network I / F 106 to the network 3
00, and the printer 200 executes print processing.

The host PC 100 described above is constructed by a general PC, and its configuration is shown in FIG.
It is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration shown in FIG.

Next, FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the printer 200 shown in FIG. Printer 2
00 executes print processing according to a control command output from the host PC 100.

Referring to FIG. 3, the printer 200 has a CP
A control unit 201 including U and the like, which controls the entire printer 200, an HDD 202 in which various programs and data executed by the control unit 201 are stored, and a control unit 2
A memory 203 which is a work area or the like when the program is executed in 01, a printing unit 204 which executes a printing process, and a network I / F 205 for exchanging information via the network 300 are included.

General processing in the printer 200 described above will be described below. The control unit 201 is the HDD 20.
Various programs and data are read from the memory 2
Load 03. The control unit 201 executes a program on the memory 203, and controls the printing process in the printing unit 204 and the reception of image data to be printed. The control unit 201 also controls the network I / F 205.
When a print command or image data is received from the network 300 via the
RIP that expands bitmap for print processing
(Raster Image Processor) Performs processing. And
The print processing is executed by transferring the RIP-processed (bitmap-developed) data to the printing unit 204 and printing it on a predetermined paper.

The above-described printer 200 is a general data output device having a print processing function, and its configuration is not limited to the above-described configuration shown in FIG. 3, but has other scanning functions and the like. It doesn't matter. Further, the printers 200a to 200d do not have to have the same functions and capabilities.

The above-mentioned host PC 100 and printer 2
Processing in the printing system according to the present embodiment including 00 will be described below. It should be noted that in the following description, the same image data is described as being printed for 16 copies, but it goes without saying that the same applies when printing processing for image data of other copies.

In the following description, the printer 200 registered in the printing system is the printer 20.
The description will be made assuming that there are four printers 0a to 0d, but it goes without saying that the same applies when other number of printers 200 are registered.

First, the processing in the host PC 100 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing print control processing in the host PC 100. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is realized by the control unit 101 of the host PC 100 reading a program stored in the HDD 102 and executing the program on the memory 103.

Referring to FIG. 4, the host PC 100 first executes a print flag process indicating whether or not the print process is in progress (S1). Next, the print command process is executed (S2), and the necessary print command and image data are output.

Then, based on the processing information from the printer 200, a copy number counting process for counting the number of print processed copies is executed (S3). In addition, trouble processing is executed according to the trouble of the printer 200 (S4).

Further, based on the processing information from the printer 200, the processing end ranking processing is executed every time one copy is printed (S5), and the ranking of the printer 200 to be stopped is determined. Then, the print stop processing command processing is executed for the printer 200 at a predetermined timing in accordance with the determined order (S6). Also, if necessary,
Other processing than the above is executed (S7), and then the above processing is repeatedly executed from step S1.

The above-mentioned flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is a main routine of the processing executed by the host PC 100, and each of the above-mentioned processing (S1 to S6) will be described in detail below with reference to subroutines. Explain.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the print flag process executed in step S1 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5, the control unit 101 confirms the print flag, and the print flag is OFF (N in S101).
O), the network I / F 106 is the network 300
When a print request is received from another device via the (S10
If YES in step 3, the print flag is turned on (S105).

When the print processing relating to the print request accepted in step S103 is completed (16 copies in total) (YES in S107), the print flag is turned off (S).
109).

With the above, this program is terminated, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG. If the print flag is ON by executing the print flag process described above, the print process that has received a print request from another device is being executed in the print system, and the host PC 10
It is determined that the control within 0 is the print mode. If the print flag is OFF, it is determined that all the copies (16 copies) of the print processing that received the print request from another device are completed in the print system, and the control in the host PC 100 is not the print mode. To be done.

Next, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the print command processing executed in step S2 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, when the print flag is turned on by the print flag process executed in step S1 of FIG. 4 (when the host PC 100 enters the print mode) (S2
(YES in 01), it is confirmed whether or not the registration is valid for the four printers 200a to 200d that are registered in advance (S203, S205), and the printer 2 in which the registration is valid.
A print command (print command) and image data (code) are transferred to each of the printers 00 (S207).

Then, when the above-mentioned processing is executed for the four printers 200a to 200d which are registered in advance (S
209, YES in step S211), terminates this program,
The process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG.

By executing the above-described processing, the print command and the image data for executing the print processing related to the print request are transferred to each of the printers 200a to 200d effectively registered in the print system. Printer 20
Processing is started in parallel at 0a to d. The process in the printer 200 will be described later with reference to a flowchart.

Next, FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the copy number counting process executed in step S3 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 7, when the print flag is ON, the print command and the image data are transferred to printers 200a to 200d in step S2 of FIG. 4, and the print processing is started in printer 200 (S301). ), Host PC1
00 receives the processing information for notifying that the printing process for one copy has been completed from the printer 200 that has completed the printing process for one copy (S303).

When the processing information is received from the printer 200 in step S303 (YES in S303), the processing speed required for the printing process for one copy in the printer 200 is measured (S305). The processing speed of the printer 200 is
It is measured based on the time from the output of the print command to the reception of the processing information.

Further, the total number of copies, which indicates the number of copies that have been printed in the entire printing system, is incremented by 1 (S307).

If the print flag is OFF in step S301 (NO in S301), it is determined that the print processing related to the print request has been completed for all 16 copies, and the stored count of the total number of copies is cleared ( S30
9).

This is the end of this program, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG. The above-described copy count process is a process executed for the printer 200 that receives the process information each time the copy process is completed, and is a process of counting the number of copies for which the print process is completed in the entire printing system. is there.

Next, FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the trouble processing executed in step S4 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the host PC 100 receives trouble information notifying that a trouble has occurred from the printer 200 (YES in S401), the received registration of the printer 200 is deleted (S403).

This completes this program and returns the processing to the main routine shown in FIG. By executing the above trouble processing, the printer 20 in which the trouble has occurred
In the case of 0, the registration is immediately deleted from the printing system, and the printing process is not performed.

Next, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing end ranking processing executed in step S5 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 9, when the print flag is ON and the printing process is being executed in printer 200 (YES in S501), host PC 100 causes each of printers 200 registered in the printing system. Timing when the processing information is received from step S30 of FIG.
Based on the processing speed measured in step 5 and every time the print processing for one copy is completed and the total copy count is incremented by 1 (S
If YES in step 503), the printer 200 that finishes the printing process is registered from the printing process onward until the 16th copy process (which is the total number) ends (S505 to S509).

The printer 200 that has completed the printing process
Is not registered in the printer that ends the print processing after the print processing (NO in S511), that is,
When the printer 200 does not register the completion of the one-copy printing process after the printing process is completed, it is determined that the processing speed of the printer 200 is slow enough to reduce the efficiency of the entire printing system, and the printing process is performed. Finished printer 20
0 is registered as the first stop rank printer (S51
3). When the same printer 200 is registered in a plurality of stop orders, the printer 200 is registered in the lowest stop order.

This is the end of this program, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG. By executing the above-mentioned process end ranking process, the printers 2 registered in the printing system are printed each time one print process is completed.
00 is re-registered in order from the highest print processing speed, and the stop order is determined in order from the printer 200 with the lowest print processing speed.

Next, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the print stop command processing executed in step S6 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 10, when the print flag is ON and the printing process is being executed in printer 200 (YES in S601), host PC 100 causes host PC 100 to complete each printing process (S603). YES), it is confirmed whether or not the printer 200 having the first stop order corresponding to the remaining number of copies for which the printing process is not processed is registered (S).
605). That is, at the time when the printing process is executed (the unprocessed remaining number of copies is confirmed), it is confirmed whether or not the printer 200 having the first stop rank is registered.

When the printer 200 having the first stop rank corresponding to the remaining number of copies is registered (YES in S605),
A print stop command for print processing is issued to the registered printer 200 having the first stop order (S607).

This is the end of this program, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG. By executing the above-described print stop command processing, it is determined every time one print processing is completed whether or not the printer 200 having the stop rank 1 is registered (whether there is any printer 200 to be stopped). , And instructs the printer 200 to be stopped to stop the printing process.

The above processing is executed in the host PC 100 of the printing system. Next, printer 2
The processing in 00 will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a print control process in the printer 200. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is realized by the control unit 201 of the printer 200 reading a program stored in the HDD 202 and executing the program on the memory 203.

Referring to FIG. 11, first, in printer 200, a print command is received from host PC 100, and a print flag process indicating whether or not a print process is in progress is executed (S10). Next, RIP processing is executed on the image data received from the host PC 100 (S20),
The print processing of the image data on which the RIP processing has been executed is executed (S30). Then, the process information transfer process of transferring the process information indicating that the print process of one copy has been executed to the host PC 100 is executed (S40). Further, if necessary, other processing other than the above is executed (S50), and then the above processing is repeatedly executed from step S10.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 11 is the main routine of the processing executed by the printer 200, and each of the above-described processing (S10 to S40) will be described in detail with the following subroutines. Explain.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the print flag process executed in step S10 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 12, the control unit 201 confirms the print flag, and the print flag is OFF (S
If the print instruction is received from the host PC 100 via the network I / F 205 (NO in step 701) (S703).
YES), the print flag is turned ON (S70
5).

Then, the printing process is executed in accordance with the print command received in step S703, the printing of the last page included in the number of copies of the image data received by the print command is finished (YES in S707), and the host PC 100 stops the printing. When the command is accepted (YES in S709), the print flag is turned off (S711).

With the above, this program is terminated, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG.

If the print flag is ON by executing the above print flag processing, the printer 2
00 is in the process of printing one copy of the image data according to the print command received from the host PC 100, and it is determined that the control in the printer 200 is the print mode.
If the print flag is OFF, the host PC1
By receiving the print stop command from 00, the print processing is stopped after the print processing of one copy of the image data is completed,
It is determined that the control in the printer 200 is not the print mode.

Next, FIG. 13 shows step S20 of FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing a RIP process executed in step S4.

Referring to FIG. 13, step S1 of FIG.
When the print flag is ON by the print flag process executed at 0 (when the print process is started by the printer 200) (YES in S801), the control unit 201 of the printer 200 is controlled by the host PC 100 via the network I / F 205. The image data is received and buffered in the memory 203 (S803).

When the image data included in one copy is completely received from the host PC 100 (YES in S805),
When the RIP is enabled (YES in S807), that is, when the control signal for accessing the image data buffered in the memory 203 using the hardware or software for expanding the bitmap is issued, RIP processing is executed for each page of image data (S809).

The RIP processing in step S809 is 1
Each time the page ends (YES in step S811), the printer 2
If the page count indicating the number of pages included in one copy of the image data to be printed at 00 is not 0 (NO in step S813), that is, included in the one copy of image data to be printed at the printer 200. When there is an unprocessed page, the page count indicating the unprocessed page is decremented by 1 (S815). When the page count indicating the number of pages of the image data for which the print processing is executed in the printer 200 is 0 (Y in S813).
ES), that is, the RIP process is performed by the printer 2
When the processing of all the pages of one copy of the image data for which the print processing is executed is completed at 00, the page counter is set to the number of pages included in one copy in order to perform the processing of the next copy of the image data ( S817).

When the print stop command is received and the print flag is OFF in step S709 of FIG. 12 (NO in S801), the RIP process is not executed.

The program is terminated as described above, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG.

By executing the above-mentioned RIP processing, the received image data is expanded into bitmaps for page-by-page printing processing in the printing unit 204 of the printer 200. Further, by the above processing, the RIP
The number of processed pages is counted for each copy of image data to be printed by the printer 200.

In the above-mentioned RIP processing, the hardware and software generally called RIP are used to arrange the characters and images described in mathematical formulas and programming languages in the required size and position, and to fill the filled bitmap. As for the method of developing as, it is a general developing method, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted here.

Next, FIG. 14 shows step S30 of FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing a printing process executed in step S6.

Referring to FIG. 14, step S1 of FIG.
The print flag is ON by the print flag process executed in 0 (YES in S901), the RIP process is executed in step S20 of FIG. 11 for the received image data (YES in S903), and the print permission state is obtained. (YES in S905), that is, the printing unit 204
When a control signal for accessing the RIP-processed image data buffered in the memory 203 is issued, the control unit 201 of the printer 200 causes the printing unit 204 to display the RIP-processed image data. The print processing is executed for the same (S907).

When the print stop command is received in step S709 of FIG. 12 and the print flag is OFF, that effect is determined in step S901 of FIG. 14 (NO in S901), and the print process is not executed. .

When the printing process in step S907 ends (YES in step S909), this program ends.
The process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG.

By executing the above-mentioned print processing,
The printer 200 executes print processing of the image data transmitted from the host PC 100. When the print stop command is received, the print processing for the number of copies is not executed after the print processing for the number of copies of the image data is completed. That is, at the break of the number of copies of image data to be printed,
The printing process is stopped in accordance with the received print stop command.

Next, FIG. 15 shows step S40 of FIG.
It is a flow chart which shows processing information transfer processing performed by.

Referring to FIG. 15, step S1 of FIG.
When the print flag is turned on by the print flag process executed in 0 (YES in S1001) and no trouble has occurred in the printer 200 (NO in S1005), the control unit 201 of the printer 200.
11 indicates that when the printing process in step S30 of FIG. 11 ends up to the last page included in the number of copies of the image data to be printed (YES in S1009), the printing process of one copy of the image data to be printed is completed. The processing information for notification is transferred to the host PC 100 (S
1011).

When a trouble occurs in the printer 200 (YES in S1005), the trouble information for immediately notifying the trouble is sent to the host PC 10.
Transfer to 0 (S1007).

Further, by the print flag processing executed in step S10 of FIG.
If it becomes F (NO in S1001), the host PC1
Since the print stop command is accepted from 00 and the print processing is completed, the counter for the number of processing copies is cleared (S1003).

The program is terminated as described above, and the process is returned to the main routine shown in FIG.

By executing the above-mentioned process information transfer process, it is possible to notify the host PC 100 of the completion of the print process or occurrence of trouble for each printer 200.
Then, the host PC 100 uses each of the printers 200a to 200d.
It is possible to collect the application information of the operation status from each one.

The above processing is executed in the printer 200 of the printing system. In the following, a specific example of the processing status in each of the printers 200a to 200d and the control in the host PC 100 when printing processing of 16 sets of image data in the printing system is shown.

FIG. 16 shows each printer 20 when printing 16 copies of the same image data in the printing system.
It is a figure which shows the processing condition in 0a-d and control in host PC100. In FIG. 16, the horizontal axis indicates the elapsed time, and each printer 20
The processing in 0a-d and the control in the host PC 100 are shown.

Referring to FIG. 16, first, host PC 100
1 for each printer 200a-d
A print command for performing the 6-copy printing process is transmitted (job command), and the same image data is transmitted.

In each of the printers 200a to 200d, the print control process shown in FIG. 11 is executed, and every time the print process for one copy of the image data is completed, the process information for notifying the fact is sent to the host PC 100. Transferred. Further, when a trouble occurs (shown on the printer 200a), trouble information indicating that fact is transferred to the host PC.

The host PC 100 receives the above processing information and executes steps S5 and S in FIG.
By executing the process end ranking process and the print stop command process shown in FIG. 6, a print stop command (stop command) is issued to the printer 200 having a slow processing speed, and 16 sets of image data are transmitted by the entire printing system. Efficiently execute print processing.

By executing the above processing in the printing system, it is possible to collect the operating statuses of the printers 200 registered in the printing system one by one, and at the timing when the printing processing for the desired number of copies is completed, an appropriate printer is completed. 20
A print stop command can be issued to 0. Therefore, the number of processing copies in each printer 200 can be optimized,
The productivity of the entire system can be optimized.

In the above embodiments, the data processing device is described as the host PC 100 and the data output device is the printer 200, but the data processing device and the data output device are not limited to the above devices. However, the device may have other data processing functions and data output functions.

Further, the print control method performed by the host PC 100 and the printer 200 described above can be provided as a program. Such a program is a flexible disk attached to a computer, C
The program product can be provided by being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as a D-ROM, a ROM, a RAM, and a memory card. Alternatively,
The program may be provided by being recorded in a recording medium such as a hard disk built in the computer.
Further, the program can be provided by downloading via the network.

The provided program product is installed in a program storage unit such as a hard disk and executed.

The program product includes the program itself and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description but by the claims, and is intended to include meanings equivalent to the claims and all modifications within the scope.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing system which is a data output system in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a host PC 100 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a printer 200 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing print control processing in the host PC 100.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a print flag process executed in step S1 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing print command processing executed in step S2 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a copy count process executed in step S3 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a trouble process executed in step S4 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process end ranking process executed in step S5 of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing print stop command processing executed in step S6 of FIG.

11 is a flowchart showing print control processing in the printer 200. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing print flag processing executed in step S10 of FIG.

FIG. 13 is an RI executed in step S20 of FIG.
It is a flow chart which shows P processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a printing process executed in step S30 of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a process information transfer process executed in step S40 of FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a processing state in each of the printers 200a to 200d and a control in the host PC 100 when 16 copies of the same image data are printed in the printing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 host PC, 101 host PC controller, 1
02 HDD of host PC, 103 memory of host PC, 104 display section, 105 input section, 106 host P
C network I / F, 200, 200a to d printer, 201 printer control unit, 202 printer H
DD, 203 printer memory, 204 printing section, 2
05 Printer network I / F, 300 network.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hirokazu Yamada             2-3-13 Azuchi-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka             Toki Building Minolta Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HH03 HH09 HJ06 HJ08                       HK04 HK14 HN05 HN15 HN22                       HQ03                 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB10 EE02

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A data output system comprising a plurality of data output devices and a data processing device connected to a telecommunication line, wherein the data processing device issues an output data output request via the telecommunication line. Accepting means for accepting, when the accepting means accepts output requests for a plurality of copies of the output data, transfer means for transferring an output command and output data to each of the plurality of data output devices, From each of the plurality of data output devices, information about the processing status of the output data, obtaining means for obtaining for each number of output copies of the output data, based on the obtained information on the processing status, the plurality of data A data output system, comprising: issuing means for issuing an output stop command to each of the output devices. 2. The data output device is outputting the data when it outputs the output data based on the output command received from the data processing device and receives the output stop command from the data processing device. The data output system according to claim 1, wherein the output of the output data is stopped after the output of the corresponding portion of the output data is completed. 3. A receiving step of receiving an output data output request via a telecommunication line; and, in the receiving step, when the plurality of output data output requests are received, the device is connected to the telecommunication line. A transfer step of transferring an output command and output data to each of the plurality of data output devices; and information on the processing status of the output data from each of the plurality of data output devices, the number of output copies of the output data. A data output program for causing a computer to realize an acquisition step for each acquisition, and an issuing step for issuing an output stop command to each of the plurality of data output devices based on the acquired processing status information. 4. When the output stop command is received from the data processing device while the output data is being output based on the output command received from the data processing device via the telecommunication line, the data is being output. 4. The data output program according to claim 3, further comprising a stop step of stopping the output of the output data after the output of the corresponding portion of the output data is completed. 5. A reception step of receiving an output data output request via an electric communication line; and, in the reception step, when the output request of a plurality of copies of the output data is received, the output data is connected to the electric communication line. A transfer step of transferring an output command and output data to each of the plurality of data output devices; and information on the processing status of the output data from each of the plurality of data output devices, the number of output copies of the output data. A data output method, comprising: an acquisition step for each acquisition; and an issuing step for issuing an output stop command to each of the plurality of data output devices based on the acquired processing status information.