JP2003271349A - System and method for managing and processing print job using print job ticket - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a computer based print system configured to perform the centralized management of a shared printer, to directly despool rendered data from a print feeding source to the printer, and to make it possible for a user to select a specific printer driver. <P>SOLUTION: This print system comprises a client computer 80 or optionally a server computer, one or more printer drivers 88, a print processor 100, an extended spooler 160, one or more printers 108, and a means for initiating a print job. The print job is initiated by the client computer 80 or the printer 108. Also, the print data from a print job are directly despooled from the client computer 80 to the printer 108 according to a print job ticket by a job ticket spooler 164 having synchronous centralized management. <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 printing system, and more particularly to a printing system under the environment of a plurality of printing apparatuses (or printers).

[0002]

The advent of software and hardware components in computer systems has made it possible for users to perform various tasks using those systems. For example, a user may use a word processor,
Files and documents can be created using software applications such as spreadsheets and other applications. The created document can be printed by a local printing device, a remote printing device, or a network printing device.

Various client computers connected by a network (for example, one or more PCs, servers, etc.)
And a computer system including a printing device,
Utilization of networked systems for printing files or documents conventionally involves the use of print queues at centralized computers commonly referred to as print servers. The print queue is a queue in which print jobs of a specific network printing device are lined up. Thus, for example, when printing a large number of documents on a network printer, the documents are ordered in a print queue on the print server and are pulled from the print queue one at a time for printing. The print jobs are normally executed in the same order as they are arranged in the print queue, but it is also possible to prioritize them according to other criteria such as the size and type of document to be printed.

When a user initiates a print command on one of the client computers, that client computer places print data for a print job in a print queue located on a print server connected to the corresponding network printer. Despool. When it is time to retrieve a print job from the print queue, the print server despools print data from the print queue to the network printer. This network printing method allows various client computers to use the network printer, but requires a large amount of network traffic because print data for each print job must be despooled twice over the network. Furthermore, the conventional method causes a failure of bidirectional communication, resulting in failure of error handling and / or failure of job completion notification.

In addition, TCP / IP, Novell
There is a method of opening a connection with a network printer by a specific protocol such as Network or Apple Talk and directly spooling data to the printer.

However, because network printers are commonly shared between client computers, spooling and printing of print jobs that arrive at the same time must be serialized. Therefore, the network printer
The processes for despooling print data must be sequentially sequenced, while one print job is being printed while another print job is prohibited. Alternatively, while one print job is being printed, another print job is despooled to the firmware memory or the disk drive of the printer. These methods cause the client computer to consume CPU cycles and / or cause additional network traffic.
Furthermore, there is no centralized management of print jobs, and thus no priority on the order of processing of print jobs.

In an attempt to reduce the amount of network traffic required during network printing, there is an operating system in which client computers despool journal data instead of conventional print data. The amount of journal data is assumed to be smaller than the amount of conventional print data. Therefore, the amount of network traffic is reduced. However, this method requires that a copy of the corresponding printer driver be placed on the print server and that additional printer drivers be managed and / or licensed. Further, this method does not take into consideration problems such as loss in two-way communication, extra load of CPU cycles on the server for conversion processing of print data, and overhead of journal data on network traffic. Some of these systems are described below.

FIG. 1 shows a shared printing device 108 in an environment where the printing system management and centralized management are not performed. The printing device 108 is connected to the client computer 80. The client computer 80 includes an application program 84 capable of supplying print data and means for initiating a print job. The client computer 80 includes a printer driver 88, a spooler 92, a print processing device 100,
A port manager 96 is provided. The application program 84 writes print information (including print data and print commands) in the printer driver 88. The printer driver 88 then spools this information to the spooler 92. The spooler 92 transfers the print information to the port manager 9
6 can be despooled, or depending on the situation, the print processing apparatus 100 can be used to RAW (ready to print).
The data 102 or EMF (Extended Metafile Format) 104 can be controlled. Normally, each print supply source 80 such as the client computer 80 (illustrated as a client computer is used, but in this specification, the print supply source 80 and the print supply source 80 have almost the same meaning.
Therefore, it is the same as the reference numeral 80. ), Or some server (not shown) competes with each of the other networked print sources (eg, the print source shown at 112) to establish a connection for despooling print jobs to the printing device 108. Establish.

The printer 108 has an open connection to the print source 80, and the print source 80 despools print data to the printer 108. During this period, if another print source 112 requests an open connection with the printing device 108 for the purpose of despooling the printing data to the printing device 108, it is either prohibited or rejected. Basically, all other print sources 112 must wait for a connection to become available before despooling print data to the printing device 108. Upon completion of the print job, print source 80 informs printing device 108 that the connection can be closed. At this time, the other print source 112 is allowed to establish an open connection. However, in general, each print source 112 either waits for the release of the connection prohibition or continuously polls the printing apparatus 108 for an opportunity to establish an open connection with the printing apparatus 108.

In the above method in the situation where the management system is not built, the print processing is performed because the connection from the print source 80 or 112 to the printing device 108 is established, and the print data is transmitted and the print processing is performed. There is a problem that the order of is chaotic. Further, regarding polling, if there is a heavy job request, the print job may be kept waiting indefinitely for some reason.
Similarly, because the print system is not managed, it is not possible to apply an algorithm that establishes the priority order of print jobs, taking into consideration factors such as the size and waiting time of each print job. Possible algorithms are FI
Only FO (first-in first-out method) is available.

Conventionally, centralized management of a shared printing apparatus is
This is done in the print queue of the print server. Generally, each print source (and other client computers or print sources) will have print job information, R
Send AW data and / or EMF data and corresponding print job data to the printer server, requesting that the print job be printed by one or more designated printing devices. Each printing device managed by the print server has a print queue. The print server places each print job in a corresponding print queue, and then the print server despools each print job from the print queue to one or more printing devices by some prepared method such as a first-in first-out (FIFO) method. To do.

Although this method is more efficient and easier to use than an unmanaged printing system, it requires the printer data to be despooled over the network twice from the print source to the printer server and from the printer server to the printing device. There's a problem. This doubles the amount of traffic through the network, both in terms of data volume and airtime. Further, this method requires sufficient storage resources such as disk space to store print data for two times in the printer server.

As an example of such a printing system or printing environment, a printing system including a print source executed based on the operating system of Windows (registered trademark) 95, 98, Me, NT / 2000, XP by Microsoft There is. In this system, the print source is Windows (registered trademark).
NT / 2000, XP, or Novell Network
A print job is sent to a shared printer managed by a print server operated by re (registered trademark).

FIG. 2 shows the state of the art for solving the problem of the conventional centralized management printing system by delaying the rendering process of the print data to the printer server 116. In this system, each print source 80 or 112 sends print job information and journal print commands (ie, EMF data) to the printer server 1.
16 requesting that the print job be printed on one or more designated printing devices 108. Printer server 1
Each printing device 108 managed by 16 has a print queue 120 and a printer driver 136 of the printer server 116 associated with the corresponding print queue 120. The printer server 116 arranges each print job in the corresponding print queue 120, and the printer server 11
6 performs data conversion and reproduction of the journal print command by the corresponding printer driver 136. Thereafter, the printer server 116 uses the first-in first-out method (FIF
Print queue 1 by some prepared method such as O)
Despool the print job from 20 to one or more printing devices 108. This method improves on the conventional method by assuming that the size of journal data is substantially small, and requires less disk space for storage. Also, by reducing the amount of traffic through the network 70 in this manner, conventional schemes are improved in both data and time.

However, although there is an improvement in the above method, there is a problem that the journal print command together with the print data 106 requires despooling through the network 70. This increases the amount of traffic through the network 70, both in terms of data volume and airtime. It also requires sufficient storage resources, such as disk space, to store the journal print instructions in the printer server 116 and, at the same time, space for rendering each print job. This method also has the problem that the printer server 116 needs sufficient CPU resources to render the print data by the corresponding printer driver 136.
Also, according to this method, the user can
When the user is forced to use the printer driver assigned to the print queue 120 of No. 6, the user is restricted from selecting the printer driver 136.

As an example of such a system, Micro
soft Windows (registered trademark) NT / 20
00, or a system that includes a print source running an XP operating system, which sends a print job to a shared printer managed by a Windows NT / 2000 printer server.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-242242, which will be described later, there is disclosed a print system for independently transmitting job information of print data which improves the above system. This patent discloses a client computer that sends only job information of print data to a printer server, and the printer server manages the printing order according to the job information. If printing is possible, the client computer directly sends the print data to the printer. In the present invention, after the printing is completed, the printer notifies the server that the printing is completed. Upon receiving the print completion notification, the server commands the client computer to delete the print data. Further, according to the present invention, in the printing system on the network configured as described above, the network traffic does not increase, and the server does not require a large storage capacity. Therefore, the load on the server is reduced and the client computer executes the job of the server. It teaches that the management can be performed, the completion of the printing operation can be monitored, and the printing operation can be performed even when the server is in an error state. In the present invention, only print job information is transmitted to the print server via the network. The print data is then despooled directly from the print source to the printing device.

This patent improves upon the above system by eliminating the need to despool print data or print commands (ie, journal data) with print job information to a print server. Instead, only print job information is sent to the printer server and stored in the print queue. The print server accepts the print job request to despool the print data by some prepared method, such as a first-in first-out (FIFO) method, by sending the IP address of the printing device to the print source. The print source uses the IP address of the printing device to establish an open connection with the printing device and despool print data. When that is complete, the print source informs the printing device that the connection can be closed.
The print server manages the availability of the printing device and the completion of print jobs by continuously polling the printing device for printer status via SNMP or the like.

[0019]

[Patent Document 1] US Pat. No. 6,115,132 (publication date: September 5, 2000)

[0020]

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-501247 (publication date: January 15, 2002)

[0021]

Although the techniques in the above patents have been improved, there are two major problems. First, this method requires managing the progress and / or status of print jobs despooled to the printing device by periodically polling the printing device, which increases network activity. At the same time, the CPU cycle of the printer server needs to be continuous. Second, if the communication link from the printer server and printing device is lost and / or the printing device becomes unresponsive, the progress and / or status of the despooled print job is lost or invalid.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional centralized management of a shared printing apparatus by a plurality of printing apparatuses, in which a print source directly despools print data to the printing apparatus. That is, the present invention provides a computer printing apparatus capable of performing centralized management of a shared printing apparatus, despooling rendered data directly from a print source to the printing apparatus, and allowing a user to select a specific printer driver. Then, the above problem is to be solved.

[0023]

A computer-based printing system according to the present invention includes at least one print source having at least one print job to be printed including print data and print conditions; and the print source. A centralized print manager, such as a print server, that includes at least one printing device in communication, a means for initiating a print job from the print source, a job ticket spooler and at least one job ticket queue for synchronously managing print jobs. And at least one print job ticket created and configured by a local spooler in the print source, the print job ticket being generated by the print source by the job ticket spooler of the centralized print manager. Despooling of print data directly to the printing device is performed based on the print job ticket transmitted and managed by the job ticket spooler and placed in the job ticket queue, and the printing conditions included in the print job ticket. And means for starting.

According to the above arrangement, the print data can be held in the print supply source until the print preparation is completed, so that it is not necessary to add additional disk space to the print server. Also, no additional CPU resources need be added to render the print job to the print server or to store progress / status information in the print server. Further, since the printing system of the present invention can deal with a printing device that does not respond in this manner, it is possible to effectively manage print jobs and maintain the synchronization between the print source and the printing device.

Further, in the computer-based printing system according to the present invention, in the above configuration, the means for directly starting the despooling of the print data to the printing device selects the print job ticket from the job ticket queue. The job ticket spooler may be provided for transmitting the print job permission message to the print source and transmitting the print job permission message to the print source. It may be adapted to initiate data despooling.

In the computer printing system according to the present invention, in the above-mentioned configuration, the means for directly starting the despooling of print data to the printing device selects the print job ticket from the job ticket queue. The job ticket spooler for transmitting the print job permission message to the printing device specified in the selected print job ticket may be provided, and the printing device specified by the print job permission message may be provided. Initiates despooling of print data contained in the print source by sending a despool enable message to the print source, whereafter the print source despools print data directly to the designated printing device. You may be allowed to do so.

Further, in the computer-based printing system according to the present invention, in the above-mentioned configuration, the means for directly starting the despooling of the print data to the printing device instructs the job ticket spooler to issue the job ticket queue. It may be configured to include a print processing device that selects and takes out the print job ticket from the print job ticket and transmits a print job permission message to the print supply source. Despooling of print data to one or more printing devices may be initiated.

Further, in the computer-based printing system according to the present invention, in the above-mentioned configuration, the means for directly starting the despooling of the print data to the printing device instructs the job ticket spooler to execute the job ticket queue. From the print job ticket, the print job ticket may be selected and taken out from, and a print processing device that transmits a print job permission message to the printing device specified in the selected print job ticket may be provided. The message causes the designated printing device to start despooling the print data contained in the print source by sending a despool enable message to the print source, after which the print source directly prints the print data. Despool to the specified printing device It may be made as to.

The printing system according to the present invention has a configuration different from that of the conventional printing system, and has a unique effect. That is, as taught and described herein, the present invention combines unique configurations that provide many advantages to form a printing system.

Unlike conventional printing systems that perform centralized management, the printing system according to the present invention does not copy or store print data in a print server and leave it as it is until printing is selected. The print data rendered when selected by the print job ticket is despooled directly to the printing apparatus. The invention also allows the user to select a printer driver. Furthermore, the printing system of the present invention, unlike many of the printing systems described above, does not even render journaled print data. Further, in the printing system of the present invention, since the synchronization management in the printing system using the print job ticket is independently provided, it is not necessary to continuously poll the printing device. These concepts are explained in detail below.

[0031]

It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention are capable of various configurations, as generally described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Therefore, FIG.
The following detailed description of embodiments of the system and method of the present invention shown in Figures 15 through 15 does not limit the scope of the invention within the scope of the claims, and is representative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention. It's just an example.

The presently preferred embodiments of the invention will be best understood by referring to the drawings, in which like elements are designated by like reference numerals.

The present invention is disclosed below by two of "a typical example of an operating environment" and "print job management and print job processing using a print job ticket". These are only used to make it easier for the reader to read,
It should not be construed as limiting in any sense.

(Typical Example of Operating Environment) FIGS. 3 and 4 and the corresponding descriptions show an outline of the optimum operating environment in which the present invention can be implemented. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with various computers and various system configurations, including networked configurations, as described further below.

Embodiments of the invention may include, or include, one or more computer-readable media, each media being configured to include data or computer-executable instructions for manipulating the data. It is a composition. Computer-executable instructions are data structures accessible by a processing system such as a system used for a general purpose computer capable of performing various functions or a system used for a dedicated computer capable of performing a limited number of functions. , Objects, programs, routines, or other program modules. Computer-executable instructions cause a processing system to perform a particular function or group of functions and are examples of program code means for executing the processes of the methods disclosed herein. Further, the fact that the specific execution instruction is continuously executed shows an example of the operation used when executing such processing.

As an example of computer readable media,
Random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable read only memory (P
ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), data or executable instructions accessible by the processing system. Other devices and components capable of supplying

According to FIG. 3, a typical system for implementing the invention comprises a computer 10. Computer 10 may be a general purpose computer or a special purpose computer. For example, computer 10 includes a personal computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other portable device, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe, supercomputer, multiprocessor system, network computer, computing device. It may be a consumer electronic device or the like.

The computer 10 has a system bus 12. The system bus 12 can be configured to connect to various components of the computer 10 and can exchange data between two or more components. System bus 12
Is a memory bus or memory controller, peripheral bus,
It may include one of a variety of bus structures including a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Typical components connected by system bus 12 include processing system 14 and memory 16. Other components may include one or more mass storage device interfaces 18, input interfaces 20, output interfaces 22, and / or network interfaces 24. Each component will be described later.

The processing system 14 comprises a CPU and one or more processors, such as one or more other processors designed to perform particular functions or tasks depending on the circumstances.
The processing system 14 typically executes instructions from a computer-readable medium, such as a memory 16, a magnetic hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, a magnetic cassette, an optical disk, or a communication connection considered a computer-readable medium.

Memory 16 includes one or more computer-readable media, which may be, or may be configured to contain, data or instructions for manipulating the data. System bus 1
It is accessible by the processing system 14 via the 2. The memory 16 may include, for example, a ROM 28 used to store information permanently and / or a RAM 30 used to store information temporarily. The ROM 28 is used when the computer 10 is started,
A basic input / output system (BIOS) may be included that has one or more routines used to establish communication.
The RAM 30 may include one or more operating systems, application programs, program data, etc., and one or more program modules.

One or more mass storage device interfaces 1
8 includes one or more mass storage devices 26 for the system bus 12
It is possible to connect to. The mass storage device 26 may be incorporated in the computer 10 or may be a peripheral device of the computer 10, and the mass storage device 26 enables the computer 10 to store a large amount of data. Depending on the circumstances, one or more mass storage devices 26 may be removable from computer 10. Examples of mass storage devices include hard disk drives, magnetic disk drives, tape drives, and optical disk drives.

The mass storage device 26 can read from and write to a magnetic hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, a magnetic cassette, an optical disk, or another computer readable medium. Mass storage device 2
6 and a computer-readable medium corresponding thereto store data and executable instructions in a non-volatile manner, and the executable instructions include one or more program modules such as an operating system, one or more application programs, and other program modules. Alternatively, the program data may be included. Such executable instructions are examples of program code means for carrying out the operations of the methods disclosed herein.

The one or more input interfaces 20 allow a user to input data and / or instructions to the computer 10 via one or more corresponding input devices 32. Examples of such input devices include keyboard, mouse, trackball, light pen, stylus, alternative input devices such as pointing devices, microphones, joysticks, game pads, satellite dish, scanners, camcorders, digital cameras, etc. Is mentioned. Similarly, examples of input interfaces 20 that may be used to connect the input device 32 to the system bus 12 include serial ports, parallel ports, game ports, universal serial buses (USB), FireWire (IEEE139).
4), or another interface.

The one or more output interfaces 22 can be used to connect the corresponding one or more output devices 34 to the system bus 12. Examples of output devices include monitors or display screens, speakers, printers, and the like.
The specific output device 34 may be incorporated in the computer 10 or a peripheral device of the computer 10. As an example of output interface, video adapter,
Examples include audio adapters and parallel ports.

One or more network interfaces 24
Allows the computer 10 to connect via a network 38, which may include wired and / or wireless lines, to
Information can be exchanged with the other local or remote computer (computer 36) described above. Examples of the network interface include a network adapter for connecting to a local area network (LAN) and a modem, a wireless link, and a network adapter for connecting to a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. The network interface 24 may be incorporated in the computer 10 or a peripheral device of the computer 10. In a networked system, the accessible program modules or portions may be stored on remote storage. Further, in a networked system, computer 10 may participate in a distributed computing environment in which functions or tasks are performed by multiple networked computers.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be implemented in various computer system configurations in a networked computer environment. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in a networked environment that includes two clients and two printers connected via a network. Although FIG. 4 shows an embodiment including two clients connected to a network, other embodiments include one client connected to the network or multiple clients connected to the network. Similarly, embodiments of the invention include one printer connected to the network or two or more printers connected to the network.

The exemplary system of FIG. 4 for managing and processing print jobs in a networked environment includes one or more local area networks (LANs) and / or one or more wide area networks (WAs).
N) and various computers (clients 40, 5) connected via a network 64.
0) One or more printing devices (printers 60 and 62) are provided. Although the printers 60 and 62 are illustrated as independent printers, in the embodiment of the present invention, the printer 60 or the printer 62 is adopted as a printer group that functions as one logical printer and one physical printer. There is.

The client 40 is the printer driver 4
2, a spooler 44, a print queue 45, a print processing device 46, and a port manager 48. Similarly, the client 50 is a computer including a printer driver 52, a spooler 54, a print queue 55, a print processing device 56, and a port manager 58. Client computer 40/50
Is configured to manage print jobs initiated locally or remotely by other client computers, which is described further below.

Client computers 40 and 50
Stores one or more queues of spooled print jobs for one accessible printing device. As an example, in the Microsoft® family of operating systems, <job> is the job identifier associated with the print job. Spool data (<
job>. spl) files as well as spool headers or spool shadow (.shd) files until despooled to the port manager associated with the printing device.
Spool directory (eg C: \ windows
(Registered trademark) \ spool \ printers or C: \ winnt \ system32 \ spool \ pri
stored in the Internet. The client-based queue may be implemented such that a third file is added to the spool directory that contains information about print jobs so that the print jobs can be scheduled and despooled immediately. As an example of the above information, the DNS name of the printing device, the IP address of the printing device, the name of the document / file to be printed, the owner of the print job, the print job transmission time, the spool data size, and the number of pages of the print job , The number of sheets in the print job, the user, and / or the print job allocation priority.

The additional files may be stored in the spool directory, in the registry, or elsewhere on disk or in a memory that maintains an ordered list of print jobs for each spooled printing device. Each entry includes information for identifying spool data, a header, and print job queue information. In the Microsoft family of operating systems, this information may be the file base name of the spool data file containing the print job identifier. The position of each entry represents the latest scheduled order for despooling for other spooled print jobs in the same print queue. Subsequent processing by the spooler, print processing device, another application, or background processing may alter the scheduling of existing spooled print jobs by changing the order of the corresponding entries in the file.

While the above description relates to using the Microsoft operating system, another embodiment of the present invention is Apple Macintosh.
Linux operating system, Linux
(Registered trademark) operating system, System
MV UNIX (registered trademark) operating system, BSD UNIX (registered trademark) operating system, OSF UNIX (registered trademark) operating system, IBM Mainframe M
Includes using an operating system such as the VS® operating system and / or another operating system.

The present invention describes a spooler-based or print processing device-based computer printing system that directly despools print jobs using a print job ticket to a shared printing device that performs synchronous centralized management, and a method of implementing the same. That is, the present invention includes a client computer, a server computer depending on the situation, one or more printer drivers, a print processing device, a print spooler,
Direct printing to a printing device using one or more printers, a single-user or multi-user printing environment on a local or remote network, means for initiating a print job of all or a portion of one or more documents, and a print job ticket It features a computer-based printing system including means for despooling data, the details of which are described below.

The printing system comprises one or more shared printing devices or printers that are integrally interconnected in either a network or peer-to-peer printing environment. Connected to the printing device is one or more print sources, such as client or server computers, which can initiate print jobs for one or more documents, spool print jobs to a spooler, and print jobs. Can be despooled directly to the printing device. Further, the printing system includes a print server capable of managing one or more print jobs on the shared printing device, and the print source sends the print job ticket to the print server. Upon receiving a print job ticket, the print server stores a print queue of print job requests, allows despooling of print jobs from print sources, and manages print job progress and status in a centralized and synchronous manner. .

First, the user initiates a print job from a program or by an automatic or background process performed at the print source. A print job normally includes all or a part of one or more documents, each of which includes one or more pages, and a total of one or more copies. When a print job is initiated, the user selects at least one of a command, a command sequence, and a message from the print source or client computer at which the user despools print data to the printing device. .

After the print job is initiated, print commands are written to the printer driver by a program or other process in either the print source or the printing device. The print command is the print ready data (that is, RA
W) or may be converted to journal data for deferred or delayed rendering (eg, EMF). For example, Microso
In the ft family operating system,
The print instructions are associated with the device context of the printing device along with a graphical display interface (ie G
DI). Thereafter, these print commands are passed to the corresponding printer driver. For journal data, the printer driver stores print instructions and device context in an extended metafile format (ie, EMF). Then, the printer driver spools the journal data to the spooler. RAW
For data, the printer driver provides print instructions and device context to print ready data (eg, PC
Data conversion to L, Postscript, PDF, rasterized data, etc.). The printer driver then spools the print ready data to the spooler.

Usually, spooling means Simulta.
neous peripheralation
An acronym for son-line, which refers to putting a job in a buffer, which is a special area in memory or on disk where the device can access the stored information when ready. Spooling is an effective means because devices access data at different rates. The buffer is
It provides a place to wait for data to sit while the slower device catches up. Normally, in print spooling, a document is loaded into a buffer (usually an area of disk). The printer then retrieves the document from the buffer at its own speed. Since the document is in a buffer accessible by the printer, other operations can be performed on the computer while printing is in the background. Also, since many print jobs can be queued by spooling, it is not necessary to wait for the print job to finish before specifying the next print job.

The server is a computer or device on the network that manages network resources. In the case of a print server, the print server is a computer that manages one or more printers. In many cases, the server is dedicated to the server, that is, it does nothing but the job of the server. However, in a multi-processing operating system, one computer can execute several kinds of programs at one time. The server in this case may refer to the program managing the resource rather than the entire computer. Further, the printer driver is a software program that controls the printer. Whenever a document is printed, the printer driver takes over and sends the data to the printer with the correct control commands. Most modern operating systems have printer drivers for the most common printers, but you must install the printer driver before using it.

In the present invention, a print job residing on a client computer may be initiated via a print source or printing device. Further, the configuration and operation of the print job ticket in the printing system of the present invention are the spooler on the printer server, the spooler via the print processing device or the print auxiliary device, or any standard print model added between the driver and the port. It is possible to control by the process of. Each of these concepts and embodiments are described below.

(Start of Print Job by Print Source (Spooler Base)) As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the present embodiment, the local spooler 160 is an extension that forms a print job ticket of print job conditions from spool data. It is a spooler. In the case of rendered or journal data, spool data begins with a spool header representing spooling requests and resources, followed by PJL (Print Job Language), PCL (Printer Control Language), DEVMODE (ie EM).
Followed by a print job header that specifies the conditions of the print job such as F). The local spooler 160 is the printer server 11
6 (print server 184 in FIG. 6), the print job ticket is queued in the printing device 108. The print job ticket includes a document name, spool data size, print job page number, print job sheet number, print job copy number, and document information such as a local (for example, client) spooler to which a print job identification name is assigned. , Client name (for example, DNS name), client information such as client network address (for example, IP address), user name, other group department name, user information such as confirmation code, printer name, current priority, etc. Printing device information may be included, but is not limited thereto.

The printer server spooler 164, that is, the job ticket spooler (hereinafter referred to as the job ticket spooler 164) prints one or more job ticket print job tickets from a plurality of print sources for one or more shared printing devices 108. It is held in the queue 168. The printer server spooler 164 permits despooling of print data to the printing device by retrieving the relevant print job ticket from the job ticket print queue 168 according to an algorithm such as FIFO or size / latency. At this time, the priority of the print supply source 80 may be taken into consideration.

When the job ticket spooler 164 selects a print job ticket for printing, the job ticket spooler 164 sends a message to the print source 80 specified in the print job ticket to print via the network 70 to the printing device 108. (In FIG. 6, the printing device 18
8) It is permitted to directly despool the print data 176. The print job permission includes the document name, the document information such as the print job identification name assigned to the local spooler 160, the name of the printing apparatus 108, and the printing apparatus 1 such as the network address (for example, DNS name) of the printing apparatus 108.
08, information for writing print data, connection information such as reading status, and the like may be included, but are not limited thereto.

In this preferred embodiment, the printer server 116, and in particular the job ticket spooler 164, is an exclusive read and write port for the printing device 108, such as a socket with separate send and listen function connections. An open connection 148 (ie a virtual circuit) is established. Job ticket spooler 1
64 passes a copy of the connection to print source 80. In another embodiment, print source 80 may establish multiple exclusive open connections with multiple printing devices 108.

Simultaneously with the receipt of the permit, or after a short delay or after a predetermined time, the print source 80 begins despooling the print data 176 directly to the printing device 108. The print source 80 despools print data to the printing device 108 over the network 70, typically in fixed size partitions, by writing to the send function portion of the established open connection.

Upon completion of reception of each partition of print data, the printing apparatus 108 opens the open connection list.
Respond to print source 80 with a completion status or status update for the en function portion.
Thereafter, the print source 80 performs this operation (19 in FIG. 6).
Send a message to the printer server regarding status 2). This information includes command information such as opening the printing device, writing to the printing device, closing the printing device, and D
Printer information such as NS name, IP address, status (ready, busy, error, idle, etc.), document name, client job identification name, despool byte number, despool page number, despool sheet number, etc. May be included, but is not limited to. In the preferred embodiment, the spooler 1 of the print source 80.
60 and the spooler 164 of the print server 116 share a copy of the listen function portion of the connection and at the same time receive a completion status from the print source 80. In another embodiment, the print source 80 is the print server 1.
A second open connection with 16 is maintained and a completion status is echoed back from print source 80 to print server 116.

Upon completion of despooling the print data, the print source 80 sends a print job completion command to the printing device 108. Upon receiving a print job completion command or echo from printing device 108, printing device 80 and print server 116 close the copy of the connection.

This form of synchronization for sending and receiving completion notifications and / or status updates allows the print server 116 to
Can manage the progress and completion status of the despooling of the print job to the printing apparatus 108.

During despooling or printing of a print job, the printing device goes offline or goes into an error state, becomes unresponsive, the print source becomes unresponsive, or the communication line between the print server and the printing device is lost. Some failures can occur, such as down, or communication between the print server and print source down.

To maintain synchronization, print job management must be in place to prevent these conditions from occurring. As shown in FIG. 7, after accepting the print job ticket and before the print job complete response from the printing device, the print server periodically issues a status request 196 that periodically verifies that the print source is communicating properly. It may be done. To keep traffic low, the job ticket spooler 164 uses various algorithms with factors such as print speed (PPM), RIP or pre-RIP, spool data size, and / or response interval to date. The optimal spacing can be deduced and / or adjusted.

If no notification of completion of the despooling of the print job or print data partition is received after the calculated period of time, the job ticket spooler sends a status request 196 to the print source.
This request includes a printing device name (for example, DNS name) and a printer network address (for example, IP address).
Such as printer information, server name, server network address, print queue name (for example, \\ ser
server information such as (ver \\ printer), and document information such as a document name and a local printer assigned print job identification name may be included, but are not limited thereto.

When there is no response from the print source within the fixed time interval, the job ticket spooler determines that the print source is not communicating. The job ticket spooler then attempts to determine the progress of the print job by sending a status request message 200 in response to the current job progress / status of the printing device. In the response 204 from the printing device, the printer name (for example, DNS name), the network address (for example, IP address) of the printing device, the status of the printing device (for example, idle, print ready, busy, error, offline), etc. Printer information, number of spooled print jobs, current print job (client name,
It may include print job information such as, but not limited to, a network address or local spooler job identifier, a last completed print job (including client name, network address, or local spooler job identifier). Absent.

The job ticket spooler updates the status of the print job as appropriate. The job ticket spooler continues to request status updates of the printing device at regular intervals until the status indicates the completion of the print job or communication with the print source is reestablished.

If the printing device also does not respond, the job ticket spooler determines that the printing device is not communicating. The job ticket spooler does not update the status of the print job until communication with either the print source or the printing device is reestablished.

The print server and the print source, such as the client computer, respectively, provide another means for coping with non-responsive or other error conditions.
Has permission to suspend, resume, and delete print jobs. If the printing device has not responded for a long time, the job ticket spooler can send a request to the print source to suspend, resume, or delete the print job (208, 212, 216). Similarly, the print source can send requests 220, 221, 222 to the job ticket spooler to either suspend, resume, or delete a print job. If the print job is suspended and communication is reestablished, the print source or the printer server can request the other to resume the print job. In addition, the print source can communicate with the server to modify the print job if necessary, as shown at 224.

FIG. 8 illustrates a print source / server / printer three-way communication using the non-virtual socket concept. The print server 116 can communicate with the print source 80 using send / receive commands. Further, the print server 116 can communicate with the printing device 108 by polling the printing device 108 and then receiving the above-mentioned operational status. The print source 80 communicates with the printing device 108 by sending print job commands (open, write, close) and receiving updated printing device 198 status. Once the appropriate conditions are met and despooling is allowed, print source 80 despools print data directly to printing device 108.

FIG. 9 shows a print source / server / printer three-way communication using the virtual socket concept. This concept is similar to the non-virtual concept described above, except that the print server 116 operates to send open / close commands to the printing device 108 rather than to the print source 80. Further, when the print server 116 transmits the reception status command to the print supply source 80, the print supply source 80 then returns the status update to the print server 116. Further, the open / close command is sent from the print server 116 to the printing device 108, but the print source 80 still sends a write command to the printing device 108, so the print source 80
Direct spooling of print data from the printer to the printing device 108 is maintained.

(Start of Print Job by Print Source (Print Processing Device / Print Auxiliary Device Base)) FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the above system and method. For more information,
FIG. 7 shows a print server-initiated printing system based on a print processing device or a print auxiliary device rather than a spooler base. That is, the start of a print job by the print source according to the present invention can be operated using the extended print processing device or the print auxiliary device (print processing device 180). The other processes and systems (FIGS. 6 to 9) described above are all the same as those of this embodiment, but are different in that they are executed by the print processing device 180 (or the print assisting device) instead of the spooler 160. Therefore, it is considered that those skilled in the art can understand the principle and concept of the present embodiment in view of FIGS. 5 to 9 and the description of these drawings, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

(Start of Print Job by Printing Device (Spooler Base)) As shown in FIG.
A local spooler shown as the extended spooler 160 creates a print job ticket of print job conditions from spool data. In the case of rendered or journal data, spool data typically begins with a spool header representing spooling requests and resources, and then PJL (Print Job Language) or PCL.
A print job header that specifies print job conditions such as (printer control language) or DEVMODE (that is, EMF) follows. When the extended spooler 160 sends the print job ticket to the print server 116, it is queued in the printing device. The print job ticket includes the information described above.

The print server 116 includes a job ticket spooler 164 and a job ticket print queue 16
It consists of 8. The job ticket spooler 164 stores print job tickets from multiple print sources 80 in one or more job ticket print queues 168 for one or more shared printing devices 108. The printer server spooler 164 authorizes despooling of print data to the printing device by retrieving the relevant print job ticket from the job ticket print queue 168 according to an algorithm such as FIFO or size / latency, and the print source 80 The priority of can be taken into account.

When the job ticket spooler 164 selects a print job ticket to be printed, the job ticket spooler 164 sends a message to the printing device 108 designated in the print job ticket, and the print source 8
Allow despooling of print data 176 from zero. The print job permission data includes a document name, document information such as a print job identification name assigned to the local spooler 160, a print source name (for example, DNS name), and a network address of the print source 80 (for example, I
It may include information of the print supply source 80 such as P address), connection information such as write print data and reading status, but is not limited thereto.

In a preferred embodiment of such a technical idea, the job ticket spooler 164 uses separate sen.
An exclusive open connection 148 (that is, a virtual line) for reading from or writing to the printing device 108, such as a socket by connection of the d function and the listen function, is established. Printing device 108 then passes a copy of the connection to print source 80. As another embodiment,
The print source 80 may establish multiple exclusive open connections with multiple printing devices 108.

At the same time as receiving the permission, or after a short delay or after a predetermined time, the printing apparatus 108 sends a despool permission message to the print source 80 to directly despool the print data 176 from the print source 80. (That is, fetch a print job). The print job permission includes the document name, document information such as the print job identification name assigned to the local spooler 160, the name of the printing device 108 (for example, DNS name), the network address of the printing device 108 (for example, IP address), and the like. The information of the printing device 108 is included, but is not limited thereto.

At the same time when the permission is received, or after a short delay or after a predetermined time, the print source 80 writes in the send function portion of the open connection.
Generally, print data 17
6 is despooled to the printing device 108. Upon completion of reception of each partition of print data, the printing apparatus 108 responds with a completion status regarding the listen function portion of the open connection. In a preferred embodiment,
Print source 80, print servers 116, 160,
The spoolers at 164 each share a copy of the listen function portion of the connection, and at the same time receive a completion status from the printing device 108. In another embodiment, the print source 80 maintains a second open connection with the print server 116 and echoes a completion status from the printing device 108 to the print server 116.

Upon completion of despooling print data 176, print source 80 sends a print job complete command or echo to printing device 108. When a print job completion command is received from the printing device 108,
Printing device 80 and print server 116 close each copy of the connection.

This form of synchronization for sending and receiving completion notifications and / or status updates allows the print server 116 to
Can manage the progress and completion status of the despooling of the print job to the printing apparatus 108.

FIG. 12 shows a schematic flowchart of the above processing. First, as indicated at 230, the print source communicates with the print server to initiate a print job request. This request may include information such as document information, print source information, user information and the like. Upon receipt of the request, the print server communicates a similar print job request 234 to one or more printing devices in the network. In this embodiment, the printing device allows despooling of print data to the printing device (238), after which the print source despools print data 242 directly to the printing device. The printing device may at any time send a status request to either the print source or the print server shown at 246 and 250, as described above.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, as with the print server-led printing system, print jobs / printed files are also printed in the print source-led printing system of the present invention.
Several obstacles can occur while despooling or printing data.

To maintain synchronization, print job management must be adhered to to prevent such failures. After accepting the print job ticket and prior to the print job completion response from the printing device 108, the print server 116 determines that the print source 80 and the printing device 108
It is possible to periodically check whether or not is communicating. Also, in order to keep the traffic low, the job ticket spooler can use various algorithms to infer and / or adjust the optimal interval.

When the completion notification of the despooling of the print job or the print data partition is not received after the calculated period has elapsed, the job ticket spooler sends a status request to the printing device 108. This request may include, but is not limited to, document information, client information, and / or server information such as server name, server network address, print queue name, and the like.

When there is no response from the printing device within a fixed time interval, the job ticket spooler prints the printing device 108.
And it is determined that the print source 80 is not communicating. The job ticket spooler continuously polls the printing device 108 at certain intervals until communication is reestablished. If the printing device 108 responds and the progress does not change for a certain period, the job ticket spooler can determine that the print source 80 is not communicating.

The printer server 116 and print source 80 each have the authority to suspend, resume, or delete print jobs as another means of coping with unresponsiveness or other error conditions. If the printing device 108 has not responded for a long time, the print source 80 can send an action request 254 to the job ticket spooler to either suspend or delete the print job. If the print source 80 does not respond for a long time, the job ticket spooler can send a request to the printing device 108 to either suspend or delete the print job. If the print job is suspended and communication is reestablished, the print source 80 or the printer server 116 may cause the printer server 11 to restart the print job.
6 or the printing device 108, respectively. In addition, the print source 80 can send an action request 258 to the print server 116 to instruct it to modify the print job if necessary.

(Start of Print Job by Printing Device (Print Processing Device Base)) FIG. 15 shows another embodiment of the above system and method. Specifically, FIG. 15 illustrates a printing device-initiated printing system based on a print processing device or a print auxiliary device, rather than a spooler base. That is, the start of a print job by the printing apparatus according to the present invention can be operated using the extended print processing apparatus or the print auxiliary apparatus (print processing apparatus 180). The other processes and systems (FIGS. 11 to 14) are the same as those of this embodiment, but different in that they are executed by the extended print processing device 180 (or the print assisting device) instead of the extended spooler 160. . Therefore, it is considered that those skilled in the art can understand the principle and concept of the present embodiment in view of FIGS. 11 to 15 and the description of these drawings, and thus the detailed description of the present embodiment will be omitted.

The present invention is also a computer program product for printing a print job, wherein the print job includes print conditions and print data, and instructs the local spooler of the print source to spool the received print job. A print job ticket including print conditions of the print job is created from data, the local spooler is instructed to transmit the print job ticket to a job ticket spooler supported by a print server, and the job ticket spooler is configured to send the print job ticket to the print server. The print job ticket is stored in one or more job ticket queues supported by the job ticket spooler, and the job ticket spooler is allowed to despool print data directly to the printing device based on the print conditions of the job ticket. Ticket spooler job Wherein the computer program product comprising code to retrieve the print job ticket from the socket queue. Similar to the embodiments described above, the job ticket spooler and its function can be replaced by a print processing device or a print assistant device that attempts to perform the same function as the job ticket spooler.

The present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of essential characteristics. The described embodiments are merely examples in all respects, and do not limit the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

[0094]

According to the present invention, a computer-based printing system includes at least one print source having at least one print job to be printed including print data and print conditions, and at least one communicating with the print source. One printing device, means for initiating a print job from said print source, a job ticket spooler and at least one job ticket queue,
A centralized print manager such as a print server for synchronously managing print jobs; and at least one print job ticket that includes print job conditions and is created and configured by a local spooler in the print source,
A print job ticket sent by the print source to the job ticket spooler of the centralized print manager, placed in the job ticket queue managed by the job ticket spooler, and included in the print job ticket. And a means for directly starting despooling of print data to the printing device based on the same printing conditions.

As a result, since the print data can be held in the print supply source until the print preparation is completed, there is an effect that it is not necessary to add additional disk space to the print server. Further, there is an effect that it is not necessary to add additional CPU resources in order to render the print job in the print server or store the progress / status information in the print server. further,
Since the printing system of the present invention can deal with a printing device that does not respond in this way, it is possible to effectively manage print jobs and maintain the synchronization between the print source and the printing device. Play.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional printing system in which one or more client computers share a printing device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printing system that uses a print server and controls a print job of one or more client computers connected to a shared printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of an optimum operating environment in which the present invention can be implemented.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of an optimum operating environment in which the present invention can be implemented in a networked environment including two clients and two printers connected via a network.

FIG. 5 illustrates a spooler base embodiment in a print source driven printing system.

FIG. 6 shows a client in a normal print cycle.
It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the direct communication between servers.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flowchart of direct communication between a client and a server during interruption or loss of a print cycle.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing direct communication between a client, a server, and a printing device in the non-virtual socket concept.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing direct communication between a client, a server, and a printing device in the virtual socket concept.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a print processing device base in a print source driven printing system.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a spooler base in the printing apparatus initiative type printing system of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a flowchart of relay communication between a client and a server in a normal print cycle.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of relay communication between a client and a server during interruption or loss of a print cycle.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing relay communication between a client, a server, and a printing device in the non-virtual socket concept.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a print processing apparatus base in a printing apparatus driven printing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

40/50 Client computer (print source) 42/52 Printer driver 44/54 Spooler 45/55 Print queue 46/56 Print processing device 48/58 Port manager 60/62 Printer 64 Network 80 Client computer (print source) 84 Application 88 Printer driver 96 Port manager 100 Print processing device 108 Printer (printing device) 112 Other client computer (print supply source) 116 Print server 160 Extended spooler 164 Job ticket spooler 168 Job ticket queue

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HH03 HJ06 HJ08 HK03                       HK04 HN05 HN15 HN22 HQ07                       HQ10 HQ17 HR06                 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB04 CC05 DD13                       EE04

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. At least one having at least one print job to be printed including print data and print conditions.
A print source; at least one printing device in communication with the print source; a means for initiating a print job from the print source; a job ticket spooler and at least one job ticket queue; A centralized print manager for synchronous management, and at least one including a print job condition, created and configured by a local spooler within said print source.
One print job ticket, the print job ticket being sent by the print source to the job ticket spooler of the centralized print manager, managed by the job ticket spooler and placed in the job ticket queue; Means for initiating despooling of print data directly to the printing device based on print job conditions contained in. 2. A means for initiating despooling of print data to the printing device directly selects and retrieves the print job ticket from the job ticket queue and sends a print job permission message to the print source. The computer-based printing of claim 1, further comprising: a job ticket spooler that communicates a print job authorization message, wherein the print job authorization message causes the print source to directly initiate despooling of print data to one or more printing devices. system. 3. The means for directly initiating despooling of print data to the printing device selects and retrieves the print job ticket from the job ticket queue and specifies in the selected print job ticket. To the print source by transmitting a despool enable message to the print source by the printing device specified by the print job enable message. The computerized printing system of claim 1, wherein despooling of the included print data is initiated, after which the print source despools the print data directly to the designated printing device. 4. The means for directly initiating despooling of print data to the printing device instructs the job ticket spooler to select and retrieve the print job ticket from the job ticket queue, A print processing device for transmitting a print job permission message to the print source, wherein the print source directly starts despooling print data to one or more printing devices according to the print job permission message. A computer-based printing system according to claim 1. 5. The means for initiating despooling of print data directly to the printing device instructs the job ticket spooler to select and retrieve the print job ticket from the job ticket queue, A print processing device for transmitting a print job permission message to a printing device designated in the selected print job ticket, wherein the printing device designated by the print job permission message sends a despool permission message to the print source. 2. The computer according to claim 1, wherein the despooling of the print data included in the print source is started, and then the print source despools the print data directly to the designated printing device. Printing system by. 6. At least one print source including one or more print jobs to be printed, including print data and print conditions; communicable with the print source; establishing an open connection with peripheral components; At least one printing device capable of maintaining a synchronous correlation of data with peripheral components, said printing device being capable of despooling print data directly to said printing device; Means for initiating a print job from within a source, means for writing the print job conditions into a supported printer driver included in the print source, and a job ticket spooler and job correlated with the printing device. A centralized print manager including a ticket queue for synchronously managing print jobs, and the print supply A local spooler included in and supported by a source, the spooler including a spool header and print job conditions from the printer driver, and a spooler capable of receiving spool data spooled to the local spooler by the printer driver; One or more print job tickets created by the local spooler, the print job tickets being sent by the local spooler to the job ticket spooler of the centralized print manager, and the one or more jobs by the job ticket spooler. A print job ticket stored in a ticket queue, and the print source initiates despooling of print data from the print source directly to the printing device and prints based on the print job ticket. Printing system according to a computer, characterized in that it comprises means for initiating the job. 7. The means for initiating a print job selects and retrieves the print job ticket from the job ticket queue and transmits a print job authorization message to a particular print source as instructed by the print job ticket. 7. The computerized printing system of claim 6, including a job ticket spooler, wherein said print source initiates despooling of print data directly to one or more printing devices in response to said print job authorization message. 8. The means for initiating a print job instructs the job ticket spooler to select and retrieve the print job ticket from the job ticket queue and to direct a particular print source as instructed by the print job ticket. 7. A print processing device for transmitting a print job permission message to the print source, the print job permission message causing the print source to directly initiate despooling of print data to one or more printing devices. Computer printing system. 9. The means for initiating a print job directs the job ticket spooler to select and retrieve the print job ticket from the job ticket queue, and as specified by the print job ticket, a specific print source. 7. A print assistant device for transmitting a print job permission message to a print source permitting the print source to directly initiate despooling of print data to one or more printing devices. Computer printing system. 10. The computer-based printing system according to claim 6, wherein the spool data includes a spool header representing a spooling request and a resource, and a print job header designating conditions of a print job. 11. The print job ticket includes document information,
7. The computer-based printing system according to claim 6, including information selected from a group consisting of client information, user information, and printer information. 12. The computer-based printing system according to claim 6, wherein the print job permission message includes information selected from a group consisting of document information, printer information, and connection information. 13. The computer of claim 6, wherein the open connection is established between the job ticket spooler and the printing device having a copy of the open connection provided at the print source. Printing system by. 14. The print source further comprises means for terminating a print job, the print source transmitting a print job completion command to the printing device via the open connection upon completion of despooling of print data to the printing device. 7. The computer-based printing system according to claim 6, wherein when the printing apparatus receives the print job completion command, the open connection is closed and the print job is ended. 15. The computer based printing system of claim 6 further comprising means for verifying that the print source is properly and optimally communicating during the print job and before the print job is completed. . 16. At least one print source including one or more print jobs to be printed including print data and print conditions, communicable with the print source, establishing an open connection with peripheral components, and At least one printing device capable of maintaining a synchronous correlation of data with peripheral components, said printing device being capable of despooling print data directly to said printing device; Means for initiating a print job from within a source, means for writing the print job conditions into a supported printer driver included in the print source, and a job ticket spooler and job correlated with the printing device. A centralized print manager including a ticket queue for synchronously managing print jobs, and the print supply A local spooler included in and supported by a source, the spooler including a spool header and print job conditions from the printer driver, and a spooler capable of receiving spool data spooled to the local spooler by the printer driver; One or more print job tickets created by the local spooler, the print job tickets being sent by the local spooler to the job ticket spooler of the centralized print manager, and the one or more jobs by the job ticket spooler. A print job ticket stored in a ticket queue, and the print source initiates despooling of print data from the print source directly to the printing device and prints based on the print job ticket. Printing system according to a computer, characterized in that it comprises means for initiating the job. 17. The means for initiating a print job selects and retrieves the print job ticket from the job ticket queue based on a particular algorithm and directs it to one or more printing devices as specified by the selected print job ticket. The print device including the job ticket spooler for transmitting a print job permission message, wherein the printing device specified by the print job permission message sends a despool permission message to the print source to print data from each print source. The computerized printing system of claim 16, wherein despooling is initiated, after which the print source despools print data directly to the designated printing device. 18. The means for initiating a print job instructs the job ticket spooler to select and retrieve the print job ticket from the job ticket queue based on a particular algorithm, the selected print job ticket A print processing device or a print auxiliary device for transmitting a print job permission message to one or more printing devices as specified in 1., the printing device designated by the print job permission message sends a despool permission message to the print source. Deactivating the print data from each print source by doing so, and then the print source despools the print data directly to the designated printing device.
6. A computer-based printing system according to item 6. 19. A computer program product for printing a print job, said print job including printing conditions and print data, instructing a local spooler of a print source, from received spool data of said print job. A print job ticket including print conditions of the print job is created, the local spooler is instructed to send the print job ticket to a job ticket spooler supported by the print server, and the job ticket spooler is supported by the print server. The print job ticket is stored in one or more job ticket queues that have been created, and the job ticket spooler allows the print data to be despooled directly to the printing device based on the print condition. Ticket queue A program characterized by executing a process including the code to retrieve the print job ticket to the computer from. 20. The program according to claim 19, further comprising code for instructing the print source to start despooling print data to a printing device based on the permission. 21. The program according to claim 19, further comprising a code for instructing the printing device to start despooling of print data to the printing device based on the permission. 22. The program according to claim 19, wherein the job ticket spooler and its function are replaced by a print processing device that performs the same function as the job ticket spooler. 23. The program according to claim 19, wherein the job ticket spooler and its function are replaced by a print assisting device that performs the same function as the job ticket spooler. 24. A recording medium on which the program according to claim 19 is recorded.