JP2005165524A - Print server, printer monitoring method and printer monitoring program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print server, a printer monitoring method and a printer monitoring program, preventing reduction of a printer operating rate by response performance of a printer, unnecessary retrial processing by response delay by increase of a traffic amount, a use stop by off-line, or the like. <P>SOLUTION: In this print server 1, a printer management part 13 inquires about various kinds of states of the printer 3 stored in an MIB 321 of the printer via a network 2 by SNMP protocol control of a communication control part 15 to divide the state of a printer body and detailed items into a plurality of inquiry sequences and to stepwise perform the inquiry. When a response time-out is generated, contents of cache information 121 and off-line setting information 124 are provisionally regarded as a present state of the printer and are processed, with respect to an unconfirmed item. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for managing the status of a printer connected to a network, and more particularly to a print server, a printer monitoring method, and a printer monitoring program for preventing a job stoppage or the like due to an instantaneous printer offline that occurs during monitoring.

  Conventionally, in a technique for monitoring the status of a network-connected device including a printer, a “status monitoring method” disclosed in Patent Document 1 is disclosed as a technology related to status inquiry via a network in consideration of response time.

  The invention of Patent Document 1 aims to prevent a further deterioration of the traffic situation caused by an increase in the traffic volume of the network, and the client stores the time at the same time as making a status monitoring request to the server. After that, when the status monitoring result is received from the server, the status monitoring response time is calculated based on the time and the status monitoring request time, and if the response time is long, the status monitoring start time interval is lengthened. As described above, the time interval of state monitoring is changed.

  Further, as a technique for storing the monitoring status in the cache information of the storage means, an “information providing apparatus and a storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform processing in the information providing apparatus” disclosed in Patent Document 2 are disclosed. ing.

The invention of Patent Document 2 provides an information providing apparatus that can dynamically change the valid period of cache data according to the communication performance of a network and avoids a non-response state to a request source. An information providing apparatus that connects to at least one information providing source server that provides information via a network and provides information to a plurality of clients by using cache data as a proxy server of the information providing source server. Yes, an incoming request accumulation unit that accumulates an information provision request from each client, an information provision request state determination unit that determines an issuance waiting state during issuance from the arrival of the information provision request stored in the incoming request accumulation unit, Cache data validity period determining means for determining the validity period of cache data based on the determination result of the information provision request state determination means It has the door, in which the using the cache data becomes valid by the cache data effective period determining means, responsive to the information providing request for each client.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-105048. JP 2001-344145 A.

  By the way, the invention of the above-mentioned patent document 1 is effective in the case of monitoring devices continuously for a long period of time at predetermined intervals.

  However, there is a problem in that it is not effective in temporary status confirmation at a specific timing when a certain processing request is made to a device to be monitored.

  Similarly, the invention of Patent Document 2 dynamically changes the valid period of the cache data according to the communication performance of the network. However, if the response time is extremely long, the reliability of the cache data decreases. Or when the response time fluctuates violently in a short period, there is a problem that the optimum effective period is not set.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, when checking the status of a printer via a network, the response delay due to a hardware error of the printer main body is caused by a long period of time, and the response performance of the printer and the response due to an increase in traffic volume are factors other than the printer main body. An object of the present invention is to provide a print server, a printer monitoring method, and a printer monitoring program that can prevent unnecessary retry processing, retry interval adjustment processing, and print processing stoppage as much as possible to prevent a reduction in operating rate. And

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a print server to which a printer is connected via a network, predetermined diagnostic items stored in the storage means and managed by the printer are stored in a predetermined command using a network monitoring protocol. Inquiry with the status inquiry means, the response detection means for analyzing the response from the printer to the inquiry by the status inquiry means, and storing and managing the analysis result in association with a predetermined diagnosis item, the response detection means, the status inquiry means A response monitoring unit that monitors a response time after an inquiry by a predetermined timer value, and a provisional registration unit that temporarily updates and manages a predetermined diagnosis item when the response monitoring unit detects a timeout. It is characterized by that.

  The invention of claim 2 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the predetermined item comprises a plurality of diagnostic items that are monitored in stages in a predetermined order. The inquiry of the diagnostic items is divided in a predetermined order, the timer monitoring unit monitors the response timeout for each divided inquiry, and the provisional registration unit includes the diagnostic item of the inquiry process in which the timer monitoring unit detects the timeout An uninquired diagnostic item is provisionally updated with predetermined contents stored in advance.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer monitoring method in a print server to which a printer is connected via a network. An inquiry is made with a predetermined command according to the monitoring protocol, a response detection means analyzes the response from the printer to the inquiry by the state inquiry means, and stores and manages the analysis result in association with a predetermined diagnosis item, and the response monitoring means The response detection unit monitors the response time after the inquiry by the state inquiry unit with a predetermined timer value, and when the response monitoring unit detects a timeout, the temporary registration unit temporarily updates and manages the predetermined diagnosis item It is characterized by doing.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a printer monitoring program in a print server to which a printer is connected via a network, predetermined diagnostic items which are stored and managed by the printer in the storage means by the status inquiry means are predetermined according to the network monitoring protocol. A first step of inquiring with the command of the above, and a second step of analyzing the response from the printer to the inquiry by the state inquiry means by the response detection means, and storing and managing the analysis result in association with a predetermined diagnosis item Then, the response monitoring means causes the response detection means to monitor the response time after the inquiry by the state inquiry means with a predetermined timer value, and when the response monitoring means detects a timeout, the provisional registration means Tentatively update and manage the diagnostic items of the fourth Characterized in that to perform the steps on a computer.

  According to the present invention, even if an instantaneous offline state that occurs during network monitoring occurs, it is possible to prevent unnecessary time-out processing during offline and to prevent a job from being stopped for the printer.

  Embodiments of a print server, a printer monitoring method, and a printer monitoring program according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration example of a print server 1 to which a printer monitoring method according to the present invention is applied and a printer 3 connected via a network 2 and main control configurations of each apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, the print server 1 has a function of monitoring the status of the printer 3 using a print data generation / output function for a printer 3 connected via a network 2 and a network monitoring function.

  Here, the network monitoring function is an MIB 321 (in the printer storage unit 32) that holds the detailed status of the printer 3 in the online state, including the online state and the offline state of the printer 3, using a network monitoring protocol such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). It is processed by inquiring via the network 2 from Message Information Base).

  The print server 1 has a control configuration in which a printer management unit 13, an offline parameter setting management unit 14, a communication control unit 15, and a print server storage unit 12 are connected to a control unit 11 that controls the entire print server 1. It has.

  The printer management unit 13 registers and manages the identification information (ID) of the printer 3 that the print server 1 connects and manages via the network 2 in the printer management table 123 of the print server storage unit 12.

  In addition, the printer's offline status and online status are determined based on status confirmation processing from the print server 1 side and status of error information notified irregularly from the printer 3 side. It is recorded in the printer management table 123 and monitored.

  Further, the printer management unit 13 confirms the detailed status of the printer 3 in the online state, and records and monitors, for example, the status of the mounted tray and the status of the finisher in the tray management table 125 and the finisher management table 126. To do.

  The offline parameter setting management unit 14 registers parameters to be set in the offline print data generated when the output destination printer is in the offline state in the offline setting information 124. After registration, the print server control unit 11 The off-line setting information 124 is maintained based on the instruction.

  The communication control unit 15 performs print data communication control via the network 2 based on the print protocol and SNMP, generation and output of a network monitoring command, and data communication control.

  In particular, in the SNMP, MIB 321 is transmitted via the SNMP agent of the printer 3 while exchanging a predetermined inquiry command exchanged between the SNMP agent provided in the printer 3 and the SNMP manager set on the print server 1 side. To monitor the printer status.

  The print server storage unit 12 includes various programs and parameters for controlling the print server 1, cache information 121 for temporarily storing the printer status under network monitoring as cache data, a printer management table 123, and offline setting information. 124, a tray management table 125, and a finisher management table 126 are set and managed.

  The cache information 121 is information for managing the printer status monitored by the printer management unit 13 by storing it in a temporary storage area as a cache memory.

  The monitoring parameter 122 is defined in advance in referring to the time-out occurrence time for each time printer, the printer monitoring processing interval time, and the contents of the MIB 321 recorded in the storage unit of the printer in the printer management processing via the network. The identification information is stored and managed in advance.

  The printer management table 123 stores and manages identification information, network addresses, and the like of the printer to be monitored as information necessary for monitoring the printer via the network.

  The off-line setting information 124 relates to a printer setting for responding information necessary for issuing a print instruction from the client to the print server when the printer is off-line when performing print processing on the network printer. Information.

  The tray management table 125 stores and stores the results of monitoring via the network, such as the tray identifier of each printer monitored by the printer management table 123, the type of paper set in the tray, the size, and the state of the tray. Information.

  The finisher management table 126 is a table for recording a finisher identifier, a finisher type name corresponding to the identifier, and a status monitored via the network when a printer connected via the network includes the finisher.

  The offline setting information 124 shown in FIG. 1 may be configured to be edited as appropriate according to the printer monitoring status by adding an operation display unit that displays a user interface editable by the operator to the print server 1. .

  Next, information set in the printer management table 123, the tray management table 125, and the finisher management table 126 stored in the print server 1 in FIG. 1 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a table layout diagram showing an example of the printer management table 123, tray management table 125, and finisher management table 126 stored in the storage unit of the print server 1 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 2A, items registered and stored in the printer management table 123 include a printer ID 1231, an address 1232, and a printer status 1233.

  The printer ID 1231 is identification for uniquely specifying a printer to be monitored via the network.

  An address 1232 is an IP address for performing communication control with the printer 3 via the network.

  The printer status 1233 is information that is managed by setting a status that is set in advance as to which status the printer to be monitored is currently in.

  In FIG. 2B, items registered and managed in the tray management table 125 include a printer ID 1251, a tray ID 1252, a paper size 1253, and a tray state 1254.

  The printer ID 1251 is an item in which the printer ID specified by the printer ID 1231 registered and managed in the printer management table 123 is set.

  The tray ID 1252 is an item in which an identifier for specifying a tray included in each printer ID 1251 is set.

  The paper size 1253 is an item in which the paper size set in the tray specified by the tray ID 1252 is set.

  The tray state 1254 is an item for identifying and managing the state of the tray specified by the tray ID 1252 by using predefined status information.

  In FIG. 2C, items managed in the finisher management table 126 include a printer ID 1261, a finisher ID 1262, a finisher type 1263, and a finisher state 1264.

  The printer ID 1261 is identification information for identifying a printer, like the printer ID 1231 in FIG. 2A and the printer ID 1251 in FIG.

  The finisher ID 1262 is an item managed by specifying identification information of the finisher unit included in the printer specified by the printer ID 1261.

  The finisher type 1263 is an item in which information for determining what processing the finisher unit specified by the finisher ID 1262 performs (stapling, stacker, folder, puncher, etc.) is set.

  The finisher status 1264 is an item for managing the finisher status specified by the finisher ID 1262 monitored by the network by using status information defined in advance for each finisher type 1263.

  Returning to FIG. 1 again, the control configuration of the printer 3 will be described.

  The printer 3 has a configuration in which the control elements of the printer storage unit 32, the printer communication control unit 33, the finisher management unit 34, and the tray management unit 35 are connected to each other and controlled with the printer control unit 31 as the center.

  The printer storage unit 32 includes an MIB 321 that monitors and records the status of each unit of the printer as storage information related to the present invention, including various control programs necessary for printing processing by the printer.

  Note that the identifiers and configurations of the items recorded and managed in the MIB 321 are the configurations negotiated with the print server 1 as the printer management side.

  Further, the information of the own device stored in the MIB 321 is set and read by specifying a storage location by a set variable or a relative number from the variable.

  The printer communication control unit 33 controls communication with other terminals connected via the network 2 based on a protocol such as SNMP, a protocol for print control, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), and print data. Transmission / reception control, data communication control, and network monitoring control.

  In particular, with respect to SNMP, an SNMP agent function is provided, and MIB 321 information is extracted in response to a request from another SNMP manager connected via the network 2 to perform response processing.

  The finisher management unit 34 is connected to the finisher unit 37, monitors the state of the finisher unit 37, and sets the monitoring result in the MIB 321 of the printer storage unit 32.

  The tray management unit 35 is connected to the tray unit 36 and monitors the state of the tray unit 36, and sets the monitoring result in the MIB 321 of the printer storage unit 32.

  Next, the printer status monitoring method of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing in which the print server shown in FIG. 1 monitors a printer connected to the network.

  In FIG. 3, the printer management unit 13 sends a print request event from the print server control unit 11 via the network 2 and the communication control unit 15, or a printer monitoring instruction accompanying the occurrence of a printer monitoring event in the print server 1 itself. Receive.

  Then, the printer management unit 13 acquires the previous offline occurrence time and interval time of the monitored printer stored in the monitoring parameter 122 of the print server storage unit 12, and the current time is an interval from the previous offline occurrence time. It is determined whether or not the time has passed (step S101).

  In step S101, if the interval time has elapsed since the previous offline occurrence time (YES in step S101), the printer management unit 13 determines whether the printer to be monitored is online to the communication control unit 15. To instruct monitoring via the network (step S102). The printer management unit 13 monitors a response timeout from the printer 3 inquired of the status by the communication control unit 15 (step S103).

  If no response timeout has occurred in step S103 (NO in step S103), the printer management unit 13 registers the operating status of the printer 3 in the printer status 1233 of the printer management table 123 (step S104).

  When the printer status registration is completed, the printer management unit 13 instructs the communication control unit 15 to inquire about the tray status as a second inquiry phase so as to inquire the detailed status of each unit of the printer 3 (step S105). ).

  The printer management unit 13 monitors the response time-out for the second inquiry to the printer 3 (step S106), and if a response is detected within the time-out monitoring time, the printer management unit 13 analyzes the response content notified from the printer 3. Then, the tray state 1254 of the tray management table 125 is updated with the analyzed tray state (step S107).

  When the registration of the tray state is completed, the printer management unit 13 instructs the communication control unit 15 to inquire about the finisher state as a third inquiry phase to the printer 3 (step S108).

  The printer management unit 13 monitors a response timeout in the third inquiry phase (step S109).

  If a response from the printer 3 is detected during timeout monitoring (NO in step S109), the printer management unit 13 sets the finisher status notified from the printer 3 in the finisher management table 126 (step S110).

  When the second and third printer detailed status inquiry processing is completed, the printer management unit 13 stores the tray status set in the tray management table 125 and the finisher status registered in the finisher management table 126 in the cache information 121. Register and transition to the next printer management request event occurrence waiting (step S111).

  The process up to this point is the main path of the printer monitoring process according to the present invention, and the printer status is checked only in the printer main state first without inquiring all diagnostic items in one inquiry phase. After the inquiry, the printer monitoring control is performed by providing an inquiry sequence divided into detailed monitoring item units.

  Next, processing in the case where a printer status monitoring request is generated in a state where the printer status monitoring time has not been reached in step S101, and a case where a response timeout is detected in each inquiry phase in steps S103, S106, and S109. Each process will be described.

  In the process of step S101, if a printer status monitoring request event occurs before the elapse of a predetermined interval time from the event occurrence time that occurred last time (NO in step S101), the printer management unit 13 determines that the printer 3 to be monitored. Is offline, and “offline tray information” and “offline finisher information” are read from the offline setting information 124 (step S112).

  When the reading processing of the offline setting information 124 is completed, the printer management unit 13 sets the printer status 1233 of the printer management table 123 to offline, the tray status 1254 corresponding to each tray in the tray management table 125, and the finisher. The finisher state 1264 corresponding to each finisher in the management table 126 is updated with the content read from the offline setting information 124 acquired in (Step S112) (Step S113).

  Further, the offline occurrence time stored in the monitoring parameter 122 is updated with the current time, and the printer monitoring process is terminated (step S114).

  It should be noted that the processing when it is regarded as offline shown in step S112, step S113, and step S114 is similarly performed in the case of response time-out detection in step S103 (YES in step S103).

  Next, when a response timeout is detected in the tray status inquiry phase in step S106 (YES in step S106), the printer management unit 13 uses the cache information 121 instead of the tray information notified from the printer 3 to inquire about the destination printer 3. "Tray status cache" is read (step S115), and the tray status 1254 for each tray ID 1252 of the tray management table 125 is updated with the read "tray status cache" (step S116).

  When the update of the tray management table 125 is completed in the process of step S116, or when the response time-out of step S109 is detected (YES in step S109), the printer management unit 13 determines the inquiry destination printer 3 from the cache information 121. "Finisher state cache" is read (step S117), and the finisher state 1264 for each finisher ID 1262 of the finisher management table 126 is updated with the read "finisher state cache" (step S118).

  Although not shown in FIG. 3, when the print server 1 is initialized, “offline tray information” is set in the “tray status cache”, and “offline finisher information” is set in the “finisher status cache”.

As a result, in the initial process immediately after the print server is activated, the printer status confirmation process is activated. If S101 is passed through YES and the determination process of S103 is passed through NO, the determination process of step S106 is YES (timeout occurs). The process can be continued by performing the acquisition process of the tray information cache at step S115 when it passes or the finisher information cache at step S117 when it passes through YES (timeout occurrence) in the determination process of step S109.

  The above is the description of the embodiment when the printer status monitoring method of the present invention is applied.

  The management items of the printer information shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are not limited to the tray status and the finisher, but may be configured to monitor by appropriately adding / changing diagnostic items necessary for printer status monitoring. .

  At this time, in the printer status monitoring process of FIG. 3, the printer status is monitored by adopting the same process as the query process shown in steps S105 and S108 as a query sequence for the added item.

  In addition to the print server 1, the printer management processing program in the print server 1 shown in FIG. 3 can be configured to be installed and used in another device that is connected to the network 2 and performs print processing. .

  The print server, the printer monitoring method, and the printer monitoring program of the present invention can be used in a printing system that performs a printing process on a network printer, and that confirms the status of the printer prior to output of print data. This is particularly effective in a printing system that performs advanced printer monitoring by providing detailed management items for the status of network printers.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printer connected to a print server to which a printer monitoring method according to the present invention is applied and a control configuration of each apparatus. FIG. FIG. 3 is a table layout diagram illustrating an example of a printer management table and tray information finisher information stored in a storage unit of the print server illustrated in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing for monitoring a printer connected to the network by the print server shown in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print server 11 Print server control part 12 Print server memory | storage part 121 Cache information 122 Monitoring parameter 123 Printer management table 1231 Printer ID
1232 Address 1233 Printer status 1251 Printer ID
1252 Tray ID
1253 Paper size 1254 Tray status 1261 Printer ID
1262 Finisher ID
1263 Finisher type 1264 Finisher status 124 Offline setting information 125 Tray management table 126 Finisher management table 13 Printer management unit 14 Offline parameter setting management unit 15 Communication control unit 2 Network 3 Printer 31 Printer control unit 32 Printer storage unit 321 MIB
33 Printer Communication Control Unit 34 Finisher Management Unit 35 Tray Management Unit 36 Tray Unit 37 Finisher Unit

Claims (4)

In a print server to which a printer is connected via a network,
Status inquiry means for inquiring a predetermined diagnostic item stored in the storage means by the printer using a predetermined command based on a network monitoring protocol;
Response detection means for analyzing a response from the printer to the inquiry by the state inquiry means, and storing and managing the analysis result in association with the predetermined diagnosis item;
The response detection means is a response monitoring means for monitoring a response time after the inquiry by the state inquiry means with a predetermined timer value;
And a provisional registration means for provisionally updating and managing the predetermined diagnosis item when the response monitoring means detects a timeout. The predetermined diagnostic item is:
A plurality of diagnostic items monitored in stages in a predetermined order,
The state inquiry means includes
The inquiry of each diagnosis item is divided and performed in the predetermined order,
The timer monitoring means includes
Monitor the response timeout for each of the divided inquiries,
The provisional registration means includes
The print server according to claim 1, wherein the timer monitoring unit tentatively updates uninquired diagnostic items including a diagnostic item of inquiry processing in which a timeout has been detected, with predetermined content stored in advance. In a printer monitoring method in a print server to which a printer is connected via a network,
The print server inquires about a predetermined diagnosis item stored and managed by the printer in a storage unit by a state inquiry unit using a predetermined command based on a network monitoring protocol,
Analyzing the response from the printer to the inquiry by the status inquiry means by the response detection means, storing and managing the analysis result in association with the predetermined diagnostic item,
The response detection means by the response monitoring means monitors the response time after the inquiry by the state inquiry means with a predetermined timer value,
A printer monitoring method, wherein when the response monitoring unit detects a timeout, the predetermined diagnostic item is provisionally updated and managed by a temporary registration unit. In a printer monitoring program in a print server to which a printer is connected via a network,
A first step of inquiring a predetermined diagnostic item stored in the storage unit by the status inquiry unit and managed by a predetermined command based on a network monitoring protocol;
A second step of analyzing a response from the printer to the inquiry by the state inquiry unit by a response detection unit, and storing and managing the analysis result in association with the predetermined diagnosis item;
A third step of monitoring the response time after the inquiry by the state inquiry means with a predetermined timer value by the response monitoring means;
When the response monitoring unit detects a timeout, the computer executes a fourth step of temporarily updating and managing the predetermined diagnostic item by a temporary registration unit.

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