JP2005173764A - Service processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to properly execute a flow service job, even if an operation of a processor stops. <P>SOLUTION: When a service processor recovers from a failure, each job registered in a waiting table for execution is taken out one by one (106) and execution start time is predicted. Regarding to a service job whose service processing of latter part to be executed in cooperation exists, the end time of the last service processing is predicted (116) and a margin of the end time to the execution allowable time is calculated (118). When a time designated service exists in the latter part (affirmative in 120), the execution time of a time designated service is predicted (122) and a margin of the execution time to the designated time is calculated (124). When an intervention required service which needs user's intervention operation for the latter part exists (affirmative in 130), the execution time of the intervention required service is predicted, and a margin of the execution time to the end time of an intervention possible time zone is calculated (134) and whether or not the margin is smaller than 0 is determined (142). If the margin is smaller than 0, the execution order of the service job concerned is made earlier by job rearrangement processing (150). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a service processing apparatus, and in particular, when execution of a specific service process is instructed from a flow service job composed of a series of service processes to be executed in cooperation with each other, the specific service process is executed in an execution waiting table. Service processing apparatus capable of executing a service process to be executed next to the specific service process in the flow service job when the execution of the specific service process registered in the execution waiting table is completed The present invention relates to a service processing apparatus that performs a process for causing a server to execute the process.

  Traditionally, for business that has a standardized document flow, such as circulation, small-scale deliberation, approval, etc., use a network to distribute electronic documents among related parties along the standardized flow Therefore, a workflow system has been proposed that realizes business efficiency. With the development of Internet-related technology, devices (service processing devices) such as scanners, facsimile machines, copying machines connected to a network, multi-function machines integrating these as a single device, personal computers (PCs), etc. ) Is also available as a service component, and a so-called flow service is also proposed that realizes more advanced business processing execution by linking multiple desired service processing among the available service components. Has been.

Further, regarding a multi-function machine (an apparatus having a copier / facsimile / printer function) capable of functioning as the service processing apparatus described above, Patent Document 1 analyzes output data sent from a host computer or the like. The priority list specified by the output data is set in the priority table, the priority of the specified function processing is obtained, the system configuration and the state of each component are examined, and the obtained information is A technique for executing a predetermined function process (for example, any one of a PDL print process, a FAX print process, and a FAX transmission process) is disclosed.
JP 7-271610 A

  By the way, in a flow service, specifying a service process to be executed or instructing execution of a job (flow service job) for linking a plurality of service processes can be realized by using an instruction sheet (instruction information). By using this instruction, for example, the processing time of service processing can be specified, for example, a predetermined document can be transmitted by facsimile at a predetermined time, or a service processing that requires an operation by an operator can be specified. It is possible. On the other hand, the service processing apparatus normally accepts service processing waiting for execution because execution of service processing is also instructed offline via the operation panel, in addition to instructing execution of service processing online by instruction information. The service process is configured in order, and among the subsequent service processes belonging to the same flow service job as the service process waiting to be executed, the service process with the specified processing time and the service process that requires an operation by the operator are included. Whether it is included or not is not considered.

  For this reason, in particular, when the operation of the service processing device has been temporarily stopped due to the occurrence of a failure or the like, the number of service processes to be executed by the service processing device becomes a huge number. Execution of subsequent service processing belonging to the same flow service job as the service processing is delayed. For example, it takes an extremely long time from the start of execution of a flow service job to the end of execution, or, for example, a service process with a processing time specified as a service process belonging to the same flow service job If the service process does not execute at the specified processing time, or there is a service process that requires operator intervention as a service process belonging to the same flow service job, for example, As a result, the execution time of the service process is shifted to a time period when the operator is absent, so that the completion of execution of the service process may be delayed for a long time.

  Note that the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above is a technique for selecting a function process to be executed based on priority specified in advance in a function processing unit and information on each component, and even if this technique is applied, It is difficult to solve the above problem.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a service processing apparatus capable of appropriately executing a flow service job even when the operation of the apparatus is stopped.

  In order to achieve the above object, the service processing apparatus according to claim 1 is instructed to execute a specific service process in a flow service job including a series of service processes to be executed in cooperation with each other. When the specific service process is registered in the execution waiting table and the execution of the specific service process registered in the execution waiting table is completed, the service process to be executed next to the specific service process in the flow service job is A service processing apparatus that performs a process for causing a service processing apparatus that can execute a service process to execute, and when the local apparatus is ready to execute the service process, the execution registered in the execution waiting table In a flow service job corresponding to a waiting service process, an arbitrary service subsequent to the execution waiting service process Prediction means for predicting the time at which the processing is executed, and when the time predicted by the prediction means is later than a predetermined time or out of a predetermined time zone, it is the same as the service processing in the subsequent stage Changing means for changing the processing order of the waiting service processing or changing the processing order so that the waiting time of the waiting service process belonging to the flow service job is executed. It is characterized by that.

  The service processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention executes a specific service process when an instruction to execute a specific service process is given among flow service jobs including a series of service processes to be executed in cooperation. A service that can be registered in the wait table and that can execute the service process to be executed next to the specific service process in the flow service job when the execution of the specific service process registered in the execution wait table is completed Processing for causing the processing device to execute is performed. The service processing described above may be processing related to a document such as document copying, document printing, document digitization, document information transmission / reception, or other processing such as image processing. Arbitrary processing can be applied. The process for causing a service processing apparatus capable of executing a service process to be executed next to a specific service process in the flow service job to instruct the execution of the service process to be executed next, for example. It may be a process of transmitting information to the service processing apparatus, or a process of notifying completion of execution of a specific service process to an instruction source that has instructed execution of the specific service process.

  Here, in the invention according to claim 1, when the own apparatus is in a state in which service processing can be performed (for example, when the operation is stopped due to a failure or the like), the prediction means In a flow service job corresponding to a pending service process registered in the pending table, any service process following the pending service process (any unexecuted service belonging to the same flow service job as the pending service process) The time at which the processing is executed is predicted. For example, the prediction includes the number of each service process whose execution order is earlier than a specific execution-waiting service process registered in the execution-waiting table, a predicted value of the execution time required for each service process, and the specific execution-waiting service. Some or all of the predicted value of the execution time of the process and the information of the estimated value of the required time from the completion of execution of the specific waiting service process until the start of the subsequent service process Can be done on the basis.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the time predicted by the prediction means is later than the predetermined time or is out of the predetermined time zone, the execution belonging to the same flow service job as the subsequent service processing The changing means performs processing for changing the processing order of the waiting service processing or changing the processing order so that the waiting service processing is executed earlier. As a result, a service waiting for execution corresponding to a flow service job that is expected to be executed in a time later than a predetermined time or in a time zone that is out of a predetermined time zone. Since the processing is executed at an earlier timing, the flow service job can be appropriately executed even when the operation of the apparatus is stopped.

  In the first aspect of the present invention, as described in the second aspect, for example, the predicting means predicts a time at which the last stage service processing in the flow service job is executed, and the changing means sets the predetermined time as It is preferable to use a time after a certain time has elapsed since the execution of the flow service job was instructed. As a result, the service waiting for execution belonging to the flow service job is executed so that the last stage of service processing in the flow service job is executed until a predetermined time elapses after the execution of the flow service job is instructed. Since the processing is executed at an earlier timing, even when the operation of the apparatus is stopped due to the failure or the like, the individual flow service job instructed to be executed is appropriately executed (until the execution is completed). Can be prevented from taking an extremely long time).

  In the first aspect of the present invention, there is a service process whose processing time is specified in advance after the execution waiting service process in the flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service process registered in the execution waiting table. For example, as described in claim 3, the predicting unit predicts a time at which a service process whose processing time is specified in advance is executed, and the changing unit sets the predetermined time as a predetermined time. It is preferable to use a processing time designated in advance. The determination as to whether or not the job is a processing time designation job can be made by referring to, for example, instruction information that defines individual flow service jobs corresponding to individual service processes waiting to be executed. As a result, the waiting service processing belonging to the processing time designation job is executed so that the subsequent service processing in which the processing time of the processing time designation job is designated in advance is executed before the designated processing time. Since it is executed at an earlier timing, even when the operation of the device is stopped due to the influence of a failure or the like, the processing time designation job is appropriately executed (the latter service in which the processing time is designated in advance) It is possible to execute processing at a specified processing time).

  Further, in the invention according to claim 3, for example, as described in claim 4, when the time predicted by the prediction means is later than the processing time designated in advance, an execution waiting service corresponding to the processing time designation job By accelerating the execution timing of the process, it is determined whether or not the time at which the subsequent service process in which the process time is specified among the process time designation jobs is executed is before the process time specified in advance. If it is determined that the time to be executed is not before the processing time designated in advance, stop control means for stopping the execution of the processing time designation job may be further provided. A service process for which a processing time is specified is generally a meaningless process even if executed at a time other than the specified processing time. On the other hand, in the invention according to claim 4, even if the execution timing of the service process waiting for execution corresponding to the processing time designation job is advanced, the processing time designated for the subsequent service processing for which the processing time is designated If it cannot be executed before, the execution of the processing time designation job is stopped, so that the service processing (and the processing time designation job including the service processing) that has been found to be unable to be executed before the designated processing time is executed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the load on the service processing apparatus from increasing unnecessarily.

  Furthermore, in the first aspect of the invention, the flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service process registered in the execution waiting table has a service process that requires an operation by the operator after the execution waiting service process. For example, as described in claim 5, the predicting unit predicts a time at which a service process that requires an operation by the operator is executed, and the changing unit includes a predetermined time. It is preferable to use a time zone in which the operator is expected to be present as the zone. Whether or not an operation job is required can be determined by referring to instruction information that defines individual flow service jobs corresponding to individual service processes waiting to be executed, for example. As a result, waiting for execution belonging to the operation-necessary job is executed so that subsequent service processing that requires operation by the operator of the operation-required job is executed at a time when the operator is expected to exist. Since the service processing is executed at an earlier timing, even if the operation of the device is stopped due to the failure or the like, the required operation job is appropriately executed (the latter stage requiring the operation by the operator). This service processing can be executed in a time zone in which the operator is expected to exist).

  In the first aspect of the invention, the timing at which a specific execution waiting service process is executed can be accelerated, for example, by directly changing the processing order of the specific execution waiting service process. If the device is configured to perform scheduling (control of execution order) of individual service processes waiting to be executed based on the priority assigned to each service process unit or group of service processes, Instead, for example, as described in claim 6, the priority of the execution waiting service process whose execution timing should be advanced is relatively increased (the execution waiting service process whose execution timing should be advanced or the service process is Increase the priority of the group to which the group belongs, or perform service processing other than the waiting-for-execution service processing that should be executed earlier, or The lower the priority of the service processing does not belong groups) can be realized by configuring the changing unit to perform the process.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 6, when the service processing apparatus can execute a single job consisting of a single service process, the service process waiting for execution is changed to a service process waiting for execution corresponding to the flow service job. And a group of service processes waiting for execution corresponding to a single job. In this case, for example, as described in claim 7, the changing unit sets the priority of the service process waiting for execution corresponding to the flow service job relative to the priority of the service process waiting for execution corresponding to the single job. By increasing the value, the execution timing of the service process waiting for execution which should be executed earlier can be advanced. The above aspect corresponds to the inventions described in claims 6 and 7.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when the self-apparatus becomes ready to execute service processing, the flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service processing registered in the execution waiting table performs the execution waiting service processing. The time at which the subsequent service processing is executed is predicted, and if the predicted time is later than the predetermined time or is out of the predetermined time zone, the same flow service job as the subsequent service processing is executed. When the operation of the device has been stopped because the processing order of the waiting service processing is changed or the processing order is changed so that the processing timing of the waiting service processing to be executed is advanced In addition, it has an excellent effect that the flow service job can be appropriately executed.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a document processing system 10 according to the present embodiment. In the document processing system 10, a plurality of service processing devices 12 that provide various services, a plurality of client terminals 14 operated by a user, and a management server 16 are connected to each other via a network (for example, a LAN) 18. Has been configured. Each service processing device 12 corresponds to the service processing device according to the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the service provided by the service processing device 12 refers to a service that performs various types of processing (referred to as service processing) related to a document in response to an external request. For example, copying (copying a document), printing (copying a document) Image processing such as printing, scanning (digitalization of documents), facsimile transmission / reception (transmission / reception of digitized documents), mail delivery, storage in the repository and reading from the repository, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing, noise removal processing, etc. Document editing such as image composition. The service processing device 12 can be constituted by a multifunction device having a function of providing a plurality of types of services among the various services listed above, but is not limited to this. Further, it may be a device that provides only a single service, such as a scanner or a facsimile machine, or a computer in which an application program for performing predetermined processing on document data is installed.

  With reference to FIG. 2, the configuration of the service processing apparatus 12 having a function of providing print and image processing as a service will be described as an example. The service processing apparatus 12 is connected to the network 18 and is connected via the network 18. A network I / F (interface) unit 20 that manages communication with these devices is provided. The network I / F unit 20 is connected to an internal bus 22, which includes a system control unit 24, a memory management unit 26, a received data processing unit 28, and a non-volatile RAM (connected to a backup power source). (NVRAM) 30, a recording output unit 32, a recording output control unit 34, an image data development processing unit 36, a print processing management unit 38, an operation panel 40 including a display panel and a keyboard such as a numeric keypad, and execution of service processing. Service processing control units 42 are connected to each other.

  Among these, the system control unit 24 includes a microcomputer, and controls each unit of the service processing apparatus 12. In addition, a page memory 44 and a ring buffer 46 are connected to the memory management unit 26, and the memory management unit 26 manages the memory 44 and the buffer 46. The received data processing unit 28 is connected to a storage device 48 composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like. The received data processing unit 28 stores the data received from the outside in the storage device 48 and the storage device 32. Read stored data. Further, the recording output unit 32 has a function of performing print processing as service processing, and the recording output control unit 34 controls the operation of the recording output unit 32. The image data development processing unit 36 has a function of developing image data used for print processing in the recording output unit 32 in the page memory 44 and the like and performing image processing as service processing. Reference numeral 38 manages print jobs (document printout) sequentially executed by the recording output unit 32.

  In FIG. 2, among the functions of the service processing control unit 42, the functions according to the present invention are the failure recovery determination processing unit 42A, the post-processing time calculation unit 42B, the instruction analysis processing unit 42C, and the processing order control process. The functional blocks of the unit 42D and the job type identification processing unit 42E are shown. Each functional block will be described later.

  The NVRAM 30 of the service processing device 12 stores I / F information for making the service provided by the service processing device 12 available from the outside. The I / F information is information that defines a single service that can be provided by the service processing apparatus 12. In the service processing apparatus 12 that can provide a plurality of types of services, the same number of I / Fs as the number of types of services that can be provided. F information is stored in the NVRAM 30. As shown in FIG. 3A, the I / F information includes <Service Class>, <Service Name>, <Service Icon>, <Service Location Information (Service Info Location>, <Input>, <Output>, <Parameter Restriction Rules>, <Service Location>, <Method Name>, < It consists of <Invocation Scheme> and <Inplicit Elements>.

  Information indicating the type of service (for example, printing, scanning, repository storage, etc.) provided by the service processing device 12 is set in <Service Type>, and information indicating the name of the provided service is set in <Service Name>. . Also, <service icon> is set with information defining an icon of a service to be displayed via the GUI, and <service location information> is an I / F information storage address on the network 18 ( URL) is set. In addition, information declaring a providing method for the provided service is set in <method name>, and information declaring a method for calling and starting a service process for executing the provided service is set in <starting method>. For example, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) or STMP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which are message exchange protocols, can be used as the <startup method>. Also, <implicit element> is set with data that can be referred to in subsequent service processing. The service processing apparatus 12 registers a part of the I / F information in the management server 16 and transmits the I / F information in response to a transmission request from an external apparatus.

  On the other hand, in the document processing system 10, a desired single service among various services provided by the service processing device 12 is used, or a desired plurality of types of services are linked to be used as a single service (flow service). In order to do this, instruction information (corresponding to instruction information according to the present invention) is used. As shown in FIG. 3B, the instruction form information is composed of header information and service definition information. Information such as the name of the instruction information is set in the header information, and when execution of the service specified by the instruction information is instructed, the time at that time is set as the instruction start time. The service specification information is information that specifies a single service to be used. When a plurality of types of services are used in combination, a plurality of service specification information corresponding to any of the plurality of types of services to be combined is included. Added. Individual service specification information is the same as the above-mentioned I / F information: <Service type>, <Service name>, <Service icon>, <Service location information>, <Input>, <Output>, <Parameter restrictions It consists of <Rule>, <Service Location>, <Method Name>, <Invocation Method>, and <Implicit Element>. .

  Further, when a plurality of types of services are linked, <Flow> describing information related to linkage between individual services defined in the service definition information is set in the header information of the instruction information. <Flow> represents a specific method of the service processing apparatus 12 and includes <Invoke> for executing a service call, <if> for performing control, logical operation, and the like as elements. <Activation> includes <Map> indicating the position information of the parameter and a method name <Method> to be called as elements. In addition, <if>, <and>, <eq>, <gt> for performing control and logical operations, etc. are used for conditional branching during coordination processing and adjustment of parameters passed between service processing Set to The cooperation of each service process when a plurality of types of services are linked and used as a single service (flow service) is controlled according to information described as <flow>.

  The above instruction form information is obtained by, for example, starting the instruction form editor on the client terminal 14 in which the instruction form editor program is installed in advance, and performing a predetermined operation by the user via the keyboard or mouse of the client terminal 14. Created and edited by the instruction editor. At the time of creating / editing the instruction form information, an instruction form creating / editing screen 100 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display of the client terminal 14 as an example. The instruction creation / editing screen 100 displays the service window 101 for displaying available services as icons, the services to be used, and how to link them (workflow that is the basis of the instruction information) with icons. A flow window 102, a logic window 103 for displaying a cooperation pattern of used services as icons, and a property window 104 for displaying detailed setting parameters of each icon.

  The management server 16 has a function as a service search server that searches for available services provided by the service processing devices 12 of the document processing system 10. The instruction editor obtains a service list representing an outline of available services searched by the management server 16 from the management server 16 and stores the location information of each service processing device 12 described in the obtained service list. Based on this, I / F information indicating a service usage method is acquired from each service processing device 12. Based on the acquired information, the aforementioned information is displayed in the service window 101 and the property window 104.

  The workflow is created by the user operating the mouse or the like of the client terminal 14 and dragging and dropping the icon of the service window 101 and the icon of the logic window 103 into the flow window 102. In addition, the user can set the service processing to be executed and the logic of cooperation in detail by selecting a desired icon and editing the contents displayed in the property window 104. When the creation of the workflow is completed, the instruction book editor generates the instruction book information in the XML format according to the created workflow, and transmits it to the management server 16. The management server 16 also has a function as an instruction book management server for managing the instruction book information, holds the received instruction book information, and receives the instruction book information in response to a request from the client terminal 14 or the service processing device 12. Send.

  When editing the existing instruction information, the instruction editor requests the management server 16 to transmit the name of each instruction information held by the management server 16 in accordance with an instruction from the user. Display the name of each instruction information received from the list. When a specific name is selected by the user, the management server 16 is requested to transmit instruction information corresponding to the selected name, and the contents of the instruction information received from the management server 16 are created / edited. It is displayed on the screen 100. Further, when parameters necessary for executing a desired service process are input by the user, the contents of the instructions are reflected (indicated) on the instruction information, thereby editing (updating) the instruction information. When the editing of the instruction book information is completed, the edited instruction book information is transmitted to the management server 16.

  Note that the above-described creation / editing of instruction form information can also be performed by the service processing control unit 42 by a user performing a predetermined operation via the operation panel 40 of the service processing apparatus 12. In addition, the execution of the instruction information (use of the service described in the instruction information) can be instructed from the client terminal 14 or can be instructed via the operation panel 40 of the service processing device 12. Yes.

  The service processing apparatus 12 that has received the instruction form information refers to the service specification information corresponding to the service process to be executed by the own apparatus in the received instruction form information, and has grasped the details of the service process to be executed. The service process specified by the service definition information is executed. When the execution of the service process is completed, the service processing apparatus 12 sets a completion flag indicating that the execution is completed in the service specification information corresponding to the service process that has completed the execution, and then refers to the instruction form information to The presence or absence of service processing to be executed is determined. If there is a service process to be executed next, the service processing apparatus transfers the instruction information to the service processing apparatus 12 capable of executing the service process to be executed next. By repeating this, a flow service for linking a plurality of types of service processes defined by the instruction information is realized. If there is no service process to be executed next, it is determined that the execution of the service process specified by the instruction information has been completed, and the service processing device 12 (or client that transmitted the instruction information first) Information indicating the execution result and instruction information are transmitted to the terminal 14).

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the service processing apparatus 12 according to the present embodiment, in addition to instructing execution of service processing by receiving instruction information as described above, execution of service processing is instructed by operating the operation panel 40. There is also a case. In the service processing device 12, the service processing instructed to execute by receiving the instruction information and the service processing instructed to execute by operating the operation panel 40 are collectively referred to as a job. The NVRAM 30 stores an execution waiting table for registering unexecuted jobs (service processing). Each time the service processing apparatus 12 receives the instruction information or the operation panel 40 is operated to instruct execution of the job, the service processing apparatus 12 receives the job information corresponding to the job instructed to execute (the received instruction information or Information representing the contents of the job instructed to be executed via the operation panel 40) is registered in the execution waiting table. Each time the execution of a job is completed, job information of a single job that has not been executed from the execution waiting table (for example, job information with the oldest registration date among job information registered in the execution waiting table) is displayed. It is configured to execute the job corresponding to the extracted job information. Therefore, jobs registered in the execution waiting table are normally processed in the order of registration in the table.

  Further, in the service processing device 12, when some kind of failure occurs and the job cannot be executed, 1 is assigned to the failure flag stored in the NVRAM 30. Then, the service processing device 12 performs self-diagnosis when the power is turned on, and if it is confirmed that the service processing can be executed, it confirms whether or not the failure flag stored in the NVRAM 30 is 0. At this time, if the failure flag is 0, unexecuted jobs registered in the execution waiting table are executed in the normal order, but if the failure flag is 1, there is a failure in the own device. Since the determination can be made, the execution order control process described below is performed in the service process control unit 42 prior to the execution of the job registered in the execution waiting table. Whether or not the number of unexecuted jobs registered in the execution waiting table is equal to or greater than the threshold instead of determining whether or not to execute the execution order control process based on whether or not the failure flag is 0 Whether or not to execute the execution order control process may be determined based on the above. The above-described processing is performed by the service processing control unit 42 (the failure recovery determination processing unit 42A).

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the execution order control process, first, 0 is substituted for “flag” in step 100, and initial setting for setting the current time as “execution start time” is performed in the next step 102. In step 102, a time corresponding to the current time + α (for example, the execution time of the execution order control process) may be set instead of the current time. In step 104, it is determined whether or not there is an unprocessed job (the processing in the next step 106 and subsequent steps is not executed) among the jobs registered in the execution waiting table. Initially, if any job is registered in the execution waiting table, the determination is affirmed and the process proceeds to step 106, and the job information of the job whose execution order is the first among the unprocessed jobs is extracted as job X from the execution waiting table. To do. In step 108, “execution start time” is set as the execution start time (predicted value) of job X. In the next step 110, job X is executed by the service processing device 12 based on the job information of job X. Predict the time required (execution time). The execution time is predicted by, for example, setting a standard execution time in the service processing device 12 for each type of job that can be executed in the service processing device 12, and based on job X job information. This can be done by searching for and setting a standard execution time corresponding to the determined type of job X.

  In step 112, it is determined whether or not the job X is a job instructed to be executed by receiving the instruction information (hereinafter, this job is referred to as a service job). If the determination is negative, the job X is a single job that is instructed to be executed by operating the operation panel 40, so the process proceeds to step 146, and the job X predicted in step 110 at the “execution start time”. The time obtained by adding the execution time is substituted for “execution start time”, and the process returns to step 104.

  On the other hand, when the job X is a service job, if execution of the job X is delayed, a series of service processes including the job X (a series of service processes instructed to be executed by the same instruction information: flow according to the present invention) (Corresponding to a service job), there is a possibility that inconvenience may occur in the subsequent service processing instructed to be executed after job X. Therefore, if the determination in step 112 is affirmative, the job information extracted in step 106 in step 114, that is, the instruction sheet information is referred to, and in the next step 116, a series of service processing including job X is performed. Predicts the time when all will end.

  The prediction of the end time is also executed by, for example, transmitting the instruction form information to a certain service processing apparatus 12 and then receiving the instruction form information by the service processing apparatus 12 and using the received instruction form information. A standard execution time required until the instruction service information 12 is transmitted to the service processing apparatus 12 that executes the instructed single service process and executes the subsequent service process is determined for each type of service process. In addition, for each service process in the subsequent stage of job X, the standard execution time obtained from the type of service process is obtained and accumulated, and the job predicted in step 110 at the execution start time of job X obtained in step 108. This can be done by adding the execution time of X and the integrated value of the time required to execute each service process in the subsequent stage of job X.

  Subsequently, in step 118, a predetermined allowable time is added to the instruction start time set in the header of the instruction information, and the end time predicted in step 116 is subtracted to obtain an execution margin time (= (instruction start time). + Allowable time)-End time) The allowable time is set to the maximum allowable time from when the execution of the series of service processes is completed until the execution of the series of service processes is completed by transmitting the instruction information. Therefore, if the sign of the execution margin time is “-”, the execution of a series of service processes including the job X is instructed at the current execution start time of the job X, and then the series of service processes is completed. This means that the time until the time exceeds the allowable time by the execution allowance time. In addition, when the sign is “+”, the execution allowance time is instructed to start execution of a series of service processes including the job X even if the execution of the job X is started at the execution start time of the current job X. This means that the series of service processing is completed at a timing before the timing when the allowable time elapses from the timing before the execution allowance time.

  In the next step 120, in the series of service processes including job X, a service process (time designation service) in which the execution time of the process is specified in advance exists in the service process subsequent to job X. Judge whether or not. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 130 without performing any processing. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 122 to predict the execution time of the time designation service. As for the prediction of the execution time of this time designation service, the standard execution required time determined from the type of service processing for each service processing after the job X and up to the time designation service, similarly to the prediction of the previous end time. Can be obtained by adding the integrated value of the execution time of the job X and the required execution time of each service process to the execution start time of the job X.

  In the next step 124, the designated margin time (= designated time-execution time) is calculated by subtracting the execution time of the time designation service predicted in step 122 from the designated time in the time designation service. If the sign of the designated margin time is “−”, the time at which the time designation service is executed is delayed from the designated time by the designated margin time at the current job X execution start time. On the other hand, when the sign is “+”, even if the execution of job X is started at the current job X execution start time, the time specification service can be executed at a timing that is a specified margin time before the specified time. It means to become a state. In the next step 128, it is determined whether or not the specified margin time is smaller than the execution margin time. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 130 without performing any processing. If the determination is affirmative, in step 128, the designated margin time calculated in step 124 is substituted for the execution margin time. After updating the time, the process proceeds to step 130.

  In the next step 130, it is determined whether or not a service process that requires user intervention (intervention required service) exists in a service process subsequent to job X in a series of service processes including job X. judge. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 140 without performing any processing, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 132 to predict the execution time of the service requiring intervention. As for the prediction of the execution time of this intervention service, the service processing of each service process after the job X and up to the intervention service is performed in the same manner as the prediction of the end time and the execution time of the time designation service. The standard execution time required for each type is obtained and accumulated, and the job X execution start time is added to the execution time of job X and the integrated value of the execution time required for each service process. it can.

  In the next step 134, based on the execution time of the intervention service required predicted in step 132, a time zone in which the user can perform an intervention operation (a time zone in which a user (operator) is expected to exist: For example, the intervention margin time (= execution time−end time of the user intervention possible time zone) is calculated by subtracting the end time of the user's working time zone. If the sign of the intervention margin time is “-”, the time at which the intervention service is required is the intervention margin time relative to the end time of the user intervention possible time zone at the current job X execution start time. On the other hand, if the sign is “+”, even if the execution of the job X is started at the current execution time of the job X, the intervention allowance time from the end time of the user intervention possible time zone This means that the intervention service is ready to run at the timing just before. In the next step 136, it is determined whether the intervention margin time is smaller than the execution margin time. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 140 without performing any processing. If the determination is affirmative, in step 138, the intervention margin time calculated in step 134 is substituted for the execution margin time to specify the specified margin. After updating the time, the process proceeds to step 140.

  With the above processing, if the time designation service or intervention required service is not included in the series of service processes including job X, the execution allowance time calculated in step 118 is set as the execution allowance time as it is. When a time designation service or intervention required service is included in a series of service processes, the difference between the time from the start of execution of the series of service processes to the end of the process and the allowable time, Of the difference between the execution time of the specified service and the specified time, and the difference between the execution time of the required intervention service and the end time of the user intervention possible time zone, the margin time corresponding to the event with the smallest margin is set as the margin for execution time. Will be. In step 140, the finally obtained execution allowance time is stored as the job X execution allowance time.

  In the next step 142, it is determined whether or not the execution margin time is smaller than 0 (the sign is “−”). If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 146 without performing any processing. If the determination is affirmative, execution of a series of service processes is instructed at the current job X execution start time. The time from the start to the end of the process is longer than the allowable time (event A), the execution time of the time specified service is later than the specified time (event B), or the execution time of the service requiring intervention can be intervened by the user Since it can be determined that the time is later than the end time of the time zone (event C), the fact that there is a job whose execution order is to be changed is stored by substituting 1 into “flag” in step 144. When the process of step 144 is performed, the “execution start time” is updated in step 146 as described above, and then the process returns to step 104.

  Thus, until the determination in step 104 is affirmed, the processing in steps 104 to 146 is repeated for all jobs registered in the execution waiting table, and the execution start time of each job is predicted. As well as being stored, the execution allowance time is calculated and stored for the service job. Of the processes described above, steps 114 to 140 correspond to the predicting means according to the present invention (specifically, the predicting means according to claims 2, 3 and 5), and the post-processing time of the service processing control unit. This is performed by the calculation unit 42B. By performing the processing of step 104 to step 146 for all jobs registered in the execution waiting table, if the determination in step 104 is negative, the process proceeds to step 148, and “flag” is 0 or not. To determine. If the determination in step 148 is affirmative, even if each job registered in the execution waiting table is executed in the current execution order, any service job among the jobs can be any of event A to event C. Therefore, the execution order control process is terminated without performing any process.

  On the other hand, when the “flag” is 1, it can be determined that at least one of event A to event C occurs in at least one of the service jobs registered in the execution waiting table. Therefore, if the determination in step 148 is negative, job reordering processing is performed in step 150. Hereinafter, the job rearrangement process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The job rearrangement process corresponds to the change means according to the present invention (specifically, the change means described in claims 2, 3, and 5) together with steps 142 and 144 described above, and the service processing control unit 42. (The processing order control processing unit 42D).

  In the job rearrangement process, first, in step 160, a service job Y having a minimum execution margin time less than 0 and a minimum execution margin time is searched from jobs registered in the execution waiting table. In the next step 162, the execution order of the service job Y extracted from the execution waiting table is changed. This change in the execution order is, for example, by calculating the time obtained by subtracting the absolute value of the execution allowance time of the service job Y from the current execution start time of the service job Y and then starting the execution of each job registered in the execution waiting table. The time is compared with the calculated time in order, and the execution order of the job in which the time before the calculated time is set as the execution start time is set as the execution order of the service job Y, and the subsequent job execution order is lowered one by one. Can be done. Further, in step 162, after changing the execution order of the service job Y, the execution time of the service job Y is again calculated and updated by performing the same processing as in the above-described steps 114 to 140.

  In the next step 164, among the jobs registered in the execution waiting table, the execution start time for each job executed after the changed execution order of the service job Y and before the changed execution order. In addition, the service job of each of the jobs is recalculated and updated at the same time by performing the same processing as in steps 114 to 140 described above. In the next step 166, it is determined whether or not there is a service job remaining in the execution allowance time smaller than 0 (sign is “−”) among the jobs registered in the execution waiting table. If the determination is affirmative, the process returns to step 160.

  As a result, steps 160 to 166 are repeated until the determination in step 166 is negative, and among the jobs registered in the execution waiting table, the execution allowance time is smaller than 0 (event A to event C). For a service job (which is expected to occur at least one of the following), the execution order is changed so that the execution allowance time becomes 0 or more. Accordingly, even if the service processing apparatus 12 has been stopped due to some kind of failure (when the job cannot be executed), it takes an extremely long time to complete the series of service processing. Without causing the inconvenience that the time designation service included in the series of service processes cannot be executed at the designated time, or the intervention required service included in the series of service processes cannot be executed within the user intervention possible time zone, Service jobs included in a series of service processes can be executed at appropriate timing.

  In the above, a single job (a job that can be completed by the processing device alone, such as a copy process instructed to be executed by operating the operation panel or a process of outputting a received FAX document) and a service job (external A job that is automatically executed by the processing device upon completion of reception of the instruction information sent from the server, or a job that is executed when the instruction information stored in the processing device is selected and instructed by the user. In the aspect of registering in the execution waiting table, the example in which the execution order of each job registered in the execution waiting table is changed has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and each single job and service job are stored in separate tables. Register and change execution priority in units of individual tables (for example, jobs registered in tables A and B are normally executed alternately) Where a, the jobs registered in the table B in each execution two jobs registered in table A may be one like to run) so.

  In the above description, the service processing apparatus 12 executes an individual job and a service job. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The service processing apparatus 12 may be configured to execute only a service job. Good.

  Further, for example, when the service processing apparatus 12 has been stopped for a long time due to a serious failure, the service job can be changed even if the job execution order registered in the execution waiting table is changed. Although there may be a case where the execution allowance time cannot be set to 0 or more, in particular, the time designation service is often a process in which execution at a time other than the designated processing time is meaningless. For this reason, even if the execution order of jobs registered in the execution waiting table is changed, the execution allowance time (specifically, the specified allowance time) of a service job having a time designation service in the subsequent stage should be 0 or more. If it is not possible, the execution of a series of service processes including the service job and the subsequent time designation service may be automatically canceled or may be canceled with the permission of the user. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the load of the service processing device 12 from increasing unnecessarily. The above aspect corresponds to the invention described in claim 4.

  Further, in the above, service specification information that defines individual service processes in a series of service processes is set in the instruction form information, and the series of service processes is executed by transmitting and receiving the instruction form information between the service processing apparatuses. Although the embodiment has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and a server that manages execution of a series of service processes is provided, and the server instructs execution of a single service process in the series of service processes. The instruction information is transmitted to the service processing device, and each service processing device returns a response to the server every time the service processing is executed according to the instruction from the server, and each time the server receives the response, the server performs the next service processing. A series of service processes may be executed by transmitting the instruction information to the apparatus. In this case, the determination of the presence or absence of a later time designation service or an intervention required service in each service processing apparatus is performed by inquiring of the server or in the subsequent service processing stored at a specific address in the document processing system 10. This can be realized by the service processing device 12 referring to the corresponding instruction information.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a document processing system according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a service processing apparatus. (A) is a figure which shows an example of I / F information, (B) is a figure which respectively shows an example of instruction information. It is an image figure which shows an example of an instruction creation / editing screen. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the execution order control process. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the job rearrangement process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Document processing system 12 Service processing apparatus 14 Client terminal 16 Management server 18 Network

Claims (7)

When the execution of a specific service process of a flow service job composed of a series of service processes to be executed in cooperation is instructed, the specific service process is registered in the execution wait table and registered in the execution wait table When the execution of a specific service process is completed, the service processing apparatus performs a process for causing a service processing apparatus capable of executing the service process to execute a service process to be executed next to the specific service process in the flow service job Because
In the flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service process registered in the execution waiting table, any service process subsequent to the execution waiting service process is executed when the own apparatus becomes ready to execute the service process. A prediction means for predicting the time to be executed;
When the time predicted by the prediction means is later than a predetermined time or out of a predetermined time zone, an execution waiting service process belonging to the same flow service job as the subsequent service process is executed. A change means for changing the processing order of the waiting service processing or performing a process for changing the processing order so that the timing is advanced;
A service processing apparatus comprising:   The predicting means predicts a time at which the last stage service process is executed in the flow service job, and the changing means is a time after a predetermined time has elapsed since the execution of the flow service job was instructed as the predetermined time. The service processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service process registered in the execution waiting table is a processing time designation job in which there is a service process whose processing time is specified in advance after the execution waiting service process. In some cases, the predicting means predicts a time at which a service process whose processing time is specified in advance is executed, and the changing means uses the processing time specified in advance as the predetermined time. The service processing apparatus according to claim 1.   When the time predicted by the prediction means is later than the processing time designated in advance, the execution time of the waiting service process corresponding to the processing time designation job is advanced, thereby processing the processing time designation job. It is determined whether or not the time at which the subsequent service process for which the time is specified is executed is before the pre-specified processing time, and it is determined that the time to be executed is not before the pre-specified processing time 4. The service processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising stop control means for stopping execution of the processing time designation job.   The flow service job corresponding to the execution waiting service process registered in the execution waiting table is a required operation job in which there is a service process that requires an operation by the operator after the execution waiting service process. In this case, the predicting means predicts a time at which a service process that requires an operation by the operator is executed, and the changing means is expected to have an operator as the predetermined time zone. The service processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a time zone is used.   2. The change unit according to claim 1, wherein the execution timing of the service process waiting for execution is advanced by relatively increasing the priority of the service process waiting for execution whose execution timing should be advanced. Service processing equipment.   The service processing apparatus is also capable of executing a single job consisting of a single service process, and the changing means assigns the priority of the execution waiting service process corresponding to the flow service job to the execution waiting service corresponding to the single job. 7. The service processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the timing for executing the execution waiting service processing that should be executed earlier is advanced by setting the processing priority relatively higher than the processing priority.

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