JP2005267176A - Printing system, host device, printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system which permits an interrupting printing enabling a user to print his or her own job even during a large quantity of printing by another user. <P>SOLUTION: In one-to-many printing system where one printer 1 is connected to a plurality of host devices 2-1 to 2-3 through a network 3, a plurality of print jobs to be transmitted from the host devices 2 to the printer 1 are respectively set with priority for every job, then the printer 1 analyzes and determines the priority. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a so-called one-to-many printing system in which one printing apparatus and a plurality of host apparatuses are connected via a network.

  In a small office or office network, multiple expensive laser printers are not installed. Multiple printers (host devices) are connected to one printer (printing device) via the network. Often installed. That is, a one-to-many printing system in which one printing apparatus and a plurality of host devices are connected via a network is often introduced.

In such a printing system, if there is a large number of print requests such as multiple pages or multiple jobs from one computer, printing jobs from other computers are processed after the large number of jobs are completed. Therefore, urgent printing is not possible.
In light of the above-described problems, the present invention provides a printing system that enables interrupt printing, in which other users can print their jobs even during mass printing, and a host device and printing device used in the system. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which one printing device and a plurality of host devices are connected via a network. A printing system having a function of analyzing and determining the priority of a print job sent from the host device based on the set priority is the main feature.
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the printing system according to claim 1, the priority of each job is settable for each user.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the printing system according to the first aspect is characterized in that the printing apparatus prints stored print jobs in order of priority.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the third aspect, even when there is a job being printed, the printing apparatus stops the job being processed when it receives a higher priority job. The main feature is a printing system that processes a high-priority job first.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fourth aspect, the printing apparatus is mainly characterized by a printing system that resumes a job that has been stopped after the processing is completed.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fourth aspect, when the job being processed is stopped, the printing apparatus normally prints to the end of the page without stopping in the middle of the page being processed. The main feature is a printing system that stops from the beginning.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fourth aspect, when the interrupt printing is performed, the printing device performs an interrupt job when the job being printed and the interrupt job have the same paper size. The main feature is a printing system that rotates 90 degrees or 270 degrees.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fourth aspect, when interrupt printing is performed, the printing apparatus outputs a sheet of paper having a size different from that of both jobs at the start and end of the interrupt job. The printing system is the main feature.
The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that, in the printing system according to claim 4, when the interrupt printing is performed, the printing device outputs the interrupt job result to an out tray different from the original print job. And
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fourth aspect, the printing apparatus cancels the stapling function at the time of interrupt printing and performs printing when stapling is specified for either or both of the printing job and the interrupt job. The main feature is the printing system.
According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the host apparatus having the print control means for causing the printing apparatus to perform the function of the first aspect is the main feature.
The invention described in claim 12 is characterized in that the printing apparatus employed in the printing system of claim 1 is the main feature.

  In the printing system of the present invention, priorities for each job are set for a large number of print jobs sent from the host device to the printing device, and the printing device analyzes and determines these priorities. Therefore, interrupt printing is possible and other users can print their own jobs even during mass printing.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system according to the present invention. This is a one-to-many printing system in which one printing device 1 and a plurality of host devices 2 (2-1 to 2-3) are connected via a network 3.
A printing apparatus (for example, a laser printer) 1 includes a buffer that uses an HDD or the like for storing a print job received from the host apparatus 2, an analysis unit that analyzes the job, and an image forming unit that obtains an output image from the analysis result. The host device (personal computer) 2 has a printer driver for converting the screen displayed on the application into data such as PDL for sending to the printing device 1. For each of a large number of print jobs sent from the plurality of host apparatuses 2 to the printing apparatus 1, a priority for each job is set, and the printing apparatus 1 can determine by analyzing these priorities. . Therefore, even when printing of a plurality of jobs competes, it is possible to print from a job with a high priority.

On the printer driver (printing control means), the job priority can be set by various methods. When one host device 2 is occupied by an individual and a plurality of host devices 2 are connected to the network 3, the default priority in the network of jobs issued from the host device 2 when the printer driver is installed You can set the degree.
That is, the person in charge always performs a job for mass printing, and if the degree of urgency is relatively low, the default priority of the job of the host device 2 used by the person in charge is lowered. When an important document is printed, the default priority of the job of the host device 2 used by the person in charge is increased. Each person in charge can change the priority of the job on the printer driver for each print job, but cannot set the priority higher than the default priority.

In the printing apparatus 1, the job received from the host apparatus 2 is temporarily stored in a buffer such as an HDD. The priority of the print job stored in the analysis unit in the printing apparatus 1 is analyzed and sent to the image forming unit in the descending order of priority to perform image processing. Further, at the time of setup of the printing apparatus 1, it is also possible to switch ON / OFF of the interrupt printing function itself according to the priority on the panel of the printing apparatus main body.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a first control example in the printing system of the present invention. In steps S1 to S5, the above processing is executed. That is, it is determined whether or not there is an interrupt (step 1). When there is an interrupt, the priority of the interrupt job is compared with that of the current job. If the priority of the interrupt job is high (Y in step 2), the interrupt job Is printed (step 3), and the original job is printed after this printing (step 4). If there is no interruption in step 1, the current job is printed. If the priority of the current job is high in step 2, the interrupt job is stored in the buffer (step 5).

  Even when a job is being printed in the printing apparatus 1, if a job having a higher priority than a job currently being printed is received, the job being processed is interrupted and printing of the received job is started. If a job having a higher priority than the started job is received, an interrupt job having a higher priority may be printed in a nested manner.

  When interrupted printing, if the interrupted job that was being printed is interrupted at the moment when the job is received, the processing is interrupted while the page is being drawn, and the complete page is printed. It becomes impossible. For a job that is being printed, if the page is being drawn, the processing is interrupted after the processing up to the end of the page is completed normally.

In the interrupt printing, if the paper size of the job being printed and the interrupt print job is the same, it is difficult to determine which job is the job of both jobs after the end of printing. Therefore, in the printing apparatus 1 capable of rotating output, the image forming process on the interrupt job side is performed by rotating 90 degrees or 270 degrees, and the output is rotated. In this way, when both jobs have been printed, only the interrupt job portion is rotated and output, making it easy to determine.
Further, in the case of the printing apparatus 1 having no rotation output function, or when the printing apparatus 1 has a processing cost such as a long output time due to the rotation output, either vertical or horizontal depending on the paper size of both jobs, Alternatively, both large-size sheets are output as blank sheets at the end of the interrupt job, thereby making it easy to determine the interrupt job after printing.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a second control example in the printing system of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the above processing is executed in steps S11 to S17. In FIG. 3, when interrupt printing is received, it is determined whether the interrupt job and the original job are the same paper size (step 11), and it is determined whether the output is a rotatable printer when the paper size is the same (step 11). Step 12) Rotation processing is performed when the rotation is possible (Step 13), and a large blank sheet is output when the rotation is impossible (Step 16). After that, or when the paper sizes are not the same in step 11, printing is performed (step 14), and it is determined whether the printer can be rotated after printing (step 15). When the paper cannot be rotated, a large blank sheet is output (step 17). As a result, the interruption is determined based on whether or not there is a blank sheet, the direction of the sheet, or the size of the sheet.

  When the printing apparatus 1 has a plurality of out trays, only the interrupt job is output to an out tray different from the job being printed, and is output to the original out tray after the interrupt job is output. By doing so, it becomes easy to distinguish each job after both jobs are output.

  If the printing apparatus 1 has a stapling function and stapling is specified for either a job being printed or an interrupt job, or both, if interrupt printing is performed as is, the original job and the interrupt job are stapled together. A malfunction occurs. Therefore, during interrupt printing, the staple function of both jobs is canceled and printing is performed. However, this is not the case when there are a plurality of out trays and both jobs are output to different out trays.

1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a first control example in the printing system of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a second control example in the printing system of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Printing device 2 Host device 3 Network

Claims (12)

  In a printing system in which one printing device and multiple host devices are connected via a network, the printing device prioritizes print jobs sent from the host device based on the priority set for each of a number of print jobs. A printing system having a function of analyzing and judging the degree.   The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the priority of each job can be set for each user.   The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus prints the stored print jobs in order of priority.   4. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein, even if there is a job being printed, if the printing apparatus receives a job with a higher priority, the printing apparatus stops the job being processed halfway and starts a job with a higher priority first. A printing system characterized by processing.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the printing apparatus resumes a job that has been stopped after the processing is completed.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein when the job being processed is stopped, the printing apparatus does not stop in the middle of the page being processed, but stops after printing normally to the end of the page. Printing system.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein when interrupt printing is performed, if the paper size of the job being printed and the interrupt job is the same, the printing apparatus rotates the interrupt job by 90 degrees or 270 degrees. A printing system characterized by that.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein, when interrupt printing is performed, the printing apparatus outputs a blank sheet having a size different from that of both jobs at the start and end of the interrupt job.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein, when interrupt printing is performed, the printing apparatus outputs an interrupt job result to an out tray different from the original print job.   5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the printing apparatus cancels the stapling function at the time of interrupt printing and performs printing when stapling is specified for either or both of the job being printed and the interrupt job. .   A host apparatus comprising a printing control means for causing a printing apparatus to perform the function of claim 1.   A printing apparatus employed in the printing system according to claim 1.

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