JP2005323351A - Distributed image processing system, distributed image processing method, and program for computer to implement the method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform distributed consignment for most efficient print processing by grasping states of other devices connected to a network if print processing is requested from a client device to an image processing apparatus via the network. <P>SOLUTION: If a user requests printing from the client device 12 to the image processing apparatus 14 and it is determined that the request is too heavy to process printing only in the image processing apparatus 14, the acquisition of information is requested to a server device 16, another image processing apparatus 13 or the like for acquiring information about present states, resource and throughput for distributed processing. If such information is acquired from the server device 16 or the other image processing apparatus 13, the image processing apparatus 14 selects the server device 16 with which processing can be entrusted with optimal efficiency, from the acquired information, and print processing is performed by entrusting image processing in distributed manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a distributed image processing system, a distributed image processing method, and a program for causing a computer to execute the method, in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network. Is.

  Conventionally, when a user accesses an information providing server using a mobile phone terminal or the like, the information providing server provides an e-mail address assigned to the nearest printer to the mobile phone terminal. When an e-mail including the URL of the document file is transmitted to the printer, the printer acquires the document file from the document server based on the URL, and executes printing in response to a print execution instruction from the user. There is a printing apparatus that can perform simple printing (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition to the above, the mobile terminal accesses the server system, the mobile terminal acquires and stores information for print output from the server system, and the mobile terminal connects to the image forming apparatus to print on the image forming apparatus. An image forming system that can output information acquired directly from a portable terminal without using a personal computer by transmitting output information and forming an image based on the transmitted print output information. (See Patent Document 2).

JP 2003-67293 A JP 2003-84925 A

  However, in such a background art, a printing apparatus or an image forming apparatus that requests image formation as described in Patent Document 1 or 2 is a CPU, an HDD (hard disk drive), or an operation clock frequency. When the processing capability is limited due to hardware factors, there is a problem that it becomes impossible to deal with heavy image processing.

  Further, when there are a plurality of requests at once for a printing apparatus or an image forming apparatus that requests image formation as described in Patent Document 1 or 2, the processing has been performed sequentially in the order of acceptance, so that the urgent processing is performed. Even if it is necessary to do so, there is a problem that the last received request is processed slowly.

  Furthermore, in Patent Document 1 or 2, the image forming process is not requested to be distributed to a plurality of printing apparatuses or image forming apparatuses, but the idea of requesting the distribution to increase the processing efficiency cannot be assumed. There is no. However, since there is no means to obtain resource information of other devices, it is not possible to determine what processing can be efficiently performed for which device, and the reverse depending on the method of distribution request. However, there is a problem that the processing efficiency deteriorates.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and when a client device requests print processing to an image processing device, it performs distributed processing after grasping the status of other devices connected via a network. It is an object of the present invention to provide a distributed image processing system, a distributed image processing method, and a program for causing a computer to execute the most efficient printing process at a low cost.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the invention according to claim 1 is a distributed configuration in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network. An image processing system, wherein the image processing device is implemented with a data processing means for processing a printer language or image data requested by the client device and a distributed object technology, and performs data processing of the printer language or image data. Distributed processing means for sharing all or a part of the included objects with one or a plurality of the server devices or other image processing devices and distributed processing, and the server device or other image processing when entrusting distributed processing Status grasping means for grasping the resources, processing capacity, and current state that the device has released to the outside, and the grasped resources and processing And a consignment device determination means for determining a device for consigning distributed processing based on the current state, and when the server device or the other image processing device receives an inquiry from the image processing device, An information return means for returning information on the processing capacity and the current state; and a distributed processing execution means for executing the distributed processing commissioned, and efficiently performing the distributed processing of the data processing requested by the client device. It is characterized by.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the first aspect, a resource that is released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device is free from a device that entrusts the distributed processing. The information is at least one of the available memory capacity and hard disk capacity.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the first aspect, the current state of the server device or another image processing device is the current state of the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted. It is a processing status, and includes at least waiting time information from when processing is entrusted to when processing is started.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the first aspect, the state grasping unit releases the acquired server device or other image processing device to the outside when entrusting the distributed processing. If the resources, processing capabilities, and current status information that does not meet the conditions, obtain information held by another server device or other image processing device that the server device or other image processing device has. In addition, the consignment device determination means determines a device to consign distributed processing based on the obtained information.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 4, wherein the image processing apparatus is released to the outside by a server apparatus or other image processing apparatus obtained by the state grasping means. When information on resources, processing capability, and current status does not meet the conditions, the information is obtained each time information on another server device or other image processing device possessed by the server device or other image processing device is obtained. And an inquiry unit for directly making an inquiry based on information stored in the information storage unit when the next distributed processing entrustment is performed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the first aspect, the server device or another image processing device sends a distributed processing entrustment sent from an image processing device that entrusts the distributed processing. To a consignment device search means for searching for another server device or other image processing device that meets the conditions based on the information required for the search, and to the image processing device for which the search result information from the consignment device search means is entrusted with distributed processing And a search result information transmitting means for transmitting, wherein the image processing apparatus determines an apparatus to which distributed processing is entrusted by the entrusting apparatus determining means based on the received search result information.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the first aspect, the image processing apparatus determines information on a server to be entrusted with the distributed processing. And a server-related information transmitting means for transmitting a processing program for determining a device to be entrusted with distributed processing to the server device, wherein the server device distributes information on another server device owned by the server device to the distributed processing. The consigned device determining means for determining the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by operating the information and the processing program obtained from the image processing device to which the entrusting is entrusted, and the determination result is transmitted to the image processing device that has entrusted the distributed processing. A determination result transmission unit, and the distributed processing unit entrusts the distributed processing based on the determination result received by the image processing apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 8 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 7, wherein the server device entrusts the distributed processing even if the processing program obtained from the image processing device is operated. If the information is not found, it is further provided with a delegation related information transfer means for transferring the information obtained from the image processing apparatus and the processing program to another server apparatus. A delegation device determination unit that determines a device to entrust distributed processing based on a processing program; and a determination result transmission unit that transmits the determination result to the server device. The server device performs distributed processing on the received determination result. The image processing apparatus is transferred to the entrusted image processing apparatus, and the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing based on the received determination result.

  The invention according to claim 9 is a distributed image processing system in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, wherein the image processing device includes: A data processing means for processing printer language or image data requested from the client device and a distributed object technology are implemented, and all or a part of objects including data processing of the printer language or image data are included in one or Distributed processing means for shared processing with a plurality of server devices or other image processing devices, and resources and processing capabilities released to the outside by the server device or other image processing devices when delegating distributed processing , Current location information, status grasping means to grasp current status, grasped resources, processing capacity, current location And a consignment device determination means for determining a device for consigning distributed processing based on the current state, and when the server device or the other image processing device receives an information request from the image processing device, Information return means for returning information on resources, processing capacity, current position information and current state, distributed processing execution means for executing entrusted distributed processing, and the client device based on the position information A processing entrusting unit that preferentially entrusts processing to a nearby image processing apparatus, and efficiently distributes data processing requested by the client apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 10 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 9, wherein the server apparatus or another image processing apparatus releases resources to the outside, and the apparatus entrusting the distributed processing is free. The information is at least one of the available memory capacity and hard disk capacity.

The invention according to claim 11 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 9,
The current state of the server device or other image processing device is a waiting state in the device to which distributed processing is entrusted, and at least waiting time information from when the processing is entrusted to when the processing is started. , And the average required time information when the printed material is taken from the position information of the apparatus.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the ninth aspect, since the client device determines a device to be entrusted with the distributed processing, the position information of the image processing device that executes the distributed object and The position information of the server device or another image processing device is given, so that a consignment device close to the user can be selected from the position information.

The invention according to claim 13 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 9,
The server device searches for an image processing device that meets a condition from information required for distributed processing entrustment sent from a device entrusted with distributed processing, and stores the position information of several image processing devices that can be retrieved. Print processing execution device determination means for determining a device to execute print processing based on the position information of the image processing device sent from the server device. It is characterized by having.

  The invention according to claim 14 is a distributed image processing system in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network, wherein the image processing device is A data processing means for processing printer language or image data requested from the client device and a distributed object technology are implemented, and all or a part of objects including data processing of the printer language or image data are included in one or Distributed processing means for performing distributed processing in common with a plurality of the server devices or other image processing devices, and resources and processing capabilities that are open to the outside by the server device or other image processing devices when delegating distributed processing And a state grasping means for grasping a current state, and the server device or the other image processing device includes: If there is an abnormality or no response in the device of the other, based on the information that the other device has, search for a device that can be entrusted distributed processing other than the above, comprising a consignment device determination means for determining the consignment device, Even if an abnormality occurs in the server device or other image processing device to which distributed processing is entrusted, the data processing requested from the client device is efficiently distributed.

  The invention according to claim 15 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 14, wherein the server device is notified by the device entrusted with the distributed processing that processing cannot be executed due to an abnormality. In this case, the apparatus includes a next candidate delegation determination unit that determines an apparatus to entrust distributed processing from the next candidate candidate information prepared in advance.

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing system according to the fourteenth aspect, when the server device has not responded for a certain period of time from the device that has entrusted the distributed processing, the next consignment that has been prepared in advance. Next candidate delegation decision means for deciding a device for delegating distributed processing from candidate information is provided.

  The invention according to claim 17 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 14, wherein when the device entrusting the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, the entire processing is temporarily entrusted to the server device. The entrusted server device includes an entrusting device determining unit that sequentially determines devices to entrust distributed processing.

  The invention according to claim 18 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 17, wherein the device that entrusts the distributed processing cannot continue processing due to some abnormality, and once entrusts all processing to the server device, When the device entrusting the distributed processing is restored again, the entrusted server device returns the information indicating the process being processed to the device entrusting the distributed processing, and the device entrusting the distributed processing performs the processing. It is characterized by continuing.

  Further, the invention according to claim 19 is the distributed image processing system according to claim 17, wherein the device that entrusts the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, and once the entire processing is entrusted to the server device, When there is no chance of recovery of the device entrusted with the distributed processing, the entrusted server device notifies the user of the client device that the distributed processing can be performed using another device. And

  According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client device is transmitted via the image processing device. A distributed image processing method for performing distributed processing, wherein the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data, and the image processing device entrusts distributed processing. In addition, a status inquiry step for inquiring the resources, processing capability, and current status that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing devices, and the server device or other image processing device that made the inquiry has its own resources and processing. An information returning step for returning information about the capability and the current state to the image processing apparatus; and the image processing apparatus. A consignment device determination step for determining a device to consign distributed processing based on information about returned resources, processing capability, and current status, and the printer language or image data between the determined one or more consignment devices A distributed processing step of sharing and processing all or a part of objects including data processing, and efficiently performing distributed processing of data processing requested by the client device.

  The invention according to claim 21 is the distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein the server device or another image processing device is free from resources released to the outside by a device that entrusts the distributed processing. The information is at least one of the available memory capacity and hard disk capacity.

  The invention according to claim 22 is the distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein the current state of the server device or another image processing device is the current state of the device to which distributed processing is entrusted. It is a processing status, and includes at least waiting time information from when processing is entrusted to when processing is started.

  The invention according to claim 23 is the distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein when the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing, the server apparatus or another image processing apparatus is inquired. If the returned resources, processing capability, and current status information do not meet the conditions, the server device or another server device possessed by another image processing device. Alternatively, it includes a possession information obtaining step for obtaining information possessed by another image processing device, and a consignment device determining step for determining a device to be entrusted with distributed processing based on the information obtained in the possession information obtaining step. Features.

  According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing method according to the twenty-third aspect, another server device or other image processing possessed by the server device or another image processing device in the possession information obtaining step. An information storage step for storing the information each time the device information is obtained, and an inquiry step for directly inquiring based on the information stored in the information storage step when delegating distributed processing next time; It is characterized by including.

  The invention according to claim 25 is the distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein the server apparatus or another image processing apparatus entrusts the distributed processing sent from the image processing apparatus to which the distributed processing is entrusted. Based on the necessary information, a consignment device search step for searching for another server device or other image processing device that meets the conditions, and the search result information from the consignment device search step is transmitted to the image processing device for which distributed processing has been consigned A search result information transmitting step, and determining a device to which distributed processing is entrusted by the entrusting device determination step based on the search result information received by the image processing apparatus.

  According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing method according to the twentieth aspect, in order to determine a server device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, information for entrusting the distributed processing and an apparatus that entrusts the distributed processing. The information processing step for the image processing apparatus to transmit the processing program for determining the server to the server apparatus, and information on another server apparatus possessed by the server apparatus is obtained from the image processing apparatus. A consignment device determination step for determining a device for which distributed processing is consigned by operating information and a processing program; and a determination result transmission step for transmitting the determination result to an image processing device for which distributed processing is consigned. The distributed processing is entrusted by the distributed processing step based on the determination result received by the processing device.

  According to a twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, in the distributed image processing method according to the twenty-sixth aspect, the distributed processing is performed even when the server apparatus operates the processing program obtained from the image processing apparatus by the delegation related information transmitting step. When other server device to be entrusted is not found, an entrusted information transfer step of transferring information and processing program obtained from the image processing device to another server device, and the transferred information and processing program The other server apparatus determines a delegation apparatus determination step for determining an apparatus to entrust distributed processing, a determination result transmission step for transmitting the determination result to the server apparatus, and the determination result received by the server apparatus is distributed. A determination result transfer step of transferring to the image processing device to which processing has been entrusted, wherein the image processing device receives Characterized in that to entrust the distributed processing based on the determination result.

  According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client device is transmitted via the image processing device. A distributed image processing method for performing distributed processing, wherein the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data, and the image processing device entrusts distributed processing. In addition, a status inquiry step for inquiring about resources, processing capability, current position information, and current status that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing device, and the server device or other image processing device inquired about Information about its own resources, processing capability, current position information, and current state An information return step for returning, a consignment device determination step for determining a device to entrust distributed processing based on the resource, processing capability, current position information, and current state returned by the image processing device, and determined 1 A distributed processing step in which all or part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data is shared with one or a plurality of consigned devices, and an image close to the client device based on the position information A processing delegation step for preferentially delegating the processing to the processing device, and efficiently performing distributed processing of the data processing requested from the client device.

  According to a twenty-ninth aspect of the present invention, one or more server apparatuses, an image processing apparatus, and a client apparatus requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client apparatus is transmitted via the image processing apparatus. A distributed image processing method for performing distributed processing, wherein the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data, and the image processing device entrusts distributed processing. In addition, a status inquiry step for inquiring about resources, processing capability, and current status that the server device or other image processing device has released to the outside, and the server device or other image processing device that made the inquiry has its own resources and processing. An information return step of returning information on the capability and the current state to the image processing apparatus; Is a delegation device decision step for deciding a device to entrust distributed processing based on the returned resource, processing capability, and current state, and either one of the server device or the other image processing device is abnormal or there is no response In this case, on the basis of information held by the other device, a device that can be commissioned for distributed processing other than the above is searched, and a commissioned device redetermination step for redetermining the commissioned device, and the decided one or more commissioned A distributed processing step in which all or part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data is shared with the apparatus, and the server apparatus or the other image processing to which distributed processing is entrusted Even if an abnormality occurs in the apparatus, the data processing requested from the client apparatus is efficiently distributed and processed.

  The invention according to claim 30 is a program that causes a computer to execute the distributed image processing method according to any one of claims 20 to 29.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a print request is requested from the client apparatus to the image processing apparatus via the network, the printer language and image data are processed by the data processing means of the image processing apparatus, or the distributed object technology is used. Is distributed and processed in a shared manner with one or a plurality of server devices or other image processing devices. When entrusting distributed processing, the state grasping means of the image processing device grasps the resources, processing capacity, and current state that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing devices, and the grasped resources and processing Based on the capability and the current state, the entrusting apparatus determining means determines an apparatus to entrust distributed processing. Also, on the server device or other image processing device side, when there is an inquiry from the image processing device, information about its own resources, processing capability, and current state is returned by the information return means, or consigned by the distributed processing execution means. The distributed processing is executed, and the data processing requested from the client device is efficiently distributed. For this reason, an image processing apparatus that receives a print processing request from a client apparatus via a network performs data processing by itself, grasps resources, processing capabilities, and current status of a server apparatus or another image processing apparatus, and distributes them. By entrusting the processing, processing exceeding the processing capability of the image processing apparatus requested for printing processing can be performed, and the most efficient data processing can be performed at that time. In addition, it is possible to process more than the capacity of the single device used by distributed processing, and even when purchasing additional devices, it is not necessary to introduce high-functional devices, and multiple requests are accepted. However, there is an effect that the processing time can be greatly shortened as compared with the prior art.

  According to the invention of claim 2, at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device that entrusts distributed processing to a resource released to the outside by a server device or another image processing device. Since one piece of information is used, there is an effect that it is possible to accurately determine whether the device can be commissioned according to the data amount to be commissioned.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the current state of the server device or other image processing device is the current processing status of the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and at least entrusts the processing. Since the waiting time information from the start to the start of processing is included, there is an effect that it is possible to select a device with as little waiting time as possible.

  According to the invention of claim 4, when the resource, processing capability, and current state information of the server device or other image processing device obtained by the state grasping means do not meet the conditions, the server device or other The information possessed by another image processing apparatus possessed by the image processing apparatus or other image processing apparatus is obtained, and the consignment apparatus determining means determines the apparatus that consigns distributed processing based on the obtained information. Since it did in this way, there exists an effect that a consignment apparatus can be determined from more apparatus information connected to the network.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the information of the resource, processing capability, and current state of the server device or other image processing device obtained by the state grasping means does not meet the conditions, the server device or other Information is stored in the information storage means every time information on another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus possessed by the image processing apparatus is obtained, and when the next distributed processing is entrusted, the inquiry means is the information storage means. Inquiries are made directly based on the information stored in the device, and therefore, an efficient inquiry can be made by using the accumulated peripheral device information.

  According to the invention of claim 6, the server device or other image processing device meets the conditions by the consignment device search means based on the information necessary for the distributed processing consignment sent from the image processing device. Search for another server device or other image processing device, transmit the search result information to the image processing device by the search result information transmitting unit, and determine the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by the entrusting device determining unit of the image processing device. Therefore, in the same way as an image processing device that entrusts distributed processing, it becomes possible to search for a server that can be proactively commissioned based on information required for the distributed processing entrustment of the server device or other image processing device ahead of it, There is an effect that a consignment device can be determined from a lot of device information.

  According to the invention of claim 7, information for entrusting distributed processing by the entrusting-related information transmitting unit of the image processing apparatus and a processing program for determining an apparatus entrusting the distributed processing are stored in the server apparatus. In response to this, the consignment device determination means of the server device determines the device to be entrusted with the distributed processing by operating the consignment information and the processing program for the information of another server device that the server device has, and the determination result is Since the determination result transmitting means transmits to the image processing apparatus and the distributed processing means of the image processing apparatus entrusts the distributed processing, the server apparatus itself has a distributed processing entrusting apparatus that meets the conditions from the same standpoint as the image processing apparatus. The effect is that it can be determined by searching.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, when no other server device that entrusts distributed processing is found even if the server device operates the processing program obtained from the image processing device, image processing is performed by the entrusted related information transfer unit. The information obtained from the device and the processing program are further transferred to the other server device, and the consignment device determining means of the other server device determines the device to entrust the distributed processing based on the information and the processing program, Since the determination result is transmitted to the server apparatus by the determination result transmitting means, the determination result received by the server apparatus is transferred to the image processing apparatus, and the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing based on the determination result. From the above, there is an effect that the consignment device can be determined.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when a print request is requested from the client apparatus to the image processing apparatus via the network, the printer language or image data is processed by the data processing means of the image processing apparatus, or the distributed object technology is used. All or part of objects including printer language or image data data processing are shared with one or a plurality of server devices or other image processing devices by the distributed processing means that implements, and the distributed processing is entrusted The resource, processing capability, current location information, and current status that the server and other image processing devices have released to the outside by the status grasping means. Based on the location information and the current state, the consignment device determination means determines the device to which the distributed processing is consigned. In addition, when there is an information request from the image processing apparatus, the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus returns its resources, processing capability, current position information, and information on the current state by the information return means, and performs distributed processing. The distributed processing entrusted by the execution unit is executed, and the processing entrusting unit preferentially entrusts the processing to the image processing apparatus close to the client apparatus based on the position information. As described above, the data processing requested from the client device can be processed more efficiently because the printing processing is distributed and printing is performed using relatively peripheral devices. Furthermore, the use of a high-performance and vacant device as an outsourced device has an effect that processing exceeding the capability of the device itself that has received the print request becomes possible.

  According to the invention of claim 10, the resource released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device is at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device entrusting distributed processing. Since one piece of information is used, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the device can be commissioned according to the data to be commissioned.

  According to the invention of claim 11, the current state of the server device or other image processing device is a waiting state in the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and at least after entrusting the processing. Since it is expressed by the waiting time information until the processing is started and the average required time information when the printed matter is taken from the position information of the device, it is possible to select a device with as little waiting time as possible. .

  According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, in order for the client device to determine a device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, the position information of the image processing device that executes the distributed object and the position of the server device or other image processing device. By giving information, it is possible to select a consignment device close to the user from among them, so it is possible to shorten the time for the user to get the printed material, and to distribute image processing and printing processing When executing, there is an effect that it is convenient for the user and more efficient processing can be performed.

  According to the invention of claim 13, the server apparatus searches the image processing apparatus that meets the conditions from information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment sent from the apparatus entrusted with the distributed processing, and some of the server apparatuses that can be retrieved. The position information of the image processing apparatus is transmitted to the apparatus entrusted with the distributed process, and the apparatus entrusted with the distributed process performs printing by the print processing execution apparatus determining means based on the position information of the image processing apparatus sent from the server apparatus. Since the device that executes the processing is determined, the device that executes the printing process can be determined in consideration of the position information in addition to the resource information that is open to the server device or the like. Ability can be improved.

  According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, when a print request is requested from the client apparatus to the image processing apparatus via the network, the printer language and image data are processed by the data processing means of the image processing apparatus, or the distributed object technology is used. And all or part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data is shared with one or a plurality of server devices or other image processing devices by the distributed processing means, and distributed processing is performed. When consigning, the status grasping means grasps the resources, processing capabilities, and current status that are released to the outside by the server device and other image processing devices, and one of the server device and other image processing devices If there is an error or there is no response, search for a device that can be entrusted with distributed processing based on the information held by the other device. Since the consignment device is determined, the data processing requested from the client device can be efficiently distributed and processed even if an abnormality occurs in the server device or other image processing device to which the distributed processing is consigned. Play.

  According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, when the server device is notified that the processing cannot be executed due to the occurrence of an abnormality from the device that has entrusted the distributed processing, the server device performs the next consignment prepared in advance. Since there is a next candidate delegation decision unit that decides the device to entrust distributed processing from candidate information, even if an abnormality occurs in the server device or other image processing device to which distributed processing is entrusted, it is always requested from the client device There is an effect that the distributed data processing can be efficiently distributed.

  According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, when there is no response for a certain period of time from a device that has entrusted distributed processing, the server device determines a device that entrusts distributed processing from the next candidate candidate information prepared in advance. Since the next candidate delegation determination means is provided, even if there is no response from the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus entrusted with the distributed processing, the data processing requested from the client apparatus can always be efficiently distributed. There is an effect.

  According to the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, when the device entrusting the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, the entire processing is temporarily entrusted to the server device, and the entrusted server device is entrusted Since the devices for which the distributed processing is entrusted are sequentially determined by the device determining means, even if an abnormality occurs, there is an effect that continuous processing can be performed by entrusting the distributed processing.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 18, when the device entrusting distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, and after entrusting all processing to the server device once, the device entrusting distributed processing is restored again In addition, the entrusted server device returns the information indicating the process in process to the device entrusting the distributed processing so that the device entrusting the distributed processing continues the process. Even if it occurs, there is an effect that continuous processing becomes possible by entrusting distributed processing.

  In addition, according to the invention of claim 19, it is impossible to continue the processing due to an abnormality in the device entrusted with the distributed processing, and once the entire processing is entrusted to the server device, there is a possibility of recovery of the device entrusted with the distributed processing. In the event that it is lost, the entrusted server device notifies the user of the client device that the distributed processing can be performed using another device, so even if an abnormality occurs, the distributed processing There is an effect that continuous processing becomes possible by entrusting.

  According to the twentieth aspect of the present invention, when the client apparatus requests the image processing apparatus to process the printer language or the image data in the data processing request step, the status is determined when the image processing apparatus entrusts the distributed processing. Inquires about the resources, processing capabilities, and current status that the server device or other image processing device has released to the outside in the inquiry step, and the server device or other image processing device inquired in the information return step A device that returns information on resources, processing capability, and current state to the image processing device, and that the image processing device entrusts distributed processing based on information on resources, processing capability, and current state returned by the delegation device determination step. Printer language or one or more consignment devices determined by the distributed processing step Dispersing treatment by sharing all or part of the object containing the data processing of the image data, so as to efficiently distributed processing of data processing. For this reason, an image processing apparatus that receives a print processing request from a client apparatus via a network performs data processing by itself, grasps resources, processing capabilities, and current status of a server apparatus or another image processing apparatus, and distributes them. By entrusting the processing, processing exceeding the processing capability of the image processing apparatus requested for printing processing can be performed, and the most efficient data processing can be performed at that time. In addition, it is possible to process more than the capacity of the single device used by distributed processing, and even when purchasing additional devices, it is not necessary to introduce high-functional devices, and multiple requests are accepted. However, there is an effect that the processing time can be greatly shortened as compared with the prior art.

  According to the invention of claim 21, at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device that entrusts distributed processing to a resource released to the outside by a server device or another image processing device. Since one piece of information is used, there is an effect that it is possible to accurately determine whether the device can be commissioned according to the data amount to be commissioned.

  According to the invention of claim 22, the current state of the server device or other image processing device is the current processing status of the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and at least entrusts the processing. Since the waiting time information from the start to the start of processing is included, there is an effect that it is possible to select a device with as little waiting time as possible.

  According to the invention of claim 23, when the image processing device entrusts the distributed processing, the resource, processing capability, and current state information of the server device or other image processing device obtained in the possession information obtaining step. If the condition does not meet the conditions, the server device or other image processing device possessed by another server device or other image processing device, obtain the information possessed by the possession information acquisition step Since the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted is determined by the entrusting device determination step based on the information, there is an effect that the entrusting device can be determined from more device information connected to the network.

  According to the twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the information storing step is performed every time information on another server device or other image processing device possessed by the server device or other image processing device is obtained in the possession information obtaining step. The information is stored, and the next time the delegation of distributed processing is performed, since the inquiry step is directly inquired based on the information stored in the information storage step, it is efficient by using the accumulated peripheral device information. This makes it possible to make good inquiries.

  According to the invention of claim 25, based on the information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment sent from the image processing device to which the server device or another image processing device entrusted the distributed processing, the entrusting device searching step The search result information received by the image processing apparatus is searched for another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus that meets the conditions, and the search result information is transmitted to the image processing apparatus to which distributed processing is entrusted by the search result information transmission step. In order to determine the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted based on the entrusted device determination step, the information necessary for the entrusted distributed processing is also sent to the server device or other image processing device in the same manner as the image processing device to which the distributed processing is entrusted. It becomes possible to search for devices that can be independently commissioned based on the system, and the consignment device can be determined from a lot of device information.

  According to the twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in order to determine a server device to which distributed processing is entrusted, information for entrusting distributed processing and an apparatus to entrust distributed processing are determined in the entrustment related information transmission step. The processing program is transmitted to the server apparatus, and the information obtained from the image processing apparatus and the processing program obtained from the information processing apparatus having the server apparatus information in the entrusting apparatus determination step is operated. The device to which the distributed processing is entrusted is determined, the determination result is transmitted to the image processing device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by the determination result transmission step, and the distributed processing step is performed based on the determination result received by the image processing device. Therefore, the server device itself searches for a distributed processing consignment device that meets the conditions from the same standpoint as the image processing device, and decides There is an effect that that.

  According to the twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, when no other server device to which distributed processing is entrusted is found even when the server device operates the processing program obtained from the image processing device by the entrustment related information transmission step, Information obtained from the image processing apparatus by the information transfer step and the processing program are further transferred to another server apparatus, and the other server apparatus performs distributed processing by the determination result transmission step based on the transferred information and the processing program. When the determination result is transmitted to the server device, the determination result received by the server device in the determination result transfer step is transferred to the image processing device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and the determination received by the image processing device Since the distributed processing is outsourced based on the result, the outsourced device can be determined from more device information. Achieve the cormorant effect.

  According to the invention of claim 28, when the client apparatus requests the image processing apparatus to process the printer language or image data, and the image processing apparatus entrusts the distributed processing, the server apparatus or other image Queries the resources, processing capability, current location information, and current status that the processing device has released to the outside, and the server device or other image processing device that made the inquiry has its own resources, processing capability, and current location information. , And return information on the current state to the image processing device, and determine and determine the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted based on the returned resource, processing capability, current location information, and current state Distributed processing is performed by sharing all or part of the object including data processing of printer language or image data with one or a plurality of commissioned devices. , So as to entrust preferentially processed in the image processing apparatus closer to the client device based on the position information. As described above, the data processing requested from the client device can be processed more efficiently because the printing processing is distributed and printing is performed using relatively peripheral devices. Furthermore, the use of a high-performance and vacant device as an outsourced device has an effect that processing exceeding the capability of the device itself that has received the print request becomes possible.

  According to the invention of claim 29, when the client apparatus requests the image processing apparatus to process the printer language or image data, and the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing, the server apparatus or other image Queries the resources, processing capabilities, and current status that the processing device is open to the outside, and the server device or other image processing device that made the query sends information about its resources, processing capabilities, and current status to the image processing device. If the server to which the distributed processing is entrusted is determined based on the returned resource, the processing capability, and the current state, and either the server device or the other image processing device is abnormal or there is no response, the other device Based on the information possessed by the device, a device other than the above that can be entrusted with distributed processing is searched, the entrusted device is re-determined, and the decided entrusted device or devices All or part of objects including data processing of printer language or image data are shared between the two and distributed processing is performed, so an abnormality occurs in the server device or other image processing device to which distributed processing is entrusted Even in this case, the data processing requested from the client device can be efficiently distributed and processed.

  According to the invention of claim 30, there is an effect that the computer can execute the distributed image processing method according to any one of claims 20 to 29.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a distributed image processing system, a distributed image processing method, and a program for causing a computer to execute the method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram illustrating a distributed image processing system of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of the image processing apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of FIG. 3 with a network configuration diagram.

  A distributed image processing system 10 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a network 11 such as a Web (Internet), a client device 12 on the user side, image processing devices 13 and 14 including printers, copiers, multifunction devices, and the like. A server device 15 having a function and a server 16 including a personal computer (PC) are connected to each other.

  The client device 12 is a personal computer (PC) or the like, and makes a print request to the image processing device 14 or the like connected to the network via the network 11 such as the Internet.

  When the image processing apparatuses 13 and 14 receive a print request from the client apparatus 12 of the user, the image processing apparatuses 13 and 14 perform the image processing themselves, or if the amount of image data requested for printing is large and the processing is heavy, the distributed object that is mounted It also has a server function such as entrusting all or part of image processing to other server devices or image processing devices using technology, or performing distributed processing. When entrusting distributed processing, grasp the resources, processing capacity, current status, etc. released to the outside by the entrusted server device or other image processing device, and determine the entrustee based on the grasped content It is possible.

  Here, the server device 15 has an image processing function, and when the client device 12 receives a print processing request and the image processing device 14 entrusts the distributed processing, the server device 15 receives the distributed processing entrustment. In addition, when there is an inquiry about the resources, processing capacity, current status, etc. released to the outside from the consignee, information on its resources, processing capacity, current status is sent to the inquired device. It is possible.

  Here, the server device 16 is constituted by a PC or the like, and, like the server device 15, when the client device 12 receives the print processing request and the image processing device 14 entrusts the distributed processing, the server device 16 receives the distributed processing entrustment. When there is an inquiry about the resources, processing capacity, current status, etc. released to the outside from the contractor, it is possible to send information about its resources, processing capacity, current status to the inquired device It is.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus 14 that receives a print request from the client apparatus 12 includes a network control unit 141, a CPU 142, an HDD (hard disk drive) 143, a ROM 144, a RAM 145, and an image processing unit 146. Has been.

  The network control unit 141 is connected to the network 11 and performs network control. When there is an inquiry about its own resource, processing capability, and current state, the network control unit 141 includes a part of information return means for returning necessary information. It is composed. Further, a search result information transmitting unit and a commission related information transmitting unit, which will be described later, are also configured.

  The CPU 142 controls the image processing apparatus 14 as a whole, and is distributed to the server apparatus 15 and other image processing apparatuses 13 to perform distributed processing. The server apparatus 15 and other image processing apparatuses 13 are released to the outside. Status grasping means for grasping information on existing resources, processing capacity and current state, delegation device decision means for deciding a device to entrust distributed processing based on the grasped information, part of information return means, and others A distributed processing execution means for executing distributed processing when entrusted is configured. In addition, an inquiry unit and a commissioned device search unit, which will be described later, are also configured.

  The HDD 143 constitutes information storage means (to be described later) that stores image data to be processed, resources of other acquired devices, processing capability, and information relating to the current state. The ROM 144 stores a basic program for operating the image processing apparatus, and the RAM 145 stores various parameters and is used as a work area during operation.

  The image processing unit 146 constitutes data processing means for processing the printer language or image data requested from the client device 12.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see step S100, A in FIG. 4).

  If it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing device 14 (step S101), in order to perform processing in a distributed manner, the resources, processing capabilities, current An information acquisition request for acquiring state information is made (see step S102, B and C in FIG. 4).

  When the image processing apparatus 14 acquires these pieces of information from the server apparatus 16 or another image processing apparatus 13 (see step S103 and D and E in FIG. 4), the apparatus that can outsource the processing with optimum efficiency from the acquired information. Is selected (step S104). Here, the distributed processing of image processing is entrusted to the selected server device 16, and the distributed processing is performed (see step S105, B in FIG. 4). Of course, the outsourcer may be the image processing apparatus 13.

  If it is not necessary to entrust distributed processing in step S101, the image processing apparatus 14 executes image processing by itself (step S106).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the image processing apparatus 14 that has received a print processing request from the client apparatus 12 via the network 11 performs data processing by itself, and if the request is heavy, Since the resource, processing capability, and current state of the server device 16 or other image processing device 13 are grasped and distributed processing is entrusted to an appropriate device, the processing of the image processing device that has received the print processing request Processing exceeding the capability becomes possible, and the most efficient data processing can be performed at the time of processing.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of resource information requested to the server apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the resource information requested | required with respect to.

  First, as shown in FIG. 5, the server device 16 has a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity as resource information, and the breakdown is released to the actually used area and the outside that can be used in the future. It consists of a release area. Since these ratios always change depending on each server device and time, such information is obtained immediately before the delegation is distributed, and a device for which the decentralized processing is entrusted is selected based on the obtained information.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the image processing apparatus 13 having a server function has a memory capacity as resource information, and the breakdown is released to an actually used area and an external area that can be used in the future. It consists of a release area. Since the ratio of both in the case of the image processing apparatus 13 always varies depending on each image processing apparatus and time, an apparatus that obtains such information immediately before delegating the distribution and entrusts the distributed processing based on the obtained information. Make a selection.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, as the resource information released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device, the memory that can be freely used by the image processing device entrusting the distributed processing is used. Since at least one of the capacity and the hard disk capacity is used, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the apparatus is suitable for entrusting according to the amount of data to be entrusted.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 7 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the current state of the server device 16 and the image processing device 13 is the current processing status in the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, from the time when the processing is entrusted until the time the processing starts The work waiting time information is included at least.

  Therefore, in step S103 of the flowchart of FIG. 3 in the first embodiment, the current status information obtained from the server device 16 or the image processing device 13 includes work waiting time information as shown in FIG. The operation of the third embodiment will be described by taking the case of the case as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 7).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing device 14, in order to perform the processing in a distributed manner, the operation waiting time information is obtained as the current state information from the server device 16 and other image processing devices 13, respectively. (Refer to B and C in FIG. 7).

  The image processing device 14 selects the device with the shortest waiting time based on the work waiting time information (see B and C in FIG. 7) obtained from the server device 16 and other image processing devices 13. Here, it can be seen that the image processing apparatus 13 cannot wait for processing from the work waiting 1 to 3 and cannot immediately perform the printing process. Based on this result, the image processing apparatus 14 selects to entrust the server apparatus 16 with decentralization, and decentralizes entrustment (see D in FIG. 7).

  Thus, according to the third embodiment, as the current status information obtained from the server device or other image processing device, the current processing status of the device on the side to which the distributed processing is entrusted, Since at least the waiting time information from when the processing is entrusted to when the processing is started is included, it is possible to select a device with as low a waiting time as possible.

(Fourth embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram showing an internal configuration example of the server apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 9 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, server devices 15 and 16 that receive an inquiry or the like for performing distributed processing from the image processing device 14 are a network control unit 151, a CPU 152, an HDD 153, a ROM 154, a RAM 155, an input unit 156, and a display unit. 157 and the like.

  The network control unit 151 is connected to the network 11 and performs network control. When the image processing apparatus 14 receives an inquiry about its own resource, processing capability, and current state, an information return that returns necessary information is returned. Part of the means. In addition, a determination result transmission unit that transmits a determination result for determining a device to be entrusted with distributed processing, which will be described later, to the image processing device or another server device, information obtained from the image processing device and a processing program are further transmitted to another server device. Consignment related information transfer means for transferring is also configured.

  The CPU 152 controls the server devices 15 and 16 as a whole, and determines the optimum device for delegating distributed processing by operating information and processing programs transmitted from the image processing device or other server devices. Means.

  The HDD 153 stores information regarding image data to be processed, resources of other acquired apparatuses, processing capability, and the current state. The ROM 154 stores a basic program for operating the server device, and the RAM 155 stores various parameters and is used as a work area during operation.

  The input unit 156 includes any keyboard, mouse, touch panel, or the like, and means any input means that can input operation details.

  The display unit 157 is a display for confirming the input content input by the input unit 156 and the acquired information content on the screen.

  Next, the operation according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 9, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 9).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing device 14, in order to determine the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, information for obtaining information such as resources, processing capability, and current state from the server device 16 An information acquisition request is made (see B in FIG. 9).

  If the acquired information held by the server device 16 does not conform to the consignment conditions for the distributed processing, information on another server device 15 held by the server device 16 is acquired (see C and D in FIG. 9). ).

  The image processing apparatus 14 obtains information on the server apparatus 15 via the server apparatus 16 (see E in FIG. 9), and determines whether the apparatus entrusting distributed processing is appropriate or not from the information. ,decide.

  When the determination result of the image processing device 14 determines that it is appropriate to entrust the distributed processing to the server device 15, the distributed processing is performed directly from the image processing device 14 to the server device 15 (F in FIG. 9). reference).

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, if the acquired server device or other image processing device resources, processing capability, and current status information do not meet the conditions, the server device or other Since the information held by another server device or other image processing device held by the image processing device is obtained, and the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted is determined based on the obtained information, it is connected to the network. An appropriate consignment device can be determined from a larger amount of device information.

(Fifth embodiment)
FIG. 10 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 10).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing device 14, in order to determine a device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, information for obtaining information such as resources, processing capability, and current state from the server device 15 is obtained. An information acquisition request is made (see B in FIG. 10).

  If the information (see C in FIG. 10) obtained by the image processing apparatus 14 from the server apparatus 15 does not meet the delegation conditions for distributed processing, information on another server apparatus 17 possessed by the server apparatus 15 is obtained. Request (see D in FIG. 10), obtain information from the server device 17 (see E in FIG. 10), and further obtain the image processing device 14 from the server device 15 (see C in FIG. 10).

  The information of the server device 17 is stored in the HDD 143 as information storage means of the image processing device 14 (see FIG. 2). When the image processing device 14 needs to perform the distributed entrustment process next time, the CPU 142 does not directly pass the server device 17 to the server device 17 based on the information stored in the HDD 143 without using the server device 15. An inquiry is made (see F in FIG. 10).

  As described above, according to the fifth embodiment, if the resource, processing capability, and current state information obtained by the image processing apparatus 14 from the server apparatus 15 do not meet the commission conditions, the server apparatus or the like. Information of another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus possessed by the image processing apparatus is obtained and stored in the HDD 143 of the image processing apparatus 14. Then, when entrusting the next distributed processing, it is possible to make an inquiry directly based on the information stored in the HDD 143. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently inquire about an entrustable device using the stored device information.

(Sixth embodiment)
FIG. 11 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 11).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing apparatus 14, the information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment is transmitted from the image processing apparatus 14 to the server apparatus 15 in order to determine an apparatus entrusting the distributed processing. (See B in FIG. 11).

  The server device 15 searches for another server device or image processing device that meets the conditions for the distributed processing entrustment based on the information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment received from the image processing device 14.

  As a result of the search, as shown in FIG. 11, information is obtained from the server device 17 and the server device 18 to the server device 15 (see C and D in FIG. 11). It is determined whether or not it matches.

  Here, when the server device 15 determines the server device 17 as a device that meets the conditions for the distributed processing entrustment, the determination result is transmitted from the server device 15 to the image processing device 14 (see E in FIG. 11). Here, the image processing apparatus 14 performs direct distribution commissioning based on the determination result sent from the server apparatus 15 (see F in FIG. 11).

  As described above, according to the sixth embodiment, the server device or another image processing device can determine whether the server device or the other image processing device meets the conditions based on the information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment sent from the image processing device 14. The server apparatus or other image processing apparatus is searched to determine an apparatus that meets the conditions, and the search result information is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 14. Since the image processing apparatus 14 has only to perform distributed entrustment based on the determination result, it is possible to determine an appropriate entrusting apparatus from a lot of apparatus information without taking time and effort.

(Seventh embodiment)
FIG. 12 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 12).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing apparatus 14, the image processing apparatus 14 determines information for entrusting distributed processing to the server apparatus 16, and information for entrusting distributed processing to the server apparatus 16; A processing program for determining a device to which distributed processing is entrusted is transmitted (see B and C in FIG. 12).

  The server device 16 is suitable for entrusting distributed processing by operating information and processing programs obtained from the image processing device 14 with respect to information of other server devices owned by the server device 16 (see D and E in FIG. 12). Determine the device.

  The determination result determined by the server device 16 is once transmitted to the image processing device 14 (see F in FIG. 12). Then, the image processing device 14 directly entrusts the distributed processing to the server device 17 based on the received determination result information (see G in FIG. 12).

  As described above, according to the seventh embodiment, information for the image processing device 14 to entrust the distributed processing and a processing program for determining the device to entrust the distributed processing to the server device 16. Then, the server device 16 determines the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by operating the entrustment information and the processing program on the information of the other server devices 17 and 18 that the server device 16 has. Since the determination result information is transmitted from the server device 16 to the image processing device 14, the image processing device 14 can directly entrust the server device 17 with decentralization.

(Eighth embodiment)
FIG. 13 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 13, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network 11 (see A in FIG. 13).

  When it is determined that the request is heavy for processing only by the image processing apparatus 14, the image processing apparatus 14 determines information for entrusting distributed processing to the server apparatus 16, and information for entrusting distributed processing to the server apparatus 16; A processing program for determining a device to which distributed processing is entrusted is transmitted (see B and C in FIG. 13).

  When the server apparatus 16 operates the information obtained from the image processing apparatus 14 and the processing program for the information of the other server apparatus that the server apparatus 16 has, a server suitable for entrusting distributed processing cannot be found. Transfers the information obtained from the image processing device 14 and the processing program to another server device 19 (see D and E in FIG. 13).

  The server device 19 operates the information transferred from the server device 16 and the processing program to determine a device suitable for entrusting distributed processing. Here, the server device 20 is used.

  The determination result information is transmitted from the server device 19 to the server device 16 (see F in FIG. 13), and the server device 16 further transfers the determination result information to the image processing device 14 (see G in FIG. 13).

  The image processing device 14 directly entrusts the distributed processing to the server device 20 based on the transferred determination result information (see H in FIG. 13).

  As described above, according to the eighth embodiment, when the server device 16 operates the information acquired from the image processing device 14 and the processing program, no other server device entrusting distributed processing is found. The server device 16 transfers the information and processing program obtained from the image processing device 14 to another server device 19 and operates the information and processing program transferred in the server device 19 to perform distributed processing. Determine the equipment to be commissioned. The determination result is transferred to the image processing device 14 via the server device 16, and the image processing device 14 directly delegates the distributed processing to the server device 20 based on the determination result. Appropriate commissioned equipment can be determined.

(Ninth embodiment)
FIG. 14 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the distributed image processing system shown in FIG. 14 is substantially the same as that of the above embodiment, and only different points will be described.

The characteristic configuration in the ninth embodiment is an element for grasping the state when the image processing apparatus 14 that has received the print request entrusts the distributed processing to the server apparatus 16 or another image processing apparatus 13. In addition to the resources, processing capability, and current state that are open to the outside described in the above embodiment, the current position information is also released. Since this location information is open to the outside, it can be acquired via the network in the same manner as the above-described resources, processing capability, and current state. Here, the position information of the client device 12 operated by the user who makes the print request is grasped, and after considering the resources, the processing capability, and the current state, if these conditions are almost the same, it is possible from among them. A device close to the client device 12 is selected. Of course, the consignment device may be determined by giving priority to the position information over the resource, processing capability, and current state.

  Next, the operation of the ninth embodiment will be described. A print request is made from the client device 12 of the user to the image processing device 14 via the network (see A in FIG. 14), and if the image processing device 14 determines that the request is heavy for processing alone, it is distributed. In order to perform processing, a request for obtaining information (see B and C in FIG. 14) is made to the server device 16 and another image processing device 13 having a server function, and the information is acquired (FIG. 14). D and E).

  In the ninth embodiment, the resources requested by the image processing apparatus 14 to the server apparatus 16 include a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity (see FIG. 5). Has a memory capacity (see FIG. 6). The resource information is resource information that has been opened to the outside in advance, and based on these information, a device capable of efficient consignment processing is determined. In addition to the resource information, the determination can be made taking into account the processing capability, the current state, position information, and the like.

  Based on the information obtained from the server device 16 and the image processing device 13, the image processing device 14 determines a device from which the most efficient consignment processing can be expected, and in this case, the image processing device 13 performs image processing. Commissioned to perform the printing process.

  However, the commissioned image processing device 13 having the server function can acquire the position information of each device via the network, so that an image is displayed around the image processing device 14 (may be around the client device 12). If the presence of the processing device 22 is confirmed, a part of the commissioned print processing can be further commissioned to the image processing device 22 (see F in FIG. 14).

  As described above, according to the ninth embodiment, an image processing apparatus or the like that has received a print request from a user has a limited processing capability due to a single hardware factor (CPU, hard disk, operation clock, etc.). In some cases, heavy image processing cannot be handled. However, by using other high-performance and vacant devices, it is possible to perform processing that exceeds the processing capability of the user. In this embodiment, as a selection criterion for other devices, the device is determined in consideration of the current position information in addition to the resource, processing capability, and current state, so that the user can obtain the printed matter. Therefore, it is possible to take into consideration the characteristics and time, and the processing efficiency can be further improved.

(Tenth embodiment)
FIG. 15 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the tenth embodiment. The feature of the tenth embodiment is that the current state of the device, which is a criterion for selecting a consignment device, is a waiting state in the device to which the distributed processing is consigned, and at least after consigning the processing This is because it is expressed by waiting time information until processing is started and average time required information when the printed material is taken from the position information of the apparatus. In other words, since the waiting time until the processing is started after entrusting the processing is further added to the average required time information when the printed material is taken from the position information of the apparatus, the requested printed material is actually There is an advantage that an efficient commissioning device can be determined in consideration of the available time.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, the user uses the client device 12 to make a print request to the image processing device 14 via the network (see A in FIG. 15). Assume that the image processing apparatus 14 obtains the commissioning process start waiting time (see D in FIG. 15) from the server apparatus 16, and also obtains the commissioning process start waiting time (see E in FIG. 15) from the image processing apparatus 13. It is assumed that the image processing apparatus 14 determines a consignee to whom processing can be entrusted with optimum efficiency from the obtained information, and selects the server apparatus 16 here.

Accordingly, the entrusted server device 16 has the position information of the image processing device 13 and confirms that the image processing device 13 is in the vicinity of the image processing device 14, and part of the print processing is performed by the image processing device. When it is found that the processing time can be shortened by entrusting to 13, the processing time is notified to the user of the client device 12 (see F in FIG. 15). Accordingly, if the user determines that it is better to entrust a part of the printing process to the image processing apparatus 13, the user can permit the entrustment.

  As described above, according to the tenth embodiment, the entrusted process start waiting time is compared between the server apparatus 16 and the image processing apparatus 13, and a part of the printing process including the position information is imaged. By notifying the user of the client device 12 of the processing time when entrusting to the processing device 13, more efficient printing processing can be performed.

(Eleventh embodiment)
FIG. 16 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the eleventh embodiment. The feature of the eleventh embodiment is that the image processing apparatus 14 that has received a print request from the user provides its own position information and position information of the other image processing apparatus 13 to the client apparatus 12 on the user side. Thus, the user is allowed to select a device for executing the printing process.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the image processing device 14 receives a print request from a user (see A in FIG. 16), the image processing device 14 may make an information request to the server device 16 or another image processing device 13, but the device that executes the print processing The user is closer to the client device 12 by first providing the position information of the image processing device 14 and the other image processing device 13 to the client device 12 on the user side (see F and G in FIG. 16). A print processing execution apparatus (image processing apparatus) can be selected.

  As described above, according to the eleventh embodiment, the position information held by the image processing apparatus 14 and the position information of the other image processing apparatus 13 are determined to the user when determining a device to be entrusted with print processing. By sending it, it is possible to accurately select a nearby image processing apparatus with higher processing efficiency.

(Twelfth embodiment)
FIG. 17 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the twelfth embodiment. A feature of the twelfth embodiment is that, when the server device 16 obtains the distributed commission information from the image processing device 14 that has received a print request from the user (see F in FIG. 17), the obtained image processing device 13, The total print processing time is calculated based on the position information 14 and notified to the user (see G in FIG. 17), thereby allowing the user to select an image processing apparatus to be printed. .

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the server device 16 obtains the distributed consignment information from the image processing device 14 that has received a print request from the user, the distributed consignment information includes the location information of each device, and the image processing device 14 and the image processing The position information of the apparatus 13 or the print processing time is calculated, and this is notified to the user (see G in FIG. 17).

  Here, the print processing times of the image processing apparatus 14 and the image processing apparatus 13 notified by the user are compared, and the user side accurately determines which of the image processing apparatuses should be entrusted to the most efficient. Thus, it is possible to select an efficient image processing apparatus and perform consignment processing.

  As described above, according to the twelfth embodiment, by providing the user with information related to the print processing times of the plurality of image processing devices based on the distributed commission information obtained by the server device, the most to the user. It becomes possible to select an image processing apparatus that can efficiently perform the commissioning process.

(Thirteenth embodiment)
FIG. 18 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the thirteenth embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, when the image processing apparatus 14 that has received the print request has a heavy request to process alone, the processing is distributed. An information request is made in order to obtain information, but there is a problem in how to deal with a case where an abnormality occurs in the requested device or there is no response. The feature of the thirteenth embodiment is that, based on information held by a device that has no abnormality (has a response), another device that can be efficiently commissioned is searched for and the commissioning device is determined. In the point.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the server device 16 that has received the information request or the image processing device 13 having a server function not only grasps its own resources, processing capability, and current state, but also other than itself. It has the ability to grasp device information. For this reason, if there is an information request from the image processing apparatus 14 entrusting the distributed processing and an abnormality occurs in a device other than itself or there is a device that does not respond, the image processing device 14 owns the device other than the device where the abnormality occurred Based on the information of the devices that can be commissioned, other devices that can be commissioned with optimum efficiency can be determined and commissioned.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. When a print request is made to the image processing apparatus 14 (see A in FIG. 18), the user of the client apparatus 12 first distributes the processing if the print request is heavy for the image processing apparatus 14. An information acquisition request (see B in FIG. 18) regarding the resource, processing capability, current state, and the like is made to the device 16.

  An information request (see C in FIG. 18) is also made to the image processing apparatus 13 that also has a server function. Here, it is assumed that an abnormality has occurred in the image processing apparatus 13 (or there is no response). Then, the server device 16 determines a device that can be commissioned with other optimum efficiency based on the information it has, commissions image processing (see F in FIG. 18), and executes printing. Let FIG. 18 shows a case where the server device 16 determines that the image processing apparatus 23 can process the process with optimum efficiency and the server apparatus 16 performs the process.

  In this way, as shown in the thirteenth embodiment, even if the device that requested the information is abnormal or there is no response, the device itself based on the information held by the device that is not abnormal at the request destination Since the consignee is judged and consigned, even if an unexpected situation occurs, it is possible to continuously and efficiently perform consignment processing.

(Fourteenth embodiment)
FIG. 19 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the fourteenth embodiment. A feature of the fourteenth embodiment is how to deal with a case where an apparatus in which an abnormality has occurred occurs in the image processing apparatus 14 to which the division processing is not entrusted, rather than the side to which the division processing is entrusted.

  For example, as illustrated in FIG. 19, after the image processing apparatus 14 that has received a print request from the user performs the commissioning process to the server apparatus 16, an abnormality occurs in the image processing apparatus 14 and the processing is continued. In such a case, the server device 16 can delegate the distributed processing to the image processing device 13 (see G in FIG. 19). As a result, the processing performed by the image processing device 14 is replaced by the image processing device 13 and the processing is continuously performed together with the server device 16, so that an unexpected situation occurs and the requested image processing device is Even if it can no longer be used, the processing requested by the user can be continued and distributed processing can be performed efficiently.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 19, after the image processing apparatus 14 that has received a print request from the user performs a consignment process to the server apparatus 16, the image processing apparatus 14 side becomes abnormal and cannot continue the processing. The server device 16 entrusts the processing to the image processing device 13 as described above. However, when the image processing apparatus 14 is restored while the image processing apparatus 13 is performing processing on its behalf, there is a problem of how to deal with it. In the fourteenth embodiment, since the processing of the image processing device 13 is an emergency measure to the last, it is desirable that the image processing device 14 continues the processing as long as the originally processed image processing device 14 is restored. Therefore, when the image processing device 14 is restored, the server device 16 that has been entrusted to the image processing device 13 transmits the work progress information to the restored image processing device 14 (see H in FIG. 19), and receives this. The image processing apparatus 14 can continue the subsequent processing based on the acquired information.

  As described above, according to the fourteenth embodiment, even if an abnormality or the like of the image processing apparatus 14 occurs, it can be entrusted to another image processing apparatus, and again according to the restoration status, It is possible to cause the image processing apparatus 14 to continue processing.

(Fifteenth embodiment)
FIG. 20 is a network configuration diagram of a distributed image processing system according to the fifteenth embodiment. The feature of the fifteenth embodiment is a case where an abnormality has occurred in the image processing apparatus 14 to be entrusted as in the fourteenth embodiment, and it is not recovered and the prospect of recovery is not expected. How to deal with cases.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. When a user makes a print request to the image processing apparatus 14 via the client apparatus 12 (see A in FIG. 20), and the print request is heavy for the image processing apparatus 14, the image processing apparatus 14 distributes the processing, so the server Consignment processing is performed on the device 16 (see F in FIG. 20).

  Thereafter, when an abnormality occurs in the image processing device 14 and the processing cannot be continued, the entrusted server device 16 entrusts the other image processing device 13 to continue the processing (FIG. 20). (See G).

  However, in the fifteenth embodiment, unlike the fourteenth embodiment, since it is not possible to recover the abnormal image processing apparatus 14, the user from the entrusted image processing apparatus 13 receives the user. The client apparatus 12 is notified that the process to be performed by the image processing apparatus 14 has been transferred to the image processing apparatus 13, and the process is continued. This is because the user is not aware of the entrustment from the server device 16 to the image processing device 13 and is taken as an emergency measure in order to continue the processing. However, if recovery cannot be expected, the process cannot be continued unless the process is officially transferred, so the process transfer is notified to the user.

  As described above, according to the fifteenth embodiment, even if an abnormality occurs in the image processing apparatus 14 that has received a print request from the client apparatus 12 and the distributed processing cannot be continued, the commissioned server Since the apparatus 16 searches for and entrusts another image processing apparatus 13 that can perform distributed processing, the entrusting process is continuously performed. Therefore, the processing capability can be efficiently improved without interruption of the process.

  A program executed by the image processing system according to the present embodiment is provided by being incorporated in advance in the ROMs 144, 154, and the like.

  The program executed in the image processing system according to the present embodiment is an installable format or executable format file, which is a CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). ) Or the like may be recorded and provided on a computer-readable recording medium.

  Furthermore, the program executed in the image processing system according to the present embodiment may be configured to be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network.

  The program executed by the image processing system according to the present embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  Such a program executed by the image processing system according to the present embodiment has a module configuration including the above-described components. As actual hardware, the CPU (processors) 142 and 152 include the ROM 144 described above. , 154, etc. are read out and executed, so that the above-described units are loaded onto the main storage device and the respective components are generated on the main storage device.

  As described above, a distributed image processing system, a distributed image processing method, and a program for causing a computer to execute the method according to the present invention include a client device, a copier, a facsimile, a printer, and the like connected via a network such as the Internet. And a distributed image processing system, a distributed image processing method for distributing image processing using a server, and a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

It is a network block diagram explaining the distributed image processing system of this invention. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of the image processing apparatus in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the operation | movement of FIG. 3 with a network block diagram. It is a figure which shows an example of the resource information requested | required with respect to the server apparatus concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the resource information requested | required with respect to the image processing apparatus concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of the server apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 7th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 8th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 9th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 10th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 11th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 12th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 13th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 14th Embodiment of this invention. It is a network block diagram of the distributed image processing system concerning the 15th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 Distributed Image Processing System 11 Network (Internet)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Client apparatus 13,14 Image processing apparatus 16 Server apparatus 22, 23 Image processing apparatus 141 Network control part 142 CPU
143 HDD
144 ROM
145 RAM
146 Image processing unit 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Server device 151 Network control unit 152 CPU
153 HDD
154 ROM
155 RAM
156 Input unit 157 Display unit

Claims (30)

A distributed image processing system in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Data processing means for processing printer language or image data requested from the client device;
Distributed processing means that implements distributed object technology and distributes all or part of the object including data processing of the printer language or image data in a shared manner with one or a plurality of the server devices or other image processing devices When,
A state grasping means for grasping resources, processing capability, and current state that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing device when delegating distributed processing;
And a consignment device determination means for determining a device to consign distributed processing based on the grasped resource, processing capacity, and current state,
The server device or the other image processing device
When there is an inquiry from the image processing apparatus, information return means for returning information about its own resource, processing capability, and current state;
And distributed processing execution means for executing the distributed processing that has been entrusted,
A distributed image processing system for efficiently performing distributed processing of data processing requested from the client device.   The resource released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device is information of at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device that entrusts distributed processing. The distributed image processing system according to claim 1.   The current state of the server device or other image processing device is the current processing status of the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and at least the waiting time from when the processing is entrusted to when the processing is started The distributed image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising information. The state grasping means, when entrusting distributed processing, if the acquired server device or other image processing device resources, processing capability, and information on the current state do not meet the conditions, To obtain information held by another server device or other image processing device possessed by the device or other image processing device;
The distributed image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the entrusting apparatus determining unit determines an apparatus to entrust distributed processing based on the obtained information. The image processing apparatus is configured such that the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus acquired by the state grasping unit does not meet the conditions of the resources, processing capability, and current state information that are released to the outside. Information storage means for storing information each time information on another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus possessed by another image processing apparatus is obtained;
The distributed image processing system according to claim 4, further comprising: inquiry means for directly making an inquiry based on information stored in the information storage means when performing the next distributed processing entrustment. The server apparatus or other image processing apparatus is configured to use another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus that meets the conditions based on information required for the distributed processing entrustment sent from the image processing apparatus entrusted with the distributed processing. Entrusted device search means for searching for,
Search result information transmitting means for transmitting search result information by the entrusted apparatus search means to an image processing apparatus entrusted with distributed processing, and
The distributed image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus determines a device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by the entrusting apparatus determination unit based on the received search result information. The image processing apparatus transmits information for entrusting distributed processing and a processing program for determining an apparatus entrusting distributed processing to the server apparatus in order to determine a server apparatus entrusting distributed processing. Consignment related information transmission means,
The server device determines the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted by operating the information obtained from the image processing device that has entrusted the distributed processing and the processing program for the information of another server device that the server device has. Device determining means;
A determination result transmitting means for transmitting the determination result to an image processing apparatus entrusted with distributed processing;
The distributed image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the distributed processing is entrusted by the distributed processing unit based on a determination result received by the image processing apparatus. If the server device does not find another server device to which distributed processing is entrusted even if the processing program obtained from the image processing device is operated, the information obtained from the image processing device and the processing program are further stored. Consignment related information transfer means to transfer to the server device,
The other server device is a consignment device determination means for determining a device for consigning distributed processing based on the transferred information and processing program;
A determination result transmitting means for transmitting the determination result to the server device;
8. The server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the server apparatus transfers the received determination result to the image processing apparatus entrusted with distributed processing, and the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing based on the received determination result. Distributed image processing system. A distributed image processing system in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Data processing means for processing printer language or image data requested from the client device;
Distributed processing means that implements distributed object technology and distributes all or part of the object including data processing of the printer language or image data in a shared manner with one or a plurality of the server devices or other image processing devices When,
A state grasping means for grasping resources, processing capability, current position information, and current state that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing device when delegating distributed processing;
And a consignment device determination means for determining a device to consign distributed processing based on the grasped resource, processing capability, current position information, and current state,
The server device or the other image processing device
When there is an information request from the image processing apparatus, information return means for returning information about its own resource, processing capability, current position information, and current state;
Distributed processing execution means for executing the distributed processing that has been entrusted;
Processing entrusting means for preferentially entrusting processing to an image processing apparatus close to the client apparatus based on the position information,
A distributed image processing system for efficiently performing distributed processing of data processing requested from the client device.   The resource released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device is information of at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device that entrusts distributed processing. The distributed image processing system according to claim 9.   The current state of the server device or other image processing device is a waiting state in the device to which distributed processing is entrusted, and at least waiting time information from when the processing is entrusted to when the processing is started. 10. The distributed image processing system according to claim 9, wherein the distributed image processing system is represented by average time required information when the printed material is taken from position information of the apparatus.   In order to determine a device to entrust distributed processing, the client device is provided with location information of an image processing device that executes a distributed object and location information of the server device or another image processing device. The distributed image processing system according to claim 9, wherein a consignment device close to a user can be selected. The server device searches for an image processing device that meets a condition from information required for distributed processing entrustment sent from a device entrusted with distributed processing, and stores the position information of several image processing devices that can be retrieved. Send it to the device you commissioned,
The apparatus entrusted with the distributed processing includes a print processing execution device determination unit that determines a device that executes the print processing based on position information of the image processing device sent from the server device. The distributed image processing system according to claim 9. A distributed image processing system in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device that requests print processing are connected via a network,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Data processing means for processing printer language or image data requested from the client device;
Distributed processing means that implements distributed object technology and distributes all or part of the object including data processing of the printer language or image data in a shared manner with one or a plurality of the server devices or other image processing devices When,
When entrusting distributed processing, the server or other image processing device has resources, processing capability, and status grasping means that grasps the current status, and
The server device or the other image processing device
Provided with a consignment device determination means for searching for a device that can be entrusted with distributed processing other than the above and determining a consignment device based on information held by the other device when there is an abnormality or no response in one device ,
A distributed image processing system that efficiently performs distributed processing of data processing requested by a client device even if an abnormality occurs in the server device or other image processing device to which distributed processing is entrusted.   When the server device is notified that the processing cannot be executed due to the occurrence of an abnormality from the device entrusted with the distributed processing, the server device determines the device to entrust the distributed processing from the next entrusted candidate information prepared in advance. The distributed image processing system according to claim 14, further comprising a next candidate delegation determining unit.   The server device includes a next candidate delegation determination unit that determines a device to entrust distributed processing from the next entrustment candidate information prepared in advance when there is no response from the device entrusted with distributed processing for a certain period of time. The distributed image processing system according to claim 14.   When the device entrusting the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, the entire processing is temporarily entrusted to the server device, and the entrusted server device sequentially determines the device entrusting the distributed processing. The distributed image processing system according to claim 14, further comprising consignment device determination means.   If the device entrusting the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, and once entrusting all the processing to the server device, the device entrusting the distributed processing is restored again, the entrusted server device 18. The distributed image processing system according to claim 17, wherein the information indicating the internal process is returned to the device that commissions the distributed processing to be restored, and the device that commissions the distributed processing continues the processing.   When the device entrusting the distributed processing cannot be continued due to some abnormality, and once the entire processing is entrusted to the server device, the recovery of the device entrusting the distributed processing is lost, the entrusted server device 18. The distributed image processing system according to claim 17, wherein the client device user is notified that distributed processing can be performed using another device. A distributed image processing method in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client device is distributed through the image processing device. And
A data processing request step in which the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data;
When the image processing device entrusts distributed processing, a status inquiry step for inquiring resources, processing capabilities, and current status that are released to the outside by the server device or other image processing devices;
An information return step in which the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus inquired returns information about its resources, processing capability, and current state to the image processing apparatus;
A consignment device determination step for determining a device to consign distributed processing based on information about resources, processing capability, and current state returned by the image processing device;
A distributed processing step for sharing all or part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data with one or more determined commissioned devices, and requested by the client device A distributed image processing method characterized by efficiently performing distributed processing of data processing.   The resource released to the outside by the server device or another image processing device is information of at least one of a memory capacity and a hard disk capacity that can be freely used by a device that entrusts distributed processing. The distributed image processing method according to claim 20.   The current state of the server device or other image processing device is the current processing status of the device to which the distributed processing is entrusted, and at least the waiting time from when the processing is entrusted to when the processing is started 21. The distributed image processing method according to claim 20, further comprising information. When the image processing apparatus entrusts distributed processing, the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus is inquired, and the returned resources, processing capacity, current If the status information does not meet the conditions, possession information obtaining step for obtaining information possessed by another server device or other image processing device possessed by the server device or other image processing device;
21. The distributed image processing method according to claim 20, further comprising: a delegation device determination step of determining a device to entrust distributed processing based on the information acquired in the possession information acquisition step. An information storage step for storing the information each time the possession information obtaining step obtains information of another server device or other image processing device possessed by the server device or other image processing device;
24. The distributed image processing method according to claim 23, further comprising: an inquiry step that directly inquires based on the information stored in the information storage step when performing the distributed processing entrustment. Based on the information necessary for the distributed processing entrustment sent from the image processing apparatus to which the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus has entrusted the distributed processing, another server apparatus or other image processing apparatus that meets the conditions A consignment device search step for searching;
A search result information transmission step for transmitting search result information in the entrusted device search step to an image processing device entrusted with distributed processing, and
21. The distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein a device to which distributed processing is entrusted is determined in the entrusting device determination step based on search result information received by the image processing device. Commitment that the image processing device transmits to the server device information for entrusting the distributed processing and a processing program for deciding the device to entrust the distributed processing in order to determine the server device to entrust the distributed processing A related information transmission step;
A consignment device determination step of determining information on another server device possessed by the server device, and determining a device to consign distributed processing by operating information obtained from the image processing device and a processing program;
A determination result transmission step for transmitting the determination result to an image processing apparatus entrusted with distributed processing;
21. The distributed image processing method according to claim 20, wherein the distributed processing is entrusted by the distributed processing step based on a determination result received by the image processing apparatus. If the server apparatus operates the processing program obtained from the image processing apparatus in the entrustment-related information transmission step and no other server apparatus entrusting distributed processing is found, the information and processing obtained from the image processing apparatus A consignment-related information transfer step of transferring the program to another server device;
A consignment device determination step of determining a device to which the other server device consigns distributed processing based on the transferred information and processing program;
A determination result transmission step of transmitting the determination result to the server device;
A determination result transfer step of transferring a determination result received by the server device to the image processing device entrusted with distributed processing;
27. The distributed image processing method according to claim 26, wherein the distributed processing is entrusted based on a determination result received by the image processing apparatus. A distributed image processing method in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client device is distributed through the image processing device. And
A data processing request step in which the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data;
A state inquiry step for inquiring about resources, processing capability, current position information, and current state released by the server device or other image processing device when the image processing device entrusts distributed processing;
An information return step in which the server device or other image processing device that has made an inquiry returns information about its own resources, processing capability, current position information, and current state to the image processing device;
A consignment device determination step of determining a device to consign distributed processing based on the resource, processing capability, current position information, and current state returned by the image processing device;
A distributed processing step in which all or a part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data is shared with one or a plurality of determined consignment devices;
A processing delegation step that preferentially entrusts processing to an image processing device close to the client device based on the position information, and efficiently distributes data processing requested from the client device. Image processing method. A distributed image processing method in which one or more server devices, an image processing device, and a client device requesting print processing are connected via a network, and a print processing request from the client device is distributed through the image processing device. And
A data processing request step in which the client device requests the image processing device to process a printer language or image data;
When the image processing device entrusts distributed processing, a status inquiry step for inquiring about resources, processing capabilities, and current status that the server device or other image processing devices are open to the outside;
An information return step in which the server apparatus or other image processing apparatus inquired returns information about its resources, processing capability, and current state to the image processing apparatus;
A consignment device determination step of determining a device to consign distributed processing based on the resource, processing capability, and current state returned by the image processing device;
If one of the server device or the other image processing device is abnormal or no response is found, a device other than the above can be commissioned for distributed processing based on information held by the other device, and commissioned A consignment device redetermination step for redetermining the device;
A distributed processing step in which all or a part of an object including data processing of printer language or image data is shared with one or more determined consignment devices, and distributed processing is entrusted. A distributed image processing method characterized in that even if an abnormality occurs in a server device or another image processing device, data processing requested from a client device is efficiently distributed.   A program that causes a computer to execute the distributed image processing method according to any one of claims 20 to 29.

Images