JP2005339243A - Printing control device, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing control device, method, and program capable of accurately carrying out an error notification process in detail. <P>SOLUTION: In a print server 201, a printing job received from a client terminal 101 is stored in a printing job storing part 205, and it is managed in a printing job management part 204. When there is a job operation request to a printing job stored in the printing job storing part 205 from the client terminal 101, a printing job operating part 206 carries out job operation on the basis of the job operation request. If there is an error during this time, an error notification process to the client terminal 101 is carried out in an error notification part 207 on the basis of control of a control part 203. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, method, and program for accumulating at least one print job and receiving operation requests for print jobs from a plurality of client terminals, and more specifically, the same print job from a plurality of client terminals. The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, method, and program for improving error notification processing when a job operation is simultaneously performed.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a network environment composed of a computer (hereinafter referred to as a client terminal) that connects to a network and uses a print service, and a computer (hereinafter referred to as a print server) that provides a print service to a client terminal on the network, the print server As a technique for notifying a client terminal of an error that has occurred in a printer connected to the printer, a “remote printing system” described in Patent Document 1 is disclosed.

In the invention of Patent Document 1, since the print server can report the queue status and printer status in detail to the client, the client can recognize the queue status and printer status. The technology is mentioned.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-242901

  However, in the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 and the conventional printing system, let's delete a print job from a plurality of client terminals simultaneously for a specific print job among print jobs managed by the print server. In this case, the print job is deleted by the delete request that was accepted earlier, so the client terminal that sent the delete request that was accepted later will receive an error message even though the print job has been deleted. I was informed. Therefore, there has been a problem that it seems as if some kind of problem has occurred on the system.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a print control apparatus, method, and program capable of performing error notification processing in detail and accurately when a job operation is simultaneously performed on the same print job from a plurality of client terminals. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one print job is accumulated, and a print control apparatus that accepts an operation request for the print job from a plurality of client terminals, the processing state of the print job is set. When a management job to be managed, an operation request reception unit that receives the operation request from the client terminal, and when the operation request is received by the operation request reception unit, a corresponding print job is not being processed with reference to the management unit Executes processing for the operation request for the corresponding print job, and if the corresponding print job is being processed, compares the processing content of the print job with the processing content related to the operation request, and the two match And an operation request processing means for prohibiting duplicate processing for the operation request.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the operation request processing unit refers to the management unit when the operation request is received by the operation request receiving unit, and the print job is being processed. In some cases, when the processing content of the print job matches the processing content related to the operation request, the fact is notified to the requesting client terminal of the operation request.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the management unit holds at least request type information regarding an operation request from the client terminal for the print job.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the print control method for accumulating at least one print job and receiving an operation request for the print job from a plurality of client terminals, the processing state of the print job is managed by a management unit. When the operation request from the client terminal is received by the operation request receiving unit, and when the operation request is received by the operation request receiving unit, the corresponding print job is not being processed with reference to the management unit. If the corresponding print job is being processed, the processing content of the print job is compared with the processing content related to the operation request. It is characterized in that duplicate processing for a request is prohibited by an operation request processing means.

  The invention of claim 5 is a print control program for storing at least one print job and causing a computer to execute a print control process for accepting an operation request for the print job from a plurality of client terminals. A management step for managing the processing state of the job; an operation request reception step for receiving the operation request from the client terminal; and when the operation request is received by the operation request reception step, the print job is referred to by referring to the management step. Is not being processed, the process corresponding to the operation request is executed for the print job. If the print job is being processed, the process contents of the print job are compared with the process contents related to the operation request. If both match, an operation request that prohibits duplicate processing for the operation request is required. Characterized in that it comprises a processing step.

  According to the present invention, the error notification processing when a job operation is simultaneously performed on the same print job from a plurality of client terminals can be performed in detail and accurately. Can be prevented from being confused, and the error notification is performed in detail, so that the cause investigation time at the time of the error can be shortened.

  Embodiments of a printing control apparatus, printing apparatus, method, and program according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server 201 configured by applying the present invention.

  A print server 301 and a plurality of client terminals 101 are connected to the print server 201 via a LAN (Local Area Network) 401. If the functions of the present invention are executed, a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network) may be used regardless of whether it is a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices. The present invention can be applied even to a system in which processing is performed through connection.

  The client terminal 101 indicates a personal computer handled by the user, and a plurality of client terminals 101 are connected to the network. When print processing is performed from the client terminal 101, the printer 301 always prints out via the print server 201.

  The print server 201 manages a print job received from the client terminal 101, a communication unit 202 that communicates with the client terminal 101 and the printer 301 on the network, a control unit 203 that controls the overall operation of the print control processing according to the present invention. Print job management unit 204, print job storage unit 205 that stores a print job received from the client terminal 101, print job operation unit 206 that performs a job operation of a print job based on an operation request from the client terminal 101, and error notification to the client An error notification unit 207 for the terminal 101 is provided.

  A communication unit 202 is an interface device that connects the print server 201 and the LAN 401.

  A print job management unit 204 manages print jobs stored in the print job storage unit 205, and performs job operations such as printing and deletion as necessary. As will be described in detail later, a management file for managing the print job is created upon reception of the print job, and the job name, number of copies, priority, job status, etc. are described.

  A print job operation unit 206 performs a job operation for a print job based on an operation request from the client terminal 101. For example, when there is a print job priority change request from the client terminal 101, the job information is operated by rewriting the priority of the management file corresponding to the print job.

  The error notification unit 207 provides an accurate error notification to the client terminal 101 based on the management file when an error occurs in response to an operation request for a print job from the client terminal 101. Instead of notifying the error unconditionally, the error notification is accurately controlled by suppressing the error notification in response to the operation request.

  For example, conventionally, when a deletion request for a specific print job is simultaneously made from a plurality of client terminals 101, the print job is deleted by the deletion request received first. The client terminal 101 that has transmitted the deletion request has been notified of the error even though the print job has been deleted. However, in the present invention, the client terminal 101 that has received the deletion request received later is notified. Suppress unnecessary error notifications. The above is an explanation of each functional block diagram showing the internal configuration of the print server 201 according to the present invention.

  The printer 301 sequentially receives and outputs queue-managed print jobs in the print server 201. In this embodiment, the case where the print server 201 and the printer 301 are connected via the LAN 401 will be described. However, the print server 201 and the printer 301 are directly connected by Centronics or USB (Universal Serial Bus). It doesn't matter.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration contents of the management file.

  The management file 501 shown in the figure is created in the print job management unit 204 in response to the print job received from the client terminal 101 as described above.

  The management file 501 includes “identifier” and “setting value”. For example, the client type is set as the setting value of “identifier... FMAT” and the client name is set as the setting value of “identifier.

  When a job operation of a print job is performed by the print job operation unit 206 based on an operation request from the client terminal 101, for example, when deleting a print job, a user name is set as a setting value of “identifier... Delete is set for the request type of the set value of “identifier... JOPE” and the deletion is executed.

  As described above, in the present invention, the management file 501 is created in correspondence with the print job and the print job is managed by the management file 501, so that when an error occurs, the management file is referred to for details and accuracy. Error information can be notified to the client terminal 101.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the print control process in the print server 201 shown in FIG.

  This print control process is started when the print server 201 receives an operation request for a print job stored in the print job storage unit 205 from any of the plurality of client terminals 101 (step S101).

  The print server 201 refers to the management file corresponding to the received operation request (step S102). That is, since the management file 501 described with reference to FIG. 2 is created in correspondence with the print job, the management file 501 corresponding to the print job for which the received operation request is made is referred to.

  Next, it is determined whether or not a print job corresponding to the received operation request is currently being processed (step S103). That is, it is a determination as to whether or not another client terminal 101 is simultaneously performing a job operation for the print job. This can be determined that processing is currently in progress when any request type is set in “identifier... JOPE” of the management file 501, and processing is not in progress if nothing is set in “identifier... JOPE”. It can be judged.

  If it is determined that processing is not currently being performed (NO in step S103), the job operation content of the received operation request is set in the management file 501 (step S104). That is, the request type (for example, output destination change) is set based on the job operation content of the operation request received in “identifier... JOPE” of the management file 501. In addition, the user name of the client terminal 101 that has transmitted the operation request is also set to “identifier... Then, a job operation is executed by the print job operation unit 206 (step S105), and this print control process is terminated.

  If it is determined that processing is currently being performed (YES in step S103), error notification control processing is performed by the error notification unit 207 (step S106), and the printing control processing is terminated.

  Here, an example of the error notification control process in step S106 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the error notification control process shown in FIG. Here, a case will be described in which the request type set in the management file 501 is deletion.

  When this error notification control process is started, first, a request type is acquired from the management file 501 (step S201). That is, the request type set in “identifier... JOPE” is acquired from the management file 501 corresponding to the print job that is currently being processed in step S103 described with reference to FIG.

  Next, the job operation content (request type) of the operation request received in step S101 described with reference to FIG. 3 is compared with the request type set in the management file 501 (step S202). That is, since the request type set in the management file 501 is deletion, it is determined whether or not the request type of the operation request received from the client terminal 101 is deletion.

  If the request types are different as a result of the comparison (NO in step S203), a message such as “Job XXX has already been deleted by the user ***” by pop-up or the like on the client terminal 101 that sent the operation request. Detailed error notification is performed by the error notification unit 207 (step S204).

  If the request types match as a result of the comparison (YES in step S203), no error notification is sent to the client terminal 101 that transmitted the operation request (step S205). That is, since deletion processing is already being executed by another client terminal 101, it is not necessary to notify an error by determining that a deletion request received later has also been processed normally. Even in the case of notification, detailed contents such as “Job XXX has already been deleted by user ***” are notified based on the management file 501. Then, the error notification control process ends.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the error notification control process shown in FIG. Here, a case where the request type set in the management file 501 is a priority change will be described.

  When the error notification control process is started, first, the request type is acquired from the management file 501 (step S301). That is, the request type set in “identifier... JOPE” is acquired from the management file 501 corresponding to the print job that is currently being processed in step S103 described with reference to FIG.

  Next, the job operation content (request type) of the operation request received in step S101 described with reference to FIG. 3 is compared with the request type set in the management file 501 (step S302). That is, since the request type set in the management file 501 is a priority change, it is a determination as to whether or not the request type of the operation request received from the client terminal 101 is a priority change.

  If the request types are different as a result of the comparison (NO in step S303), “Job XXX has been changed to priority xx by user *** by pop-up etc. on the client terminal 101 that sent the operation request. The error notification unit 207 performs a detailed error notification "" (step S304).

  If the request types match as a result of the comparison (YES in step S303), it is determined whether the priorities after the change match (step S305).

  If the changed priorities match (YES in step S305), no error notification is sent to the client terminal 101 that transmitted the operation request (step S308). That is, since the same priority change process is being executed by another client terminal 101, it is not necessary to notify an error by determining that the priority change request received later has been processed normally. Even if notification is made, detailed contents such as “Job XXX has been changed to priority xx by user ***” are notified based on the management file 501. Then, the error notification control process ends.

  If the priority after the change is different (NO in step S305), “Job XXX has been changed to the priority xx by the user ***.” On the client terminal 101 that sent the operation request by a pop-up or the like. Confirmation such as “Do you want to do it?” Is performed (step S306).

  As a result of step S306, when a response to change is received from the user (YES in step S307), the processing after step S104 described in FIG. 3 is performed. If it is determined in step S306 that a change is not made from the user (NO in step S307), the error notification control process is terminated without performing the process.

  In the above embodiment, the operation of the deletion process and the priority change process has been described using FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 as the error notification control process. However, this is merely an example, and for example, the hold process and the reprint process Substantially the same processing can be performed in other processing including output destination changing processing.

  In the above embodiment, the print control method according to the present invention is applied to the print server 201. However, the print control process is executed by a print control program installed in the print server 201. It may be configured.

  As described above, in the present invention, since it is configured so that unnecessary error notification can be suppressed or detailed error notification can be performed, it is possible to prevent the user from being confused by error notification. Can be shortened.

  The print control apparatus, method, and program of the present invention can be applied to all print control apparatuses that perform print control based on print requests from a plurality of client terminals, and in particular, perform detailed and accurate notifications regarding print errors. Can do.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server 201 configured by applying the present invention. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration content of a management file 501. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of a print control process in the print server 201 shown in FIG. 1. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of an operation of an error notification control process shown in FIG. 3 (deletion). 4 is a flowchart for explaining an example of an operation of an error notification control process shown in FIG. 3 (priority change).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Client terminal 201 Print server 202 Communication part 203 Control part 204 Print job management part 205 Print job storage part 206 Print job operation part 207 Error notification part 301 Printer 401 LAN (Local Area Network)
501 Management file

Claims (5)

In a print control apparatus that accumulates at least one print job and receives operation requests for the print job from a plurality of client terminals,
Management means for managing the processing status of the print job;
Operation request accepting means for accepting the operation request from the client terminal;
When accepting the operation request by the operation request accepting unit, if the corresponding print job is not being processed with reference to the managing unit, the process for the operation request is executed for the corresponding print job, and the corresponding print job is processed. A processing request processing unit that compares the processing content of the print job with the processing content related to the operation request, and prohibits duplicate processing for the operation request when the two match. A printing control device. The operation request processing means includes
When the operation request is accepted by the operation request accepting unit when the corresponding print job is being processed with reference to the management unit, and the processing content of the print job matches the processing content related to the operation request The print control apparatus according to claim 1, further notifies the requesting client terminal of the operation request to that effect. The management means includes
The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least request type information relating to an operation request from the client terminal is held for the print job. In a print control method for accumulating at least one print job and receiving operation requests for the print job from a plurality of client terminals,
Managing the processing status of the print job by a management means;
The operation request from the client terminal is received by an operation request receiving means,
When accepting the operation request by the operation request accepting unit, if the corresponding print job is not being processed with reference to the managing unit, the process for the operation request is executed for the corresponding print job, and the corresponding print job is processed. If the print job is in progress, the processing content of the print job is compared with the processing content related to the operation request, and if the two match, the operation request processing means prohibits duplicate processing for the operation request. Print control method. A print control program for causing a computer to execute print control processing for accumulating at least one print job and receiving operation requests for the print job from a plurality of client terminals,
A management step for managing a processing state of the print job;
An operation request receiving step for receiving the operation request from the client terminal;
When the operation request is received by the operation request reception step, if the corresponding print job is not being processed with reference to the management step, the process for the operation request is executed for the corresponding print job, and the corresponding print job is processed. The operation request processing step for comparing the processing content of the print job with the processing content related to the operation request, and prohibiting duplicate processing for the operation request when the two match. A print control program.

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