JP2006024005A - Distributed print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform distributed printing without any change in format intended by a user. <P>SOLUTION: In this distributed print system dividing one print job into a plurality of distributed jobs and performing printing by means of a plurality of printers, attribute information of the print job is detected, and according to the detected attribute of the print job, the print job is divided by the copy if printing by the copy is designated for the print job, while if printing by the copy is not designated, the print job is divided by the page. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a distributed printing system in which a print job is distributed and printed on a plurality of printers or apparatuses such as a copying machine having a printer function.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a single print job that requires printing of a plurality of pages or a plurality of copies is called a plurality of printers connected to a network or a device such as a copier having a printer function (hereinafter, these devices are also called “printers”). ) And other distributed printing systems that perform printing. By using such a distributed printing system, printing of a plurality of sheets can be executed at high speed.

Patent Document 1 exists as a document that discloses a distributed printing system.
JP-A-9-319533

  However, in the conventional distributed printing system, the unit to be distributed is divided into ratios according to the processing capacity of the printer or distributed in a predetermined number of copies, and printing is performed when a print job is divided into a plurality of distributed jobs. Since the attribute of the data is not taken into consideration, a result different from the result intended by the user may be output.

  For example, when copy printing is specified as an attribute for a print job of 4 pages and 3 copies, if distributed printing is not performed, printing is performed as (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4). However, when this is distributedly printed and divided into two pages of 1-2 pages and 3-4 pages and distributed printing is attempted, the printed result is 3 copies (1, 2 pages). 2, 1, 2) and 3-4 pages are printed as 3 copies (3, 4, 3, 4), which is different from the result expected by the user. In addition, when copy printing is not specified, a set of four pages and three copies (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4) is printed when distributed printing is performed. 1 to 4 pages 2 parts (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4), 1 to 4 pages 1 part (1, 2, 3, 4) If distributed printing is performed, this is also different from the print result expected by the user.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a distributed printing system that performs distributed printing using a plurality of printers or apparatuses having printer functions, according to whether or not copy printing is set for a print job. Thus, an object of the present invention is to perform output faithful to a result expected by a user by controlling a print job dividing method.

  In order to achieve the above object, a distributed printing system of the present invention that divides one print job into a plurality of distributed jobs and prints using a plurality of printers includes a detecting unit that detects attribute information of the print job; Based on the attributes of the print job detected by the detection means, if copy printing is specified for the print job, the print job is divided by copy. If copy printing is not set, the print job is divided by page. It has means for dividing.

  According to the present invention, in a distributed printing system that performs printing in a distributed manner by a plurality of printers or apparatuses having a printer function, the division unit of a print job is controlled according to whether or not copy printing is set for the print job. As a result, an output faithful to the result expected by the user can be performed.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a distributed printing system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a host computer which is a print control apparatus according to the present invention, and 11 denotes an application program (hereinafter referred to as “application”) which performs printing. A virtual distributed printer 12 receives a print request from the application 11. The virtual distributed printer 12 is the physical printers 13 to 16 and may be set by the user at any time when a print request is issued, even if it is set in advance by an administrator or a user. In this configuration, four printers are set as the destination printers, but the number of printers is not limited to this. The application 11 and the distributed printer 12 do not need to be mounted on the same personal computer or the like. The virtual distributed printer 12 may exist on the print server side, and the application 11 may exist on the print client side. By passing a file from the application 11 to the virtual distributed printer 12 in an intermediate file format such as a metafile, it becomes possible to cut out a specific page from the intermediate file, and various methods can be applied as countermeasures in case of printer failure become able to.

  When the application program 11 designates the virtual distributed printer 12 as a printing destination printer and performs printing, the distributed printing process described in the present embodiment is executed.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal configuration of the host computer 1 of the distributed printing system according to the present invention. In the figure, 21 is a system bus, 22 is a CPU that controls the system, 23 is a ROM in which control codes executed by the CPU 22 are written, and 24 is a RAM. An image management unit 25 stores intermediate files such as RAW format or EMF. A job management unit 26 monitors the status of the printer, acquires information such as whether the print job has been printed normally, or how many pages have been printed if a failure has occurred in the middle, Sometimes reports to the distributed printing unit 210. 27 is a key input unit for the user to perform key operations, and 28 is a display unit such as a CRT, which displays the contents of job management and allows the user to perform operations.

  Reference numeral 29 denotes an application printing unit, and 210 denotes a distributed printing unit. The application printing unit 29 receives a print request from the application 11, passes the print data to the image management unit 25, and sends a print request to the distributed printing unit 210 if it is a distributed printing request. When the distributed printing unit 210 receives a print request from the application printing unit 29, the distributed printing unit 210 outputs the distributed print to the registered printer according to the registered distribution algorithm. At this time, the print data is received from the image management unit 25, the print data is reconstructed if necessary, and is output using the reconstructed print data. Reference numeral 211 denotes an image communication unit in which the host computer 1 communicates with the printer, and controls LAN protocol control. Reference numeral 212 denotes a LAN line to which a printer A13, a printer B14, a printer C15, and a printer D16 are connected. When the distributed printing unit 210 receives a distributed printing request from the application printing unit 29, the distributed printing unit 210 determines which of the 13 to 16 printers A to D is used for printing.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen for the distribution algorithm output to the display unit 28. In the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes a setting item for setting the distribution destination printer and the printing ratio of the printer.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, printers A and B are set as the distribution destination printers, and the printing ratios are set to 30% and 70%, respectively. In this case, 30% of the print jobs submitted to the distributed printer are set to be printed by the printer A, and the remaining 70% are set to be printed to the printer B. This setting information is stored in the distributed printing unit 210.

  Next, the distributed printing processing operation in the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  4 to 6 are flowcharts for explaining the distributed printing processing operation in the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to this flowchart.

  When a print job is input from the application 11 to the distributed printer 12 in step S 41, the print data is received by the application printing unit 29, passed to the image management unit 25, and a print request is passed to the distributed printing unit 210. In step S42, the distributed printing unit 210 sets the distributed setting set for the distributed printer as the distributed setting of the print job. This distribution setting is set by the user using the distribution algorithm setting screen of FIG. In step S43, attribute information of the print job is detected. In this embodiment, attributes indicating the number of copies, the number of pages, and the copy setting for each copy are acquired.

  The process from step S51 is the division unit determination process. In step S52, based on the attributes of the print job acquired in step S43, the process proceeds to step S53 when a plurality of copies are specified and the unit printing is specified, otherwise the process proceeds to step S54. .

  In step S53, the division unit is determined as a copy unit. In step S54, the division unit is determined to be a page unit.

  In step S62, printing job division is started. In step S63, the total number of pages of the print job is acquired. In step S64, a list of pairs of distribution destination printers and distribution ratios is acquired from the distribution settings set for the print job. This information is set on the setting screen 31 of the distributed algorithm in FIG.

  In step S65, the number of pages or copies to be input / printed for each division unit is allocated to the distribution destination printer based on the distribution ratio. In step S66, the print job is divided.

  In step S67, the divided jobs are input to the designated destination printer through the image communication unit 211.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the distributed printing system in embodiment of this invention. 1 is an internal block diagram of a distributed printing system in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of the distribution algorithm in embodiment of this invention. 5 is a flowchart for explaining distributed printing processing operation in the embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart for explaining distributed printing processing operation in the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a reprint processing operation at the time of failure in the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

In a distributed printing system that divides one print job into a plurality of distributed jobs and prints using a plurality of printers,
Means for detecting print job attributes;
Based on the attributes of the print job detected by the detecting means, a division is performed in which a job is divided into copies when multiple copies and copy printing are specified, and divided into pages in other cases. Means,
A distributed printing system comprising: generating means for generating a plurality of print jobs in units divided by the dividing means.

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