JP2006159509A - Printing control device, printing control method, printing device, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a succeeding printing process from being left waiting by controlling the sequence of processing printing jobs having their printing demands already registered. <P>SOLUTION: A printing control method for processing printing data from an information processing device connected through a network by a printing device comprises the steps of making the judgment whether printing data contains a command for making a shift to an off-line state of stopping the printing process is included or not on the basis of the printing data transmitted from the information processing device and shifting the printing device to the off-line state when the command is included in the printing data as the result of the above judgment. Then, the method further includes the step of monitoring the printing device shifted to the off-line state to check if the off-line state is canceled or not, and when the off-line state is canceled within a specified time, the printing control method makes the printing device execute the process of the printing data, and when the off-line state is not canceled within the specified time, the printing data is deleted, and the off-line state is canceled. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a print control method, a printing apparatus, a program, and a storage medium.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of the Internet, printing apparatuses are also commonly used in networks. Generally, high-priced machines such as high-speed machines and color machines tend to have a built-in network interface. However, in the case of low-priced monochrome machines, the network interface is not included in the main unit and is separately provided as a network card module. The supplied form is common.

  In this case, the printing apparatus main body and the network card module are each configured as an intelligent form having a CPU. Usually, the network card module performs overall control of various print services regarding print requests sent from the host computer via the network. It has a print server function. The printing apparatus and the network card module communicate with each other via the connection interface and execute a desired service.

  On the contrary, this makes it possible to place a heavy network service on the network card module, which can lower the CPU and peripheral performance of the printing device itself, resulting in cost reduction of the printing device. .

  The conventional network interface only needs to be able to transmit print data as typified by the LPR (RFC1179) protocol, for example, but recently, monitoring the status of jobs sent to the printing device and pausing or deleting print processing. The need for print job management increases, and various means are provided as additional technologies.

  The simplest example is a form in which job control data (job control language = Job Language) is added to a port for transmitting print data. The job control language can be sent mixed with print data, or the job control data can be sent by sharing the port for sending print data alone, so there is no need to increase the service port. It is easy to implement and is still used in many printers today.

  Applying this job control data, a control command for changing the printer to the offline state is added to the print data to be transmitted, and after receiving the print data, the printer is temporarily shifted to the offline state to temporarily stop the printing process, There is known a method of resuming actual printing processing when an online key is pressed by a user operation from a printer operation panel or the like.

  The purpose of this method is that if the printer connected via the network is at a location away from the client, or if multiple clients request printing at the same time, the processing order of their own print jobs cannot be determined. It is used as a means for solving problems such as a document printed on a printer being left as it is, or an output document being accidentally taken away by another person.

For example, as a prior art related to the above, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose that the mode is automatically shifted from the offline mode to the online mode according to a predetermined condition.
JP-A-8-161125 JP-A-5-307522

  However, if the user who sent the print data after leaving the offline state by using the above-mentioned technique leaves it without pressing the online key for canceling the offline state, the subsequent print data is in a state of waiting for processing. The problem of staying as it is occurs.

  In addition, when the mode is automatically shifted from the offline mode to the online mode in accordance with a predetermined condition, a print job whose print processing is desired to be resumed by a user operation is printed without the user operation.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an object of the present invention is to eliminate the stagnation of subsequent print processing without proceeding with print processing of a print job for which an appropriate user operation has not been performed.

  In order to solve the above-described object, a printing control apparatus according to the present invention is mainly characterized by having the following configuration.

That is, a print control apparatus for causing a printing apparatus to process print data generated by an information processing apparatus connected via a network is:
Determination means for determining whether the print data includes a command for shifting to an offline state in which print processing is stopped, based on print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus;
According to the determination result of the determination unit, when the command is included in the print data, an offline state shift unit that shifts the printing apparatus to an offline state;
Status monitoring means for monitoring whether the offline state has been released for the printing apparatus that has been shifted to the offline state;
When the offline state is canceled within a specified time, the processing of the print data is executed by the printing apparatus. When the offline state is not canceled within the specified time, the print data is deleted and the offline state is deleted. And a control means for releasing.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate stagnation of subsequent print processing without proceeding with print processing of a print job for which an appropriate user operation has not been performed.

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

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The print system includes client computers (hereinafter also simply referred to as “clients”) 101 to 103 as information processing apparatuses, and network printers 104 and 105 as printing apparatuses (print devices), which are connected to each other. As a result, a network is configured as a whole.

  The client computers 101 to 103 store a print control program so as to be executable. In addition to managing the network printers 104 and 105 included in the print system, the client computers 101 to 103 accumulate files used in the network, It has a function to monitor the usage state of the. Specifically, the client computers 101 to 103 create a print job by themselves, issue a schedule request to the scheduler of the network printers 104 and 105, and print data in accordance with an instruction from the scheduler of the network printers 104 and 105. It has a function to start transfer.

  The network printers 104 and 105 are print devices as physical devices that receive print jobs including print data from the client computers 101 to 103, analyze the received print jobs, and print. As the network printers 104 and 105, any type of printing apparatus such as a laser beam printer employing an electrophotographic system, an inkjet printer employing an inkjet system, or a printer utilizing a thermal transfer system can be employed.

  The network printers 104 and 105 accept print requests from a plurality of client computers 101 to 103, determine the order of the accepted print requests, and issue a print instruction. Print transferred to the network printers 104 and 105 It has a function of monitoring the status of jobs and network printers 104 and 105 and notifying clients (computers) 101 to 103 of the end of printing and printer status.

  Note that communication between apparatuses included in the print system may be wired communication using an Ethernet (registered trademark) cable or the like, or wireless communication using radio waves or light.

<Configuration of print server and client>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the client computers 101 to 103 illustrated in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, a CPU 200 reads and executes an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a print control program, and the like stored in an HD (hard disk) 205, and temporarily stores information, files, and the like necessary for executing the program in a RAM 202. It is a control means for performing storage control automatically.

  The ROM 201 is a storage unit that stores programs such as a basic I / O program, various data such as font data and template data used for document processing. The RAM 202 is temporary storage means that functions as a main memory or work area of the CPU 200. The FD (floppy (registered trademark) disk) drive 203 is a storage medium reading means for loading a program or the like stored in the FD 204 as a storage medium into the computer system as shown in FIG. The client computers 101 to 103 may include other storage medium reading means instead of the FD drive 203 or together with the FD drive 203. Examples of the other storage medium include any computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, PC card, DVD, IC memory card, MO, and memory stick.

  The HD 205 is an external storage unit that functions as a large-capacity memory, and stores an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a print control program, a related program, and the like. Furthermore, a spooler as spool means is secured here. The clients (computers) 101 to 103 secure a spooler as spool means.

  The keyboard 206 is an instruction input unit for the user to instruct the print server 101 and the clients 107 and 108 to input device control command instructions and the like.

  A display 207 is a display unit that displays commands input from the keyboard 206, the status of the printers 104 and 105, and the like. Actually, a display instruction is given to the display means via an operating system running on the client computers 101 to 103, and a resource file display instruction is given to this operating system by this print processing program, and each display described later is displayed. Realized. A system bus 208 controls the data flow in the computers as the clients (computers) 101 to 103.

  The interface 209 is an input / output unit, and the print server 101 or the clients 107 and 108 exchange data with other devices on the network via the interface 209.

<Explanation of memory map>
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the RAM 202 illustrated in FIG. 2, and is a memory map in a state where the print control program is loaded into the RAM 202 and can be executed.

  The print control program and related data may be installed in advance from the FD 204 to the HD 205 and loaded from the HD 205 to the RAM 202, or may be directly loaded from the FD 204 to the RAM 202 and executed. Furthermore, it is also possible to store the print control program in the ROM 201, configure it as a part of the memory map, and execute it directly by the CPU 200. In addition, software that realizes the same function as each of the above devices can be used as an alternative to a hardware device.

  The print control program is a program in the client that performs control for transferring print data, instructing to change the print destination of the print job, or instructing to change the print order.

  Reference numeral 301 denotes an area for storing a basic I / O program. The basic I / O program is an IPL (Initial Program Loading) function that starts the operation of the OS by reading the OS from the HD 205 into the RAM 202 when the apparatus (the print server 101 or the clients 107 and 108) is turned on. And so on.

  An area 302 stores an OS (operating system), and an area 303 stores a print control program. Reference numeral 304 denotes an area for storing related data. A work area 305 is an area for the CPU 200 to execute various programs.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 400 denotes data contents of the FD 204, which includes volume information 401 indicating data information, directory information 402, a print control program 403, and related data 404.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. A printer 500 includes a network printer server 520 and a printer controller 519, which are devices that control different control systems. In the network print server 520, a network print server CPU 501 is a local area network (LAN 512) via a network controller (LANC) 505 connected to the system bus 504 based on a control program stored in a rewritable Flash ROM 503. Using a predetermined network communication protocol with a plurality of external devices (not shown) such as a host computer connected to the system, it collectively controls various data transmission / reception requests such as print data and printer control commands sent from the external device, Appropriate data transfer control is performed for the printer controller 519 connected via the expansion interface controller (EXPC) 507.

  The RAM 502 is used as a temporary storage area such as a main memory or work area of the CPU 501. The LED 506 is used as a display unit indicating the operation state of the network print server. For example, the electrical connection state (LINK) between the network controller (LANC) 505 and the local area network (LAN) 512 and the network communication mode (10Base or Various operating states such as 100Base, full duplex, and half duplex) can be indicated by LED blink patterns and colors.

  Further, an expansion interface 517 that connects the network print server 520 and the printer controller 519 is configured by a connector (not shown), and only the network print server 520 is attached and detached, and the network print server 520 is attached to another printer 500 having the same configuration. It is also possible to configure.

  In the printer controller 519, a printer controller CPU 508 is a control program stored in the ROM 509 or a control program or resource data (resource information) stored in the external memory 510 connected via the disk controller (DKC) 515. On the basis of the print data received from the network print server 520 connected via the extended interface controller (EXPC) 513, and comprehensively controls access to various devices connected to the system bus 511. The controller 512 generates output image information and outputs an image signal to the print engine 516.

  Reference numeral 514 denotes a RAM that functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 508, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown).

  Reference numeral 518 denotes an operation panel (operation unit) on which buttons for performing operations such as setting of the operation mode of the printer 500 and cancellation of print data and a display unit such as a liquid crystal panel and LEDs indicating the operation state of the printer 500 are arranged. Yes.

  The printer engine 516 shown in the figure uses a known printing technique, and preferred embodiments include, for example, an electrophotographic method (laser beam method), an ink jet method, a sublimation method (thermal transfer) method, and the like. It is done.

  Next, the software configuration of the client of this print system will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration in the clients 101 to 103. The arrows between the components indicate how a print job including a drawing command issued from an application is processed. The software configuration shown in each block is executed by the CPU 200 in FIG. 2 to realize a desired function.

  In general, when a general application program 601 such as Microsoft Word (registered trademark) receives a print instruction, it generates a series of drawing commands via the OS. The PDL driver 602 that has received a drawing command generated via the OS generates a print job including a PDL file that can be interpreted by the network printers 104 and 105 based on a series of drawing commands. In the following description, a PDL driver will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a BDL (Band description Language), a printer driver that creates a compression bitmap, or an application and OS Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to a form in which print data is generated without using a printer driver.

  The PDL driver 602 passes the print job to the spooler 603 to transmit the print job to the print device.

  Here, since the OS is assumed to be Windows (registered trademark), the spooler 603 is a Windows (registered trademark) spooler. However, it goes without saying that the OS of the computer to which the present invention is applied is not limited to Windows (registered trademark), and other OSs can be applied as long as they have drawing commands.

  The spooler 603 takes a procedure of transferring a print job to the job control port monitor 604 selected and instructed by the user via the user interface and transmitting it to a print device such as the network printers 104 to 105 (arrow a).

  Here, the description will proceed on the assumption that the user has designated the job control port monitor 604 and instructed printing in advance to transfer print data to the job control print service 605.

  In addition, print setting information such as a paper size and a staple instruction set via the printer driver interface is also transmitted to the job control port monitor 604. The job control port monitor 604 transmits to the job control print service 605 (arrow b).

  The job control print service 605 has a function of managing the transferred print job and device status. It also has functions of managing information such as device status and job status notified from the print device, and giving a predetermined command to the print device. This corresponds to a function for managing device information and job information of a plurality of network printers 104 to 105.

  Before sending the print data to the printer device 606, a print request is issued to the print job order management function of the printer device 606. When the order arrives based on the order management function, the printer device 606 Print data is transmitted to the network printers 104 to 105 (arrows c, d, e).

  Upon confirming the completion of the print data, the printer device 606 notifies the job control print service 605 of the completion of printing (arrow f), and notifies the status of the printer device 606 (arrow f).

  The print manager 607 is a program that provides a user interface for the user to check the state of the print job in the job control print service 605 and to operate the print job. The print manager 607 exchanges information and instructions with the job control print service 605 via a software interface (API: Application Program Interface) of the job control print service 605.

  It mainly has a function of acquiring status information of the network printers 104 to 105 managed by the job control print service 605 as an event. Event notification types include warnings when the amount of toner is low, communication failure between the client and the device, memory shortage, full output tray, and other error / warning information notifications. Notification of normal information is assumed. The job control print service 605 has a function of receiving notification of statuses such as a power control state and failure information (paper jam) during printing of each device (printing apparatus) that can communicate via the network.

  As more detailed processing, the print manager 607 issues an event specifying a device to the job control print service 605, and the job control print service 605 recognizes the status of the device based on the issued event and performs monitoring. Based on the result, the print manager 607 is notified.

<Print job flow>
Next, the flow of a print job from the application 601 to the printer devices 606 and 606A will be described using FIG. Here, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same software configurations as those in FIG. 6, and detailed descriptions of the functions are omitted. As shown in FIG. 7, conceptually, a PDL driver 602, a spooler 603, and a job control port monitor 604 are prepared for each of the printer devices 606 and 606A. When the OS is Windows (registered trademark), these may be collectively referred to as a Windows (registered trademark) print system 700.

  The job control print service 605 includes a number of print queues 701 and 701A and output ports 702 and 702A corresponding to the printer devices 606 and 606A. These print queues and output ports 702 and 702A are managed by the job control print service 605 using tables such as 1801 and 1802 shown in FIG.

  The output port is associated with an IP address of a corresponding printing apparatus or a name used in a DNS (Domain Name System). Based on the IP address or name, the job schedule request destination and job transmission destination are specified, and the job is transmitted (output).

  When printing, the application 601 designates a printer and issues a print instruction. When a print job generated by the PDL driver 602 based on this print instruction is transferred from the job control port monitor 604 to the job control print service 605, the print job information is first held in the print queue 701 and is output to the output port 702. An instruction to accept a print job is issued. When receiving a job to be printed, the output port 702 issues a schedule request to a scheduler (to be described later) of the printer device 606 corresponding to the IP address set for the output port. A scheduler, which will be described later, of the printer device 606 performs scheduling processing of jobs received from the plurality of clients 101 to 103 based on its own scheduling function, and issues a print instruction to the output port 702. The output port 702 that has received the print instruction transmits print data to the printer device 606.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration in a control program stored in each storage device of the network print server 520 and the printer controller 519 which are control devices in the printer 500 in the printing system suitable for the embodiment of the present invention. It is.

  Each control program is analyzed and processed by the CPU 501 and 508 of each control device.

  Reference numeral 801 denotes an operating system that controls basic data input / output control of the network print server 520. Further, in the operating system 801, a file system 805 that performs input / output control with the program / data storage unit 808, an expansion interface driver 807 that performs communication control via the printer controller 519 and the expansion interface 517, and a local area network (LAN). A network interface driver 806 that communicates with an external device such as a host computer (not shown) via a 512 communication medium is included.

  Reference numeral 802 denotes an application program interface (API) that provides various functions of the operating system to application programs such as a user application 803 that runs on the network print server 520, a printer 500, and a management application that registers and manages user applications. To do. Functions provided by the application program interface 802 include a data transfer API that provides a print data transmission / reception function, a resource control API that performs input / output control of resource data such as bitmap images and display messages, restart of the printer 500, and the like. Printer control API that controls setting value initialization and setting, job control API that controls print job cancellation and reprinting instructions, network print server 520 restart, setting value initialization and setting, and application A print server control API for starting, registering, and deleting programs is provided.

  Reference numeral 812 denotes an operating system that supervises various processing controls of the printer controller 519. The print engine control unit 814 that controls communication with the print engine and models such as bitmap images and error messages that are referred to from the network print server 520 It includes a file system 815 that performs input / output control with a dependent resource and a model-dependent resource / program storage unit that stores a model-dependent application program that runs on the network print server.

  Reference numeral 813 denotes an extension interface control unit that controls communication with the network print server 520 via the extension interface 517. Further, the extended interface control unit includes a data transfer logical interface for controlling input / output of print data for each control type, a resource control logical interface for controlling input / output of various data stored in the model-dependent resource / program storage unit 509, a printer 500 includes a printer control logical interface that controls the restarting of 500, initialization of setting values, control of settings, and the like, and a job control logical interface that controls cancellation of print jobs and reprinting instructions. The command requested from the print server 520 is transferred to the operating system 812, and the processing result is returned to the network print server 520.

  A network control unit 811 receives a notification of reception when the network interface driver 806 receives a notification from the clients 101 to 103 via the LAN 512. The network control unit 811 determines a communication from which client and controls the communication. It is a module that can.

  Reference numeral 810 denotes a module (LPD / RAW) that controls a protocol for receiving print data transmitted by the client, and can pass the received print data to the printer controller.

  The application 803 is stored in the program storage unit 816 of the printer controller 519 or the program storage unit 808 of the network printer server 520. When the printer 500 is activated, the license stored in the application storage unit 808 or 816 has. And the licenses stored in the license storage unit 809 and the license storage unit 817 are compared to determine whether or not they match. If they match, it is determined that the application program is appropriate, and the application program is loaded into the RAM 514 of the network print server 520.

  Next, the software configuration of the device scheduler 900, which is a user application on a printer device having a scheduling function and a management function for print jobs received from the clients 101 to 103, will be described with reference to FIG.

  A communication connection management unit 901 manages the connection status of the clients 101 to 103 to be printed and information to be notified to the client, and manages the connected client information 1002 in the client management queue. The communication connection management unit 901 communicates with the client via the data transfer API of the program application interface 802 and the network interface driver 806 (FIG. 8).

  A schedule management unit 902 schedules print jobs received from the clients 101 to 103, and includes a job management unit 903 and a device management unit 904.

  A job management unit 903 manages schedule requests issued by the clients 101 to 103 and jobs printed by the clients 101 to 103. The job management unit 903 manages job information 1102 (see FIG. 11) printed by the clients 101 to 103 in the job management queue 1101 (see FIG. 11).

  A device management unit 904 receives the printer status of the printer controller 519 and the status of the received print job via the event handler 905. The event received from the printer controller 519 is sent to the communication connection management unit 901 and the job management unit 903. Notice.

  The schedule management unit 902 performs reservation registration of print jobs received from the clients 101 to 103 in accordance with the management results in the job management unit 903 and the device management unit 904, and performs the reservation registration order based on the print job processing status, device status, and the like. , And scheduling for controlling the processing order of the print job can be performed.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the client information 1002 of the connection clients 101 to 103 managed by the communication management unit 901 and the client management queue 1001 for managing the client information 1002 of the plurality of clients 101 to 103 to be connected.

  Reference numeral 1002 denotes client information having information such as the client ID assigned by the connection management unit for each connected client, the IP addresses of the connected clients 101 to 103, and the type of event registered by the connected client. The event type represents the type of device status event or job status event issued by the printer controller. A management queue 1001 holds client information of the connected clients 101 to 103 in a queue format. When the session with the client is started, the information of the corresponding client is registered in this management queue, and when the session is disconnected, the corresponding client information is deleted.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing job information 1102 added to a schedule request issued by the clients 101 to 103 for printing, and a job management queue 1101 for managing a plurality of generated job information.

  Reference numeral 1102 denotes print job information added to a schedule request issued by the clients 101 to 103 to start printing. The job information 1102 includes the document name of the print job, the job ID issued by the job management unit 903, the name of the user who started printing on the client, the number of pages of the job, the job status indicating the status of the print job, and the clients 101 to 103. The job data ID included in the print data to be transferred and the IP address of the printed client are registered.

  The job status represents a status from when the client 101 to 103 issues a print schedule request until the job disappears from the printer, and is in a print standby state, in a schedule up state, in a transfer state, in a transferred state, or in a print complete state. Exists.

  The job data ID is an ID of a job included in the print data, and is an ID added when a job status in the printer controller 519 is notified.

  A management queue 1101 manages a plurality of job information 1102. When a schedule request from the clients 101 to 103 is received, the job information 1102 is registered in the management queue, and when the print job is printed, the corresponding printer information is deleted. It has come to be.

  FIG. 12 illustrates a flow of communication from when the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103 issues a schedule request to the printer device 606 after the job is received until the printer device 606 finishes printing. FIG.

  When receiving the print data, the job control print service 605 starts session connection with the device scheduler 900. Issues a connection request command for notifying client information, event registration for notification of job / device status, and job list acquisition command for acquiring job information scheduled by the device scheduler.

  When the device scheduler accepts a connection request, it registers the client information in the client management queue, and when accepting the event registration, it sets the corresponding client information registration event. When a job list request is received, a list of job information registered in the job management queue is transmitted.

  Next, the clients 101 to 103 issue a schedule request command for reserving printing. When the device scheduler 900 receives a schedule request, it registers job information in the job management queue. Information such as a document name is set in the job information. The device scheduler 900 issues a schedule UP when the printer device 606 can accept print data based on the determination described below, and prompts the job control print service 605 to start sending print data.

  When the device scheduler 90 issues a schedule UP, the job status of the job information is updated to the schedule UP status.

  The job control print service 605 starts transfer of print data to the LPD / RAW 810 when receiving a schedule UP, and notifies the device scheduler of transfer start when transfer starts. When the device scheduler receives the transfer start notification, the device scheduler updates the job information to the job status in the job information.

  When the LPD / RAW 810 receives print data, the data is transferred to the printer controller, and printing is started by the printer controller.

  The printer controller 519 notifies the device scheduler 900 of the job status when printing is started. The device scheduler 900 notifies the print status of the job to the print control print service 605 based on the registration event information of the client information.

  The job control print service 605 transmits a transfer end notification to the device scheduler 900 when transfer of the print data ends. Upon receiving the transfer end notification, the device scheduler 900 updates the job information in the job status to the transferred status.

  When the printer controller 519 completes the printing process, it notifies the device scheduler 900 of a print completion notification as a job status. The device scheduler 900 notifies the job control print service 605 of the job printing completion status based on the registration information of the client information.

  When the job control print service 605 confirms that the printing is completed by the above-described print completion notification, the job control print service 605 issues an event notification registration cancellation request from the device scheduler 900 because the notification from the device is not necessary. The device scheduler 900 that has received the event cancellation request sets information not to notify the event to the registration event of the client information. Thereafter, the job control print service 605 issues a disconnection request for ending the connection with the device scheduler 900 and ends the session.

  When the device scheduler 900 receives the disconnection request, the device scheduler 900 deletes the corresponding client information from the client management queue and ends the processing with the client.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the process flow of the device scheduler 900 from receiving a schedule request from the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103 to completing the print process from the schedule UP.

  Here, especially when print data (hereinafter referred to as “offline job”) including a command (command) for shifting the printer state from the online state to the offline state is received in the print data transmitted from the clients 101 to 103. This processing method will also be described. Here, the offline state refers to a state where the printing process is stopped. At this time, the print data reception process may also be stopped. The online state means a state where the offline state is released.

  First, in step S1301, when a schedule request is received from the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103, it is determined in step S1302 whether a schedule request has already been received and there is a request waiting for a schedule UP.

  If there is a request waiting for a schedule UP (S1302-YES), the process proceeds to step S1303, and registration is performed at the end of the print reservation queue that manages the request waiting for the schedule UP. The order of the schedule request registered in the print reservation queue is updated each time the print processing of the job for which the highest schedule is requested in the print reservation queue is completed.

  In step S1304, it is determined whether the reservation order of the schedule request is at the top of the print reservation queue. When the reservation request is positioned at the top (reservation arrival), execution of the schedule is determined, and the process proceeds to step S1305. A schedule UP request is transmitted to the client that has transmitted the corresponding schedule request.

  In step S 1306, print data is received from the client that transmitted the schedule UP request, and the received print data is transferred to the printer controller 519.

  If the print data transmitted from the client is an offline job, the print data is transferred to the printer controller 519, and immediately after interpreting the command for shifting from the online state to the offline state included in the print data, the printer is shifted to the offline state. The print data printing process is suspended until the printer state returns to the online state again.

  In step S1307, the printer status is determined. If the printer changes to the offline state (YES in step S1307), an offline state change event notification is transmitted to the client in step S1308, and the offline state is returned to the online state in step S1309. Initialize a timer to measure the time until.

  In step S1310, it is determined whether the printer online key has been pressed within the time specified in step S1310 and the printer state has returned to the online state. If the printer has returned to the online state (S1310—YES), the process proceeds to step S1311. Completion of the printing process in the printer controller 519 is determined. When the printing process is completed, the process advances to step S1312, a print completion notification is transmitted to the client, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1310 that the online key of the printer is not pressed and the printer state is offline (NO in step S1310), it is determined in step S1313 whether the timer value has exceeded a specified time, and it is determined that a timeout has occurred. In this case (S1313-YES), the process proceeds to step S1314 to delete the received print data and shift the printer state to the online state. Then, in step S1315, the client is notified that the print job has been canceled. The process ends.

  In the process of step S1313, the specified time value for determining timeout may be a value that is statically stored in a storage area in the printer, or printed in the print data transmitted from the client in step S1306. It may be included as control data.

  In the process of step S1314, in addition to the process of deleting the print data, for example, from the viewpoint of preventing the stay of the subsequent print data, the process of the corresponding print data is skipped and the process of the subsequent print data is sequentially performed. You may make it carry out and process. In this case, the schedule management unit 902 skips the processing of the first print job and updates the order of the print jobs that are reserved and registered thereafter, according to the management results in the job management unit 903 and the device management unit 904. The print job processing order can be controlled.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing of the job management unit 903 from reception of a job status notification event from the device management unit 904 described later to reception of a job list request from the job control print service 605.

  First, in step S1401, upon receiving a notification from the communication connection management unit 901 or the device management unit 904, a job status notification from the device management unit 904 or a job list request issued from the job control print service 605 is received. Determine whether.

  If it is a job status notification from the device management unit 904 (S1401- (A)), the process proceeds to step S1402, and the job status (job status) of the corresponding job information is updated and set. Furthermore, the process proceeds to step S1403, and it is determined whether it is a notification of printing completion. If printing is not completed (S1403-No), the process proceeds to step S1404, and the communication connection management unit 901 is notified to issue a job status event to the client.

  On the other hand, if it is a print completion notification in step S1403 (S1403-Yes), the process proceeds to step S1405 to delete the corresponding job from the job management queue. In step S1406, the communication connection management unit 901 stores the job. The client is notified to issue a completion event, and the process proceeds again to step S1401.

  When a job list request is received from the job control print service 605 in step S1401 (S1401- (B)), a list of job information registered in the job management queue is transmitted to the requesting client in step S1407. The job information list is notified to the communication connection management unit 901.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of the device management unit 904 that accepts a device status and job status notification from the printer controller 519 via an event handler and notifies the job management unit 903 and the communication connection management unit 901. is there.

  In step S1501, when the device scheduler 900 is activated, the device management unit 904 changes the device status to the printer controller 519 via the event handler, or the status of the print job processed by the printer controller 519 changes. Event registration processing is performed so as to notify those states in the event of a failure.

  In step S1502, when an event generated in the printer controller 519 is received via an event handler, it is determined whether the event is a job event or a device event.

  If it is a job event (S1502- (A)), the job management unit 903 is notified of the job event in step S1503, and the process proceeds to step S1502.

  If it is a device event (S1502- (B)), the process proceeds to step S1504, the device state is held in the device management unit 904, and then the device event is notified to the communication connection management unit 901 in step S1505. The processing moves to step S1502.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of the communication connection management unit 901 that processes requests and notifications from the clients 101 to 103, notifications from the device management unit 904, and requests and notifications to the job management unit 903.

  In step S1601, notifications and requests from the clients 101 to 103, the device management unit 904, and the job management unit 903 are received, and which notification or request is determined.

  If the received request or event is a connection request from the clients 101 to 103 in step S1601 (S1601- (A)), the process proceeds to step S1602, and the client ID issued by the communication connection management unit 901 to the client management queue The IP address of the client that issued the request is set, and the client information is registered in the client management queue.

  If the received request or event is event registration from the clients 101 to 103 in step S1601 (S1601- (B)), the process proceeds to step S1603, and the type of event to notify the registration event of the corresponding client information Set. The event types include a job event that notifies a change in the job state and a device event that notifies a change in the device state.

  In step S1601, if the received request or event is a device event from the device management unit 904 or a job event from the job management unit 903 (S1601- (C)), the process proceeds to step S1604 and the event should be notified. In order to recognize the client, the client is searched from all the client information registered in the client management queue, and the setting of the registration event of the client information is referred to determine whether to notify. If it is determined that notification is to be made, the IP address of the client is held, and an event is sent to all clients to be notified in step S1605 for notification.

  Furthermore, if the request or event received in step S1601 is a disconnection request from the client (S1601- (D)), the process proceeds to step S1606, and the client information of the corresponding client is deleted from the client management queue.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing print job information 1702 managed by the job control print service 605 and a job management queue 1701 for managing information on a plurality of jobs.

  1702 includes information on a job printed by the own client and job information of a print job of another client registered as a job event in the device scheduler 900. The individual job information includes the document name of the print job. , The job ID, the name of the user who started printing on the clients 101 to 103, the number of pages of the job, the job status indicating the status of the print job, and the job data ID included in the print data.

  Here, the job status represents a status from when the client 101 to 103 starts printing until the job disappears from the printer. Spooling, waiting for printing, schedule up status, transferring, transferring completed, printing completed There exists a state such as.

  The job data ID is an ID of a job included in the print data, and is information set in a job event from the device scheduler 900.

  Reference numeral 1701 denotes a management queue for managing a plurality of job information 1702, in which job information of jobs printed by the own client and job information of other clients notified from the device scheduler 900 are registered.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing information on printer queues and output ports managed by the job control print service 605.

  Reference numeral 1801 denotes information of each printer queue managed by the job control print service 605, and includes information such as a printer name. Reference numeral 1802 denotes information on each output port managed by the job control print service 605, and includes information such as an IP address of a device to be printed.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating the flow from the reception of print data by the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103 to the transfer of the print data in the flow of the print processing described in FIG.

  In step S1901, it is determined whether a print job (A) is received from the job control port monitor 604 or a schedule UP (B) command instructing start of print data transfer is received from the device scheduler 900. When the print job (A) is received from the job control port monitor 604 (S1901- (A)), the process proceeds to step S1902, and when the schedule UP command is received, the process proceeds to step S1906.

  In step S1902, the received print job information is set in the job information 1702 and registered in the job management queue 1701. Here, the information set in the job information 1702 can be obtained from the print system or obtained by analyzing the print data.

  Next, in step S1903, connection is made to the device scheduler 900 and a connection request command is issued. When the client issues a connection request, the client information is registered in the client management queue of the device scheduler 900, and information can be exchanged between the client and the device scheduler 900 thereafter.

  In step S1904, a job event and a device event are registered in the device scheduler 900. When a job event is registered, the device scheduler 900 notifies a change in the status of a job printed by the own client or a job printed by another client. When a device event is registered, a change in the state of the printer device 606 is notified.

  In step S1905, a job list registered in the job management queue 1101 managed by the device scheduler 900 is acquired. With this job list and job event, it is possible to grasp the print status of a job managed by the device scheduler 900.

  With the above processing, preparation for printing is completed, registration of the job to be printed is registered in the device scheduler 900 in step S1906, and the next instruction is waited in step S1901.

  On the other hand, when a command for schedule UP (B), which is a print data transfer instruction, is received from the device scheduler 900 in step S1901 (S1901- (B)), the process proceeds to step S1907. In step S1907, transfer of a job that has received a print instruction is started.

  When transmission of print data is started, a transfer start state is notified in step S1908 to notify the device scheduler 900 that transfer has started.

  When the transfer of the print data is completed in step S1909, the device scheduler 900 is notified that the transfer has been completed.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing of the job control print service 605 when a notification or command from the device scheduler 900 is received.

  In step S2001, it is determined whether a job event notification or a job list is returned from the device scheduler 900. When a job event is notified (S2001- (A)), the process proceeds to step S2002. When the job list is returned (S2001- (B)), the process proceeds to step S2008.

  In step S2008, when the job list is returned, the job information obtained from the job list is set in the job management queue 1701 managed by the job control print service 605.

  On the other hand, in step S2002, it is determined whether the job event notification notified from the device scheduler 900 is a job completion notification (C) or a job status change notification (D). If it is a job status change notification (S2002- (D)), the process proceeds to step S2009, and the job status of the corresponding job information is updated.

  If the received job event notification is a job completion notification in step S2002 (S2002- (C)), the process proceeds to step S2003, and the corresponding job information is deleted from the job management queue 1701.

  In step S2004, it is confirmed whether or not the job of the own client that has not finished printing remains in the job management queue 1701, and if it remains (S2004-YES), it is still necessary to exchange with the device scheduler 900. Therefore, in order to continue the connection with the device scheduler 900, the process proceeds to step S2001.

  If there is no job of the own client in step S2004 (S2005-NO), the process proceeds to step S2005, and a process for terminating the connection with the device scheduler 900 is started.

  In step S2005, a request is made to cancel registration of the job event and device event registered in the device scheduler 900 when connection is started. In response to this request, the device scheduler 900 deletes the event registration contents of the client information. Without this event registration information, the event will not be notified even if the status of the job managed by the device scheduler is changed.

  In step S2006, a disconnection request is issued to the device scheduler 900. When the device scheduler 900 receives the disconnection request, the corresponding client information is deleted from the client management queue.

  In step S2007, a process for disconnecting the session with the device scheduler 900 is performed, and the process waits in step S2001.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, even in a network printing environment in which a printer can be shared with a plurality of clients connected via a network, a print control device (for example, a network print server) in the printer can be used. ) Controls the processing order of the print job in which the print request is registered by the device scheduler operating above (for example, the order of reservation registration in which the print data causing the stay is deleted and the schedule request is registered) ), It is possible to eliminate the stagnation of the subsequent printing process.

  As a result, a print job requested to be printed by a client (print data processing) is not processed, so that the print processing of subsequent print data is eliminated and a more efficient and fair network printing environment is provided. It becomes possible to do.

[Other embodiments]
An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a control unit of a print control apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the control unit. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like is used. it can.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a print system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram explaining the hardware constitutions of the client computers 101-103 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of a RAM 202 illustrated in FIG. 2, which is a memory map in a state where a print control program is loaded into the RAM 202 and can be executed. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the software structure in the clients 101-103. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a print job when printing by a client. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration example of a printer. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration example of a printer user application. 6 is a diagram showing client information and client management queue managed by a device scheduler 900. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating job information and a job management queue managed by a device scheduler 900. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a print sequence between a job control print service, a device scheduler, LPD / RAW, and a printer controller. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a process flow of the device scheduler 900 from receiving a schedule request from the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103 to completing the print process from the schedule UP. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of the job management unit 903 from reception of a job status notification event from the device management unit 904 to reception of a job list request from the job control print service 605. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of a device management unit 904 that receives a device status and job status notification from the printer controller 519 via an event handler and notifies the job management unit 903 and the communication connection management unit 901. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of a communication connection management unit 901 that processes requests and notifications from clients 101 to 103, notifications from a device management unit 904, and requests and notifications to a job management unit 903. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating print job information 1702 managed by the job control print service 605 and a job management queue 1701 for managing information on a plurality of jobs. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating information on printer queues and output ports managed by a job control print service 605. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the flow from the reception of print data by the job control print service 605 of the clients 101 to 103 to the transfer of the print data in the flow of print processing described in FIG. 12. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of a job control print service 605 when a notification or command from the device scheduler 900 is received.

Claims (16)

A print control apparatus for causing a printing apparatus to process print data generated by an information processing apparatus connected via a network,
Determination means for determining whether the print data includes a command for shifting to an offline state in which print processing is stopped based on print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus;
According to the determination result of the determination unit, when the command is included in the print data, an offline state shift unit that shifts the printing apparatus to an offline state;
Status monitoring means for monitoring whether the offline state has been released for the printing apparatus that has been shifted to the offline state;
When the offline state is canceled within a specified time, the processing of the print data is executed by the printing apparatus. When the offline state is not canceled within the specified time, the print data is deleted and the offline state is deleted. And a control means for canceling the print control device. The information processing apparatus further comprises communication means for communicating the state of the printing apparatus or the processing state of the print data,
The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit notifies the information processing apparatus that the printing apparatus has shifted to an offline state by the offline state transition unit. The print control according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit notifies the information processing apparatus that the print data has been deleted without releasing the offline state within the specified time. apparatus. Schedule request registration means for registering a request for processing the print data based on a schedule request signal transmitted from the information processing apparatus;
In accordance with the registration, the previous period information processing apparatus has a print data transmission request means for requesting transmission of the print data,
When the schedule request registration unit receives a plurality of schedule request signals from the information processing apparatus, the schedule request registration unit reserves and registers a schedule request according to the received order, and when the printing apparatus is ready to process print data, The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein execution of a schedule is determined for a schedule request that is reserved and registered in the earliest order. 5. The print data transmission request unit requests the information processing apparatus that has transmitted the schedule request determined to be executed by the schedule request registration unit to transmit the print data. Print control device. A printing device for processing print data,
A printing apparatus comprising the printing control apparatus according to claim 1. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the offline state is a state where printing processing is stopped and reception of print data is stopped. A print control apparatus that processes print data generated by an information processing apparatus connected via a network,
In accordance with the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus, in accordance with a command for shifting to a stopped state in which printing processing is stopped, a state shifting unit that shifts the printing apparatus to the stopped state;
About the printing apparatus that has stopped printing processing, state monitoring means for monitoring whether the stopped state is released,
If the stop state is not released within a specified time, release means for releasing the stop state;
Control means for causing the printing apparatus to execute processing of the print data when the stop state is canceled within the specified time, and deleting the print data when the stop state is not canceled within the specified time;
A printing control apparatus comprising: A print control method for causing a printing apparatus to process print data from an information processing apparatus connected via a network,
A determination step of determining whether the print data includes a command for shifting to an offline state in which the print processing is stopped based on the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus;
According to the determination result of the determination step, when the command is included in the print data, an offline state transition step of shifting the printing apparatus to an offline state;
A state monitoring step for monitoring whether the offline state has been released for the printing apparatus that has been shifted to the offline state;
When the offline state is canceled within a specified time, the processing of the print data is executed by the printing apparatus. When the offline state is not canceled within the specified time, the print data is deleted and the offline state is deleted. A printing control method comprising: a control step of canceling. The information processing apparatus further includes a communication step of communicating a state of the printing apparatus or a processing state of the print data,
The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the communication step notifies the information processing apparatus that the printing apparatus has shifted to an offline state by the processing of the offline state transition process. 11. The print control according to claim 9, wherein the communication step notifies the information processing apparatus that the print data has been deleted without releasing the offline state within the specified time. Method. A schedule request registration step of registering a request for processing the print data based on a schedule request signal transmitted from the information processing apparatus;
A print data transmission requesting step for requesting transmission of the print data to the information processing apparatus in the previous period in accordance with the registration;
In the schedule request registration step, when a plurality of schedule request signals are received from the information processing apparatus, the schedule request is reserved and registered in the storage unit in accordance with the received order, and the printing apparatus is ready to process print data. The printing control method according to claim 9, wherein execution of a schedule is determined for a schedule request that is reserved and registered in the earliest order. 13. The print data transmission request step requests the information processing apparatus that has transmitted the schedule request determined to be executed by the process of the schedule request registration step to transmit the print data. A printing control method according to claim 1. The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the offline state is a state in which print processing is stopped and reception of print data is stopped. A program for causing a computer to execute the printing control method according to claim 9. A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 15.

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