JP2006209308A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system for surely and quickly executing print in simple configurations where it is unnecessary for a client or a server to manage a printing device. <P>SOLUTION: This print system is configured of a client computer for inputting a print job whose printing device is not prescribed to a server, a printing device for acquiring and printing a job by notifying the server of attributes available by itself and a server for spooling the print job from the client, and for selecting and responding to the job according to the attributes in response to a job acquisition request from the printing device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a network printing system including one or more printing apparatuses connected to a network and a plurality of computers, and a control method thereof, that is, a printing system.

  In the current network printing system, there are a plurality of printing apparatuses and a plurality of printing clients on the network, and one client can select and print one printing apparatus from many printing apparatuses. ing. In such a case, there is a case where the user predicts and prints a printing apparatus that will print from a plurality of printing apparatuses quickly.

  In addition, there is a system that automatically selects a printing apparatus that will print quickly according to a printing program. In this case, in order to select a printing apparatus that will perform printing processing as soon as possible, a criterion for determination is how many print jobs are scheduled in the printing apparatus (for example, Patent Document 1).

Also, a system that analyzes jobs and predicts the end time of each job, and a printing device based on the amount of consumables consumed by each job and consumables such as the remaining paper amount and staple pins remaining in the printing device There is a system for predicting an error occurring in the printer and selecting a printing apparatus that will be optimal.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-259206

  As shown in the conventional example, even when a printing device that will print quickly is selected and a printing request is made to the printing device, the timing when the printing request is input to the printing device and the actual prediction timing There is an error, and if the printing apparatus receives a print request from another computer, an error occurs in the prediction. In addition, the accuracy of the consumables prediction was uncertain. For this reason, even if an error in the printing device such as no paper or toner occurs and it is predicted that the printing process will start immediately, it is often said that it was actually faster to make a request to another printing device. It was possible. That is, there is a problem that it is a very difficult function in the current network printing system to select a printing apparatus that starts printing processing as soon as possible.

  On the other hand, printing apparatuses equipped with Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) defined by RFC as an Internet printing protocol for printing apparatuses have been put on the market. In this IPP, a function called “Print-URI request” is defined, and by sending a “Print-URI request” designating a URL from the client to the printing apparatus, the data on the Web server to which the URL is designated is transferred to the printing apparatus. The function to acquire and print is defined. However, even a Print-URI request may be referred to as a Print-URL request if it is specified by a URL when accessing the Web or the like.

  With this function, the IPP compatible printing apparatus can print web pages all over the world. The IPP-compatible printing apparatus receives a “Print-URI request” from each client and manages the print schedule. Before the printing apparatus actually performs printing, data from the URI specified by the “Print-URI request” is used. Get and print. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-202874 has been proposed as a printing system for solving the above-described problems using such a technique.

  According to the present invention, a system has been devised in which a “Print-URI” request for one print job is simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of printing apparatuses, and data is transmitted only to the printing apparatus that first obtained the job. . However, even in the present invention, the available resources at the timing when the job can be printed by the printing apparatus are uncertain. Further, it is necessary to manage a plurality of printing apparatuses by a client, and the operation is complicated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and each client submits a print job to WebService without being conscious of the printing apparatus that is actually output, and the printing apparatus can perform printing at a timing when the printing apparatus can print. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system capable of reliably and quickly performing printing with a simple configuration by notifying the WebService of available resource information and acquiring the print job.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides one or more client computers that execute print processing, a Web Service that accepts and spools a print job from the client computer, and issues a print job acquisition request to the Web Service. It is configured to include one or more printing apparatuses having a function of receiving a message.

  According to the above configuration, both the client computer and the server computer manage the IP address of the printing apparatus, the occurrence status of errors, resources such as the remaining amount of paper and toner, and optional information such as double-sided and stapling regarding the execution of printing. There is no need, and the server computer only needs to return a print job that matches the attributes of the printing device in response to a request from a printing device that is currently available. It is possible to provide a printing system that can do this.

  According to the present invention, one or more client computers that execute print processing, a WebService that receives and spools a print job from the client computer, and a function that issues a print job acquisition request to the WebService and receives the print job. With a printing system consisting of one or more printing devices, both the client computer and server computer perform printing by using the printing device's IP address, error occurrence status, remaining amount of paper, resources such as toner, duplex, stapling, etc. There is no need to manage any option information, and the server computer only has to return a print job that matches the attributes of the printing device in response to a request from a printing device that is currently available. Surely early It has become possible to provide a printing system that carry out.

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

<Configuration example of print processing system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print processing system according to the embodiment.

  In the figure, reference numerals 101, 102, 103, and 104 denote network computers connected to the network 106 and capable of communicating with each other, and are typically personal computers (PCs).

  Among these, reference numerals 102, 103, and 104 denote client computers (hereinafter referred to as clients), which are each connected to the network 106 by a network cable such as Ethernet (registered trademark) and can execute various programs such as application programs. A printer driver having a function of converting print data into a printer language corresponding to the printing apparatus is installed. Here, it is assumed that each client 102, 103, 104 supports a plurality of printing device drivers.

  On the other hand, reference numeral 101 denotes a server computer (hereinafter referred to as a server), which is connected to the network 106 by a network cable, functions as a Web server, and functions as an IPP gateway. Specifically, the print server 101 stores a print job including print data for which an IPP print request has been issued from the client computers 102, 103, and 104, and print data from the client computers 102, 103, and 104 The print order is managed by receiving the job information that does not contain. It also has a function of returning a print job in response to a job acquisition request from the print control apparatus. The server computer 101 is a logical entity for providing functions in the printing system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a dedicated server computer 101 can be provided, or the function of the server computer can be replaced by the client computers 102 to 104 or an arbitrary printing apparatus 105. In this embodiment, an example using a Web server will be described. However, the server may be another program having a function of accepting a job from a client and responding to a job acquisition request from a printing apparatus. For example, the LPR protocol can be used for job reception from a client. The data acquisition request from the printing apparatus is not limited to HTTP, and it goes without saying that it can be applied to other protocols such as FTP.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes a printer device as a print control apparatus, which is connected to the network 106 via a network interface (not shown), analyzes a print job including print data transmitted from a client computer, and prints dot images one page at a time. Convert to and print. Although only one printing apparatus 105 is shown in the figure, a plurality of other printing apparatuses may be connected. The types and functions of the printing apparatuses may be different.

  A network 106 is connected to the client computers 102 to 104, the print server 101, the printing apparatus 105, and the like.

<Example of hardware configuration of network computer>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer used as the clients 102 to 104 and the print server 101. In this embodiment, the client computers 102 to 104 and the print server 101 have the same or equivalent hardware configurations as described above, but may have dedicated hardware configurations.

  In FIG. 2, a CPU 200 controls the entire apparatus. The CPU executes an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a printing apparatus control program according to the present embodiment, and the like stored in a hard disk (HD) 205, and a RAM 202. Control to temporarily store information, files, etc. necessary for program execution.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM as storage means, which stores various data such as programs such as basic I / O programs, font data used in document processing, and template data. Reference numeral 202 denotes a RAM as temporary storage means, which functions as a main memory, work area, and the like of the CPU 200.

  Reference numeral 203 denotes a floppy disk drive (FD drive) as a storage medium reading means. As shown in FIG. 5 to be described later, a program or the like stored in the FD 204 as a storage medium can be loaded into the computer through the FD drive 203. it can. Reference numeral 204 denotes a floppy disk (FD) as a storage medium, which is a storage medium in which a program is stored so as to be readable by a computer. Note that the storage medium is not limited to the FD, and may be any CD-ROM, CDR, CDRW, PC card, DVD, IC memory card, MO, memory stick, and the like.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes an external storage means, which is a hard disk (HD) that functions as a large-capacity memory, and stores application programs, printer driver programs, OS, printing apparatus control programs, related programs, and the like. Furthermore, a spooler as spool means is secured here. The spool means is a client spooler in the client, and a server spooler in the print server. In the print server, job information received from the client is stored, and a table for controlling the order is also generated and stored in the external storage means.

  Reference numeral 206 denotes a keyboard which is an instruction input unit. The user instructs the client computer and the operator or administrator inputs an instruction of a device control command to the print server. A display 207 is a display unit that displays commands input from the keyboard 206, the status of the printing apparatus, and the like.

  A system bus 208 controls the flow of data in a computer that is a client or a print server. Reference numeral 209 denotes an interface which is an input / output unit, and the information processing apparatus exchanges data with an external apparatus via the interface 209.

  Note that the configuration of the computer is an example thereof, and is not limited to the configuration example of FIG. For example, the storage location of data and programs can be changed by ROM, RAM, HD, etc. according to the characteristics.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the RAM 202 shown in FIG. 2, and is a memory map in a state where the printing apparatus control program loaded from the FD 204 is loaded into the RAM 202 and can be executed.

  In this embodiment, the printing apparatus control program and related data are directly loaded from the FD 204 to the RAM 202 and executed. However, in addition to this, every time the printing apparatus control program is operated, the printing apparatus control program is already executed. May be loaded into the RAM 202 from the HD 205 installed from the FD 204. In addition to the FD, the medium for storing the printing apparatus control program may be a CD-ROM, CDR, PC card, DVD, or IC memory card. Furthermore, it is also possible to store the printing apparatus 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 functions equivalent to those of the above-described devices can be configured as an alternative to a hardware device.

  Reference numeral 301 denotes a basic I / O program, which has an IPL (Initial Program Loading) function for starting the operation of the OS by reading the OS from the HD 205 into the RAM 202 when the computer is turned on. This is the area that contains Reference numeral 302 denotes an operating system (OS), and 303 denotes a printing apparatus control program, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 304 denotes related data, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 305 denotes a work area in which an area for the CPU 200 to execute the printing apparatus control program is secured.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 4, 401 is volume information indicating data information, 402 is directory information, 403 is a printing system program (printing apparatus control program) described in the present embodiment, and 404 is related data thereof. The printing apparatus control program 403 is a program based on a flowchart described in this embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship with the FD 204 inserted into the FD drive 203 shown in FIG. 2, and the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 5, the FD 204 stores a printing apparatus control program and related data described in this embodiment.

<Overview of job control in the printing system>
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of processing in the printing system of the present invention. The server 101 receives a print job from a plurality of clients, manages the job, and returns a job in response to a job acquisition request from a plurality of printing apparatuses 105.

  First, when a job is generated by the client computer 102, the job data and attributes are registered in the server 101. At this time, the client computer 102 may issue a broadcast message for causing the printing apparatus 105 to detect the occurrence of a job. Upon receiving the job data and attribute data from the client computer 102, the server computer 101 registers the data in the storage device 205 and prepares for a data acquisition request from the printing device 105. The job data 1400 managed by the server 101 will be described later. The storage device may be provided on the server computer 101, or an external system connected to the network 106 such as NAS (Network Attached Storage) or a database or directory managed by another server can be used. Further, when a job is registered in the server computer 101, a broadcast message or a UNI cast message for causing the printing apparatus to detect the occurrence of the job may be issued. When the printing apparatus 105 detects the occurrence of a job by broadcast from a client, broadcast from a server, UNIcast, DB or directory monitoring or notification from a monitoring unit, or when an internal timer event occurs, the printing apparatus 105 An attribute that can be used by itself is notified and a job acquisition request 1500 is issued. Note that the printing apparatus 105 may store the address of the server computer 101 in an internal non-volatile storage device in advance, search for a network, a directory such as LDAP or Active Directory, a broadcast notification from the server computer, or a client computer. It can be known by broadcast notification or the like.

  Details of processing and management data in the client computer 102, the server computer 101, and the printing apparatus 105 will be described below.

<Processing on client computer>
FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of print processing in the client computers 102 to 104 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example in which IPP is used for communication between the client and the server. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 corresponds to an application program having a printing function such as Microsoft Word (registered trademark) or a printing system customized for a specific business. A printer driver 702 is notified of a GDI call issued by the application 701 via the OS, and generates PDL data corresponding to the printing apparatus. Assume that printer drivers corresponding to printing apparatuses accessible from the client computers 102 to 104 are registered. A spooler 703 spools job data and sequentially performs despooling. A port monitor 704 is compatible with IPP, and transfers job data despooled from the spooler 703 to the server computer 101. Note that the address of the server computer may be registered in advance as an attribute of the port monitor 704, or can be known by a directory, a search by broadcast, an instruction from the user when executing printing, or the like. The port monitor 704 of the present invention has a job analysis function, and creates a job attribute file 1200 and a job data file 1300 from data received from the spooler. The job analysis function may be provided on the server computer 101 instead of the port monitor 704, or may be supplied from an external application 701 or printer driver 702 such as a job ticket and job data.

  FIG. 12 is an example of a job attribute file created by the client computers 102 to 104. This file contains information obtained by analyzing job data such as the model information (Model) of the printer driver used when creating data, the job data file name, the paper size to be used, and the user name that submitted the job. And management information obtained from the spooler. The attributes are not limited to those shown in the figure, but may include all data included in job data and management data, and arbitrary attributes supplied from the outside in the form of a job ticket or the like.

  Although not shown in the figure, if there is a request to print or not want to print to a printing device with a specific address, the address list of the print destination candidate device or the address list of the print refusal device is displayed as the job attribute. It is also possible to hold it as

  FIG. 13 is an example of a job data file created by the client computers 102 to 104. The job data file includes a header 1300, job attribute parts 1301, 1304, and a PDL data part 1302. Reference numeral 1303 denotes repetition of job attribute data and PDL data.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of print processing in the IPP client port 704. The job input waiting process in step S800 ends when a job arrives from the spooler. In step S801, a data file is created. If the input of data is accepted in step S802, data analysis processing is performed in step S803, and attribute extraction processing is performed. Subsequently, the data file is written in step S804, and the process returns to step S802 and is repeated until the end of data. If NO in step S802, it is determined whether the job has ended. If NO, the process returns to S802 and waits for data input. If YES, it is determined in step S806 whether the job has been canceled. If YES, the data file is deleted in step S809, and the printing process ends. If NO in step S806, the job attribute is acquired from the spooler in step S807 and merged with the job attribute extracted from the job data. In step S808, job data and attributes are transferred to the Web server 101. When the transfer ends, the data is deleted in step S809, and the print processing on the client side ends.

<Processing on server computer>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an outline of print processing in the server computer 101. When the server is activated, it enters an infinite loop waiting for a request in step S900. When the request arrives, it is determined in step S901 whether it is a stop request. If YES, the server process ends. If NO, it is determined in step S902 whether the job registration request is from the client computers 102-104. If YES, job registration processing is performed in step S903. As described above, the job data is stored in the storage device 205, and the management data is held in the RAM 202. Details of the data held in the server will be described later. When the job registration process ends, the server returns to waiting for a request. If NO is determined in step S902, it is determined in step S904 whether the request is a job acquisition request. If YES, job selection processing described later is performed in step S905. In step S906, it is determined whether the job selection is successful. In the case of NO, a failure is answered in step S907 and the process returns to waiting for the request in step S900. If the determination in step S906 is successful, the success status and print data are returned in step S908. In step S900, the print data and its management data are deleted, the job response process is terminated, and the process returns to the quest wait in step S900. On the other hand, if NO is determined in step S904, it is determined in step S910 whether there is another request. If YES is determined, processing for other requests is performed in step S911. Other processes are not described here because they are not related to the present invention. If NO is determined in step S910 or if step S911 ends, the server returns to the infinite loop waiting for a request in step S900.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a part of print data, attributes, and management data managed by the server 101. In the figure, reference numeral 1401 denotes the total number of jobs currently managed by the server and is placed on the RAM 202. This information changes as the job list 1402 increases or decreases. The job list 1402 exists on the RAM 202, the storage device 205, or both. Here, job attributes are managed by ID. The list includes the location of the data file, user information, the model of the driver that created the job data, job attributes such as A4, duplex, and staple. A job file 1403 exists on the storage device 205. One file consists of one job. When a job is managed by reference, the URI is specified in the job attribute file, and the job file does not exist on the server.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the job selection processing step S905 performed on the server. Here, one job having an appropriate job attribute is selected from the above-described job list based on a request 1500 from the printing apparatus 105 described later. In step S1000, attributes used for determination are initialized from the request 1500. Here, it is assumed that the model, paper size, remaining amount of paper, double-sided, and finishing specification are used as judgment materials, but of course, other arbitrary attributes may be used for judgment, and printing device attributes All job attributes may be compared. In step S1001, the job list 1402 is compared with the model of the printing apparatus 105 to search for a matching job. If the number of searched jobs is 0, that is, if there is no matching job, a failure response is returned in step S1009, and this process ends. If NO is determined in step S1002, the attribute of the job is compared with the attribute of the printing apparatus given from the printing apparatus in step S1003, and the attributes that can be processed with the job attribute of the given printing apparatus. Search for jobs with. If the number of jobs searched in step S1004 is 0, that is, it is determined that there is no matching job, a failure response is returned in step S1009 and the process ends. On the other hand, if NO is determined in step S1004, it is determined whether or not the number of jobs searched in step S1005 is one. If the number is 1, the job is selected in step S1006. NO, that is, if there are a plurality of jobs, one job is selected according to another factor such as reception time or priority. There are a plurality of methods for selecting one job from a plurality of jobs, but these are not important in the present invention and will not be described here. In step S1008, success is returned as a response, and the job selection process is terminated.

<Processing in printing apparatus>
Next, the outline of the printing process in the printing apparatus 105 will be described with reference to FIG. The printing process is started when it is determined in step S1100 that the printing apparatus can accept a job. In the present invention, it is assumed that no error has occurred in the printing apparatus and there is a vacancy in the reception buffer as a condition for accepting a job, but there may be other conditions. If it is determined in step S1100 that a job can be accepted, it is determined in step S1101 whether there is a job. This process is an option, and even if it is not present, the present invention is not affected at all. However, this option makes it possible to make a print request more efficiently. The job detection means is arbitrary such as broadcast from a client computer, broadcast from a server computer, UNI cast, directory or file system change, DB change monitoring, or notification from a component monitoring these. If NO is determined in step S1101, the process returns to step S1100. If YES is determined in step S1101, a PULL request is issued to the server in step S1102. When the PULL request is successful in step S1103 and reception from the server is started, the printing apparatus activates printing TASK (from step S1104 to step S1107), and returns to step S1100. In step S1104, the printing process is continued until it is determined in step S1105 that printing is completed. The printing process includes a series of operations such as reading data from the reception buffer, analysis, image data creation, transfer, paper discharge, and finishing, but is not particularly described here. If it is determined in step S1105 that the printing process has been completed, the print data existing in the buffer in the printing apparatus 105 is deleted in step S1106. Subsequently, in step S1107, the job management table is updated and the printing process is terminated.
FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a PULL request issued by the printing apparatus. The PULL request in the present invention includes a header part and a command (GetJob) representing job acquisition, and its parameters (attributes usable in the printing apparatus).

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the memory map of RAM202 shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the memory map of FD204 shown in FIG. The figure which shows the relationship between FD drive 203 and FD204 shown in FIG. Process overview diagram of a printing system to which the present invention is applied Functional block diagram of a client in a printing system to which the present invention is applied A flowchart showing an outline of processing in a client that generates a print job Flow chart showing the outline of processing in the server Flow chart showing an overview of job selection processing in the server Flow chart showing an overview of print processing in a printer Figure showing an example of a job attribute file created by a client Figure showing an example of a job data file created by the client Diagram showing an example of the configuration of job data managed by the server The figure which shows the example of the job acquisition request which the printer issues

Explanation of symbols

101 Print server, Web server (server computer)
102 to 104 Client computer, client 105 Printing device 106 Network 1400 Job data managed by server 1500 Job acquisition request from printing device to server

Claims (6)

  One or more client computers that execute print processing, one or more printing apparatuses having a function of receiving a print job and issuing a print job acquisition request to the Web Service, and a Web Service that receives and spools a print job from the client computer A printing system comprising:   In response to a print job acquisition request to the WebService, the printing apparatus notifies the attributes currently held by the printing apparatus, and the WebService returns a print job according to the printing apparatus attributes given from the printing apparatus. A printing system characterized by:   When the client computer submits a print job to the Web Service, the client computer instructs a printing device to print, does not instruct a printing device to print, or instructs a printing device not to print. The printing system according to claim 1 or 2.   The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus issues a job acquisition request to the Web Service at a constant interval.   The printing apparatus includes job detection means for detecting that the Web Service has received a job from a client, and issues a job acquisition request to the Web Service when the job detection means detects reception of a job. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein   4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus issues a job acquisition request to the WebService when the printing apparatus is ready to process a job.

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