JP2006244084A - Business form print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business form print system completing transfer of data sooner than usual when data are sent from a server to a client, and preventing another print job from being mixed in with the print jobs desired to be processed continuously. <P>SOLUTION: The business form print system which processes a request from a client in a server and returns a response to the client comprises: a means for putting together a plurality of requests at the client; a means for transmitting the requests from the client to the server; a means for receiving the requests from the client at the server; a means for analyzing the received requests and converting the plurality of request jobs to another file format; a means for transmitting the file of the file format created by the conversion to the client; and a means for analyzing and processing the file in the client that has received the response. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a form printing system with servers and clients distributed on a network, and relates to reduction of network communication associated with request generation, request analysis processing, and response generation in the form printing system.

  In a printing system including a server and a client on a network, text data is transmitted from the client to the server, and the received text data and a predetermined form (for example, form form) held in the server are transmitted by the server. There is known a form printing system that creates and prints a superimposed print image (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In such a system, a client application issues a system request to the server to initialize the server. In this case, when the server receives the system request, the server holds the print request or executes the system request with priority even during processing of the print request.

When a request is issued from the client to the server, a request including only one job is issued. One job includes only one print attribute. Therefore, when a plurality of jobs are requested from the client to the server, it is necessary to communicate from the client to the server for the number of jobs and issue the request. In addition, it is necessary to receive responses for the number of jobs when the client receives the server response to the request.
JP 2002-351625 A

  There are the following problems at present.

  Multiple requests cannot be included in one request.

  Since a plurality of jobs cannot be included in one request, the request cannot be processed in one communication, leading to an increase in traffic.

  A server cannot combine a plurality of CSM files that are processing results of one job.

  As for responses, responses related to a plurality of requests must be returned to each client after communication, which leads to an increase in traffic.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above points. When data is transmitted from the server to the client, the data transfer can be completed earlier than usual, and between print jobs to be continuously processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a form printing system that can prevent other print jobs from being mixed in.

In the form printing system with the server and client distributed on the network as described above, in order to enable network communication reduction associated with request generation, request analysis processing, and response generation,
Means to combine multiple requests on the client;
Means for sending a request from the client to the server;
A means for the server to receive requests from clients;
Means to analyze the received request and convert multiple request jobs to other file formats;
Means for sending the file of the created file format to the client;
The client that receives the response analyzes the file and processes it,
A means to request multiple request jobs at the same time on the client;
Means to select whether or not to combine the request on the client;
Means for determining whether the request from the client is a request including a plurality of job instructions or a request including a single job instruction at the server;
Means for analyzing a request from a client on a server and creating a CSM file from a request job;
The CSM file has a file format including a header, job information, next job information, server information, user data block, function block, field data, and resource data;
Means that only one print attribute can be specified in one CSM file;
If the request is analyzed and there are multiple request jobs, a CSM file is created once, and then a plurality of CSM files are combined to generate a CSMX file;
The CSMX file has a file format comprising a header part, a delimiter part, and a CSM file part,
The CSMX file has a plurality of CSM files and means for specifying a plurality of print attributes;
Means for sending a CSMX file as a response to the client;
The form printing system characterized in that the client has a means for receiving the response, analyzing the CSMX file, disassembling it into a CSM file, and processing it.

  By having only one CSMX data file representing the common resources of the CSM data file, the size of the generated CSMX data file can be reduced by the amount of resource data that overlaps the CSM data file.

  As a result, the file size of the CSMX data file created can be reduced by the amount of overlapping resource data, and data transfer can be completed earlier than usual when data is transmitted from the server to the client.

  By handling a CSM data file divided from a CMX data file as a group, when printing is performed by overlaying, it is possible to prevent other print processing from interrupting during printing of the grouped CSM data file. . As a result, it is possible to prevent other print jobs from being mixed in between the print jobs to be continuously processed.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a form printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system includes a central processing unit by the CPU 10, a main storage unit by the ROM 11 / RAM 12, an external storage unit by the FD drive 13 and the HD drive 15, an input unit by a pointing device such as the keyboard 16 and the mouse 18, a display by the CRT display 17, etc. A plurality of computer systems, each of which includes a printing apparatus 19 such as an apparatus, a printer or a plotter, and a system bus 20 connecting them, are connected to each other by a network bus 21.

  This control device operates when the CPU executes a basic I / O program, an OS, and a program. The basic I / O program is written in the ROM 11 and the OS is written in the HD 15. When the control device is turned on, the OS is read from the HD 15 into the RAM 12 by the IPL (Initial Program Loading) function in the basic I / O program, and the operation of the OS is started (the program is shown in FIG. The program code is based on the flowchart of the control procedure shown in FIG.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the present control program and related data are recorded in the FD 14, and the configuration of the recorded contents is shown in FIG. The control program and related data recorded in the FD 14 can be loaded into the computer system through the FD drive 13 as shown in FIG. When this FD is set in the FD drive 13, the control program and related data are read from the FD 14 under the control of the OS and the basic I / O program, and loaded into the RAM 12 to be operable.

  FIG. 3 shows a memory map in a state where the control program is loaded into the RAM and becomes executable.

  In the present embodiment, the control program and related data are directly loaded from the FD 14 into the RAM 12 and executed. However, in addition to this, the program and related data are once stored (installed) in the HD 15 from the FD 14 and this program is stored. It is also possible to load from the HD 15 to the RAM 12 when operating. The medium for recording this control program may be a CD-ROM, an IC memory card, etc. in addition to the FD. Furthermore, this program can be recorded in the ROM 11, configured so as to form a part of the memory map, and directly executed by the CPU 10.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 4 is a network configuration diagram of the present invention.

  The client machine (S01) connects to the machine A (S02) connected to the network. Machine A has an agent component and a monitoring manager component. Further, a server (S03) in which the composer component 1 and the monitoring manager component exist on the network, a server (S05) in which the composer 2 and the monitoring manager exist, and a server (S04) in which the manager component and the monitoring manager component exist are connected to the network. is doing.

  The agent component is a component that receives processing from the client and returns processing results performed by other components to the client. The composer component is a component that performs overlay using data in response to a processing request from an agent. The manager component is a component that grasps the processing status of the composer and introduces the optimum composer to the agent. The monitoring manager component is a component that can perform operations such as grasping the operation status of each component, starting, terminating, and restarting.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram of a CSM file format used in this embodiment. The CSM file includes a header section (S06), job information (S07), next job information (S08), server information (S09), user data block (S10), function block (S11), field editor (S12), resource (S13). ).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram of a CSMX file format used in this embodiment. The CSMX file is composed of a header part (S14), a delimiter part (S15), and a CSM file (S16).

  FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of this embodiment. The client creates a request (S17) and transmits it to the server (S18). The server that receives the request creates a CSM data file from the job (S19). When a plurality of jobs are sent as requests, a CSM data file is created for each job (S20). Next, a CSX data file is created by combining the CSM data files (S21). The created CSMX file is transmitted as a response to the client.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of request issue processing in the client. First, request creation is started (S23). It is selected whether to create a plurality of jobs (S24). When creating a plurality of jobs, it is selected whether or not to make those jobs one request (S25). If it is selected to make a plurality of jobs one request, these jobs are combined into one request (S26). If a plurality of jobs are not made into one request, a request is created for each individual job (S27). When creating one job, one request is also created (S28). The request created above is transmitted to the server (S29).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a request analysis process from a client in the server.

  First, a request from a client is received (S30). Next, the request is analyzed (S31). It is analyzed whether a plurality of jobs exist in one request (S32). If there are a plurality of jobs, a CSM data file is created for each job (S33). When one job is included in one request, a corresponding CSM data file is created (S34). When creating a plurality of CSM data files for one request, it is selected whether or not these CSM data files are combined into one CSMX data file (S35). When combining, a CSMX data file is created by combining each CSM data file with the CSMX data file (S36). The created CSMX data file or CSM data file is transmitted to the client as a response (S37).

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart regarding response analysis from the server in the client.

  First, a response from the server is received (S38). Next, the response is analyzed (S39). As a result of the response analysis, in the case of CSMX data, CSMX data is analyzed (S41), and the CSMX data file is decomposed into CSM data files (S42). The decomposed CSM data file or one CSM data file is analyzed (S43). Overlay is executed based on the analyzed CSM data file (S44).

  [Other Examples]

  In the second embodiment, when the CSM data file is generated by combining the CSM data files on the server, the CSM data file is not used as it is, but the combined CSM data file is analyzed, and each CSM data file includes Only one common resource file is stored, and resource files with duplicates are deleted to generate a CSMX data file.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for creating a CSMX data file from the CSM data file in the server. A resource file common to each CSM data file is selected (S45), the resource data is extracted again when the CSM data files are combined, and only one resource data common to the generated CSMX data file is extracted and the CSMX data is made valid. A file is created (S46).

  In the third embodiment, when a CSMX data file is handled by a client, a plurality of CSM data files obtained by dividing the CSMX data file are handled as groups instead of individually.

1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a form printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the structure of the content of this control program and related data which are recorded in FD A diagram showing a memory map in a state where the control program is loaded into the RAM and becomes executable Network configuration diagram of the present invention The figure which shows the CSM data file format of this invention The figure which shows the CSMX data file format of this invention Conceptual diagram of the present invention Flowchart of request issuance processing in the client of the present invention Flowchart of request analysis processing from client in server of the present invention Flowchart relating to response analysis from server in client of the present invention The figure which shows the CSMX data file creation method at the time of common resource containing of this invention

Explanation of symbols

10 Central processing unit CPU
11 Read-only main memory ROM
12 Read / write main memory RAM
13 External storage device FD drive 14 External storage medium FD
15 External storage device HD drive 16 Input device Keyboard 17 Display device Display 18 Input device Mouse 19 Printing device 20 System bus 30 Medium 31 Medium volume information area 32 Medium directory information area 33 Control program execution file area 34 Relevance of control program Data file area 40 Storage area 41 Basic I / O program area 42 OS area 43 Control program area 44 Data area 45 Work area

Claims (12)

  In a form printing system consisting of a server and a client connected to a network, a form printing system for processing a request from a client and returning a response to the client, and means for combining a plurality of requests at the client , A means for sending a request from the client to the server, a means for the server to receive a request from the client, a means for analyzing the received request and converting a plurality of request jobs into other file formats, A form printing system comprising means for transmitting a file in a file format to a client, and means for analyzing and processing the file when the client receives the response.   The form printing system according to claim 1, wherein a client can combine a plurality of request jobs into a single request.   3. The form printing system according to claim 2, wherein the client can select whether or not to combine requests.   4. The form printing system according to claim 3, wherein the server determines whether the request from the client is a request including a plurality of job instructions or a request including a single job instruction. system.   5. The form printing system according to claim 4, wherein the server analyzes the request from the client and creates a CSM file from the request job.   6. The form printing system according to claim 5, wherein the CSM file has a file format comprising a header, job information, next job information, server information, user data block, function block, field data, and resource data. Printing system.   7. The form printing system according to claim 6, wherein only one print attribute can be designated for one CSM file.   8. The form printing system according to claim 7, wherein when a request is analyzed and there are a plurality of request jobs, a CSM file is once created, and then a plurality of CSM files are combined to generate a CSMX file. Printing system.   9. The form printing system according to claim 8, wherein the CSMX file has a file format including a header part, a delimiter part, and a CSM file part.   10. The form printing system according to claim 9, wherein the CSMX file has a plurality of CSM files, so that a plurality of printing attributes can be designated.   11. The form printing system according to claim 10, wherein the CSMX file is transmitted as a response to the client.   12. The form printing system according to claim 11, wherein the client receives a response, analyzes the CSMX file, disassembles it into a CSM file, and performs processing.

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