JP2006301999A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer system wherein print is not interrupted by ejecting paper sheets to a printer other than a printer in use even when paper ejection bins of the printer in use are full. <P>SOLUTION: The printer system having an A printer 2, a B printer 3, a C printer 4, a D printer 5, and a PC 1 connected on a network has a function of transferring print data to the A printer 2, the B printer 3, the C printer 4, and the D printer 5 in this order through the network and executing print in transfer destination printers on the basis of print data. When a large number of paper sheets are printed, paper sheets which a single printer cannot eject after print are printed and ejected to paper ejection bins by another printer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer system, and more particularly, to a printer system in which printing is not interrupted by discharging paper to another printer even when a paper discharge bin of the printer being used is full.

In recent years, image forming apparatuses such as printers and copiers are generally used on a network, and various techniques have been proposed.
For example, in Patent Document 1, when the received print data cannot be recognized by the analysis unit (when it is not described in PDL supported by the own machine), or when the own machine cannot print (for example, toner) Out of paper, out of paper, during mass printing, etc., the transfer destination determination unit determines an appropriate transfer destination based on a preset transfer destination candidate list and transfers it. For example, a technique has been proposed that enables efficient transfer without providing means for discriminating PDL that is not supported by the own device.
In addition, by instructing a printing device at a store (convenience store, copy center, etc.) that desires to print an electronic document from the terminal device (personal computer, etc.) that the user has via the Internet, the user owns the printer or scanner. There is a technology that enables even a user (individual, corporation, etc.) who does not have or owns only a low-performance printer or scanner to easily perform mass printing or mass scanning (see, for example, Patent Document 2) ).
In addition, when an automatic selection specification for automatically selecting a printer device to be used for printing is transmitted from the client computer together with a print request, the total number of print data pages and the paper corresponding to each printer device are transmitted. Based on the remaining amount, one or more used printer devices are selected to instruct execution of printing, and if the selected number of used printers is two or more, the total amount is determined based on the remaining amount of paper in each printer device. A technique is disclosed in which print pages are distributed and allocated to each printer device (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

Also, in an image forming system in which a host device that creates print data and a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to a network and have an alternative printing function, the image forming apparatus prioritizes image forming apparatuses that perform alternative printing in advance. Operation display to notify the host device or operation display means of the image forming apparatus that has actually been printed and stored in the storage means, and to perform alternative printing only if the error is not cleared even after a certain time has elapsed after some error has occurred There is a technique that allows a user to save the time for transferring to another image forming apparatus and taking the printed matter if the user cancels the error within the set time by having the function to set the means (for example, patent) Reference 4).
In addition, when the user terminal receives a notification that printing cannot be performed by the printer, the user terminal requests the proxy print search server to search for an external printer that performs printing, and the proxy print search server performs proxy printing. The external printer is searched and information on the searched external printer is transmitted to the user terminal. The user terminal transmits a print request to the external printer based on the received information on the searched external printer. There has been proposed a technique that allows a wider range of search for a printing device to be substituted when printing cannot be performed with this printing device (see, for example, Patent Document 5).
In addition, the printing device generates usage information including the number of output sheets associated with the printing operation, and transmits the generated usage information to the management apparatus. On the other hand, the device information includes the past usage information of the printing device 1 and the printing device. And a threshold value for the number of output sheets determined in advance, and when the device management server receives the usage information sent from the printing device, the device management server stores it in the device information and totals the output number of the printing device. When the total number of output sheets exceeds the threshold value stored in the device information, it is determined that preventive maintenance is required for the printing device. In this case, the device management server instructs the preventive maintenance to be instructed. A technique is disclosed in which the operating rate of a printing device can be appropriately improved by transmitting information to a maintenance terminal of a maintenance person who performs maintenance of the printing device (see, for example, Patent Document 6).
JP 2002-041267 A JP 2002-051182 A JP 2001-134400 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-255684 JP 2004-213437 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-302585

By the way, in the above-described prior art, when a large number of sheets are printed, there is a case where a single printer cannot discharge the paper. Until now, when the paper discharge bin is full, printing is interrupted and the user is informed that it is full. In such an apparatus, there is a problem that printing is interrupted each time printing is performed when the discharge capacity is exceeded.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described situation, and even if the paper discharge bin of the printer being used becomes full, the printer system prevents the printing from being interrupted by discharging the paper to another printer. The purpose is to provide.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a printer system in which a plurality of printers and computer terminals are connected on a network, and print data is transmitted between the plurality of printers via the network. A function to transfer and execute printing based on the print data in the destination printer, and when the printer does not discharge the printed matter when the printing is executed by the printer, the printed matter is It is characterized in that it is printed by another printer and discharged to a discharge bin.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer system according to the first aspect, when the discharge bin is full, a user uses that the remaining printing is performed by another printer. It notifies to a computer terminal, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer system according to the first aspect, when the paper discharge bin is full, a printer having an IP address close to the IP address of the printer used for printing is searched. And printing as the other printer.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printer system according to the first aspect, when the paper discharge bin is full, the printer having the PDL of the printer used for printing is searched. If there is a corresponding printer, the printer is designated as the other printer for printing.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the printer system according to the first aspect is used for printing when searching for a printer to be used as the other printer when the paper discharge bin is full. A printer having a PDL of a certain printer is searched, and if there is no printer having the PDL, a notification to that effect is sent to the user.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printer system according to the first aspect, when the paper discharge bin is full, a printer close to the characteristics of the printer used for printing is searched for and the other It is characterized by printing as a printer.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printer system of the first aspect, when the paper discharge bin is full, designation of printing to the other printer can be designated by a driver application on the user side. It is characterized by.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the printer system according to the first aspect, when the discharge bin is full, the other printer is instructed to print only the remaining printed matter. To do.

According to the present invention, when a large number of sheets are printed, a printed matter that cannot be discharged by a single printer is printed by another printer and discharged to a discharge bin. Printing is not interrupted when the printer's output bin is full. Further, in mass printing, it is possible to save the trouble of removing the printed matter from the paper discharge bin and supplying paper to the paper feed tray.
Also, when the output bin is full, it is confirmed whether the specified printed matter has been printed by notifying the computer terminal used by the user that the remaining printing is to be executed by another printer. It is possible to grasp which printer is printing, and it is convenient for collecting printed matter.
In addition, when the paper discharge bin is full, it is currently printing by searching for a printer with an IP address close to the IP address of the printer used for printing, specifying it as another printer, and printing. Output from a printer to a nearby printer prevents scattering of the printed material, which is convenient for later collection by the user.
When the paper discharge bin is full, search for a printer that has the PDL of the printer used for printing, and if there is a corresponding printer, specify it as another printer and print. The same print result can be obtained in any printer, and the user can obtain a unified printed matter.

In addition, when searching for a printer to be used as another printer when the paper discharge bin is full, a printer having the PDL of the printer used for printing is searched, and there is a printer having the PDL. If not, by notifying the user to that effect, it is possible to remove the discharged paper from the full paper discharge bin and prompt the user to take the next action.
In addition, when the paper discharge bin is full, it is close to the characteristics such as whether the printer used for printing is a Color / Mono machine, a high-speed machine / low-speed machine, and peripheral equipment is installed and can discharge a large amount of paper. By searching for a printer and designating it as another printer for printing, the same print result can be obtained in any printer, and the user can obtain a unified printed matter. Further, by selecting a printer equipped with a peripheral device as the next paper discharge printer, it is possible to select more paper discharge destinations, and to provide an optimum printing environment for the user.
Also, when the paper discharge bin is full, you can specify the print destination for the other printer by using the driver application on the user side, and specify the paper discharge destination according to the user's intention. Can do. Further, it is possible to provide an optimum printing environment determined by the user himself / herself according to various situations.
Further, when the paper discharge bin is full, by instructing other printers to print only the remaining printed matter, wasteful paper discharge can be prevented, and an environmentally friendly printer system can be provided. Further, when the user collects the printed matter, it can be easily combined.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a printer system as the best mode for carrying out the present invention. In the printer system of the present embodiment, four printers, an A printer (A Printer) 2, a B printer (B Printer) 3, a C printer (C Printer) 4, a D printer (D Printer) 5, and a PC as a computer terminal (Personal computer) 1 is connected to the network. The PC 1 is a terminal used by a user and is a device equipped with a printer print instruction driver.
In this example, a case where 2000 print instructions are given as the first print instruction from the PC 1 to the A printer 2 will be described. The paper discharge capacity of the A printer 2 is 1000 sheets in this example. The A printer 2 also includes a function for spooling print data, a function for printing print data, a function for detecting the fullness of a discharge bin and a function for counting the number of discharged sheets, and other printers connected via a network. A function for acquiring information, a function for selecting a printer to be output from the priority selection conditions set in the printer, and a print start page information described in one sheet added to the number of printed sheets for discharging to another printer And a function for sending the spooled print data to another printer and a function for feeding back to the PC 1 that the print data has been sent to another printer (see FIG. 2). Note that the PC 1 can instruct the other printer to print only the remaining printed matter without printing the print start page information.
When a print instruction of 2000 sheets is given to the A printer 2, the discharge capacity of the A printer 2 is 1000 sheets, so that the latter 1000 sheets cannot be printed by the A printer 2. For this reason, the remainder is printed by any one of the B printer 3, the C printer 4, and the D printer 5. In this case, 2000 pieces of data are sent from the PC 1 to the A printer 2. The A printer 2 temporarily stores this print data in the spool area and performs printing. The A printer 2 counts the number of sheets discharged during printing. When the full sensor at the paper discharge destination detects “full”, printing is stopped and a printer for printing the remaining printed matter is selected.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen for setting priority selection conditions when searching for a printer. The upper part of FIG. 3 shows a case where when the discharge bin of the A printer 2 is full, a printer having an IP address close to the IP address of the A printer 2 is searched and the remaining printing is performed by the printer. It is a selection condition. Further, the middle part of FIG. 3 shows that when the discharge bin of the A printer 2 is full, the printer equipped with the PDL of the A printer 2 is searched and there is a corresponding printer. This is a selection condition for printing the rest. Further, the lower part of FIG. 3 shows that when the discharge bin of the A printer 2 is full, the Color / Mono machine, the high speed / low speed machine, and the peripheral machines of the A printer 2 are installed, and a large amount of paper is discharged. This is a selection condition for searching for a printer with similar characteristics such as whether or not it is possible and printing the rest with that printer.
If the result of searching for a printer with an IP address close to the IP address of the A printer 2 according to the priority selection conditions of FIG. 3 is, for example, the B printer 3, the A printer 2 starts the remaining printing from the number of discharged sheets. The page is calculated, the spooled print data and the print start page information are sent to the B printer 3, and printing is instructed. In this case, when the discharge bin of the A printer 2 becomes full, the PC 1 used by the user is notified that the remaining printing is to be executed by the B printer 3. When the paper output bin of the A printer 2 is full, designation of printing to the B printer 3 can be made by a driver application on the user side.
In the priority selection condition shown in FIG. 3, if a printer that meets the IP address condition cannot be searched, the next condition, that is, a printer with the same PDL is searched. In this way, the printer is searched according to the search priority. When the printer B for the A printer 2 is full, when searching for a printer to be used as another printer, the printer with the PDL of the A printer 2 is searched, and there is a printer with the PDL installed. If not, the user is notified accordingly.

As described above, in the printer system according to the present embodiment, when a large number of sheets are printed, a printed matter that cannot be discharged only by the A printer 2 is printed by another printer and discharged to a discharge bin. Therefore, printing is not interrupted even when the paper discharge bin of the printer being used becomes full. Further, in mass printing, it is possible to save the trouble of removing the printed matter from the paper discharge bin and supplying paper to the paper feed tray.
Also, when the output bin is full, it is confirmed whether the specified printed matter has been printed by notifying the computer terminal used by the user that the remaining printing is to be executed by another printer. It is possible to grasp which printer is printing, and it is convenient for collecting printed matter.
In addition, when the paper discharge bin is full, it is currently printing by searching for a printer with an IP address close to the IP address of the printer used for printing, specifying it as another printer, and printing. Output from a printer to a nearby printer prevents scattering of the printed material, which is convenient for later collection by the user.
When the paper discharge bin is full, search for a printer that has the PDL of the printer used for printing, and if there is a corresponding printer, specify it as another printer and print. The same print result can be obtained in any printer, and the user can obtain a unified printed matter.

In addition, when a paper discharge bin is full, when searching for a printer to be used as another printer, a printer having a PDL of a printer used for printing is searched, and there is a printer having a PDL. If not, by notifying the user to that effect, it is possible to remove the discharged paper from the full paper discharge bin and prompt the user to take the next action.
Also, when the output bin is full, the printer used for printing is equipped with a color / mono (Mono) machine, high-speed machine / low-speed machine, and peripheral equipment, enabling large-volume output. By searching for a printer with similar characteristics and specifying it as another printer for printing, the same printing result can be obtained in any printer, and the user can obtain a unified printed matter. Further, by selecting a printer equipped with a peripheral device as the next paper discharge printer, it is possible to select more paper discharge destinations, and it is possible to provide an optimum printing environment for the user.
In addition, when the paper discharge bin is full, you can specify the print destination for the other printers using the driver application on the user side, and specify the paper discharge destination according to the user's intention. Can do. Further, it is possible to provide an optimum printing environment determined by the user himself / herself according to various situations.
In addition, when the paper discharge bin is full, by instructing other printers to print only the remaining printed matter, wasteful paper discharge can be prevented, and an environmentally friendly printer system can be provided. Further, when the user collects the printed matter, it can be easily combined.
In the description here, the case where a printer is used as an apparatus for forming an image has been described. be able to.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a printer system as the best mode for carrying out the present invention. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of functions of an A printer 2. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for setting priority selection conditions when searching for a printer.

Explanation of symbols

1 PC (personal computer), 2 A printer, 3 B printer, 4 C printer, 5 D printer

Claims (8)

  In a printer system in which a plurality of printers and computer terminals are connected on a network, print data is transferred between the plurality of printers via the network, and printing is executed based on the print data by a transfer destination printer. When the printing is performed by the printer and the printed matter cannot be discharged by a single printer, the printed matter is printed by another printer and discharged to a discharge bin. Printer system.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the discharge bin is full, the computer terminal used by the user is notified that the remaining printing is to be executed by another printer. Printer system.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the paper discharge bin is full, a printer having an IP address close to the IP address of the printer used for printing is searched and designated as the other printer for printing. A printer system.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the paper discharge bin is full, the printer having the PDL of the printer used for printing is searched and there is a corresponding printer. A printer system characterized by printing as a printer.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the paper discharge bin is full, when searching for a printer to be used as the other printer, a printer having a PDL of the printer used for printing is searched. When there is no printer equipped with the PDL, the printer system notifies the user to that effect.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the paper discharge bin is full, a printer close to the characteristics of the printer used for printing is searched and designated as the other printer for printing. Printer system.   2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the discharge bin is full, designation of printing to the other printer can be designated by a driver application on the user side. 2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein when the paper discharge bin is full, the other printer is instructed to print only the remaining printed matter.

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