JP2007034940A - Printing system and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system capable of optimally performing a printing processing by acquiring state information of a printer by a server device through a network. <P>SOLUTION: Authentication devices 40-1, .. 40-n for authenticating printing permission in a plurality of printers 30-1, .. 30-n are respectively provided in accordance with the printers 30-1, .. 30-n connected to the network 50, print jobs related to printing instructions from client devices 10-1, .. 10-m are stored in a pint server 20, and when transmitting the print jobs to the printers 30-1, .. 30-n, the print server 20 determines states of the printers on the basis of state information acquired by using a MIB (Management Information Base), and transmits the print jobs to the printers only when the printers are determined not to have a problem. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  According to the present invention, a print job related to a print instruction from a client device is accumulated in a server device, and the server device transmits a corresponding print job to the printing device based on authentication from an authentication device corresponding to the printing device, thereby ensuring security. In particular, a printing system and a printing control method that perform printing with ensured properties, and a printing system that can perform optimal printing processing by acquiring status information of a printing device via a network by a server device, and The present invention relates to a printing control method.

  Recently, there are many systems that can use a printer in a so-called network environment in which a plurality of client devices are connected to a network, a plurality of printers are connected, and the plurality of printers are shared by a plurality of client devices. Has been built.

  In a system that shares a printer in such a network environment, ensuring the security of the printed document is a problem.

For example, in such a network environment, it is possible to instruct printing of a document from an arbitrary client device to an arbitrary printer, and the printer is not necessarily arranged near the client device.
1) A print instruction may be issued from a user who does not have the authority to print a document. 2) Even if a print instruction is issued from a user having a valid authority, the user outputs a document output from the printer based on the print instruction. There is a problem that this document may be taken away by a third party or the contents of the document may be seen by the time it is taken.

  In order to solve this problem, conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, when printing is performed from a printer in a network environment, an input of a personal identification number is requested from the operation panel of the printer, and the personal authentication is performed using the personal identification number. A configuration has been proposed in which printing is permitted by performing the above.

Also, as shown in Patent Document 2, a configuration has been proposed in which printing is performed by performing personal authentication using an IC card when printing from a printer.
JP-A-8-256239 JP2002-240398

  However, since both of those disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 perform personal authentication only on the printer side, there is a problem in security.

  Therefore, there is a system in which a print job related to a print instruction specifying a specific printer authenticated by a client device is stored in a specific server (security server), and print output can be performed only by authentication at the specified specific printer. Proposed.

  However, in such a system, if the specified printer is not ready for printing due to other print job execution, failure, or power off, this print is output immediately. There was a problem that could not be done.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system and a printing control method capable of optimally performing a printing process by acquiring status information of a printing apparatus via a network by a server apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an authentication device for authenticating printing permission in each printing device corresponding to a plurality of printing devices connected to the network, and a printing instruction from the client device is provided. In the printing system, the related print job is stored in the server device, and the server device transmits the print job to the printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on the authentication from the authentication device to execute the printing of the print job. The server device acquires the first status information acquisition unit that acquires the status information of the printing device via the network, and the first information acquisition unit that transmits the print job to the printing device. A determination unit that determines the state of the corresponding printing apparatus based on the state information, and a determination that the printing apparatus is free of trouble by the determination unit Characterized by comprising a print job transmission means for transmitting the print job only if it against the printing device.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the server device further includes a print job deletion unit that deletes the print job after the print job is transmitted by the print job transmission unit. And

  The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1 or 2, the print job transmission means deletes the print job after receiving the end information of the print job. To do.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the server apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the printing apparatus that transmits the print job by the determination unit. And changing means for changing the printing apparatus that transmits the print job, and notifying means for notifying the user of the change of the printing apparatus by the changing means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the fourth aspect, the notification unit displays the change of the printing device on the authentication device corresponding to the printing device before the change by the changing unit. It is characterized in that the change is notified.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the client device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the client device acquires second status information acquisition means for acquiring status information of the printing device via the network; A selection unit that selects an appropriate printing device with reference to the status information of the printing device acquired by the second status information acquisition unit, and a printing instruction that specifies the printing device selected by the selection unit and issues the printing instruction Means.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an authentication device for authenticating printing permission in each printing device corresponding to a plurality of printing devices connected to the network, and a print job related to a printing instruction from the client device is stored in the server. In the print control method in the printing system, the server device transmits the print job to a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication from the authentication device, and executes printing of the print job. The server device acquires status information of the printing device by the status information acquisition unit via the network, and prints the corresponding print based on the status information acquired by the information acquisition unit when transmitting the print job to the printing device. The state of the apparatus is determined by the determination unit, and it is determined by the determination unit that the printing apparatus is free of trouble. The print job transmitting means the print job only if and transmits with respect to the printing device.

  According to the present invention, the server device acquires the status information of the printing device via the network, and when the print job is transmitted from the server device to the printing device, the status of the corresponding printing device is determined based on the status information acquired via the network. In this case, the print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus only when it is determined that there is no failure in the printing apparatus, so that unnecessary transmission of the print job is eliminated and security is maintained. There is an effect that the printing process can be performed optimally.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a printing system and a control method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a printing system according to the present invention.

  1, this printing system includes a plurality of client devices 10-1,... 10-m, a print server 20, a plurality of printing devices 30-1,... 30-n, and a plurality of printing devices 30-1. ,..., 30-n are connected to the network 50, respectively.

  Here, the client apparatuses 10-1,..., 10-m issue a print instruction for a desired document using this printing system, and perform a plurality of user authentications as to whether the user has the authority for this print instruction. Authentication apparatuses 11-1,... 11-m are connected locally.

  The authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n are connected to the network 50 corresponding to the printing devices 30-1,..., 30-n, respectively, and the above-described printing devices 30-1,. When printing a document related to a print instruction, user authentication is performed to determine whether the user has authority to print.

  Further, the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n and the corresponding printing devices 30-1,..., 30-n are respectively connected by USB (Universal Serial Bus).

In addition, the plurality of client devices 10-1,... 10-m and the print server 20 use the MIB (Management Information Base) via the network 50 to indicate the respective states of the printing devices 30-1,. The status information acquisition unit 101 of the client devices 10-1,..., 10-m and the status information acquisition unit 202 of the print server 20 acquire the status information such as power ON / OFF, drum and toner lifetime, and paper jam. It is configured. ,
User authentication in the authentication devices 11-1, ... 11-m and the authentication devices 40-1, ... 40-n is a card-like storage medium (hereinafter referred to as security) in which user identification information (user ID) carried by the user is stored. User authentication using a card), user authentication that reads biometric feature information such as a user's fingerprint, and the like can be employed. In this embodiment, a case where user authentication is performed using a security card will be described as an example. .

  Here, the security card can be composed of an IC card equipped with an IC (integrated circuit), a magnetic card using a magnetic stripe as a storage means, and the like, in addition to the user ID, department information to which the user belongs. In addition, various information necessary for user authentication such as a range of authority, a secret key used for encryption of a print job formed based on a print instruction, a public key used for encoding, and the like are stored in advance.

  The client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m issue a print instruction using the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n of documents created and edited by themselves or documents acquired from a document management system (not shown). The print instruction includes designation of a printing apparatus that prints the document.

  At the time of this print instruction, user authentication as to whether or not the user has the authority to issue a print instruction for this document is performed by authentication apparatuses 11-1,... 11 connected locally to the client apparatuses 10-1,. -M is used.

  The authentication devices 11-1,... 11-m include a card reader that reads information necessary for user authentication from a security card carried by the user, and information required for user authentication from the security card is used for user authentication. (Hereinafter referred to as “authentication data”), and this authentication data is input to the corresponding client device 10-1,.

  The client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m perform necessary user authentication based on this authentication data.

  In this user authentication, if it is determined that the user does not have the authority to issue a print instruction for the document, the print job based on the print instruction is not submitted but discarded.

  However, if it is determined that the user has the authority to issue a print instruction for the document, the print data based on the print instruction is an intermediate data format that does not depend on the model of the printing apparatus 30-1,. Print data (hereinafter referred to as intermediate data) is generated to generate a print job, the print job is encrypted using the secret key read from the security card, and the encrypted print job is transmitted via the network 50. To the print server 20.

  Here, the client devices 10-1,... 10-m are printed by the printing devices designated based on the status information of the printing devices 30-1,... 30-n acquired by the status information acquisition unit 101 using the MIB. It is checked whether the print apparatus is ready. If the print apparatus is ready, a print job including the designation of the printing apparatus is transmitted to the print server 20. If the print job is not available, the designated print apparatus is changed. The change of the designated printing apparatus is performed interactively using a user interface with the user.

  The print server 20 accumulates the encrypted print job transmitted from the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m in the print job accumulation management unit 201 in correspondence with the user ID of the user who instructed printing, for example. Manage. At this time, printing related to the print job stored in the print server 20 is not started.

  When the user who has issued a print instruction on the client device 10-1,... 10-m or the user who has the authority to acquire the printed material based on the print instruction acquires the printed material based on the print instruction, the client device 10- 1,... 10-m An authentication device arranged near the printing device 30-1 by going to the installation location of the printing device designated by 10-m (hereinafter, this printing device will be described as the printing device 30-1) User authentication is performed at 40-1.

  This user authentication is performed using a security card in the same manner as the user authentication by the authentication devices 11-1,.

  That is, the user who has visited the installation location of the printing apparatus 30-1 inserts the security card carried by the user into the authentication apparatus 40-1 near the printing apparatus 30-1. Accordingly, authentication data necessary for user authentication is read from the security card by the authentication device 40-1.

  Based on the read authentication data, authentication is performed as to whether or not the user has the authority to acquire the printed matter.

  If it is determined by the user authentication that the user does not have the authority to acquire the printed material in the printing apparatus 30-1, the printing is prohibited.

  If it is determined by the user authentication that the user has the authority to acquire a printed matter based on the print instruction in the printing apparatus 30-1, authentication data related to the user authentication is sent to the print server 20 to be printed. Make a request.

  In the print server 20, the corresponding print device is selected from the plurality of encrypted print jobs stored in the print job storage management unit 201 based on the user ID included in the authentication data related to the print request sent from the authentication device 40-1. A print job corresponding to 30-1 is searched, and the corresponding print job is taken out from the print job accumulation management unit 201.

  Further, the print server 20 stores a correspondence table that stores the correspondence between the printing devices 30-1,... 30-n and the authentication devices 40-1,. The printing apparatus 30-1 corresponding to the apparatus 40-1 is identified with reference to the correspondence table, and the encrypted print job extracted from the print job accumulation management unit 201 for the identified printing apparatus 30-1. Send.

  The print job is transmitted via an authentication device 40-1 corresponding to the printing device 30-1, and a USB cable connecting the authentication device 40-1 and the printing device 30-1.

  That is, the authentication device 40-1 decrypts the encrypted print job sent from the print server 20 into intermediate data using the public key included in the authentication data, and the intermediate data is processed by the printing device 30-1. The data is converted into printable print data and transmitted to the printing apparatus 30-1 via a USB cable connecting the authentication apparatus 40-1 and the printing apparatus 30-1. As a result, the printing apparatus 30-1 starts printing based on the printing data.

  Here, since the USB cable connecting the authentication device 40-1 and the printing device 30-1 is a local connection, the security of the print job is maintained.

  When the printing is completed, the print job stored in the print server 20 is deleted and discarded by a job completion notification from the printing apparatus 30-1.

  In this embodiment, when the encrypted print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30-1, the print server 20 uses the MIB to obtain the status information of the printing apparatus 30-1 acquired by the status information acquisition unit 202. If it is determined that the printing apparatus 30-1 is not ready for printing, transmission of a print job to the printing apparatus 30-1 is waited until the printing apparatus 30-1 becomes ready for printing, or the printing apparatus 30-1 is instructed. If there is another printing device capable of printing instead, the designated printing device can be changed to this other printing device.

  Here, when the designated printing device is changed, the changed printing device is displayed on a display device (not shown) of the authentication device 40-1 corresponding to the printing device 30-1 before the change.

  By viewing this display, the user can go to the place where the changed printing apparatus is installed, and can print the print job by inserting the security card into the authentication apparatus corresponding to the printing apparatus.

  According to such a configuration, for example, when the client device 10-1 designates the printing device 30-1 and issues a print instruction, the printing device 30-1 may have a drum, toner life or paper jam, or a failure. In the case where the printer cannot immediately print out due to power off or the like, transmission of the print job to the printing apparatus 30-1 is prohibited, and transmission of unnecessary print jobs is thereby suppressed.

In this case, control such as changing the transmission destination of the print job or not discarding the print job from the print server 20 until the end of printing can be performed. It is also possible to notify the change of the printing destination.

  As a result, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that it becomes impossible to recover at the time of a print failure due to the discard of the print job stored in the print server 20, or that it is necessary to redo a useless print instruction.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing of the client devices 10-1,... 10-m (collectively referred to as client device 10) shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the client device 10 first checks whether a print instruction from the user has been accepted (step 401). If the print instruction has not been accepted (NO in step 401), the client apparatus 10 returns to step 401 to accept the print instruction. However, if it is determined that a print instruction has been received (YES in step 401), then authentication data relating to this print instruction is received by authentication devices 11-1,... 11-m (collectively referred to as authentication device 11). A check is made (step 402).

  If authentication data has not been received (NO in step 402), the process returns to step 402 and waits for reception of authentication data.

  When authentication data is received from the authentication device 11 (YES in step 402), user authentication is performed based on the received authentication data to determine whether the user associated with the authentication data has the authority to issue a print instruction using the printing system ( Step 403).

  If it is authenticated by this user authentication that the user is authorized to issue a print instruction using this printing system (YES in step 404), then the printing apparatus (designated printing apparatus) designated by this printing instruction Is in a printable state (step 405). The determination in step 405 is made based on the status information acquired from the designated printing apparatus by the status information acquisition unit 101 via the network 50 by the MIB.

  If it is determined in step 405 that the designated printing apparatus is in a printable state (YES in step 405), the process proceeds to step 407.

  If it is determined in step 405 that the designated printing apparatus is not ready for printing (NO in step 405), the designated printing apparatus is changed (step 406). The change of the designated printing device in this step 406 is the status of each printing device 30-1,... 30-n acquired from the printing devices 30-1,. It is performed interactively via a user interface (not shown) of the client device 10 based on the information.

  That is, in the client device 10, printing devices 30-1,..., 30-n acquired by the status information acquisition unit 101 by the MIB from among the printing devices that can replace the designated printing device are capable of printing the print job. Is displayed on a display unit (not shown) with reference to the status information, and the user designates a desired printing device from among the presented printing devices using a keyboard or a mouse. Change the device. If a change is made to this printing apparatus, the process proceeds to step 407.

  In step 407, a print job is generated from the print data related to the print instruction. The generation of the print job is performed by converting the print data relating to the print instruction into intermediate data independent of the model of the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n.

  The print job generated in step 407 is encrypted with the secret key included in the authentication data (step 408), and the encrypted print job is transmitted to the print server 20 via the network 50 (step 408). The processing in the client device 10 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 404 that the user related to the authentication data does not have the authority to issue a print instruction using this printing system (NO in step 404), the user issues a print instruction using this printing system. Since it is not possible to do so, a print instruction prohibition message is displayed on the display of the client device 10 or the like indicating that the print instruction authority is not granted (step 410), and the print instruction received in step 401 is discarded. Print prohibition processing is performed (step 411), and the processing in the client device 10 is terminated.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of the print server 20 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the print server 20 first checks whether an encrypted print job from the client apparatus 10 has been received (step 501). If an encrypted print job from the client device 10 has not been received (NO in step 501), the process proceeds to step 503.

  If it is determined in step 501 that an encrypted print job has been received from the client device 10 (YES in step 501), the print job is accumulated in the print job accumulation management unit 201 and a user ID related to the print instruction is stored. (Step 502).

  In step 503, it is checked whether authentication data from authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n (collectively referred to as authentication device 40) has been received (step 503). If the authentication data has not been received (NO in step 503), the process returns to step 501.

  If it is determined in step 503 that authentication data has been received (YES in step 503), authentication processing based on the authentication data is performed (step 504).

  If it is determined based on this authentication process that the user related to the authentication data has the authority to acquire a printed matter based on the print instruction (YES in step 505), then the status information acquisition unit 202 is performed by the MIB. Based on the status information of the printing device 30 acquired in step 501, it is checked whether the designated printing device is ready for printing (step 506).

  Here, if it is determined that the designated printing apparatus is in a printable state (YES in step 506), the print job accumulation management unit 201 accumulates it based on the user ID included in the authentication data sent from the authentication apparatus 40. A corresponding print job is selected from the printed print jobs (step 507).

  Further, the printing apparatus 30 corresponding to the authentication apparatus 40 that has transmitted the authentication data is specified with reference to the correspondence table that stores the correspondence relation between the printing apparatus 30 and the authentication apparatus 40 (step 508).

  Then, the print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 identified in step 508 via the network 50 and the corresponding authentication apparatus 40 (step 509).

  Next, it is checked whether a job completion notification has been received from the printing apparatus 30 that has transmitted the print job (step 510). If not received, the process returns to step 510 to wait for a job completion notification from the corresponding printing apparatus 30, If it is determined that a job completion notification has been received (YES in step 510), the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage manager 201 is deleted (step 511), and the processing of this print server 20 is terminated. .

  If it is determined in step 506 that the designated printing device is not ready for printing (NO in step 506), it is checked whether there is an alternative printing device that can print by replacing this print job (step 512). If there is no alternative printing apparatus that can print this print job instead (NO in step 512), the process returns to step 506 and waits until the designated printing apparatus becomes ready for printing. Here, whether or not the designated printing apparatus is ready for printing is determined based on the status information of the designated printing apparatus acquired by the status information acquisition unit 202 by the MIB.

  If it is determined in step 512 that there is an alternative printing device (YES in step 212), the designated printing device is changed to this alternative printing device (step 513), the process returns to step 503, and authentication corresponding to the alternative printing device is performed. The authentication data from the apparatus 40 is waited for.

  In this case, the alternative printing device changed in step 513 is displayed on the display unit of the authentication device 40 that has sent the authentication data and requested printing.

  If it is determined in step 505 that the user related to the authentication data does not have the authority to acquire the printed material based on the print instruction (NO in step 505), the print job based on the print request is printed. Since it cannot be performed, a predetermined print prohibition process is performed (step 514), and the process of the print server 20 is terminated.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n (authentication device 40) shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, the authentication device 40 first checks whether authentication data has been accepted by inserting a security card (step 601). If authentication data is accepted (YES in step 601), it is checked whether the user is authorized to make a print request based on the authentication data (step 602).

  If it is determined that the user has the authority to request printing (YES in step 602), the authentication data is transmitted to the print server 20 to make a printing request (step 603).

  Next, in response to this print request, it is checked whether a change notification of the designated printing apparatus has been received from the print server 20 (step 604). When a change notification of the designated printing device is received from the print server 20 (YES in step 605), the designated printing device change display on the display unit of the authentication device 40, that is, the changed designated printing device (substitute) (Printing device) is displayed (step 605), and the processing of the authentication device 40 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 604 that a change notification for the designated printing apparatus has not been received (NO in step 604), it is checked whether a print job has been received from the print server 20 (step 606). If no print job is received (NO in step 606), the process returns to step 606 to wait for reception of the print job. If a print job is received (YES in step 606), the received print job is secured. The print job is decrypted into intermediate data using the public key included in the authentication data read from the card (step 607), and the intermediate data is converted into print data that can be printed by the corresponding printing apparatus 30 (step 608). The printing data is transmitted to the corresponding printing device 30 (step 609), and the processing of the authentication device 40 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 602 that the print request authority is not granted, a predetermined print prohibition process is performed (step 610), and the process of the authentication device 40 is terminated.

  In the above embodiment, the print job (intermediate data) related to the print instruction is encrypted and sent from the client device 10 to the authentication device 40 via the print server 20, and the authentication device 40 decrypts the encrypted print job. However, when the network 50 is in an environment where there is no risk of information leakage, it is not always necessary to encrypt and decrypt the print job.

  In this case, the print job stored in the print server 20 may be directly transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 without using the authentication apparatus 40.

  In the above-described embodiment, the client device 10 is configured to convert the print data into intermediate data independent of the model of the printing device, transmit it to the printer server 20, and store and manage it. A plurality of printer drivers corresponding to the printing apparatus are provided, print data corresponding to each printing apparatus is created using the plurality of printer drivers, the print data is sequentially transmitted to the print server, stored and managed, and the printing apparatus When printing, the print data corresponding to the printing apparatus may be selected from the plurality of print data and printed.

  The printing system and the control method thereof according to the present invention can be applied to a printing system for various documents that require security.

  When the server device acquires the status information of the printing device via the network, and transmits the print job from the server device to the printing device, the server device determines the status of the corresponding printing device based on the status information acquired via the network, and the printing device Since the print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus only when it is determined that there is no failure, it is possible to optimally perform the print process while maintaining security by eliminating the transmission of a useless print job. be able to.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a printing system according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the client apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the print server illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the authentication apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10-1, ... 10-m Client device 11, 11-1, ... 11-m Authentication device 12 Security card 20 Security print server 30, 30-1, ... 30-n Printing device 40, 40-1, ... 40-n authentication device 50 network 101 status information acquisition unit 201 print job accumulation management unit 202 status information acquisition unit

Claims (7)

Corresponding to a plurality of printing devices connected to the network, an authentication device for authenticating printing permission in the printing device is provided, and a print job related to a print instruction from the client device is stored in the server device. And a printing system for executing printing of the print job by transmitting the print job to a printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus based on the authentication from the authentication apparatus.
The server device
First status information acquisition means for acquiring status information of the printing apparatus via the network;
Determining means for determining the state of the corresponding printing apparatus based on the state information acquired by the first information acquiring means when transmitting the print job to the printing apparatus;
A printing system comprising: a print job transmission unit that transmits the print job to the printing apparatus only when it is determined by the determination unit that there is no failure in the printing apparatus. The server device
The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a print job deletion unit that deletes the print job after the print job is transmitted by the print job transmission unit. The print job transmission means includes:
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print job is deleted after receiving the end information of the print job. The server device
Changing means for changing the printing apparatus that transmits the print job when it is determined by the determining means that a failure has occurred in the printing apparatus that transmits the print job;
The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies the user of a change of the printing apparatus by the changing unit. The notification means includes
The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the change of the printing apparatus is notified by displaying the change of the printing apparatus on the authentication apparatus corresponding to the printing apparatus before the change by the changing unit. The client device is
Second status information acquisition means for acquiring status information of the printing apparatus via the network;
Selecting means for selecting an appropriate printing apparatus with reference to the status information of the printing apparatus acquired by the second status information acquiring means;
The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a print instruction unit that designates the printing apparatus selected by the selection unit and issues the print instruction. Corresponding to a plurality of printing devices connected to the network, an authentication device for authenticating printing permission in the printing device is provided, and a print job related to a print instruction from the client device is stored in the server device. In the printing control method in the printing system for executing the printing of the print job by transmitting the print job to the printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus based on the authentication from the authentication apparatus,
The server device acquires status information of the printing device via the network by status information acquisition means;
Determining the status of the corresponding printing apparatus based on the status information acquired by the information acquisition means when transmitting the print job to the printing apparatus;
The print control method, wherein the print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus by the print job transmission means only when it is determined by the determination means that the printing apparatus has no trouble.

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