JP2009217306A - Printing system, printer, server, computer program, and print method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten time from authentication to printout in an authentication printing system. <P>SOLUTION: A print job output from a client 102 is stored in the authentication print job storage part 120 of a server 104. A job whose priority is high is preliminarily transferred to a printer 106, and stored in a priority print job storage part 136 in the printer 106. When a user 110 performs an authentication operation, the authentication print job of the user is searched from the priority print job storage part 136 in the printer 106. As the result of search, when the job is found out, the job is read from the priority print job storage part 136, and printed out, and when any job is not found out, the print job is transferred from the server 104 to the printer 106, and printed out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to a printing system, a printer, a server, a computer program, and a printing method suitable for authenticated printing, and in particular, a technique for solving the problems of storage capacity and data transfer time for storing a print job. About.

  2. Description of the Related Art A printing system that temporarily stores a print job output from a client in the system and then performs print output in response to a predetermined event is known. A typical example is an authentication printing (or confidential printing) system (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). The authenticated printing system prints out the stored print job of the user only after the event of user authentication is performed. This type of printing system can be broadly divided into the following two types with respect to where the print job is stored in the system.

  In the first type of printing system, a print job is temporarily stored in a server, and print output is performed after authentication is performed by a printer. In this type of printing system, since the printer requires a communication time for acquiring a print job from the server before the print output after authentication, the print output is delayed.

  In another type of printing system (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2), a print job is stored in a printer. In this type of printing system, communication time after authentication is not required, but the printer needs to have a sufficiently large storage capacity.

  Such a problem is not limited to an authentication printing system, but is common to printing systems configured to print out only after a predetermined event occurs after a print job is temporarily stored and stored in the system. It is a problem.

JP 2002-370407 A (Abstract) Japanese Patent No. 3054230 (FIG. 1)

  An object of the present invention is represented by an authentication printing system configured to print out only after a predetermined event occurs after a print job output from a client is temporarily stored and stored in the system. In such a printing system, the purpose is to speed up printing output after an event occurs.

  A printing system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a print output unit that executes print output, a first storage unit that stores one or more print jobs output from a client, and at least one print from the first storage unit. A second storage means for receiving and storing a job, wherein the data can be transferred to the print output means in a shorter time than the first storage means; and the print job in the first storage means A priority determination unit that determines a priority of the first print job, a priority print job is selected from the print jobs in the first storage unit based on the priority, and the selected priority print job is selected as the first priority print job. Transfer means for transferring from the storage means to the second storage means, event generation means for generating a predetermined event, and a requested print job for which print output is requested in response to the event generation means From the second storage means, and if the requested print job is in the second storage means, the requested print job is transferred from the second storage means to the print output means, and the requested print job is transferred. If the job is not in the second storage unit, a print output request unit for transferring the requested print job from the first storage unit to the print output unit is provided.

  In this printing system, the priority print job selected according to the priority among the print jobs from the client is transferred in advance to the second storage unit that can transfer data to the print output unit in a short time. , You can start printing output quickly.

  A preferred embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention includes a server having the first storage unit, and a printer having the print output unit and the second storage unit. Since the priority print job has already been transferred to the printer, printing output can be started quickly.

  According to a preferred embodiment, based on the data size and priority of the priority print job, and the capacity of the second storage unit, the existing priority print job in the second storage unit is deleted or the second storage is performed. Update means for controlling writing of a new priority print job to the means; The finite storage capacity of the second storage unit (printer) can be effectively used for a print job with a high priority.

  In a preferred embodiment, several methods can be used selectively or in combination as a method for determining priority.

  According to one method, the priority determination unit determines whether each print job is output according to the time or order in which each print job is output from the client or the time or order in which the print job is written in the first storage unit. Determine the priority. By affecting the determination of priority by the time or order of the print jobs, it is possible to increase the printing speed of the old print jobs in a usage mode in which, for example, printing is performed in order from the old print job.

  According to another method, the priority determination unit determines the priority of each print job according to who the user of each print job is. By influencing who the user is in the priority determination, for example, the second storage unit can be used so that the printing tendency for each user is reflected in the printing speed.

  According to another method, the printing system measures a retention period from when the print job has been printed out in the past to when the print job is output from the client or written to the first storage unit until it is printed out. A storage time measuring unit that performs the storage in the first storage unit based on the storage period of the past one or more print jobs of each user measured by the storage time measuring unit. The priority of the print job of each user is determined. By printing the retention period of past print jobs for each user in determining the priority for each user, the trend of the retention period for each user (which user performs print output earlier or later) is printed. The second storage means can be utilized to reflect the speed.

  According to still another method, the priority determination unit determines the priority of each print job according to a character string included in the file name of each print job. By affecting the priority of the character string included in the file name of each print job, for example, so as to reflect whether the specific character string is included in the file name of the print job in the print speed, The second storage means can be utilized.

  According to still another method, the printing system sets a retention period from when the print job is output in the past to when the print job is output from the client or written to the first storage unit until the print is output. Storage time measuring means for measuring, and the priority determining means based on the storage period of one or more past print jobs having a file including each character string measured by the storage time measuring means. The priority of a print job having a file including each character string in one storage means is determined. By affecting the priority of the retention period for each character string included in the file name, for example, whether the retention period of a past print job with a file name including a specific character string has been long can As reflected, the second storage means can be utilized.

  A preferred embodiment is an authenticated printing system to which the present invention is applied, wherein the event generating means performs authentication by inputting identification information from the user, and the print output requesting means performs the event. In response to the successful authentication, the user's print job is searched from the second storage unit as the requested print job. This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an authentication printing system.

  In a printer communicably connected to a server according to another aspect of the present invention, the server stores a first storage unit that stores one or more print jobs output from a client, Priority determining means for determining the priority of the print job; and, based on the priority, selecting a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage means, and selecting the selected priority print job as the priority And a transfer unit that transfers the first storage unit to the printer. The printer receives and stores at least one print job from the first storage unit. A second storage unit, and in response to a predetermined event, the second storage unit searches for a requested print job for which a print output is requested, and the requested print job is the second storage unit. The requested print job is transferred from the second storage means to the print output means, and if the requested print job is not in the second storage means, the first storage means prints the print job. Print output requesting means for transferring the requested print job to the output means.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, in a server that is communicably connected to a client and a printer, the printer receives and stores at least one print job from the server, and print output means for executing print output. A second storage unit that searches the second storage unit for a requested print job for which print output is requested in response to a predetermined event, and if the requested print job is in the second storage unit The requested print job is transferred from the second storage means to the print output means, and if the requested print job is not in the second storage means, the requested print job is sent from the server to the print output means. And a print output requesting means for transferring, wherein the server saves one or more print jobs output from the client, and the first storage means A priority determination unit that determines the priority of the print job, and selects a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage unit based on the priority, and selects the selected priority print job Transfer means for transferring from the first storage means to the printer.

  The present invention also provides a machine-readable computer program for causing a computer to function as the server.

  The present invention also provides a printing method executed by the printing system.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to speed up printing output in an authentication printing system in which a printer acquires print data from a server.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an authentication printing system, but the present invention can also be applied to printing systems other than the authentication printing system.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an authentication printing system according to this embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the authentication printing system 100 can communicate with a client 102 configured by, for example, a personal computer, a server 104 configured by, for example, a personal computer connected to the client 102, and the server 104. And a printer 106 connected to the printer. The printer 106 includes an authentication device 108 for user authentication (which may be external or internal, or may not be directly connected to the printer 106, for example, provided in the client 102 or the server 104. Also good).

  The authentication printing system 100 includes an authentication print job (a print job that is printed for the first time after authentication) and a normal print job (not related to authentication, and can be printed immediately after being output from the client 102. Both jobs can be handled. However, in the description of this specification, processing of a normal print job is not referred to, but only processing of an authenticated print job will be described, and the term “print job” is used to indicate an authenticated print job.

  In the authentication printing system 100, one or more print jobs output from the client 102 (one in the figure, but a plurality of clients 102 may be connected to one server 104) are first sent to the server 104. Received and temporarily stored and stored in the server 104. As a basic operation, after the authentication, the printer 106 acquires a print job of the user specified by the authentication from the server 104, and prints it out. However, in addition to this basic operation, the following pre-transfer operation is performed according to the principle described in the present invention. That is, a priority print job is selected from the print jobs stored in the server 104 according to the priority of each print job (in this embodiment, a print job with a relatively high priority is given priority). Selected as a print job). Then, the selected priority print job is transferred to the printer 106 before the user of the priority print job is authenticated. Therefore, for the priority print job, the time from authentication to print output is shortened as compared to a print job that is not.

  An outline of functions and operations of the authentication printing system 100 is as follows.

  (1) A print job output from the client 102 is first temporarily stored in the authenticated print job storage unit 120 in the server 104, but some print jobs determined by the server 104 to have high priority The (priority print job) is transmitted to the printer 106 in advance (that is, before the user is authenticated) and temporarily stored in the priority print job storage unit 136 in the printer 106.

  (2) The server 104 sends priority print jobs with priority information to the printer 106. If the capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 is insufficient, the printer 106 receives priority from the priority print job storage unit 136. A relatively low priority print job is deleted to secure a storage area for a priority print job with a higher priority.

  (3) As a method of determining the priority, the following plurality of methods (the following is an exemplary enumeration and not a limited enumeration) can be adopted selectively or in combination.

  (3-1) A method of determining by the output time or order from the client 102 (or the write time or order to the server 104). For example, a higher priority is given to a print job written earlier by the server 104.

(3-2) A method of deciding according to who the user is, for example, as follows.
(3-2A) A higher priority is given to a print job of a user designated in advance than print jobs of other users.
(3-2B) For each user, a storage period from writing (starting storage) of a past print job to the server 104 (or output from the client 102) to authentication is measured. A higher priority is given to a user's print job having a shorter storage period.

(3-3) A method that is determined by the attributes of a print job, for example, as follows.
(3-3A) A print job having a file name including a character string designated in advance is given higher priority than a print job that does not.
(3-3B) For each character string, the storage period from writing (starting storage) (or outputting from the client 102) a print job having a file name including the character string to authentication is measured. A higher priority is given to a print job having a file name including a character string having a shorter storage time.

  Hereinafter, the functional configuration of the authentication printing system 100 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Note that various functions of the client 102 and the server 104 are typically realized by computer programs executed on computers used as the client 102 and the server 104.

  As shown in the configuration diagram of the authentication printing system in FIG. 1, the client 102 includes an authentication print job generation unit 112 and an authentication print job transmission unit 114. The authentication print job generation unit 112 generates an authentication print job. The authentication print job transmission unit 114 transmits the authentication print job generated by the authentication print job generation unit 112 to the server 104.

  The server 104 includes an authentication print job storage unit 120, a priority determination unit 122, a print job storage period measurement unit 124, a priority information addition unit 126, a priority print job transmission unit 128, an authentication print job request reception unit 130, an authentication print job A search unit 132 and an authentication print job transmission unit 134 are provided.

  The authenticated print job storage unit 120 temporarily stores the authenticated print job transmitted from the client 102 (until printing by the authenticated print job is completed). The priority determination unit 122 determines the priority of the authentication print job stored in the authentication print job storage unit 120, and selects an authentication print job to be transmitted to the printer in advance based on the priority. .

  The print job storage period measurement unit 124 starts print output by the authentication print job from the time when the information of the authentication print job is written in the authentication print job storage unit 120 (or the time when the authentication print job is output from the client 102). The storage period up to the time when it was performed (substantially the time when authentication was performed) is measured. The measurement result of the storage period measured here is used when the priority determination unit 122 determines the priority of the authentication print job. For example, the priority determination unit 122 is used when determining the priority by looking at the past results of the storage period.

  The priority information adding unit 126 reads out the authentication print job with the priority selected by the priority determination unit 122 from the authentication print job storage unit 120 and adds the priority information. The priority print job transmission unit 128 receives the authentication print job to which the priority information is added from the priority information addition unit 126 and transmits it to the printer 106.

  The authenticated print job request receiving unit 130 receives an authenticated print job request including a certain user identifier from the printer 142. The authentication print job search unit 132 searches the authentication print job storage unit 120 for an authentication print job having a user identifier that matches the user identifier included in the authentication print job request received by the authentication print job request reception unit 130. To do. The authentication print job transmission unit 134 transmits the authentication print job searched by the authentication print job search unit 132 to the printer 106.

  The printer 106 includes a priority print job storage unit 136, a priority print job update unit 138, an authentication information reception unit 140, an authentication print job request unit 142, an authentication print job reception unit 144, and a print output unit 146.

  The priority print job storage unit 136 holds the authenticated print job with priority transmitted from the server 104 until printing is completed. The priority print job update unit 138 determines whether to receive the authentication print job with the priority transmitted from the server 104 and write it in the priority print job storage unit 136, and if necessary, the priority print job The authentication print job with priority stored in the storage unit 136 is deleted / updated.

  The authentication information receiving unit 140 receives authentication information including a user identifier transmitted from the authentication device 108. The authentication print job request unit 142 first searches the priority print job storage unit 136 for an authentication print job having a user identifier transmitted from the authentication device 108. As a result, the authentication print job having the user identifier is preferentially printed. If it is not in the job storage unit 136, an authentication print job request including the user identifier is created and transmitted to the authentication print job request reception unit 130 of the server 104.

  The authenticated print job receiving unit 144 gives priority to the authenticated print job including the user identifier if the authenticated print job including the user identifier is found in the priority print job storage unit 136 as a result of the search by the authenticated print job request unit 142. Obtained from the print job storage unit 136. If there is no authenticated print job including the user identifier in the priority print job storage unit 136, the authenticated print job receiving unit 144 transmits from the authenticated print job transmission unit 134 of the server 106 as a response to the above-described authenticated print job request. An authenticated print job is received. The print output unit 146 receives the authenticated print job received by the authenticated print job receiving unit 144 and executes printing.

  The authentication device 108 includes an authentication information input unit 150 and an authentication information transmission unit 152. The authentication information input unit 150 inputs authentication information including a user identifier from the user 110. The authentication information transmission unit 152 transmits the authentication information received from the authentication information input unit 150 to the authentication information reception unit 140 of the printer 106.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the authentication printing system 100 shown in FIG. 3 to 17 are diagrams illustrating specific examples of the authentication print job stored in the authentication print job storage unit 120 and the priority print job storage unit 136. FIG. Accordingly, the flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, but specific examples of the authentication print job of FIGS. 3 to 17 will be used as necessary.

  First, when the authentication print job generation unit 112 of the client 102 generates an authentication print job (step S1), the generated authentication print job is transmitted from the authentication print job transmission unit 114 of the client 102 to the authentication print job storage unit 120 of the server 104. The authentication print job is temporarily stored in the authentication print job storage unit 120 of the server 104 in the format illustrated in FIG. 3 (step S2).

  In the example of FIG. 3, unique information (ID) for the server 104 to identify the authentication print job is written in the job ID field. In the identifier (user identifier) field, identification information for identifying the user who has created the authentication print job by the client 102 is written.

  An authenticated print job file (binary print job data) is written in the job file field. In the storage time field, the time when the authentication print job is written in the authentication print job storage unit 120 of the server 104 (or the time when the authentication print job is output from the client 102 to the server 104) is recorded. In the size field, the data size (capacity) of the authentication print job is written.

  When the server 104 receives the user identifier for authentication from the printer 106, the server 104 receives the corresponding job file from FIG. 3 (for example, when 00987 is designated as the user identifier, the job file name is Document.prn. Aaaaa.prn) is retrieved and transmitted to the printer 106.

  Referring to FIG. 2 again, the priority determination unit 122 of the server 104 determines the priority of the authentication print job stored in the authentication print job storage unit 120 (step S3). Then, the priority information adding unit 126 of the server 104 adds priority information to the authenticated print job based on the priority determination result (step S4). The priority calculation and assignment in steps S3 to S4 is performed each time the server 104 receives new print data, and a new priority is calculated and given to the job each time.

  As a priority determination method, there are several methods that can be adopted selectively or in combination. One of them is a method of determining the priority in the order of the writing time (storing time) to the server 104. In this priority determination method, a higher priority is given to an authentication print job whose storage time is earlier.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the state of the authenticated print job storage unit 120 for explaining a method of giving a higher priority to print data with an earlier storage time. As shown in FIG. 4, since the authentication print job Test.prn has the earliest saving time of “2008/1/1 12:00”, 100 is set as the highest priority. Other jobs are given a priority that is lower by 10 each time the rank of the save time is lowered by one.

  Referring again to FIG. 2, the priority print job transmission unit 128 of the server 104 determines the job ID, priority, and job of the authenticated print job (job Test.prn in the example of FIG. 4) having the highest priority. The size information (these are collectively referred to as attribute information) is transmitted to the priority print job update unit 138 of the printer 106 (step S5).

  Next, the priority print job update unit 138 of the printer 106 receives the received attribute information and the status of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 (free space and priorities of other priority print jobs stored therein). On the basis of the size and the like), whether or not to update the priority print job storage unit 136 is determined (step S6), and whether or not the priority print job can be written from the printer 106 to the server 104 based on the determination result. Is returned (step S7). A specific example of the determination as to whether or not the priority print job can be updated is shown below.

  FIG. 5 shows a case immediately before receiving the authentication print job Test.prn having the highest priority shown in FIG. 4 in the specific case shown in FIG. 4 in which higher priority is given to the print data with the earliest storage time. A specific example of the state of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 at the time is shown. As shown in FIG. 5, two job files (Report.prn and Map.prn) with the highest priority 100 are already stored in the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106. At this time, if the total capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 is 3 Mb (= 3084 kb), the capacity of 2 Mb + 50 kb = 2098 kb is already used, and thus the free capacity is 986 kb.

  With this free space, since the size of the new priority print job Test.prn is 100 kb, it is possible to receive the job Test.prn. Therefore, a reply that a new priority print job Test.prn can be received is sent to the server 104.

  Referring to FIG. 2 again, as described above, when a reply indicating that a new job file can be written is received, the server 104 sends a new priority print job (job Test.prn in the above specific example) and its attributes. Information is transmitted to the printer 106 (step S8). Then, the printer 106 writes the new priority print job in the priority print job storage unit 136 (step S9). For example, a new priority print job Test.prn is added to the state illustrated in FIG. Then, the server 104 selects the job Abc.prn having the second highest priority in the specific example shown in FIG. 4 as the next new priority print job, and transmits the attribute information to the printer 106. Will do. In the printer 106, since the free capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 is still sufficient, the new priority print job Abc.prn is received and written to the priority print job storage unit 136.

  FIG. 6 shows the storage state of the priority print job storage unit 136 after the printer 106 has received two new priority print jobs as described above. Here, the highest priority job Test.prn in the job list of FIG. 4 and the second highest priority job Abc.prn are added to the priority print job storage unit 136.

  Here, the free space of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 is 886 kb−50 kb = 800 kb. On the other hand, the size of the third highest priority job Document.prn illustrated in FIG. 4 is 1 Mb. Therefore, since the file cannot be received, a reply indicating that the job Document.prn having the third highest priority is not received is sent from the printer 106 to the server 104, so that the free space of the priority print job storage unit 136 is sufficient. Until it becomes large, it is reserved to send the job Document.prn to the printer 106 as a priority print job.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the state of the authenticated print job storage unit 120 for explaining a method of giving a specific user a higher priority than other users as another method of determining the priority of print data. As shown in FIG. 7, a certain priority is set in advance for each user (for each user identifier), and each job is given the priority of the user of the job. For example, the priority 100 is set for the user identifier 00907, and the priority 80 is set for the user identifier 00123. Therefore, the attribute information (job ID, priority, and size) of the job file Document.prn and Aaaaa.prn having the highest priority identifier 00907 is transmitted from the server 104 to the printer 106.

  FIG. 8 shows the job Document.prn and the job Aaaaa.prn having the highest priority shown in FIG. 7 in the specific case illustrated in FIG. 7 in which the job of the specific user is given higher priority than other users. The storage state of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 at the time immediately before receiving “” is shown.

  Here, if the total capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 is 3 Mb (= 3084 kb), a capacity of 2 Mb + 50 kb = 2098 kb is used before a new priority print job is received. Therefore, the free space of the priority print job storage unit 136 is 986 kb, but the size of the job Document.prn is 1 Mb (= 1024 kb) and the size of the job Aaaaaa.prn is 300 kb. Is impossible.

  Therefore, the priority print job update unit 138 selects a job Report.prn having a lower priority than the jobs Document.prn and Aaaaaa.prn among the jobs shown in FIG. 8 that are already stored in the priority print job storage unit 136. The priority print job storage unit 136 deletes it. As a result, of the two jobs Document.prn and Aaaaaa.prn having the highest priority shown in FIG. Only prn is received by the printer 106 and stored in the priority print job storage unit 136. With respect to the job file Aaaaa.prn whose storage time is later than that, since it is currently impossible to delete a job having a lower priority from the priority print job storage unit 136, the reception thereof is rejected by the printer 106.

  FIG. 9 shows another example of priority determination of print data, in which a higher priority is given to a user whose storage period of a past job (in short, a period from generation of a job to authentication) is shorter. 6 illustrates an example of the state of the authentication print job storage unit 120 for explaining the above. In the example of FIG. 9, the highest priority 100 is given to the jobs Document.prn and Aaaaa.prn of the user identifier 00907. Based on this priority assignment, for each user (user identifier), the storage period of past jobs is measured to obtain an average value (the measurement and calculation are performed by the print job storage period measuring unit 124), and There is data with priority set based on it.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of data of the average retention period of past jobs for each user (user identifier). In the example of FIG. 10, the highest priority 100 is set for the user identifier 00907 with the shortest average storage period, and the lowest priority 0 is set for the user identifier 00123 with the longest average storage period. The intermediate user identifier 0777 is set with the priority obtained by the proportional distribution calculation for the average storage period. That is, the priority of the identifier 0777 is calculated as 100 × (1− (34−32) ÷ (48−32)) = 88.

  FIG. 11 shows jobs Document.prn and Aaaaa.prn having the highest priority in FIG. 9 in the example shown in FIG. 9 in which a higher priority is given to a user with a shorter retention period of the past job. An example of a storage state of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 before reception is shown.

  Here, if the total capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 is 3 Mb (= 3084 kb), the capacity of 2 Mb + 50 kb = 2098 kb is used before the jobs Document.prn and Aaaaa.prn are received. Therefore, the free space of the priority print job storage unit 136 is 986 kb. At this time, since the size of the job Document.prn is 1 Mb (= 1024 kb) and the size of the job Aaaaaa.prn is 300 kb, it is impossible to receive all the files. Therefore, in FIG. 11, the lower priority job Report.prn is deleted to increase the free space, and the job with the earlier storage time of the two highest priority jobs in FIG. Document.prn is stored in the priority print job storage unit 136. On the other hand, the job Aaaaa.prn whose storage time is later than that cannot be deleted and the free space cannot be increased. Is done.

  FIG. 12 shows another example of the method for determining the priority of print data, in which a job having a job file name including a character string (keyword) designated in advance is given a higher priority than other jobs. 6 illustrates an example of the state of the authentication print job storage unit 120 for explaining the above. In FIG. 12, the highest priority 100 is given to the jobs “high priority” Test.prn and “high priority” Aaaaa.prn having file names including the designated character string “high priority”. In this base, there is data in which priorities are set in advance for each designated character string.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of correspondence data between designated character strings (keywords) that can be included in job file names and their priorities. In the case of the example of FIG. 13, the highest priority 100 is set for a specified character string “high priority”, and the next highest priority 80 is set for another specified character string “medium priority”. If there is no specified character string (keyword), the lowest priority 0 is set. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, the jobs “high priority” Test.prn and “high priority” Aaaaa.prn have the highest priority, and they are candidates for the priority print job.

  FIG. 14 shows the highest priority in FIG. 12 in the example of FIG. 12 in which a job having a job file name including the previously specified character string (keyword) is given higher priority than other jobs. An example of the storage state of the priority print job storage unit 138 of the printer 106 immediately before receiving the job “High priority” Test.prn and “High priority” AAAa.prn is shown.

Here, if the total capacity of the priority print job storage unit 138 is 3 Mb (= 3084 kb), the capacity of 2 Mb + 50 kb = 2098 kb is already used.
There is free space of kb. On the other hand, referring to FIG. 12, the size of the job “High priority” Test.prn having the highest priority is 100 kb, and the size of the job “High priority” Aaaaaa.prn is 300 kb. It can be received as a job. Further, after both jobs “high priority” Test.prn and “high priority” Aaaaaa.prn are stored in the priority print job storage unit 138, priority-less printing is also performed for a job without a keyword having the next priority in FIG. As long as the free space in the job storage unit 138 allows, it is stored in the priority print job storage unit 138 as a priority print job.

  On the other hand, in the above example, if the free space of the priority print job storage unit 138 is insufficient and a job having the keyword “high priority” cannot be received, the already stored FIG. After the lower priority job “Medium priority” Report.prn is deleted from the indicated jobs and the free space increases, among the jobs having the keyword “High priority” in FIG. The earlier job “high priority” Aaaaaa.prn is first stored as a priority print job in the priority print job storage unit 138, and the next high priority “Aaaaaa.prn” is rejected because of insufficient free space.

  FIG. 15 shows still another example of print data priority determination for a job having a file name including a specified character string (keyword) having a shorter retention period of a past job. An example of the state of the authentication print job storage unit 120 for explaining an example of assigning “.” Is shown. As shown in FIG. 15, priorities are given according to designated character strings including file names. In this base, for each designated character string (keyword), the storage period of past jobs including it is measured and the average value is calculated (the measurement and calculation are performed by the print job storage period measuring unit 124). Data that has a priority set based on it.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of data and priority of the average retention period of past jobs for each designated character string (keyword). In the example of FIG. 16, the highest priority 100 is set for the character string “schedule” with the shortest average storage period, and the lowest priority 0 is set for the character string “confidential” with the longest average storage period. . The intermediate character string is set with the priority calculated by the proportional distribution calculation of the average storage period. That is, the priority of the character string “confidential” is 100 × (1− (34−32) ÷ (48−32)) = 88, and the priority without a keyword is 100 × (1− (45−32). ) ÷ (48−32)) = 19.

  FIG. 17 shows that the job “Schedule” Aaaaa.prn having the highest priority is received in the example shown in FIG. 15 in which a job having a file name including a character string with a shorter retention period is given higher priority. The storage state of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 at the time immediately before the start is shown.

  Here, if the total capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 of the printer 106 is 3 Mb (= 3084 kb), the capacity of 2 Mb + 50 kb = 2098 kb is already used, and the free capacity is 986 kb. Accordingly, since the job “schedule” Aaaaa.prn having the highest priority shown in FIG. 15 has a size of 300 kb, it can be stored in the priority print job storage unit 136 as a priority print job. Further, a job “report” Abc.prn having the next highest priority can be stored in the priority print job storage unit 136 as a priority print job.

  On the other hand, if the free capacity of the priority print job storage unit 136 is smaller than the size of the job “schedule” Aaaaa.prn, the priority is lower than that of the job “schedule” Aaaaa.prn from the state of FIG. After the job Report.prn is deleted and the free space increases, the job “schedule” Aaaaa.prn in FIG. 15 is added to the state in FIG.

  As described above, various priority assignment methods can be employed, and control of pre-transfer of a priority print job from the server 104 to the printer 106 and storage in the printer 106 is performed in a manner corresponding to each method. .

  Reference is again made to FIG. In step S6, the printer 106 determines whether or not to update a high priority job file while determining the free space of the priority print job storage unit 136 in the manner described above. In step S7, the priority is given. The printer 106 returns to the server 104 whether or not writing of a job file with a high priority is possible according to the state of the free capacity of the print job storage unit 136. If it is writable, the server 104 transmits the corresponding priority print job and its attribute information to the printer 106 in step S8. Accordingly, in step S9, the printer 106 writes the priority print job in the priority print job storage unit 136.

  Thereafter, when the user 110 performs an authentication operation (input of authentication information including a user identifier) from the authentication information input unit 150 of the authentication device 108 (step S10), the printer 106 includes the user included in the input authentication information. First, an authenticated print job having a user identifier that matches the identifier is searched from the priority print job storage unit 136 in the printer 106 (step S11).

  If there is no corresponding authentication print job in the priority print job storage unit 136 as a result of the search, the authentication print job request unit 142 of the printer 106 next sends the user identifier included in the authentication information to the server 104. The included authentication print job request is transmitted (step S12). Then, the authentication print job search unit 132 of the server 104 searches the authentication print job storage unit 120 for an authentication print job having a user identifier that matches the user identifier included in the authentication print job request (step S13). Then, the authentication print job transmission unit 134 of the server 104 reads out the authentication print job found by the search from the authentication print job storage unit 120, transmits the authentication print job to the authentication print job reception unit 144 of the printer 106, and authentication print The job receiving unit 144 sends the authentication print job to the print output unit 146 (step S14).

  On the other hand, if the corresponding authentication print job is found from the priority print job storage unit 136 in step S11, the authentication print job reception unit 144 of the printer 106 reads out the corresponding authentication print job from the priority print job storage unit 136 and stores it. The data is sent to the print output unit 146 (step S15). At this time, steps S12 to S14 described above are also performed in parallel.

  Then, the print output unit 146 performs print output of the received authentication print job (step S16). When the authentication print job is read from the priority print job storage unit 136 and printed in step S15 described above, the print output is completed in a shorter time than in steps S12 to S14 received from the server 104.

  When the print output is completed, the printer 106 deletes the corresponding authentication print job from the priority print job storage unit 136 and transmits a print completion notification to the server 104 (step S17). The server 104 receives the authentication print job storage unit. The corresponding authenticated print job is deleted from 120 (step S18).

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this is an illustration for description of this invention, and is not the meaning which limits the scope of the present invention only to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various modes different from the above-described embodiments without departing from the gist thereof.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an authentication printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of this authentication printing system. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an authentication print job stored in an authentication print job storage unit 120 of the server 104. FIG. The figure which shows the example of a state of the authentication print job preservation | save part for demonstrating the example which gives a high priority to the print data with earlier preservation | save time as an example of the priority determination of print data. The figure which shows the example of the preservation | save state of the priority print job preservation | save part of a printer in the case of assigning a higher priority to print data with earlier preservation time. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a storage state of a priority print job storage unit after the printer receives a new priority print job. The figure which shows the example of a state of the authentication print job preservation | save part for demonstrating the example which gives a high priority to a specific user as an example of the priority determination of print data. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a storage state of a priority print job storage unit of a printer when a high priority is assigned to a job of a specific user. The figure which shows the example of a state of the authentication print job preservation | save part for demonstrating the example which gives a higher priority to a user's job with a shorter preservation period of the past job as an example of the priority determination of print data. The figure which shows the data of the average preservation | save period for every user (user identifier). The figure which shows the example of the preservation | save state of the priority print job preservation | save part of a printer in the case of giving a high priority to a user's job with a shorter preservation period of the past job. The figure which shows the example of a state of the authentication print job preservation | save part for demonstrating the example which gives a high priority to the job with the file name containing the keyword designated beforehand as a method example of the priority determination of print data. The figure which shows the correspondence data of the character string in a job file name, and its priority. The figure which shows the example of the preservation | save state of the priority print job preservation | save part of a printer in the case of giving a high priority to the job with the file name containing the keyword designated beforehand. As an example of a method for determining the priority of print data, an example of a state of an authenticated print job storage unit for explaining an example in which a higher priority is given to a job having a file name including a keyword with a short storage period of a past job FIG. The figure which shows the data and the priority of the average storage period for every keyword. The figure which shows the example of the preservation | save state of the priority print job preservation | save part of a printer in the case of giving a high priority to the job with the file name containing the keyword which has the short preservation period of the past job.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Authentication printing system 102 Client 104 Server 106 Printer 108 Authentication apparatus 110 User 112 Authentication print job generation part 114 Authentication print job transmission part 120 Authentication print job storage part 122 Priority discrimination part 124 Print job storage period measurement part 126 Priority information addition Unit 128 priority print job transmission unit 130 authentication print job request reception unit 132 authentication print job search unit 134 authentication print job transmission unit 136 priority print job storage unit 138 priority print job update unit 140 authentication information reception unit 142 authentication print job request unit 144 Authentication print job reception unit 146 Print output unit 150 Authentication information input unit 152 Authentication information transmission unit

Claims (13)

Print output means for executing print output; and
First storage means for storing one or more print jobs output from the client;
A second storage means for receiving and storing at least one print job from the first storage means and capable of transferring data to the print output means in a shorter time than the first storage means;
Priority determination means for determining the priority of the print job in the first storage means;
Transfer that selects a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage unit based on the priority and transfers the selected priority print job from the first storage unit to the second storage unit Means,
Event generation means for generating a predetermined event;
In response to the event generation means, the second storage means is searched for a requested print job for which print output is requested, and if the requested print job is in the second storage means, the second storage is performed. The request print job is transferred from the first storage unit to the print output unit, and if the request print job is not in the second storage unit, the request print job is transferred from the first storage unit to the print output unit. A printing system comprising print output requesting means. The printing system according to claim 1 or 2,
A server having the first storage means;
A printing system comprising the print output unit and a printer having the second storage unit. The printing system according to claim 1 or 2,
Based on the data size and priority of the priority print job, and the capacity of the second storage unit, deletion of an existing priority print job in the second storage unit or new priority printing to the second storage unit A printing system further comprising update means for controlling job writing. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A printing system in which the priority determination unit determines the priority of each print job in accordance with the time or order in which each print job is output from the client or the time or order in which the print job is written in the first storage unit. . In the printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A printing system in which the priority determination means determines the priority of each print job according to who the user of each print job is. The printing system according to claim 5.
For each print job printed out in the past, it further comprises storage time measuring means for measuring a storage period from output from the client or writing to the first storage means until printing out,
The priority determination unit determines the priority of the print job of each user in the first storage unit based on the storage period of the past one or more print jobs of each user measured by the storage time measurement unit. Determine the printing system. In the printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A printing system in which the priority determination unit determines the priority of each print job according to a character string included in a file name of each print job. The printing system according to claim 7.
For each print job printed out in the past, a storage time measuring unit that measures a storage period from the output from the client or writing to the first storage unit to the printing output is provided,
Each of the character strings in the first storage unit is based on the storage period of the past one or more print jobs having a file including each character string measured by the storage time measurement unit. A printing system that determines the priority of a print job with a file that contains. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The event generation means performs authentication by inputting identification information from the user,
The print output requesting unit searches for the user's print job as the requested print job from the second storage unit in response to the successful authentication as the predetermined event;
Printing system. A printer communicably connected to a server, wherein the server
First storage means for storing one or more print jobs output from the client;
Priority determination means for determining the priority of the print job in the first storage means;
Transfer means for selecting a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage means based on the priority, and transferring the selected priority print job from the first storage means to the printer; In the printer in the case of comprising,
Print output means for executing print output; and
Second storage means for receiving and storing at least one print job from the first storage means;
In response to a predetermined event, a request print job for which print output is requested is searched from the second storage unit, and if the requested print job is in the second storage unit, the second storage unit Printing that transfers the requested print job from the first storage unit to the print output unit if the requested print job is transferred from the first storage unit to the print output unit if the requested print job is not in the second storage unit A printer comprising output request means. A server communicably connected to a client and a printer, wherein the printer is
Print output means for executing print output; and
Second storage means for receiving and storing at least one print job from the server;
In response to a predetermined event, a request print job for which print output is requested is searched from the second storage unit, and if the requested print job is in the second storage unit, the second storage unit A print output request unit for transferring the requested print job from the server to the print output unit if the requested print job is not in the second storage unit. In the server in the case of comprising
First storage means for storing one or more print jobs output from the client;
Priority determination means for determining the priority of the print job in the first storage means;
Transfer means for selecting a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage means based on the priority, and transferring the selected priority print job from the first storage means to the printer; Server provided. A machine-readable computer program for causing a computer to function as a server communicably connected to a client and a printer, the printer comprising:
Print output means for executing print output; and
Second storage means for receiving and storing at least one print job from the server;
In response to a predetermined event, a request print job for which print output is requested is searched from the second storage unit, and if the requested print job is in the second storage unit, the second storage unit A print output request unit for transferring the requested print job from the server to the print output unit if the requested print job is not in the second storage unit. In the computer program in the case of comprising
First storage means for storing one or more print jobs output from a client by the server;
Priority determination means for determining the priority of the print job in the first storage means;
Transfer means for selecting a priority print job from the print jobs in the first storage means based on the priority, and transferring the selected priority print job from the first storage means to the printer; Computer program provided. Storing at least one print job output from the client in a first storage unit;
Determining a priority of the print job in the first storage means;
Based on the priority, a priority print job is selected from the print jobs in the first storage unit, and the selected priority print job is shorter than the first storage unit from the first storage unit. Transferring to a second storage means capable of transferring data to the print output means on time;
Receiving and storing at least one print job transferred from the first storage unit at the second storage unit;
Generating a predetermined event;
In response to the predetermined event, the second storage unit is searched for a requested print job for which print output is requested, and if the requested print job is in the second storage unit, the second storage is performed. The request print job is transferred from the first storage unit to the print output unit, and if the request print job is not in the second storage unit, the request print job is transferred from the first storage unit to the print output unit. Steps,
And a step of printing out the print job transferred to the print output means by the print output means.

Images