JP2010181943A - Job monitoring system, job monitoring method, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method for reducing a network load and a printer load. <P>SOLUTION: The job monitoring system for monitoring a print job transmitted to a printer, during printing and discharging paper. The job monitoring system includes: a data transmitting section 12 extracting print data accumulated as a print job in a job queue 15, transmitting the print data to printers 20, 30 and determining whether a specified data amount of print data has been transmitted or not; and a job state acquiring section 13 making inquiries to the printers 20, 30 at predetermined intervals to monitor the print job and acquiring the state of the print job from the printers 20, 30. The job state acquiring section 13 starts monitoring the print job after being notified that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted from the data transmitting section. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a job monitoring system for monitoring the status of a print job transmitted to a printing apparatus, a job monitoring method performed by the job monitoring system, a computer-readable program for realizing the method, and a program recorded therein The recorded recording medium.

  When printing a document created on a PC, the document data is converted into print data by a printer driver, and the print data is transmitted to a printer such as a printer. The printing device notifies the PC every time one page is printed, when all pages of the print job are printed, or when an abnormality occurs during printing. By receiving this notification, the user can It is possible to know that printing has ended and that an abnormality has occurred during printing, and appropriate measures can be taken for the abnormality.

  After transmitting the print data to the printing apparatus, the PC makes an inquiry to the printing apparatus at a regular timing in order to monitor the print job. This monitoring is performed by a method called polling in which there is no transmission request and the other party is asked one by one. Through this polling, the PC obtains the status of the print job from the printing apparatus such as waiting for execution of printing, executing printing, completion of paper discharge, and confirming the progress of the job.

  The PC can monitor the job status in real time by shortening the polling interval. However, if multiple PCs poll at the same time in the form of using one printing device from multiple PCs by network technology, There is a problem that the load on the network or the printing apparatus increases. On the other hand, if the polling interval is lengthened, those loads can be reduced, but the update of the job status is delayed, and when processing is performed depending on the job status, the processing may not be performed correctly.

  Thus, for example, the following apparatuses and methods have been proposed as apparatuses and methods that can monitor the status of a print job while reducing the network load (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  Patent Document 1 proposes an apparatus and a method for acquiring a predetermined number from all new log information stored in a printing apparatus and determining the processing result of a print job based on the acquired log information. is doing. In this apparatus and method, by narrowing down the number of log acquisitions, print confirmation by log acquisition is performed at high speed, and the load on the network and the printing apparatus is reduced.

  In Patent Document 2, when a polling interval reduction request is received from a server by polling performed at a polling interval set as a standard polling interval, the polling interval is changed to the shortened polling interval. A control method for transmitting a print status transmission request to a printing apparatus in response to polling performed at a short polling interval is proposed. When the printing apparatus polls the server at a short polling interval and receives a print status transmission request from the server, the printing apparatus acquires print status information indicating the progress status of the print job, and transmits the acquired print status information to the server. The server receives and acquires the printing status information transmitted from the printing apparatus in response to the transmitted printing status transmission request.

  When the print status is monitored by the server, the shortened polling interval is shortened in order to monitor the print status. In other cases, the standard polling interval is used. In consideration of this, it is possible to sufficiently monitor the printing status that changes every moment.

  Although the above-described conventional technology enables reduction of network load and acquisition of job status in near real time, depending on events that change from moment to moment, such as job characteristics that differ for each job and the status of the printing device, A loss to the network load and the load on the printing apparatus occurs.

  For example, in the printing apparatus, the paper is not discharged unless the reception of the print data for at least one page is completed, but if there is a job status inquiry from the PC or the like before the reception of the print data for one page is completed, Since there is no change in the job status, a wasteful network load or printing device load occurs.

  In addition, in the case of a print job in which printing attributes such as punching and stapling are set, the printing apparatus does not discharge paper unless reception of print data for all pages is completed, but reception of print data for all pages is completed. If there is a previous job status inquiry from the PC, there will be no change in the job status, causing unnecessary network load and printing device load.

  This is also the case with consolidated printing. The printing device does not discharge paper unless at least the printing data for the consolidated pages is received, but the job status is not received from the PC before the printing data for the consolidated pages is received. If there is an inquiry, there is no change in the job status, and therefore a wasteful network load and printing device load occur.

  Therefore, it has been desired to provide a system and method that can prevent the generation of such a wasteful network load and a load on the printing apparatus.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention performs a system configuration so that a job status can be monitored after a specific amount of print data has been transmitted to a printing apparatus. In the above example, the job status is monitored after transmission of print data for one page of the print data to the printing apparatus is completed, and if print attributes such as punch and staple are set, all pages The job status is monitored after transmission of print data to the printing apparatus is completed, and in the case of aggregate printing, the job status is monitored after transmission of print data for aggregate pages to the printing apparatus is completed. .

  Until the completion of sending a certain amount of print data to the printing device, the job status does not change, so making inquiries in the meantime is just useless, and do not make inquiries during that time. Thus, the network load can be reduced, and the load on the printing apparatus can also be reduced. When the transmission to the printing device is completed, the printing device performs paper discharge, punching, stapling, etc., so that the job status changes, and when the inquiry is made for the first time, the changed job status is acquired. be able to.

  In addition, since the specific amount can be adjusted according to job characteristics, the state of the printing apparatus, and the like, loss to the network load and the load of the printing apparatus can be reduced to the maximum.

  The job monitoring system of the present invention can be provided as a system that can reduce the load on the network and the printing apparatus.

  This job monitoring system is a system that monitors a print job transmitted to a printing apparatus until the printing apparatus executes printing and discharges the print job, and print data stored as a print job in a job storage unit is extracted from the printing apparatus. In addition to a data transmission unit that determines whether or not the specified amount of print data has been transmitted, and in order to monitor the print job, it makes an inquiry to the printing device at regular intervals to check the status of the print job. A job status acquisition unit that acquires from the printing apparatus, and the job status acquisition unit starts monitoring a print job after receiving a notification that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted from the data transmission unit It is characterized by that.

  The specified amount of print data can be one page of print data stored as a print job. In this case, the job status acquisition unit starts monitoring the print job after receiving notification that the print data for one page has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.

  In this way, by adjusting the monitoring interval of the job status during data transmission of the first page, it is possible to reduce the loss to the load on the network and the printing apparatus to the maximum.

  The print data having the designated data amount can be print data for one page of the print data accumulated as a print job. In this case, the job status acquisition unit starts monitoring the print job every time it receives a notification that the print data for one page has been transmitted from the data transmission unit, and the print data for one page is processed, Monitoring is terminated every time one page is discharged.

  In this way, by adjusting the monitoring interval of the job status during data transmission for one page, it is possible to reduce the loss to the load on the network and the printing apparatus to the maximum.

  The job monitoring system may further include a job receiving unit that receives print data as a print job and stores the print data in a job storage unit. The job reception unit further determines whether or not a print attribute is set from the print data. If it is determined that the print attribute is set, the job reception unit adds the set print attribute to the print data as attribute information. This makes it possible to adjust the job status monitoring interval according to the print attributes.

  As the attribute information, for example, information indicating double-sided printing can be cited. In this case, the data transmission unit transmits two pages of print data as print data of the designated data amount to the printing apparatus, and the job status acquisition unit transmits two pages of print data from the data transmission unit. After receiving the notification to that effect, monitoring of the print job is started.

  In the case of punching or stapling information, the data transmission unit transmits print data for all pages to the printing apparatus as print data of the designated data amount, and the job status acquisition unit receives all data from the data transmission unit. After receiving notification that the page print data has been transmitted, monitoring of the print job is started.

  In the case of information for aggregate printing, the data transmission unit transmits print data for the aggregated page to the printing apparatus as print data of the designated data amount, and the job status acquisition unit receives data from the data transmission unit. After receiving the notification that the print data for the consolidated pages has been transmitted, monitoring of the print job is started.

  The specified amount of print data is the print data for the same number of pages that can be stored on the paper discharge path from the paper feed tray to the paper discharge tray among the print data stored as a print job. You can also. In this case, the job status acquisition unit starts monitoring the print job after receiving notification that the print data for the page has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.

  When the printing apparatus is warming up, the job status acquisition unit can increase the interval of inquiries performed to acquire the status of the print job since there is no change in the job status during that time.

  In addition, even when the printing apparatus is stopped due to an abnormality, the job status acquisition unit does not change the job status during that time, so the printing apparatus issues an inquiry to acquire the status of the print job. It can be interrupted until it recovers.

  In addition to the job monitoring system, the present invention can also provide a job monitoring method including processing performed in this system as a processing step. In addition, this method includes each processing step performed by each unit constituting the job monitoring system, and these processing steps can be realized by executing a computer-readable program. Therefore, the present invention can also provide a computer-readable program for realizing the job monitoring method.

  The program can be provided by being recorded on a recording medium. In the present invention, a recording medium on which the program is recorded can also be provided.

The figure which showed the place where PC as a job monitoring system and the printer and MFP as a printing apparatus were connected via the network. The functional block diagram of a job monitoring system. The flowchart figure which showed an example of the process until the monitoring which a job monitoring system performs is started. The flowchart figure which showed another example of the process until it starts the monitoring which a job monitoring system performs. The flowchart figure which showed another example of the process until the monitoring which a job monitoring system performs is started. The flowchart figure which showed the flow of a process until it judges whether a printing attribute is double-sided printing, and starts monitoring of a job. The flowchart figure which showed the flow of a process until it judges whether a printing attribute is what punches or staples, and starts the monitoring of a job. The flowchart figure which showed the flow of a process until it judges whether a printing attribute is collective printing and starts monitoring of a job. When the specified amount of print data is print data for the same number of pages that can be stored on the paper discharge path from the paper feed tray to the paper discharge tray among the print data stored as a print job The flowchart figure which showed the flow of the process until it starts monitoring of the job of. The flowchart figure which showed the flow of one process which confirms the state of a printer, changes a monitoring interval according to the state, and starts job monitoring. The flowchart figure which showed the flow of another process which confirms the state of a printer, changes a monitoring interval according to the state, and starts job monitoring.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a PC functioning as a job monitoring system and a printer and MFP as printing apparatuses connected via a network. In FIG. 1, two printers 20 and MFPs 30 serving as printing apparatuses are connected to the network 40 and can be used for the PC 10, but they may be directly connected to the PC 10. Further, one PC 10, one printer 20, and one MFP 30 are connected to the network 40, but the number of devices may be any number. Examples of the network 40 include the Internet and an intranet.

  The PC 10 receives an input from a user, an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, a display device for displaying input characters, a document creation application for creating a print document, an OS, a BIOS, ROM, RAM, HDD and other storage devices for storing firmware, printer drivers, etc., a CPU for executing these programs, and a communication device for connecting to the network 40 and enabling communication via the network 40 I have. The storage device also stores a communication destination IP address, a device name, and the like used when the communication device performs communication.

  The printer 20 includes a printer engine for printing output, a controller for controlling the printer engine, a memory such as a ROM and a RAM for storing an OS and other programs for realizing the processing, a CPU for executing these programs, A communication device that enables communication with the PC 10 and the MFP 30 via the network 40, a display unit that displays the number of printed sheets, a key input device that receives input for changing various settings, and the like are provided.

  The MFP 30 has a plurality of functions such as a scanner, copy, FAX, printer, network communication, and image conversion processing, and includes a controller and an engine unit.

  The engine unit includes a printer engine, a scan engine, a copy engine, a facsimile engine, and the like. Each of these engines is provided with a controller for controlling the engine, and an application is executed to realize these functions.

  As an example of the engine unit, when a printer engine is used, when the printer engine is an electrophotographic printer, the photosensitive member, a charging unit for charging the photosensitive member, and an exposure apparatus that writes an image by irradiating the photosensitive member with laser light. A developing unit that develops an image written on the photoconductor, a transfer belt, a primary transfer unit that transfers an image formed on the photoconductor to the transfer belt, and an image transferred on the transfer belt to a paper medium. The image forming apparatus includes a next transfer unit, a fixing unit for fixing an image transferred to a paper medium, and the like.

  A printer controller is provided to control the printer engine. The printer controller controls the irradiation position and irradiation time of the laser light emitted from the exposure apparatus, the amount of toner attached to the photoconductor, and the like. In order to realize such control, the printer controller can output signals to a printer application that executes these controls, a memory that stores each setting value, a processor that reads and executes them from the memory, and a printer engine I / O devices to perform.

  In addition to the controller and engine unit described above, the MFP 30 is connected to the PC 10 via the network 40, a CPU for controlling the entire MFP, a memory such as a ROM and RAM for storing an OS and other programs for realizing the processing, and the network 40. A communication device that enables communication, an operation panel having a function as a display unit that receives various setting changes and displays a current state, a key input device, and the like are provided.

  The PC 10 activates a document creation application, stores a document created by the user using the input device as document data, designates the printer 20 or the MFP 30 and issues a print instruction, and then prints the document on paper. Print on and output. At that time, the PC 10 converts the document data into print data by the printer driver, and transmits the print data to the printer 20 or the MFP 30 as a print job including parameters set as print conditions and a series of processing instructions.

  Thereafter, the PC 10 continues to monitor the transmitted print job until printing is completed on the paper by the printer 20 or the MFP 30 and the paper discharge is completed. Job monitoring can be performed by inquiring at regular intervals and acquiring the job status from the printer 20 or MFP 30. The job status includes job execution, job execution wait, job end, and the like. The printer 20 or the MFP 30 transmits information regarding these job states to the PC 10 using the IP address, device name, and port number of the PC 10 included in the inquiry.

  The inquiry about the job status can be performed, for example, by a method called polling in which the printer 20 and the MFP 30 are asked one by one. In order to monitor the job status in real time, it is necessary to shorten the polling interval and increase the frequency. However, this increases the number of inquiries flowing through the network 40, increasing the network load, and also increasing the load on the printer 20 and MFP 30 that receive the inquiries.

  On the other hand, if the polling interval is lengthened, the network load and the load on the printer 20 and the MFP 30 are reduced, but the update of the job status is delayed, and when processing is performed depending on the job status, the processing may not be performed correctly. In order to solve this, the PC 10 is configured not to perform job monitoring until transmission of a specific amount of print data to the printer 20 or the MFP 30 is completed, but to start monitoring after transmission is completed. This can be realized by a program, and in order to realize this, the job monitoring system includes the following units.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the job monitoring system. The configuration of the job monitoring system shown in FIG. 2 is an example. The PC 10 functions as a job monitoring system, and includes a device unit 16 having a job reception unit 11, a data transmission unit 12, a job status acquisition unit 13, a device status acquisition unit 14, and a job queue 15. The device unit 16 is provided for each device, and can communicate with each device using the MAC address, IP address, device name, and the like of the device as identification information.

  The document data created by the document creation application is converted by the printer driver into print data described in the page description language used in the printing apparatus. When performing consolidated printing, enlarging or reducing printing, enlarging or reducing, a set of parameters such as the magnification and other printing conditions and the device to print out are specified, and a series of commands to give printing instructions to that device And output as a print request including a processing instruction. The job reception unit 11 receives this print job from the printer driver.

  The job reception unit 11 puts the received print job into the job queue 15 and temporarily accumulates it until it is taken out for execution in the job queue 15. For this reason, the job queue 15 has a FIFO structure in which the first job is sent out first, and manages the print job. The data transmission unit 12 takes out the print job stored first in the job queue 15 and transmits it to the designated printer 20 or MFP 30. In the following description, it is assumed that the printer 20 is designated as the printing apparatus.

  In addition to data transmission, the data transmission unit 12 determines whether or not print data having a predetermined data amount has been transmitted, and if so, outputs a notification to that effect. The device status acquisition unit 14 periodically acquires the status of the printer 20, specifically, whether the printer 20 is warming up, out of paper, out of toner, toner usage, remaining amount, and the like.

  The job status acquisition unit 13 acquires the notification and the status of the printer 20 from the data transmission unit 12 and the device status acquisition unit 14, and determines the start time of print job monitoring. When the job status acquisition unit 13 starts monitoring the print job, the printer 20 prints on the paper using the print data, and the printer 20 collects the printed paper at regular intervals until the printed paper is discharged. And repeat the acquisition of the status of the print job.

  The device unit 16 includes these units, but may be configured to control the entire job monitoring process. In this case, the device unit 16 can receive the notification output from the data transmission unit 12 and instruct the job status acquisition unit 13 to start monitoring the job status.

  With reference to FIGS. 3 to 11, processing up to the start of monitoring performed by the job monitoring system will be described in detail. First, referring to FIG. 3, the processing is started from step 300, and in step 310, the job reception unit 11 receives the print job input to the job monitoring system and inputs it to the job queue 15.

  Next, in step 320, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the print data of the print job put in the earliest position in the job queue 15 and starts sending the print data to the printer 20 that is the designated printing apparatus.

  In step 330, the data transmission unit 12 transmits print data and determines whether or not print data having a designated data amount has been transmitted to the printer 20. When it is determined that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted, a notification to that effect is output. The data transmission unit 12 repeats the transmission of the print data and the above determination until transmission of the designated amount of print data to the printer 20 is completed.

  In step 340, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives a notification to that effect, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. That is, the monitoring of the print job is started. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 350. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  In the process shown in FIG. 3, job status monitoring is started when print data of a specified amount of data is transmitted. Specifically, as shown in FIG. The print status is transmitted, a notification that the transmission is completed is output, and the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, so that monitoring of the job status can be started.

  FIG. 4 is almost the same as the process shown in FIG. 3 except that step 430 determines whether or not print data for one page has been transmitted.

  5 is the same as the processing shown in FIG. 4 until the transmission of the print job for one page and the monitoring of the job status is started, but in step 550, the print job for all pages is transmitted. It is determined whether or not the processing has been completed, and the processing of steps 520 to 540 is repeated until transmission of print data for all the pages is completed.

  In the process shown in FIG. 5, when printing for one page is completed and the sheet is discharged, the monitoring is once ended. The data transmission unit 12 transmits the print data of the second page and outputs a notification that the transmission has been performed. The job status acquisition unit 13 receives this notification and starts monitoring again. In this way, these processes are repeated until the print data for all pages has been transmitted.

  When the data transmission unit 12 determines that the print data of the last page has been transmitted and outputs a notification to that effect, the process proceeds to step 560, where the job status acquisition unit 13 starts monitoring the job and ends at step 570. To do. When the printing of the last page is finished and discharged, the monitoring of this print job is finished. In this way, monitoring is started each time print data for one page is transmitted, and monitoring is terminated each time paper is discharged, thereby reducing the load on the network and the printing apparatus.

  So far, the job status acquisition unit 13 has received a notification that the print data for one page has been transmitted as the specified data amount, and the job status acquisition unit 13 has started the process of acquiring the job status. Among the print jobs accepted by the job accepting unit 11, there are jobs in which printing attributes such as duplex printing, aggregate printing, punching and stapling are set. The timing of starting monitoring can be changed depending on the print attribute, thereby reducing the load on the network and the printing apparatus, so the presence / absence of the print attribute and its type are determined.

  This print attribute is set by the user at the time of printing, and is sent to the printer 20 as a print job. Before sending the print attribute to the printer 20, the job reception unit 11 receives the print job, determines the presence of the print attribute, and prints. If there is an attribute, the type of the print attribute is determined.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing until it is determined whether or not the printing attribute is duplex printing and job monitoring is started. This processing is started from step 600, and in step 610, the job reception unit 11 receives a print job input to the job monitoring system. In step 620, the job reception unit 11 determines whether the received print job is for duplex printing. The determination result is added as attribute information to the print job in order to detect that the data transmission unit 12 performs duplex printing.

  Thereafter, the job reception unit 11 submits this job to the job queue 15. In step 630, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmitting print data to the printer 20. In step 640, the data transmission unit 12 confirms the attribute information added to the extracted print job and determines whether or not transmission of two pages of print data to the printer 20 has been completed. When the transmission is completed, a notification that the transmission of the print data for two pages has been completed is output. If the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step 630 and the transmission of the print data is continued until the transmission of the print data for two pages is completed.

  On the other hand, if the two-sided printing is not performed, the process proceeds to step 650, where the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15, starts transmission of print data to the printer 20, and in step 660, the data The transmission unit 12 determines whether or not the print data for one page has been transmitted. If it has been transmitted, a notification indicating that the transmission has been completed is output. If not, the process returns to step 650 to return the print data. Continue sending.

  After transmitting the print data for the designated page, in step 670, the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification output by the data transmission unit 12, and starts monitoring the job status. That is, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 680. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing until it is determined whether or not the printing attribute is punching or stapling and job monitoring is started. This process is started from step 700, and in step 710, the job reception unit 11 receives a print job input to the job monitoring system. In step 720, the job reception unit 11 determines whether the received print job is for punching or stapling. The determination result is added as attribute information to the print job in order to detect that the data transmission unit 12 is punching or stapling.

  Thereafter, the job reception unit 11 submits this job to the job queue 15. In step 730, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmitting print data to the printer 20. In step 740, the data transmission unit 12 confirms the attribute information added to the job and determines whether or not all pages of print data have been transmitted to the printer 20 because punching or stapling is performed. When the transmission is completed, a notification indicating that the print data for all pages has been transmitted is output. If the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step 730, and the transmission of the print data is continued until the transmission of the print data for all pages is completed.

  On the other hand, if it is not the one to punch or staple, the process proceeds to step 750, where the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15, starts transmission of print data to the printer 20, and in step 760. The data transmission unit 12 determines whether or not one page of print data has been transmitted. If the data has been transmitted, a notification that the transmission has been completed is output. If not, the process returns to step 750 to print. Continue sending data.

  After transmitting the print data for the designated page, in step 770, the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification output by the data transmission unit 12, and starts monitoring the job status. That is, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 780. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing until it is determined whether or not the print attribute is consolidated printing and job monitoring is started. This process is started from step 800, and in step 810, the job reception unit 11 receives a print job input to the job monitoring system. In step 820, the job receiving unit 11 determines whether the received print job is to be subjected to collective printing. The result of the determination is added as attribute information to the print job in order to detect that the data transmission unit 12 is to perform aggregate printing.

  Thereafter, the job reception unit 11 submits this job to the job queue 15. In step 830, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmission of print data to the printer 20. In step 840, the data transmission unit 12 confirms the attribute information added to the job and performs consolidated printing. Therefore, the data transmission unit 12 determines whether or not transmission of the consolidated page print data to the printer 20 has been completed, and transmits it. When the processing is completed, a notification that the transmission of the print data of the aggregate page has been completed is output. If the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step 830, and the transmission of the print data is continued until the transmission of the print data for the consolidated page is completed.

  On the other hand, if it is not the one to perform collective printing, the process proceeds to step 850, where the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15, starts transmission of print data to the printer 20, and in step 860, the data The transmission unit 12 determines whether or not the print data for one page has been transmitted. If it has been transmitted, a notification that the transmission has been completed is output. If not, the process returns to step 850 to return the print data. Continue sending.

  After transmitting the print data for the designated page, in step 870, the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification output by the data transmission unit 12, and starts monitoring the job status. That is, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 880. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  FIG. 9 shows printing of the same amount of print data as the number of sheets that can be accumulated on the paper discharge path from the paper feed tray to the paper discharge tray among the print data accumulated as a print job. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing until job monitoring is started in the case of data. This process is started from step 900, and information on the number of sheets that can be stored on the paper discharge path registered in advance in the printer 20 is acquired and held.

  In step 910, the print job input to the job monitoring system is received by the job reception unit 11 and input to the job queue 15. In step 920, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmitting print data to the printer 20.

  In step 930, the data transmission unit 12 determines whether or not the print data for the same number of pages as the number of sheets has been transmitted to the printer 20 in order to hold the number of sheets that can be stored on the discharge path as information. When the transmission is completed, a notification indicating that the print data for the page has been transmitted is output. If transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step 920, and transmission of print data is continued until transmission of print data for that page is completed.

  After transmitting the print data for the page, in step 940, the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification output by the data transmission unit 12, and starts monitoring the job status. That is, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 950. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for confirming the state of the printer 20 and changing the monitoring interval according to the state to start job monitoring. This process is started from step 1000, and in step 1010, the print job input to the job monitoring system is received by the job reception unit 11 and input to the job queue 15. In step 1020, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmitting print data to the printer 20.

  Next, in step 1030, monitoring of the status of the printer 20 is started and the status is monitored. The state may include an error in the printer 20, the printer 20 being warmed up, being shut down, or being in energy saving mode. The monitoring of these states is performed by the device state acquisition unit 14 periodically inquiring of the printer 20 and acquiring the above information from the printer 20.

  In step 1040, the data transmission unit 12 acquires information related to the status of the printer 20 from the device status acquisition unit 14, and determines whether the printer 20 is warming up. This is because the job status does not change when the warm-up is in progress, and it is useless to make an inquiry for job monitoring. Therefore, when the warm-up is in progress, the monitoring may be stopped, but the job state monitoring interval can be increased as in step 1050.

  This interval may be any interval as long as it is longer than a normal inquiry interval performed to acquire the status of the print job. For example, the interval can be set to 2 to 10 times. The normal interval is a preset polling interval.

  After increasing the monitoring interval in step 1050 or if it is determined that the warm-up is not in progress, in step 1060 the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification output by the data transmission unit 12 and starts monitoring the job status To do. That is, when the job status acquisition unit 13 receives the notification, the job status acquisition unit 13 inquires the printer 20 at regular intervals and starts processing for acquiring the status of the print job. When this monitoring is started, the process ends at step 1070. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  The notification output by the data transmission unit 12 can be output after the print data for one page has been transmitted. However, when the above-described double-sided printing, punching, or the like is set to aggregate printing, two pages are output. The print data for all pages and aggregated pages can be output after transmission is completed.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing another processing flow for checking the status of the printer 20 and changing the monitoring interval according to the status to start job monitoring. This process is started from step 1100, and in step 1110, the job accepting unit 11 accepts a print job submitted to the job monitoring system and submits it to the job queue 15. In step 1120, the data transmission unit 12 takes out the job first input to the job queue 15 and starts transmitting print data to the printer 20.

  Next, in step 1130, processing is performed as shown in FIG. In step 1140, monitoring of the state of the printer 20 is also started. The monitoring of these states is performed by the job status acquisition unit 13 and the device status acquisition unit 14 inquiring of the printer 20 at regular intervals and acquiring information about the job status and the device status from the printer 20.

  In step 1150, it is determined whether an abnormality has occurred in the printer 20 and printing has been stopped. This can be determined by the data transmission unit 12 by detecting that the device status acquisition unit 14 has stopped printing and notifying the data transmission unit 12 of the fact. If the data transmission unit 12 determines that printing is stopped, the data transmission unit 12 notifies the job status acquisition unit 13 of the fact, and in step 1160, the job status acquisition unit 13 interrupts monitoring of the job status. This continues until the device status acquisition unit 14 recovers and resumes printing in the information on the status of the printer 20 that is periodically performed.

  If the printer 20 has not stopped printing or has recovered, the process proceeds to step 1170 to determine whether the job status monitoring is interrupted. If it is interrupted, the process proceeds to step 1180, where the job status acquisition unit 13 resumes the inquiry, resumes monitoring of the job status, and ends this processing in step 1190.

  If the job is not interrupted, the monitoring of the job status is continued, so the monitoring is continued as it is, and this processing is terminated in step 1190. Subsequent job monitoring processing ends when the printer 20 prints on a sheet of paper, and the printed sheet is discharged.

  In this case as well, the data transmission unit 12 outputs a notification, but the notification can be output after the transmission of the print data for one page has been completed, or aggregate printing such as double-sided printing and punching is set. In this case, the print data for two pages, all pages, and the combined pages can be output after transmission is completed.

  The present invention has been described with the above-described embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and those skilled in the art will conceive other embodiments, additions, changes, deletions, and the like. It can be changed within the range that can be performed, and any embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the operation and effect of the present invention are exhibited.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... PC, 11 ... Job reception part, 12 ... Data transmission part, 13 ... Job state acquisition part, 14 ... Device state acquisition part, 15 ... Job queue, 16 ... Device part, 20 ... Printer, 30 ... MFP, 40 ... network

JP 2002-91720 A JP 2006-227854 A

Claims (22)

A job monitoring system for monitoring a print job transmitted to a printing apparatus until the printing apparatus executes printing and discharges the print job,
A data transmission unit that retrieves print data stored as the print job in a job storage unit and transmits the print data to the printing apparatus, and determines whether or not the print data of a specified amount of data has been transmitted;
A job status acquisition unit that queries the printing device at regular intervals for monitoring the print job, and acquires the status of the print job from the printing device;
The job status acquisition unit starts monitoring the print job after receiving notification that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted from the data transmission unit. .   The specified amount of print data is one page of print data accumulated as the print job, and the job status acquisition unit prints the one page from the data transmission unit. The job monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that data has been transmitted.   The specified amount of print data is one page of print data accumulated as the print job, and the job status acquisition unit prints the one page from the data transmission unit. 2. The monitoring of the print job is started each time a notification that data has been transmitted is received, and monitoring is terminated each time one page of print data is processed and one page is discharged. Job monitoring system.   The image processing apparatus further includes a job reception unit that receives the print data as the print job and stores the print data in the job storage unit. The job reception unit determines whether or not a print attribute is set from the print data. The job monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein if it is determined that the print job is determined, the set print attribute is added to the print job as attribute information.   When the attribute information is information indicating that double-sided printing is performed, the data transmission unit transmits print data for two pages to the printing apparatus as print data of a designated data amount, and the job status acquisition unit includes: The job monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data for the two pages has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.   When the attribute information is information indicating punching or stapling, the data transmission unit transmits print data of all pages to the printing apparatus as print data of a designated data amount, and the job status acquisition unit The job monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data of all pages has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.   When the attribute information is information indicating that aggregate printing is performed, the data transmission unit transmits print data for the aggregated page to the printing apparatus as print data of a designated data amount, and the job status acquisition unit includes: The job monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data for the aggregate pages has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.   The specified amount of print data is print data for the same number of pages as the number of sheets that can be stored on the paper discharge path from the paper feed tray to the paper discharge tray among the print data stored as the print job. The job monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the job status acquisition unit starts monitoring the print job after receiving notification that the print data for the page has been transmitted from the data transmission unit. .   2. The job monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein when the printing apparatus is warming up, the job status acquisition unit makes an interval of the inquiry performed to acquire the status of the print job longer than the predetermined interval. .   The job status acquisition unit, when the printing apparatus is stopped due to an abnormality, interrupts the inquiry to acquire the status of the print job until the printing apparatus is restored. Job monitoring system. A method for monitoring a print job transmitted to a printing apparatus by a job monitoring system until the printing apparatus executes printing and discharges the print job, and the job monitoring system includes a data transmission unit and a job status acquisition unit. ,
The data transmission unit takes out the print data stored as the print job in the job storage unit and transmits the print data to the printing apparatus, and determines whether or not the print data of a specified amount of data has been transmitted; ,
If the data transmission unit determines that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted, a step of transmitting a notification that the specified amount of print data has been transmitted to the job status acquisition unit;
The job status acquisition unit, after receiving the notification, inquires the printing device for monitoring the print job, and starts processing to acquire the status of the print job from the printing device; Including a job monitoring method.   The specified amount of print data is print data for one page of the print data accumulated as the print job. In the starting step, the print data for one page is sent from the data transmission unit. The job monitoring method according to claim 11, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving a notification that the message is transmitted.   The specified amount of print data is print data for one page of the print data accumulated as the print job. In the starting step, the print data for one page is sent from the data transmission unit. Monitoring of the print job is started each time a notification is sent to the effect that the job status acquisition unit has transmitted the print data for one page after the print data is processed. The job monitoring method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of ending monitoring every time. The job monitoring system further includes a job receiving unit that receives the print data as the print job and stores the print data in the job storage unit,
In the job monitoring method, when the job reception unit determines whether or not a print attribute is set from the print data, and determines that the print attribute is set, the set print The job monitoring method according to claim 11, further comprising adding an attribute to the print job as attribute information.   When the attribute information is information indicating that double-sided printing is performed, in the determining step, print data for two pages is transmitted to the printing apparatus as print data of a designated data amount, and in the starting step, The job monitoring method according to claim 14, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data for the two pages has been transmitted from a data transmission unit.   When the attribute information is information indicating punching or stapling, in the determining step, print data of all pages is transmitted to the printing apparatus as print data of a designated data amount, and in the starting step, The job monitoring method according to claim 14, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data of all pages has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.   When the attribute information is information indicating that aggregate printing is performed, in the determining step, print data for an aggregated page is transmitted to the printing apparatus as print data of a specified data amount, and in the starting step, The job monitoring method according to claim 14, wherein monitoring of the print job is started after receiving a notification that print data for the aggregate pages has been transmitted from a data transmission unit.   The specified amount of print data is print data for the same number of pages as the number of sheets that can be stored on the paper discharge path from the paper feed tray to the paper discharge tray among the print data stored as the print job. The job monitoring method according to claim 11, wherein, in the starting step, monitoring of the print job is started after receiving notification that the print data for the page has been transmitted from the data transmission unit.   The job monitoring method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of increasing the interval of the inquiry performed to acquire the status of the print job when the printing apparatus is warming up when the job status acquisition unit is warming up. .   The job status obtaining unit further includes a step of suspending the inquiry to obtain the status of the print job until the printing device is restored when the printing device is stopped due to an abnormality. Item 12. The job monitoring method according to Item 11.   A computer-readable program for executing the job monitoring method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.   A recording medium on which the program according to claim 21 is recorded.

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