JP2856956B2 - Print control method in print server - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control method in a print server which receives print requests from a plurality of requesters and provides a print service to the requested requesters via a LAN line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of personal computers, laptop-type computers, which are small, lightweight and portable, have become widespread in place of desktop computers. In the office, one laptop personal computer is occupied by one person, and the LBP is shared by connecting to a laptop personal computer attached to an LBP (laser beam printer) via a LAN (local area network) line. LA to use
The N system was built and used frequently. Hereinafter, the desktop type computer will be referred to as a server and the laptop type computer will be referred to as a requester, and the description will be continued.

In general, a LAN print service introduces a concept called a queue in a server. The introduction of the queue makes it possible to print on a printer without disturbing the print requests of many users. FIG. 6 shows the concept of a queue.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, even if the users A and B simultaneously print (print request), their data are not output immediately to the printer, but are temporarily stored in a temporary file. Will be saved. When printing (transfer of print data) ends, both users send a packet indicating the end of printing to the server. Upon receiving the print end packet, the print server closes the temporary file and registers it in the queue as a job (print job).
FIG. 6B shows a state in which the user A has sent a packet indicating the end of printing. In other words, even when many people are printing at the same time, printing is performed from the data of the user who sent the packet indicating the end of printing to the print server.

[0005]

In FIG. 6, it is assumed that another user (other user) other than the users A and B has printed with a left margin of 10 characters. On the other hand, it is assumed that user A has generated and output print data for printing with zero characters in the left margin.

However, when the data of the user A is output to the printer, the left margin has 10 characters for the printing service for the other user. For this reason, the printed matter of the user A is printed shifted rightward by 10 characters.

[0007] In order to solve such inconvenience, it is assumed that print control data for setting the left margin to zero characters is sent to the print server to perform printing. However, if the user B tries to print with the left margin of 20 characters for the same purpose and sends the printer control data for setting the left margin to 20 characters in advance, this printer control data follows the user A's printer control data in FIG.
May be queued as shown in In this case, it is not possible to obtain a printed material as intended by each user.

[0008] Recently, more and more printers emulate several types of printers.
FIG. 6 illustrates a case where the emulation mode of the printer is changed in a print data job of another user. It is assumed that the emulation mode of the printer Q is changed to the emulation mode of the printer Q in the print data job of another user, while the user A prints assuming the emulation of the printer P. In this case, when the print data of the user A is printed on the LAN printer, the LAN printer is in the emulation mode of the printer Q. Here, when the print data of the user A is printed on the LAN printer, the printer prints incomprehensible data because the data of the user A is data created for the printer P. After that, it was necessary to perform the printing operation again. As described above, according to the conventional printing method, in some cases, it inconveniences other users and has poor operability.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and by considering that printer control data is printed before and after a user's printed material, there is no malfunction even in a LAN environment, and the present invention is easy to use. Under multi-user environment
To provide a print control method in a print server
And for the purpose.

[0010]

According to the present invention, print data generated by an application on a requester is transferred to a print server via a LAN line, and the print server sends the print data to the print server.
A LAN for sequentially supplying a print waiting job of a plurality of requesters registered in a queue to a printer and providing a print service
In the system, Yu back form data form data is printed to the printer before the print data of a print job requester to the printer is printed, and the print data is printed to the printer after printing the internal memory
Set for each chromatography The, when printing to the printer takes out the print job from the queue, the form data is checked whether or not it is registered, before printing requester job of printing according the form data when being registered rows that have <br/> to further investigate whether the back form data is registered, print the back form data after printing requester job when that has been registered in the printer, the printing The print job that has been completed is deleted from the queue.

[0011]

In a system for realizing a print service using a general LAN, print data generated by an application on a requester is transferred to a print server via a LAN program on the requester. The print data is temporarily stored in an area called a queue, and when the print server receives a request to end printing from the requester, registration in the queue is completed, and the print server becomes a job (print job) in the print server and waits for printing. Become. Generally, jobs waiting for printing are sequentially sent to the printer in order from the oldest one and printed. According to the present invention, form data to be printed on a printer before print data of a user is printed on a LAN printer, and LA
N Store the backform data to be printed on the printer after the user's print data is printed on the printer, and store it in the server's memory. Print job according to the form data, check whether the back form data is registered, print the back form data to the printer after printing the job of the requester, and print the print job after printing. Is deleted from the queue.

Thus, in a multi-user environment of the LAN, each user can access the LAN as intended.
The printer can be controlled, and no trouble is caused to other users.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a requester, 2 denotes a server, and 3 denotes a printer having an LBP configuration. The server 3 is a desktop personal computer or the like, has a relatively large capacity file, and is connected to the printer 3. Requester 1 and server 2 are connected via LAN line 4.

In a system that implements a general LAN print service, print data generated by an application (application program) 11 on the requester 1 is passed to the print server 2 via a LAN program 12 on the requester 1. And requester 1
Is temporarily stored in an area called a queue 21. When the print server 2 receives a print end request from the requester 1, registration in the queue 21 is completed, and a job (print job) in the print server 2 is completed. Waiting for printing. Generally, jobs waiting for printing are taken out from the oldest job and executed, and the print data is sequentially stored in the printer 3.
To be printed.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, pre-print printer control data (form data) 2 to be printed on the printer 3 before the user's print data is printed on the printer 3
2 and the post-printing printer control data (backform data) 23 to be printed on the printer 3 after the print data of the user is printed on the printer 3, in the memory in the server 2. When the data is taken out and printed by the printer 3, according to the algorithm of the form / backform control routine (routine for printing from the queue to the printer) 24 which is a server program built in the server 2, it is first checked whether or not the form data is registered. When registered, the printing is performed in accordance with the form data. Further, it is checked whether the back form data is registered. When the registered back form data is registered, the back form data is printed on the printer 31, and the printing is completed. The print job is deleted from the queue 21.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation concept of the embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 2, print data of users A and B are registered in a queue 21 as jobs (print jobs). Are printer control data (form data) before printing for each user A, B,..., 23A, 23B.
Are printer control data (backform data) after printing for each of the users A, B,..., And indicate that they are prepared before and after the printing data for the users A, B,.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an algorithm of a form / backform control routine (routine for printing from a queue to a printer) 24 built in the print server 2 of FIGS. 1 and 2 in the form of C language.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the form / backform control routine 24, while there is a print job in the queue 21, it is checked whether or not the pre-printing printer control data 22N of the user N is registered. At this time, the pre-printing printer control data 22N of the user N is printed on the printer 3, and when not registered, the print data of the user N registered in the job is printed on the printer 3. The form / backform control routine 24 further checks whether or not the post-printing printer control data 23N of the user N is registered.
And deletes from the queue 21 the print job that has been printed when it has not been registered.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a concrete example of the embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. First,
In accordance with the algorithm of the form / backform control routine 24 described above, the print server 2 checks the queue 21 as indicated by reference numeral S1 in FIG. 4, and confirms that a job has been registered in the queue 21. Here, the user of the job is specified, and it is assumed that the users are A and B.

The print server 2 checks whether or not the post-printing printer control data 23E of another user is registered, as indicated by reference numeral S2 in FIG. In the data 23E, for example, it is specified that the emulation mode of the printer is returned from the printer Q to the printer P, and the print server 2 transmits the data 23E to the printer 3.
The emulation mode by the user A
Is returned to the printer P suitable for printing the print data. Subsequently, the print server 2 performs an operation of deleting a print data job of another user from the queue 21 as indicated by a reference numeral S3 in FIG.

Next, the print server 2 checks the pre-printing printer control data 22A of the user A, as indicated by reference numeral S4 in FIG. Here the left margin is 0
It has become. In accordance with this data, the print server 2 takes out the print data of the user A from the queue 21 and performs printing, as indicated by reference numeral S5 in FIG. Then, after the printing is completed, the print server 2 deletes the job of the print data of the user A from the queue 21 as indicated by reference numeral S6 in FIG.

Next, the print server 2 checks the printer control data (23A) of the user A after printing. In this case, since the print server 2 has not been registered, the print server 2
As shown by reference numeral S7, the printer control data after printing of the user A is checked, and then the printer control data before printing (22B) of the user B is checked. Here, the printer control data 22B of the left margin 20 is set. Then, the print server 2 takes out the job of the print data of the user B from the queue 21 and performs the printing in accordance with the left margin 20 by the printer 3, as indicated by reference numeral S8 in FIG. And the print server 2
Since the printer control data (23B) after printing of the user B has not been registered, the job of the print data of the user B is immediately stored in the queue 21 as shown by reference numeral S9 in FIG.
Remove from.

The printer control data (22N) before printing and the printer control data (23) after printing for each user (N)
An algorithm for registering multiple types of N) by one user and printing it on a printer (form / backform control routine)
Is set as shown in FIG. 5, a more flexible LAN printing system can be provided.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the form data (printer control data before printing) to be printed on the LAN printer before the user's print data is printed,
After the user's print data is printed on the N printer, the backform data (printed printer control data) to be printed on the printer is stored in the server memory for each user, and the server takes out the print job from the queue and prints it to the printer. to time, first checks whether the form data is registered, no line printing according the form data before printing requester job when being registered, further, whether the back-form data is registered In the case where the request has been registered , the back form data is printed on the printer after the requester job is printed, and the print job after printing is deleted from the queue. Can control LAN printers etc. as intended, making it easy to use It will be better. In addition, the LAN printer can be shared without disturbing other users.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation concept of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram in which the operation is expanded on a memory of a server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an algorithm of a form / backform control routine of a server.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the operation concept of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram in which the operation is expanded on a memory of a server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a LAN system in a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation of a queue in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Requester, 2. Print server, 3. Printer,
4: LAN line, 11: Application, 12: LA
N programs, 21 ... Queue, 22, 22A, 22B ...
Printer control data before printing (form data), 23,
23A, 23B: Printer control data (backform data) after printing; 24: Form / backform control routine.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A print data generated by an application on a requester is transferred to a print server via a LAN line, and the print server sequentially supplies jobs waiting for printing of a plurality of requesters registered in a queue to a printer to provide a print service. Applied to the LAN system that performs
A print control method in a print server, comprising form data to be printed on a printer before print data of a requester's print job is printed on the printer, and back form data to be printed on the printer after print data is printed. set for each user in the memory, when printing to the printer takes out the print job from the queue, the form data is checked whether or not it is registered, the printing of the form data requester job of printing according to the time that has been registered no rows before further checks whether the back form data is registered, print the back form data after printing requester job when that has been registered in the printer, the print job after completion of the printing Printing system in print server characterized by deleting from queue Your way .