JP3420498B2 - Network system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network system in which a plurality of color printers and a plurality of monochrome printers are connected via a network, and predetermined image information is transmitted via the network to form an image by the printer. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional network system in which a plurality of color printers and a plurality of monochrome printers are connected via a network, a print server connected to this network system uses a unique printer management program (software) to determine the program status. Can be understood, but ultimately the user (client)
Send and output image data to the printer according to the instruction set by the printer driver, and all the printers are specified by the printer driver set by the client.

[0003]

However, the conventional technique has a problem that it is necessary to search for a usable printer while making full use of network management software for managing the network.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and selects a printer having a straight path which is less likely to cause a jam in the printer when a client designates thick paper to instruct image formation. The purpose is to form an image.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a network system according to a first aspect of the present invention connects a plurality of color printers and a plurality of monochrome printers through a network, and a predetermined system is provided through the network. In a network system in which image information is transmitted and a printer forms an image, when the specified thickness of the paper on which the image information is formed is thicker than normal plain paper, the paper is ejected from the paper feed unit through the image formation unit. A printer selecting unit is provided which selects a printer having a straight path whose paper conveyance path to the paper unit is substantially linear and forms an image by the printer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the printer selecting means of the network system selects a printer having a low frequency of occurrence of an abnormal state obtained by detecting the abnormal state of each printer according to the priority assigned to each printer. .

The printer selecting means of the network system according to the third aspect selects a printer having a high priority assigned to each printer when there are a plurality of printers in which a large number of sheets are set in each printer.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the printer selecting means of the network system displays that the number of sheets set in the printer selected in accordance with the priority assigned to each printer is smaller than the number of sheets on which images are formed, and the sheet is added. Display in parts.

A network system according to a fifth aspect is
The priority given to the printers is determined by the image quality state of each printer.

A network system according to claim 6 is
The priority assigned to each printer is determined by the toner amount of each printer.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a network system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a network system having a print server according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a user (client) computer (hereinafter referred to as a client) 1 is In addition to being connected to the network 2, the print server 3 is also connected to the network 2.

On this network 2, the printer A
4, the printer B5, the printer C6, the printer D7, the printer E8, and the printer F9 are connected. The printer A4, printer B5, and printer C6 are color printers, and the printer A4 and printer B5 have straight paths 10 and 11 in which the transport path from the paper feed unit to the paper discharge unit via the image forming unit is substantially linear. It has a structure. Special paper for printing or presentation is set in the paper feed section of the printer A4, and the printer B5 and the printer C are used.
Plain paper is set in the paper feed section 6 of FIG. The remaining amount of toner in each printer is almost all in the printer A4, a small amount of toner depletion in the printer B5, and half in the printer D6.

Further, the printer D7, the printer E8, and the printer F9 are monochrome printers, and the printer D7 and the printer E8 have a straight path 12 in which the conveyance path from the paper feed section to the paper ejection section via the image forming section is substantially linear. , 13 is provided. Printer D7 and Printer F
Plain paper is set in the paper feed unit 9 and standard paper (the standard paper has a unique paper size) unique to the company using the printer is set in the paper feed unit of the printer E8. The remaining amount of toner in each printer is almost the same in the printer D7 and the printer E8, and the printer F9
Is half the amount.

Here, the client 1 issues a print output instruction to the printer A4, printer B5, printer C6, printer D7, printer E8, and printer F9 connected to the network 2 by a PC (personal computer) via the print server 3. Printer A4,
The printer B5, the printer C6, the printer D7, the printer E8, and the printer F9 have a function of expanding image data (image information) based on the received data for print output and rasterizing.

Further, printer A4, printer B5, printer C6, printer D7, printer E8, printer F9
Can receive and parse printer page description languages with the same language specifications. If all the toners of the printers A4, B5, and C6, which are color printers, are exhausted when the color output data is transmitted, the summation operation of the R, G, B data is performed, and monochrome data is obtained as monochrome data. The data is output to the printers D7, E8, and F9, which are printers.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of a network system to which the print server 3 of the present embodiment is connected. Client A1, client B14, client C15, client D16, client E17, and client F18 are connected on the network, and the network 2 The printer A4, printer B5, printer C6, printer D7, printer E8, and printer F9 connected above are shared. The client A1 is the network administrator of this network system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the entire operation from issuing a print instruction of the network system of this embodiment to selecting a printer and completing printing. The client computer or the print server 3 determines the status of each printer connected to the network system at or before the time when the client issues a print instruction (paper type, failure status, remaining number of sheets in the paper feed unit, printer type ( (Color or monochrome) confirmation, the level of the image quality state, the remaining amount of the toner amount) is monitored, and a flag (H to O) is set for each item to check the received output data and output this data. Select the printer you need and print.
The operation will be described below.

First, after the power is turned on, when the client gives a monochrome (thickness) sheet (thickness) as a printing (image forming) instruction, it is determined whether the printing priority order among a plurality of printers is determined. (S1) If not determined, the print priority order is determined in subroutine A of FIG. 4 (S11).

When the print priority is determined, it is determined whether the output instruction data is thick paper or standard paper (S2). If not, the paper type is confirmed in subroutine B of FIG. Is performed (S12).

If it is confirmed in S2 or S12 that thick paper is necessary data, a printer having a straight path is used for output, but it is judged whether or not the printer having a straight path is recognized (S3). If not determined, the printer having the straight path is confirmed in the subroutine C of FIG. 6 (S13).

If the printer having the straight path is confirmed in S3 or S13, it is judged whether or not the image quality level of the printer having the straight path is good (S).
4) If not determined, the image quality state level of the printer is confirmed in subroutine D of FIG. 7 (S14).

If it is confirmed in S4 or S14 that the printer has a straight path and a good image quality level, it is judged whether the printer is a color printer or a monochrome printer (S5). Confirm the monochrome printer in subroutine E (S1)
5).

If it is confirmed in S5 or S15 that the printer has a straight path and a high image quality level, it is determined whether the printer is out of order (S6). If not, the subroutine of FIG. The fault condition of the printer is confirmed with F (S16).

If it is confirmed in S6 or S16 that the printer is a monochrome printer having a straight path that does not break down and has a high image quality level, it is determined whether or not the paper is out (S7). It is confirmed by the subroutine G of 10 that the paper is not run out (S17).

If it is confirmed in S7 or S17 that the paper is not out, it is judged whether the remaining amount of toner is sufficient (S8). If not, printing is performed in the subroutine H of FIG. It is confirmed that there is a sufficient toner remaining amount (S18).

In the confirmation of S1 to S8 and S11 to S18, it is determined that the printer is a monochrome printer having a straight path with no failure and having a good image quality level while considering the priority order, and the number of remaining sheets and the remaining amount of toner are sufficient. Is selected (S9), the data is transmitted and printed (S10).

The above S11 to S18 will be described in detail below.

By the subroutine A in S11, the client confirms the print quality of the printer having the straight path connected to the network in advance at the time of maintenance by the network administrator or the client, and whether the print quality can be actually used or not. The printers that have judged that the print quality cannot be tolerated are ignored, and H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 are printed in order from the printer with good print quality.
The priority order is set in order from H1 of this number, and the priority order is registered in the personal computer or the print server. At that time, the toner remaining amount of the printer having the straight path is also monitored on the network, and the toner remaining amount is ignored.

A print instruction is sent from the client, the data is monochrome print, and the subroutine B in S12
If it is data that requires thick paper, first select S from all printers connected to the network.
The printer having the straight path is selected by the subroutine C in 13 and the image quality state level of the printer having the higher priority (in order from H1) is set by the subroutine D7 in S14 based on the printer priority set in the subroutine A. If it is read from the memory and the image quality level of the printer with the first priority is good, the process moves to the confirmation of the printer type (color printer or monochrome printer).

If the image quality level of the printer with the first priority cannot withstand actual use, the printer with the second priority is monitored. If the image quality level of this printer is good, the printer having the second highest priority is selected and the printer type is confirmed. And
If the quality levels of all connected printers are low, alert the network administrator or client to connect the high quality printer to the network.

Next, since the print instruction data is monochrome output, a color printer having a higher priority (in order from H1) or a monochrome printer based on the priority of the printer set in the subroutine A by the subroutine E in S15. If the printer having the highest priority is the monochrome printer, this printer is selected and the failure status confirmation mode is entered.

If the printer having the first priority is a color printer, the printer having the second priority is monitored, and if the printer is a monochrome printer, the printer having the second priority is selected. Then, move to the failure status confirmation mode. This operation is repeated until a monochrome printer is found, and if the monochrome printer is not found, the network administrator or the client is warned to connect the monochrome printer.

Next, by the subroutine F in S16, a printer having a high priority (in order from H1) out of the printers connected to the network based on the priority of the printer set in the subroutine A fails. It is monitored whether it is operating normally or not, and if the printer with the first priority is not in failure, this printer is selected and the mode for checking the number of sheets on the paper feed unit is entered.

If the printer with the first priority has failed, the printer with the second priority is monitored, and if this printer has not failed, the printer with the second priority is selected and supplied. Move to the mode for checking the number of sheets on the paper section. This operation is repeated until a printer that does not malfunction is found, and if a printer that does not malfunction is not found, the network administrator or the client is warned to connect a printer that operates normally.

The subroutine G in S17 confirms the number of sheets in the paper feed unit of the printer having the highest priority (in order from H1) among the printers connected to the network, and confirms the sheet number of the printer having the first priority. If the remaining number of sheets is sufficient, the process proceeds to the confirmation of the remaining amount of toner.

When the remaining number of sheets of the printer having the first priority is not sufficient, that is, when the remaining number of sheets is smaller than the number of printed sheets, the printer having the second highest priority is monitored. If the number of remaining sheets of paper in the printer is sufficient, the printer with the second priority is selected and the process proceeds to the confirmation of the remaining amount of toner. In this way, this operation is repeated until a printer with a sufficient remaining number of sheets is found, and if a printer with a sufficient remaining number of sheets is not found, a warning of adding a sheet is issued to the network administrator or the client.

By the subroutine H in S18, the toner remaining amount of the printer having the highest priority (in order from H1) among the printers connected to the network is confirmed, and the toner remaining amount of the printer having the first priority is determined. If sufficient, move to the judgment mode.

If the toner amount of the printer having the first priority is insufficient, the printer having the second priority is monitored, and if the toner amount of the printer is sufficient, the priority is 2. Select the printer No. and move to the judgment mode. In this way, this operation is repeated until a printer with a sufficient amount of toner is found, and if a printer with a sufficient amount of toner is not found, a warning of toner supply is issued to the network administrator or the client.

Then, in S9, H to O connected to the network are monitored based on the print instruction from the client, the flags of the respective items are substituted into the matrix shown in Table 1 below, and the subroutine A is executed. The printer in which all the flags 1 are set is selected and set while giving priority to the set priority order, and the print instruction data received from the client is generated and transmitted to this printer.

Next, each of the subroutines A to H will be described.

<Subroutine A> In the subroutine A, the network administrator or the client confirms the print quality or the remaining toner amount of a plurality of printers connected on the network at the time of the periodic system maintenance, prioritizes the personal computer ( It is manually input from a PC, and its operation will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the network administrator or the client checks whether the print quality of the printer connected to the network can withstand printing (S21), and if it is determined that the print product is bad at this point and cannot be used in actual use. , Do not register priority. It is assumed that the printer A4, the printer B5, the printer C6, the printer D7, the printer E8, and the printer F9 according to the present embodiment are all capable of printing.

Next, as reference data for determining the priority order, it is confirmed whether the remaining amount of toner is at a printable level (S2).
2). Then, in consideration of the above confirmation result, the network administrator or the client determines the priority order of the printers connected to the network, and the printers A to
The priority levels H1 to H6 are registered in F from the PC (S2
3). In this way, the priority order H is given to each of the printers A to F.
Registration of 1 to H6 is performed as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine B> Subroutine B is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the flag 1 is first initialized to 0 on the assumption that the priority order has already been set by the subroutine A. When there is a print output instruction from the client, it is judged whether the data is printed on plain paper or requires thick paper (S31), and if the data requires thick paper, it is determined. , Flag I = 1 (S32), and flag I if printing on plain paper
= 0 is set (S33). Here, since thick paper is required data, the flag I is set to 1. In this way, the sheet data is set in the flag I as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine C> Subroutine C is shown in FIG.
As shown in, when the thick paper is designated by the subroutine B, the print server searches for a printer having a straight path. First, the flag J is initialized to 0, and it is determined based on the priority order of the printers determined by the subroutine A whether or not the printers connected to the network have a straight path in the order of higher priority order ( S41). If the first priority printer has a straight path, flag J1 = 1 (S4
The printer is determined as 2).

If the printer with the first priority has no straight path, the flag J1 = O (S43) is set and the printer with the second priority is confirmed (S4).
4) If the printer with the second priority has the straight path, the printer is determined by setting flag J2 = 1 (S45). If the printer with the second priority does not have the straight path, the flag J2 = 0 (S4
In step 6), S47, S50, S53, and S56 are repeated until a printer having a straight path is found, and a printer having a straight path is searched.

If all printers are monitored and there is no printer having a straight path, a warning is issued to the network manager or the client to connect the printer having a straight path (S59).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
J1 = 1, J2 = 1, J3 = 1, J4 = 1, J5 = 1,
J6 = 1, or J1 = 0, J2 = 0, J3 = 0,
Register J4 = 0, J5 = 0, and J6 = 0 as shown in Table 1.

Finally, when the flag of the printer having the highest priority among J1 to J6 becomes 1, the printer is determined and picked up (S60). Then, the printer that does not have the straight path is deleted from the registration.

<Subroutine D> Subroutine D is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, the print server next reads the image quality (image quality level) of each printer from the memory (S61) on the assumption that the printer having the straight path is picked up by the subroutine C, and the printers are arranged in descending order of priority. Is monitored to determine whether the image quality level of the printer with the first priority is poor (S62). If the image quality of the printer with the first priority is good, flag K1 = 1 (S63). And decide the printer.

If the image quality of the printer having the first priority is not good, the flag K1 = 0 (S64) is set, and the image quality of the printer having the second priority is determined (S65). If the image quality of the printer with the second priority is good, flag K
The printer is determined by setting 2 = 1 (S66). When the image quality of the printer having the second priority is not good, the flag K2 = 0 (S64) is set, and S68 and S71 are repeated until a printer having a good image quality is found, and a printer having a good image quality is searched.

If all printers are monitored and there is no printer with good image quality, a warning is given to the network administrator or the client to connect the printer with good image quality (S74).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
K1 = 1, K2 = 1, K3 = 1, K4 = 1 or K
1 = 0, K2 = 0, K3 = 0, K4 = 0 are registered as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine E> The subroutine E is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), it is monitored whether the type of printer is a color printer or a monochrome printer on the assumption that the printer having the straight path is picked up by the subroutine C.

First, the flag L is initialized to 0 and the printer picked up in the printer priority order determined in the subroutine A (S81) is monitored to see if the printer is a color printer. Rank 1
It is determined whether the printer No. is color (S8
2) If the printer having the first priority is color, the flag L1 = 1 (S83) is set to determine the printer.

If the printer with the first priority is not color, the flag L1 = 0 (S84) is set, and it is determined whether the printer with the second priority is color (S85). If the printer having the second priority is color, the flag L2 = 1 (S86) is set and the printer is determined. If the printer having the second priority is not color, the flag L2 = 0 (S84) is set, and S88 and S91 are repeated until a color printer is found, and the color printer is searched.

If all the printers are monitored and there is no color printer, a warning is given to the network administrator or the client to connect the color printer (S).
94).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
L1 = 1, L2 = 1, L3 = 1, L4 = 1 or L
Register 1 = 0, L2 = 0, L3 = 0, and L4 = 0 as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine F> Subroutine F is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the subroutine C monitors whether or not a printer having a straight path has been picked up, assuming that the printer has a straight path.

First, the flag M is initialized to 0, and it is monitored whether the printer picked up in the printer priority order determined in the subroutine A is defective. First, the priority order is the first. If the printer having the first priority is operating normally, the flag M1 = 1 (S10).
2) and decide the printer.

If the printer having the first priority has failed, the flag M1 = 0 (S103) is set, and it is determined whether the printer having the second priority has failed (S104). If the printer with the second priority is operating normally, the flag M2 = 1 (S105) is set and the printer is determined. Then, if the printer having the second priority is out of order, the flag M2 = 0 (S106) is set, and S107 and S1 are set until a normally operating printer is found.
Repeat 10 and search for a printer that is operating normally.

If all the printers are out of order, a warning is given to the network administrator or the client to connect the printers that operate normally (S113).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
M1 = 1, M2 = 1, M3 = 1, M4 = 1 or M
Register 1 = 0, M2 = 0, M3 = 0, and M4 = 0 as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine G> Subroutine G is shown in FIG.
As shown in 0, on the assumption that the printer having the straight path is picked up by the subroutine C, it is monitored whether the number of sheets in the sheet feeding unit of the printer is sufficient.

First, the flag N is initialized to 0, and it is monitored whether or not there are enough sheets in the paper feed section of the printer picked up in the printer priority determined in the subroutine A. , It is determined whether there is insufficient paper in the paper feed unit of the printer with the first priority (S121),
If the number of sheets in the sheet feeding unit of the printer having the first priority is sufficient, the flag N1 = 1 (S122) is set and the printer is determined.

If the number of sheets in the paper feed unit of the printer having the first priority is insufficient, that is, if the remaining number of sheets is smaller than the number of sheets to be printed, flag N1 = 0 (S12).
Then, it is determined whether the number of sheets in the sheet feeding unit of the printer having the second priority is insufficient (S124). If the number of sheets in the sheet feeding unit of the printer having the second priority is sufficient, the flag N2 = 1 (S125) is set and the printer is determined. When the number of sheets in the sheet feeding unit of the printer having the second priority is insufficient, the flag N2 = 0 (S126),
S1 until a printer with sufficient number of sheets in the paper feeder is found
27 and S130 are repeated to search for a printer having a sufficient number of sheets in the sheet feeding section.

If the number of sheets in the sheet feeding units of all printers is insufficient, a warning is given to the network administrator or the client to replenish or add sheets to the sheet feeding units (S133).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
N1 = 1, N2 = 1, N3 = 1, N4 = 1 or N
Register 1 = 0, N2 = 0, N3 = 0, N4 = 0 as shown in Table 1.

<Subroutine H> Subroutine H is shown in FIG.
As shown in 1, the subroutine C monitors whether or not the toner remaining amount of the printer is sufficient on the assumption that the printer having the straight path is picked up.

First, the flag O is initialized to 0, and it is monitored whether or not the remaining amount of toner in the printer picked up in the printer priority order determined in the subroutine A is sufficient. It is judged whether the remaining amount of toner of the printer having the first priority is insufficient (S141). If the remaining amount of toner of the paper feeding section of the printer having the first priority is sufficient, flag O1 = 1 (S142). And decide the printer.

If the remaining toner amount of the printer having the first priority is insufficient, the flag O1 = 0 (S143).
Then, it is determined whether the remaining amount of toner of the printer having the second priority is insufficient (S144). If the printer with the second priority has a sufficient amount of toner, flag O2 = 1 (S
145) and the printer is determined. If the printer with the second priority has an insufficient toner remaining amount, the flag O2 = 0 (S146) is set, and S147 and S150 are repeated until a printer with a sufficient toner remaining amount is found. A suitable printer.

If the remaining amount of toner in all printers is insufficient, a warning is issued to the network administrator or the client to replenish the toner (S153).

Then, the flag state of the monitored result is
O1 = 1, O2 = 1, O3 = 1, O4 = 1 or O
1 = 0, O2 = 0, O3 = 0, and O4 = 0 are registered as shown in Table 1.

By the above subroutines A to H, the flags H to O of the printers connected to the network are monitored based on the print instruction from the client.
As shown in, the flags of the respective items are substituted in the matrix, and the printers in which all 1s are set in the respective flags H to O are selected and determined while giving priority to the priority order set in the subroutine A, The print instruction data received from the client is generated and transmitted to this printer.

[0076]

[Table 1]

When the print server determines a printer that meets the conditions from the client based on Table 1, the printer D is selected.

[0078]

In the network system according to the first aspect, when the thickness of the paper for image formation is specified to be thicker than the normal plain paper, the paper is fed from the paper feed unit to the paper ejection unit via the image forming unit. Since the image formation is performed by selecting a printer that has a straight path for the paper transport path, the occurrence of jams in the paper transport path is minimized even when thick paper is specified. Therefore, the image can be accurately formed according to the image forming instruction.

In the network system according to the second aspect, since the printer in which the frequency of occurrence of the abnormal state is low is selected, the image formation can be accurately performed while avoiding the occurrence of the abnormality as much as possible.

In the network system according to the third aspect, it is possible to perform all image formation without interrupting the image forming operation due to a shortage of sheets during image formation.

In the network system according to the fourth aspect, when the number of sheets is less than the number of sheets for image formation at the time of image formation, sheets can be added before the start of image formation. All images can be formed without interrupting the image forming operation.

In the network system according to the fifth aspect, when forming an image of a particularly important document, it is possible to form an image with a good image quality by a printer having a good image quality condition.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a network system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an entire embodiment of a network system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an image forming operation of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a subroutine A of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a subroutine B of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine C of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a subroutine D of the network system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a subroutine E of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a subroutine F of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a subroutine G of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a subroutine H of the embodiment of the network system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Client A 2 network 3 print server 4 Printer A 5 Printer B 6 Printer C 7 Printer D 8 Printer E 9 Printer F 10, 11, 12, 13 Straight pass

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) References JP-A-5-303475 (JP, A) JP-A-9-80897 (JP, A) JP-A-10-78858 (JP, A) JP-A-3- 27973 (JP, A) JP-A-7-121322 (JP, A) JP-A-6-87548 (JP, A) JP-A-6-324823 (JP, A) International Publication 97/49023 (WO, A1) 58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12 B41J 29/38 B41J 29/42

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A network system in which a plurality of color printers and a plurality of monochrome printers are connected via a network, predetermined image information is transmitted via the network, and the printer forms an image, the image information is formed. When the specified paper thickness is thicker than normal plain paper, select a printer that has a straight path for the paper conveyance path from the paper feed section to the image formation section to the paper discharge section. A network system comprising a printer selecting unit for forming an image with this printer. 2. The printer selecting means selects a printer having a low frequency of occurrence of an abnormal state obtained by detecting an abnormal state of each printer according to the priority given to each printer. The network system according to claim 1. 3. The printer selection means, when there are a plurality of printers with a large number of sheets set in each printer,
2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein a printer having a high priority assigned to each printer is selected. 4. When the number of sheets of paper set in the printer selected in accordance with the priority assigned to each printer is smaller than the number of sheets on which images are formed, the printer selection means displays on the display unit to add a sheet. The network system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. 5. The network system according to claim 2, wherein the priority given to the printer is determined by the image quality state of each printer. 6. The network system according to claim 2, wherein the priority order given to the printers is determined by the toner amount of each printer.