JP3617518B2 - Spool management device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a spool management processing apparatus for managing spool data of a job executed on a computer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For jobs executed on a computer, output the job processing results to a printer or the like, or specify a job and input a so-called job control language or command string to input the input data. It is well known that the function that improves the efficiency of computer use by inputting / outputting data completely asynchronously is called the spool function, and that the input / output data is called spool data. .
[0003]
In a computer having a spool function, for example, a job passes an output to a spool control unit, and the spool control unit stores the output spool data in a magnetic disk storage device of a spool buffer.
[0004]
If the output is output to a certain printer device, for example, a queue element created corresponding to the spool data is connected to a queue provided for a program for controlling output to the printer device.
[0005]
If a queue element is connected to such an output queue, the output program corresponding to the queue is started and the queue element is passed, and the output program spools spool data designated by the queue element. Read from buffer and output.
[0006]
When the processing of one spool data is completed, if the queue element is still connected to the corresponding queue, the output program receives it and continues the processing as described above, and finishes processing until there is no queue element.
[0007]
As described above, the spool data is queued if the first spool data is being processed, but in principle, the spool data is processed immediately when the order comes.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in recent years, the output of a computer has been directly transmitted by facsimile, and there has been a demand for output by facsimile, for example, after waiting for an inexpensive time zone for communication charges.
[0009]
In addition, there is an operational requirement for reducing output delays of other jobs by avoiding busy output for large numbers of outputs such as compile lists.
[0010]
An object of the present invention is to provide a spool management processing apparatus that can specify the date and time of processing time for spool data and satisfy the request for delaying the processing of spool data as described above.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.
[0012]
The figure shows the configuration of a spool management processing device, and spools are used to manage spool data so that job input and job output of a job executed on a computer are processed as spool data and asynchronously separated from the execution of the job. The management processing apparatus includes a spool storage unit 1, a date and time patrol unit 2, and a spool take-out unit 3.
[0013]
The spool storage unit 1 receives the spool data 4, stores it in a predetermined buffer 8, creates a queue element 5 corresponding to the spool data 4, and provides a queue corresponding to a program for processing the spool data 4 6, the date designation designated in the spool data 4 is recorded in the date designation record 7 corresponding to the queue element 5.
[0014]
The date and time patrol unit 2 is activated at predetermined time intervals and scans the date and time designation record 7 to detect from the queue 6 the queue element 5 whose date and time of the recording is earlier than the activation time. The spool take-out unit 3 is notified.
[0015]
The spool retrieval unit 3 removes the notified queue element 5 from the queue 6 and notifies the spool data 4 corresponding to the queue element 5 to the program determined in the queue 6.
[0016]
[Action]
When the spool management processing device of the present invention designates the date and time for the spool data, the date and time is monitored by the date and time patrol function, and the spool data is managed after waiting until the designated date and time.
[0017]
Note that spool data for which date and time designation is not performed as before is processed as a request for immediate processing.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2A, a program 9 is a program for various business jobs for generating spool data or a program for receiving job input data. The spool data is passed to the spool management processor 14 to request spool management.
[0019]
At this time, the program 9 designates a program for processing spool data or an output destination, and designates a processing date and time. However, if it is not necessary to specify the processing date and time, the specification is omitted and an immediate processing request is made.
[0020]
The spool storage unit 11, the date / time patrol unit 12 and the spool take-out unit 13 of the spool management processing device 14 in FIG. 2A correspond to the spool storage unit 1, the date / time patrol unit 2 and the spool take-out unit 3 in FIG. The spool storage unit 11 stores the spool data requested by the program 9 as spool data 4 in a buffer 8 such as a magnetic disk storage device.
[0021]
In addition, the spool storage unit 11 creates a queue element 15 that holds a pointer that indicates the stored spool data 4, a specified date and time, and the like, and connects the queue element 15 to the queue of the queue management mechanism 18.
[0022]
When the queue management mechanism 18 requires different programs depending on the processing contents of spool data, such as a program to be processed specified by a spool management request or an output program determined by a printer device of a specified output destination, Provided.
[0023]
Each queue management mechanism 18 has queue management information 16 and retrieval waiting program information 17 as shown in the figure, and a queue of queue elements 15 is connected to the queue management information 16 as described later.
[0024]
The waiting-for-fetch program information 17 includes items corresponding to the number of programs to be executed in parallel with control information such as the address of a control block necessary for starting the program for a program for processing spool data to be queued by the queue management mechanism. A number is registered.
[0025]
FIG. 2B is a diagram showing the details of the queue. The spool storage unit 11 creates a queue element 15 and records the spool data name and other information of the stored spool data. The designated date and time are recorded, and the queue element without the date and time designation and the queue element with the date and time designation are connected so as to be in separate queue columns, and the first element of each queue is set to 2 in the queue management information 16 as shown in the figure. Point each with two pointers.
[0026]
Here, the queue with no date and time designation is a first-come-first-served queue with the head being the oldest queue element. In addition, in the date / time designation queue, the queue elements are arranged in order from the beginning of the designated date / time, and if necessary, the designated date / time of the first queue element is recorded in the queue management information 16 as shown in the figure.
[0027]
When the spool storage unit 11 connects the queue elements as described above, if it is a queue element with no date and time designation, the spool storage unit 11 requests the spool retrieval unit 13 to specify the queue management information 16 and perform processing.
[0028]
Therefore, the spool take-out unit 13 checks the take-out waiting program information 17 connected to the designated queue management information 16 and, if there is a program waiting to be activated, takes out the queue element from the head of the queue without the designated date and time designation.
[0029]
Next, a control block for starting one of the items registered in the extraction waiting program information 17 is selected by selecting one of the items that has not been started, and starts a program that processes spool data according to the information of the item. The process is set to the activated state and the spool data name held in the retrieved queue element is passed as an activation parameter.
[0030]
After the above processing, if there is an item that has not been activated in the removal waiting program information 17 and a queue element remains in the queue with no date / time designation, the spool retrieval unit 13 retrieves the head queue element and performs the same as described above. To process.
[0031]
The activated spool data processing program reads the spool data from the buffer by the spool data name received as the activation parameter, executes a predetermined process, and notifies the spool take-out unit 13 of the completion when the process is completed, and waits for activation. Return to.
[0032]
Here, if there is a queue element waiting for immediate retrieval in the queue of spool data processed by the terminated program, the spool retrieval unit 13 retrieves the queue element from the queue, processes it as described above, and restarts the program. If there is no queue element that can be taken out immediately, the corresponding item in the take-out waiting program information 17 is set to indicate an activation wait state.
[0033]
The date and time patrol unit 12 always sets a timer so as to be activated at an appropriate interval (for example, several minutes), and when activated, reads and holds the current date and time at that time.
[0034]
Next, all the queue management mechanisms 18 are sequentially accessed, and for each date / time designation queue, the designated date / time of the first queue element held in the queue management information 16 is compared with the current date / time held. The queue processing is completed, and the next queue management mechanism 18 is examined.
[0035]
If the specified date and time of the first queue element is earlier than the current date and time, the queue is scanned from the beginning, and the queue element with the specified date and time earlier than the current date and time is replaced with a queue with no specified date and time, for example. When a queue element having a later specified date and time is detected, scanning of that queue is finished.
[0036]
When the date and time patrol unit 12 takes out a queue element having a specified date and time before the current date and time as described above, the specified date and time of the first queue element held in the queue management information 16 is used as a new first queue element. Is updated to the designated date and time, and the spool management unit 16 is notified of the queue management information 16 to request processing. In this case, the spool take-out unit 13 performs the same process as described above.
[0037]
3, 4, and 5 are diagrams illustrating an example of the processing flow of the present invention described above. When the spool storage unit 11 is requested to perform spool processing from the program 9, the processing steps in FIG. 3 are performed. In S20, spool data is stored, a queue element is created, a spool data name, a specified date and time, etc. are set, and a queue management mechanism 18 that manages spool data is determined according to the request.
[0038]
In processing step 21, it is identified whether the request has a date and time designation. The date and time designation queue designated by the queue management information 16 is processed, and the designated date and time of the first queue element and the new queue element are designated in processing step 22. Compare
[0039]
As a result of comparison, if the specified date and time of the new queue element is earlier, the new queue element is added to the head of the queue in processing step 23. Accordingly, the pointer indicating the head element of the queue management information 16 and the head designated date and time are updated here.
[0040]
If the specified date and time of the first queue element is earlier than the specified date and time of the new queue element in the comparison at processing step 22, it is identified at processing step 24 whether the queue element is the end of the queue (for example, a pointer indicating the next element) If the value is 0, the end of the queue element is indicated, and if not, the specified date and time of the next queue element are compared with the specified date and time of the new queue element in processing step 25.
[0041]
In the comparison result, a queue element having a specified date and time later than the specified date and time of the new queue element is detected, or the loop of processing step 24 and processing step 25 is repeated until the end is reached, and a specified date and time later than the specified date and time of the new queue element is obtained. When a queue element is detected, a new queue element is inserted immediately before the last queue element in processing step 26.
[0042]
If the specified date and time of the new queue element is later than the end, the new queue element is added to the end in the processing step 27. If any of the above cases, the new queue element is added to the date and time specified queue. End.
[0043]
If it is identified at processing step 21 that no date / time has been specified, a new queue element is added to the end of the queue at processing step 28 with the date / time not specified queue being processed, and processing is performed on the spool take-out unit 13 at processing step 29. Requesting, the spool storage unit 11 ends the processing.
[0044]
FIG. 4 is a process flow of the date / time patrol unit 12. When the timer is activated, the current date / time is read and held in a processing step 40. If the queue management information 16 is processed in the predetermined order, the queue management information 16 is identified as being queued in the date / time designation queue in processing step 41. If there is no queue, the processing of the queue management mechanism 18 is performed. Is over.
[0045]
If there is a queue, the designated date and time of the first queue element in the queue management information 16 is compared with the current date and time in processing step 42, and if the designated date and time of the first queue element is later than the current date and time, the processing of the queue management mechanism 18 ends. .
[0046]
If the designated date / time of the first queue element is before the current date / time, the designated date / time is sequentially compared from the first queue element in the processing after processing step 43.
[0047]
That is, the designated date and time are compared in processing step 43, and if it is before the current date and time, it is identified as the last queue element in processing step 44. If it is not the last, the process proceeds to the next queue element and the processing step 43 is compared.
[0048]
Thus, if Re detecting the queue elements slower specified date than the current date and time in the processing step 43, transferred from the first processing step 45 the queue elements upto of the element, the date given queue to date None queue .
[0049]
If the queue element has a specified date and time earlier than the current date and time until the end, all the queue elements are moved to the date and time not specified queue in processing step 46. After the above, processing is requested to the spool take-out unit 13 at processing step 47, the processing of the queue management mechanism 18 is finished, and whether or not there is an unprocessed queue management mechanism is identified at processing step 48. The process of the next queue management mechanism 18 is as described above.
[0050]
FIG. 5 shows a flow of processing of the spool take-out unit 13. When the processing is started by a processing request from the spool storage unit 11 or the date and time patrol unit 12, the queue management mechanism 18 specified in the request is set as a processing target in processing step 60. Whether or not there is a program waiting to be activated is identified in the program information waiting to be retrieved 17 of the queue management mechanism.
[0051]
If there is a program, an item waiting for activation of the waiting-to-be-taken program information 17 is selected in processing step 61 to be activated, and the first queue element of the date / time unspecified queue is extracted in processing step 62. The spool data name is passed to the program and the program is started.
[0052]
In processing step 64, it is identified whether or not there is a queue element still waiting for processing in the date / time designation queue. If there is a queue element, the processing returns to processing step 60 and the processing is performed as described above. Wait for.
[0053]
Upon receipt of the processing end notification from the activated program, the spool take-out unit 13 identifies whether there is a queue element waiting in the date / time designation queue at processing step 65, and if there is, it proceeds to processing step 62 and Process as follows.
[0054]
If there is no waiting queue element, the program is notified that there is no spool data to be processed at processing step 66, and the corresponding item of the extraction waiting program information 17 is put into an activation waiting state at processing step 67.
[0055]
The post-spool take-out unit 13 identifies whether there is a program being executed in processing step 68, and if there is a program being executed, waits for the completion of the execution, and ends if there is no program being executed.
[0056]
In the above description, the designated date / time is recorded in the queue element, and therefore the date / time patrol unit 12 scans the queue to detect the queue element with the designated date / time. However, the designated date / time is extracted and recorded in another table. The designated date and time and the queue element may be associated with each other with a pointer that designates and manages the queue element.
[0057]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in the management of spool data of jobs executed on a computer, the processing date and time of spool data can be specified, and the service in the computer operation is improved. effective.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing of the present invention (part 1).
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the processing of the present invention (part 2).
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the processing of the present invention (part 3).
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 11 Spool storage unit 2, 12 Date / time patrol unit 3, 13 Spool retrieval unit 4 Spool data 5, 15 Queue element 6 Queue 7 Date / time designation recording 8 Buffer 14 Spool management processing device 16 Queue management information 17 Waiting program information 20 ~ 29, 40-48, 60-68 processing steps

Claims (1)

A spool management device that manages input or output of a job executed by a computer as spool data in order to process the input asynchronously or asynchronously with the execution of the job,
A spool storage unit, a date and time patrol unit, and a spool take-out unit;
The spool storage unit stores the spool data in a predetermined buffer, creates a queue element corresponding to the spool data, and when the date and time is specified in the spool data, the date and time are associated with the queue element. Record and connect the queue elements to the date / time designation queue so that the queue elements are arranged in order of the designated date / time from the beginning. On the other hand, if there is no date / time designation in the spool data, the queue element is placed at the end of the queue without date / time designation. And notify the spool take-out unit,
The date and time patrol unit is activated at predetermined time intervals, compares the date and time of activation corresponding to the queue element with the date and time of activation from the head queue element connected to the date and time designation queue, When a queue element whose date and time is earlier than the activation date and time is detected, the detected queue element is moved to the queue without the specified date and time, and the spool take-out unit is notified,
The spool retrieval unit is activated by a notification from the spool storage unit or the date and time patrol unit, retrieves a queue element connected to the queue without the date and time designation, and outputs a spool program corresponding to the queue element as a processing program or output A spool management apparatus characterized by notifying a destination.

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