JP3690704B2 - Network printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a network printing system for connecting a host device (host device) and a printer device (network printing device) via a network, and more particularly to a printer control means included in the network printing device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Various network printing systems for connecting a host device and a printer device via a network have recently been proposed. In such a network printing system, it is necessary for the host device side to grasp the operating state of the printer.
For example, in a Windows printing system, the standard for printing is to finish transferring print data to a printer, and this is generally the case. However, if the print data is small and the amount of print data is small due to the small amount of print information per page because the graphic processing is complicated for the print data, and the print data is large, the print will end There are many cases in which the time difference until completion is too large and the end of transfer cannot be used as a guide.
[0003]
In view of this, a method has been realized in which a printer is appropriately monitored, and the processing status of a print job is estimated based on basic operation information of the printer, such as whether the printer is idling. That is, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-200194 (first conventional example) proposes a method for estimating the processing status of print data by appropriately inquiring about the operating state of the printer from the host.
[0004]
Although different from the above estimation method, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-83551 (second conventional example) includes a printer and a printer control unit that automatically notify the host device of the end of printing or the occurrence of an error. A print server system has been proposed.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the first conventional example is a method for estimating the processing status of print data, it is difficult to grasp the processing status of each of a plurality of jobs sent continuously. In order to accurately grasp the processing status of each job in the printer with this system, a wasteful time is generated such that the transfer of the next job is waited until the completion of printing and discharging.
[0006]
Further, the second conventional example has a problem that it is impossible to specify which job is completed for a plurality of print job data transfers from the same user on the same host. In many cases, the end of printing is regarded as the end of print data transfer in response to the discharge of a job from the printer, and even in this example, what is regarded as the end of printing is not mentioned.
[0007]
The present invention is a network printing the print data sent to the network printing device (printer), grasp the printer control unit itself in the unit of print jobs, the correct processing status of the print data can be made to be reported to the host device An object of the present invention is to provide a device / network printing system.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve this object, the invention described in claim 1 is connected to a plurality of host devices that output print data in units of print jobs to which management information is added via a network capable of bidirectional data communication, and performs printing. An image forming unit to be executed and the print data received from the host device, developed into image data for printing, and transferred to the image forming unit in accordance with a print sequence of the image forming unit for printing. In a network printing apparatus having a printer control means to be executed, the printer control means issues a print job unit received as a group of print data received from the host device and issued by the host device added in that unit. discriminating means for discriminating the job identification information which is management information uniquely assigned to each job unit, each print job Management means for managing a state and job identification information whether finished printing and paper discharge as a print job management table, at the end all pages paper ejection of the print job based on the contents of the print job management table, the corresponding print job Transfer means for transferring a message containing the job identification information and job end code to the host device that sent the corresponding print job, and grasping the print management status for each print job unit and reporting to the corresponding host device Is possible.
[0010]
The invention of claim 2, wherein, in the invention of claim 1, wherein the print job management table is characterized in that consists of non-volatile storage means.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a network printing system. This network printing system includes a plurality of host devices 1 (in this example, three host devices 1a, 1b, and 1c), a network printing device (hereinafter referred to as a printer ) having a printer control means 2 and a printer engine 3. 4 ) are connected via a network 5.
[0012]
In general, the printer control means 2 sends the bit image for one page created therein to the printer engine 3 as video data in synchronization with the operation timing of the optical writing system of the printer engine 3. In preparation for recovery printing when a failure such as a jam occurs, the output page image is held in the memory until an event of printing and discharging the corresponding page from the printer engine 3 occurs. In other words, the time point at which the print discharge event occurs is a trigger that the corresponding page has been correctly printed and discharged. At this timing, the held page image area is released to develop another page.
[0013]
In the present invention, the completion of printing of all pages of the job is determined when the trigger occurs, and when the job is completed, the job completion information is transferred to the print request host (for example, the host device 1a).
[0014]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of print data sent from the host to the printer. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a print job management table, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of message data sent from the printer to the host.
The print data sent from the host apparatus 1 to the printer apparatus 4 is configured as shown in FIG. 2 and comprises a printer address 11, a host apparatus address 12, a print job header 13, and print language data (hereinafter referred to as print data) 14. . The print job header 13 includes a print job code 13a as print job identification information, and a data length 13b of a print language portion having a variable length.
[0015]
In this example, the print job code 13a is a sequential number that is uniquely assigned to each job issued by the host device 1 that issues a print request. However, if the print job code 13a serves the purpose of being distinguished from other jobs, the document name, file name, etc. It may be a character string or time stamp information. In that case, the field of the print job code 13a shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 also has an area where the same character string and time information can be recorded.
[0016]
The printer control means 2 that has received one print data adds a new print job record to the print job management table shown in FIG. The print job management table includes field elements of a host device address 12, a print job code 13a, a print page number 15, and a print job status flag 16. The former two specify a job, and the latter two fields specify job information. Record.
[0017]
If the number of print pages is “printed”, it indicates the total number of pages spent on printing the job. If the job is “printing”, the number of pages that have been printed is recorded. The number of printed pages for a “waiting” job is zero. The print job status flag 16 records numerical values for identifying these three states as flag information.
[0018]
Each time the “printing” job at the top of FIG. 3 further prints, the number of printed pages 15 is counted up. When all pages of the job have been printed, the status flag 16 is set to “ It is rewritten to a value indicating “printed”. Then, according to the message data configuration example shown in FIG. 4, the host device 1 that issued the job creates the job information based on the corresponding record of the print job management table and transfers it to the print requesting host. It is possible to accurately grasp that printing has been completed.
[0019]
If a print job end notification cannot be made due to some trouble, the host side can inquire about the history information of a specific print job using the job and host address as parameters.
[0020]
FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a job history request command and an inquiry example from the host to the printer. Since the inquiry command from the host device 1 is sent in accordance with the print data configuration of FIG. 2, the host device address in the command can be omitted, but since a history regarding another host device is obtained, this command is sent. Parameters are provided. FIG. 5B shows an inquiry example and a response example in the state of FIG. The printer device 4 that has received an inquiry from the host device 1 responds that printing is in progress. As described above, in the present invention, the job identification information is shared and exchanged between the host device 1 and the printer device 4, and the printer control means 2 itself grasps the print data sent to the printer in units of print jobs. The correct processing status of the print data can be reported to the host device 1.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, even when a plurality of host devices share one printer device, the host device can accurately know in real time the completion of printing and discharging for each print job output by the host device. The generation of wasted time such as standby time can be eliminated. In addition, a plurality of print jobs output from a plurality of host devices can be managed bidirectionally by the printer device in units of print jobs, and application to prevention of communication errors, billing management, and the like becomes possible . In the conventional example that understood the end of data transfer as the end of printing, if there is time until the end of printing, it is necessary to wait for that time, and time is wasted, but the present invention solves the problem. Can do.
[0023]
According to the invention described in claim 2, since the consistency of job processing information between the host side and the printer is confirmed, for example, if the host periodically inquires about job information, the job printing is completed. It is possible to prevent a problem that the host keeps waiting for job completion due to some communication error of information. Further, since the print history of a plurality of printers connected to the host can be grasped collectively from the host, it can be applied to billing management and the like depending on the host address and job identification information in the history.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a network printing system.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of print data sent from a host to a printer.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a print job management table.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of message data sent from a printer to a host.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a job history request command and an inquiry example from the host to the printer.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 host device 2 printer control means 3 printer engine 4 network printing device (printer device)
5 networks

Claims (2)

Connected to multiple host devices that output print data in units of print jobs with management information added via a network capable of bidirectional data communication,
Image forming means for executing printing;
Printer control means for receiving the print data from the host device, developing the image data into print image data, transferring the image data to the image forming means in accordance with a print sequence of the image forming means, and executing printing; In the network printer,
The printer control means includes management information uniquely assigned to each print job unit received from the host device and a job unit issued by the host device added as a unit of print data to be sent. Discrimination means for discriminating certain job identification information;
A management means for managing the status of whether printing / discharge is completed for each print job and job identification information as a print job management table;
Transfer means for transferring a message including job identification information and job end code of the corresponding print job to the host device that has transmitted the corresponding print job at the end of discharging all pages of the print job based on the contents of the print job management table And
A network printing apparatus capable of grasping a print management status of a plurality of print jobs and reporting to a corresponding host apparatus.   The network printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print job management table includes a nonvolatile storage unit.

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