JP3962720B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, computer program, and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a job control process of a printing system.

  Conventionally, there has been a printing apparatus that can process interrupt printing or priority printing defined by DPA (ISO 10175), and a printer driver that can generate job data including interrupt printing or priority printing instructions that can be processed by the printing apparatus. .

Such printer drivers are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-182124 and 7-325685. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-182124, printing is performed by generating drawing data from print data to be preferentially printed when the printer driver receives a preferential print command and the printer apparatus is currently outputting another print data. A printing system that enables priority printing without developing data is disclosed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-325685 discloses a printing system that determines a printing order based on priority information added to print data and manages the printing order.
JP 07-182124 A JP 07-325685

  However, in recent printing systems, in order to improve printing efficiency, it is common that a spooler having a function of spooling a print job and sequentially transmitting it to the device exists between the printer driver and the printing apparatus. . For example, a print spooler in Windows (registered trademark) is known as a typical spooler. These spoolers have a function of adding a priority parameter to a document and outputting a document with a higher priority before a document with a lower priority.

  In addition, there is no link between interrupt printing or priority printing defined by the DPA (ISO 10175) described above and priority in the operating system.

  For this reason, the priority print job or the interrupt print job instructed by the printer driver is spooled to the spooler in the Windows (registered trademark) print spooler in the same manner as the normal job. For example, when there are a plurality of preceding jobs, There has been a problem that transmission of an interrupt print job or a print job that is supposed to be preferentially printed in the printer device is awaited until the transmission processing of the plurality of print jobs is completed.

  As described above, although the concept of simply assigning a priority to a print job and performing the advance printing process based on the assigned priority is already known, the recent complicated high-function printing system is improved. There was room.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism in which the order in which print job data is output to a printer device can be taken into account in consideration of the designation of a forward job in the printer device. To do.

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device , and created based on application data. receiving means for receiving data of a print job from the spooler, the data of the print job received, if the attribute of the postponed job instructed to be preferentially printed output at the printer device via a user interface that is configured Control means for controlling the received print job data to be preferentially output to the printer device, and a advance job ID that can be interpreted by the control means issued in response to the designation of the advance job in the printer device. The control means And a notification control unit configured to preferentially send the print job data to the printer device when the advance job ID is set in the print job data received from the spooler. It is characterized by outputting .

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device, and receives print job data created based on application data. If the attribute of the advance job instructed to be preferentially printed out by the printer device is set in the receiving means and the received print job data, the received print job data is prioritized. Control means for controlling output to the printer device, the control means detecting event occurrence means, and when the event detected by the event detection means is a job input command , Job attribute containing the ID of the submitted job Job information creation means for generating, the job attribute includes the attribute of the advance job, and the control means determines the attribute of the advance job and prioritizes the print job data corresponding to the advance job. Output to the printer device .

Furthermore, an information processing method according to the present invention is an information processing method in an information processing apparatus including a control unit that controls to output print job data created based on application data to an external printer device. A receiving step for receiving data of a print job created based on the spooler from the spooler, and an attribute of a forward job instructed to be preferentially printed out at the printer device via the user interface in the received print job data. If the set have that controls to output the data of a print job received the priority on the printer device, and a control process by the control unit, and is issued in accordance with the specified postpone job in the printer device Control worker A notification control step of notifying the control means of the advance job ID that can be interpreted by the control means, and in the control step, when the advance job ID is set in the print job data received from the spooler, The print job data is preferentially output to the printer device .
An information processing method according to the present invention is an information processing method in an information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device, and the print job created based on application data The received print job data, and the received print job data when the attribute of the forward job instructed to be preferentially printed out by the printer device is set in the received print job data. Is input when the event detected in the event detection process is a job input command, a control process for controlling to output to the printer device with priority, an event detection process for detecting occurrence of an event, Generate job attributes including job ID A job information creation step, wherein the job attribute includes an attribute of the advance job, and in the control step, the attribute of the advance job is determined, and the print job data corresponding to the advance job is prioritized. Are output to the printer device.

  A computer program characterized by realizing the information processing method according to the present invention and a computer-readable storage medium storing the program are also disclosed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform print control in which the order in which print job data is output to the printer device can be performed in consideration of the designation of the advance job in the printer device. For example , when there are a plurality of preceding jobs, the problem of waiting for the transmission of the interrupt print job or the priority print job until the transmission processing of the print job is completed is solved.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
(Configuration example of print processing system)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print processing system according to the embodiment.

  In the figure, reference numerals 101, 102, 103, and 104 denote network computers connected to the network 106 and capable of communicating with each other, and are typically personal computers (PCs).

  Among these, reference numerals 102, 103, and 104 denote client computers (hereinafter referred to as clients), which are each connected to the network 106 by a network cable such as Ethernet (registered trademark) and can execute various programs such as application programs. A printer driver having a function of converting print data into a printer language corresponding to the printer is installed. Here, it is assumed that each client supports a plurality of printer drivers.

  On the other hand, reference numeral 101 denotes a server computer (hereinafter referred to as a server), which is connected to the network 106 by a network cable, accumulates files used in the network, and monitors the use state of the network 106. This server also functions as a print server that manages printers connected to the network 106. Specifically, the print server 101 does not include print data from the client computers 102 to 104 or a function for storing and printing a print job including print data for which a print request has been issued from the client computers 102, 103, and 104. A function for receiving job information, managing the print order, and notifying a client in the print order of permission to send a print job including print data, a status of a printer device (printer device) 105 described later, and various print jobs It has a function of acquiring information and notifying the client computers 102-104. The server computer 101 is a logical entity in which the server function operates in the printing system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a dedicated server computer can be provided, or the client computers 102 to 104 or the printer device 105 can be substituted for the function of the server computer.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes a printer device as a print control apparatus, which is connected to the network 106 via a network interface (not shown), analyzes a print job including print data transmitted from a client computer, and prints dot images one page at a time. Convert to and print. Although only one printer device 105 is shown in the figure, a plurality of other printer devices may be connected. The functions of each printer device may be different. Various image recording methods can be applied to the printer device. For example, a print control apparatus employing an electrophotographic method or an ink jet recording method can be assumed.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes a network which is connected to the client computers 102 to 104, the print server 101, the printer device 105, and the like.

(Example of hardware configuration of network computer)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer used as the clients 102 to 104 and the print server 101. In this embodiment, the client computers 102 to 104 and the print server 101 have the same or equivalent hardware configurations as described above, but may have dedicated hardware configurations.

  In FIG. 2, a CPU 200 controls the entire apparatus, executes an application program, a printer driver program, an OS stored in a hard disk (HD) 205, a printer device control program according to the present embodiment, and the like. Control to temporarily store information, files, etc. necessary for program execution.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM as storage means, which stores various data such as programs such as basic I / O programs, font data used in document processing, and template data. Reference numeral 202 denotes a RAM as temporary storage means, which functions as a main memory, work area, and the like of the CPU 200.

  Reference numeral 203 denotes a floppy disk drive as storage medium reading means, and a program or the like stored in the FD 204 as a storage medium can be loaded into the computer through the FD drive 203 as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 204 denotes a floppy disk (FD) as a storage medium, which is a storage medium in which a program is stored so as to be readable by a computer. Note that the storage medium is not limited to the FD, and may be any CD-ROM, CDR, CDRW, PC card, DVD, IC memory card, MO, memory stick, and the like.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes an external storage means, which is a hard disk (HD) that functions as a large-capacity memory, and stores application programs, printer driver programs, OSs, printer device control programs, related programs, and the like. Furthermore, a spooler as spool means is secured here. The spool means is a client spooler in the client, and a server spooler in the print server. In the print server, job information received from the client is stored, and a table for controlling the order is also generated and stored in the external storage means.

  Reference numeral 206 denotes a keyboard which is an instruction input unit. The user instructs the client computer and the operator or administrator inputs an instruction of a device control command to the print server. A display 207 is a display unit that displays commands input from the keyboard 206, the status of the printer, and the like.

  A system bus 208 controls the flow of data in a computer that is a client or a print server. Reference numeral 209 denotes an interface which is an input / output unit, and the information processing apparatus exchanges data with an external apparatus via the interface 209.

  Note that the configuration of the computer is an example thereof, and is not limited to the configuration example of FIG. For example, the storage location of data and programs can be changed by ROM, RAM, HD, etc. according to the characteristics.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the RAM 202 shown in FIG. 2, and is a memory map in a state where the printer device control program loaded from the FD 204 is loaded into the RAM 202 and can be executed.

  In this embodiment, the printer device control program and related data are directly loaded from the FD 204 to the RAM 202 and executed. However, in addition to this, every time the printer device control program is operated, the printer device control program is already executed. May be loaded into the RAM 202 from the HD 205 installed from the FD 204. The medium for storing the printer device control program may be a CD-ROM, CDR, PC card, DVD, or IC memory card in addition to the FD.

  Further, it is possible to store the printer device control program in the ROM 201, configure it as a part of the memory map, and execute it directly by the CPU 200. In addition, software that realizes the same function as each of the above devices can be used as an alternative to a hardware device.

  Hereinafter, the printer device control program may be simply referred to as a print control program or a printer driver. The print control program includes a program for performing control for instructing the change of the print destination of the print job or the instruction for changing the print order in the client. On the other hand, the print server includes a program for controlling the order of print jobs and notifying the end of printing of a print job, a request for changing a print destination, and the like.

  In addition, the print control program of this embodiment that performs such control may separately divide the module installed in the client and the module installed in the print server, or one print control program is executed. It may function as a client or a print server depending on the environment. Alternatively, it is possible to install a module having a function for a client and a module functioning for a print server together in one computer and perform a pseudo parallel operation at the same time or in a time division manner.

  Reference numeral 301 denotes a basic I / O program, which has an IPL (Initial Program Loading) function for starting the operation of the OS by reading the OS from the HD 205 into the RAM 202 when the computer is turned on. This is the area that contains Reference numeral 302 denotes an operating system (OS), and 303 denotes a printer device control program, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 304 denotes related data, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 305 denotes a work area in which an area for the CPU 200 to execute the printer control program is secured.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 4, 401 is volume information indicating data information, 402 is directory information, 403 is a printer device control program which is a print control program described in the present embodiment, and 404 is related data thereof. The printer device control program 403 is a program based on the flowchart described in this embodiment. In this embodiment, both the client and the server have the same configuration.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship with the FD 204 inserted into the FD drive 203 shown in FIG. 2, and the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 5, the FD 204 stores a printer device control program and related data described in this embodiment.

(Example of software configuration and operation in print processing system)
FIG. 6 shows how a print job including a drawing command issued from a general application such as Microsoft Word (registered trademark) is processed in the print job control system in the client server model of this system. It is a figure.

  Normally, when a printing instruction is given, the application program generates a series of drawing commands via the OS. The generated drawing command is converted into a predetermined format via a printer driver, and then passed to a Windows spooler (Windows (registered trademark) Spooler). Windows (registered trademark) Spooler takes a procedure of passing print job data to a port monitor selected and instructed by a user via a user interface and transmitting the print job data to a printer device. In this embodiment, the user designates a print job control system port monitor 621 (hereinafter abbreviated as job control port monitor) in advance for printing in the normal operation just described.

  Although not shown, the user designates a standard TCP / IP port (monitor) provided in advance in another port monitor, for example, a Windows (registered trademark) OS (operating system) as a port monitor. In this case, the print job data is transferred from the Windows spooler 603 to the standard TCP / IP port (monitor), and then the print job data is transferred to the printer device 105. In this case, print job data is not transmitted to the printer device via the job control print service 622 shown in FIG.

  The job control port monitor 621 is not limited to a port monitor defined by Windows (registered trademark), but may be a module that can receive and process job data, such as a language monitor or a print processor. It is also possible to assign the job control port monitor function to a plurality of these modules. In a printing system such as UNIX (registered trademark), a filter program used at the time of printing may be used.

  The application program 601 generates a series of drawing commands via the OS. Here, the drawing command generated via the OS is transferred to the PDLD driver 602. In the following description, PDLDDriver will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as it is a software module that generates print data based on application data. For example, BDL (Band Description Language) Driver, etc. It is also possible to apply to.

  When a drawing command generated via the OS is input to the PDLDdriver 602, a page description language is generated by the PDLDdriver 602, and the generated page description language is a job control corresponding to the PDLDdriver 602 set to perform print processing. The data is transmitted from the port monitor 621 to the corresponding device 105 via the job control service 622.

  The print job control system print manager 623 (hereinafter abbreviated as job control print manager) allows the user to check the status of the print job in the job control print service 622 and to operate the print job. Is a program that provides a user interface. The job control print manager 623 exchanges information and instructions with the job control print service 622 via a software interface (API: Application Program Interface) of the job control print service 622. More specifically, the print manager 623 issues an event specifying a device to the job control print service 622, and the job control print service 622 monitors the status of the device based on the issued event, The print manager 623 is notified of the result based on the monitoring.

  The print job control system server 630 (hereinafter abbreviated as job control server) centrally controls (schedules) the timing at which the job control print service 622 on each client 102 to 104 transmits print job data to the printer device 105. ing. The print job control system management console 633 (hereinafter abbreviated as “job control management console”) exchanges information and instructions with the job control server 630 via an API that is accessed by software of the job control server 630. The entire print job control system can be monitored.

  In addition, the job control server 630 communicates with each printer device 105 using the device information control module 631 to obtain information about a print job and an operation state in each printer and perform an operation. The acquired information can be passed to the job control print service 622 on the clients 102 to 104 side.

(Job control flow)
Next, the flow of control of print job data in the present invention will be described.
First, a GDI call from an application is converted by the OS in the client computer that is the job generation apparatus (or print server if the job generation apparatus is a print server), and the printer driver 602 is called. The printer driver creates PDL data according to the DEVMODE setting. Information for instructing interruption or priority printing is stored in the DEVMODE expansion area by the printer driver UI (USER INTERFACE) displayed at the initial setting of printing or at the time of printing. The printer driver creates an interrupt or priority print job by confirming this extended area. FIG. 7 shows an example of an interrupt print command generated by the PDL printer driver 602. As shown in the left part of FIG. 7, the interrupt or priority print command is represented as a job having an optional print type “interrupt” with respect to a normal job start command. Although the priority print command is not shown, the optional print type is expressed as “priority”.

  Here, the difference between interrupt processing and priority processing will be described. The interruption process means that a job being executed in the printer device 105 is interrupted and another job is printed. As a specification example, double interrupts are prohibited. The priority process is a process for reserving a job that is being executed so that it is executed after the job that is being executed without being interrupted. A combination of these interrupt processing and priority processing may be referred to as advance processing. In addition, a job that is subject to interrupt processing and priority processing may be referred to as a postponed job.

  A specific example of processing will be described. First, when a priority job is input while a predetermined print job is being output by the printer device 105, the next output of the predetermined print job currently being executed is scheduled. Next, when an interrupt job is input while outputting a normal job, the job being output is interrupted and an interrupt job is output. When the output of the interrupt job is completed, the output of the interrupted normal job is resumed. Then, after the output of the normal job is finished, the output of the priority job is started. If an interrupt job is input while the priority job is being output, the priority job is interrupted and the interrupt job starts to be output.

  Data created in the client computer is managed in units of jobs and sequentially spooled to Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603.

  The Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603 sequentially de-spools (sends) the print job data when the spool for one page is completed, when the spool for all pages is completed, or whenever spooling is performed. Then, the job data is transferred to the job control port monitor 621. At this time, the print job data in which the job priority in the operation of the Windows (registered trademark) print queue is set higher than the others is preferentially output from the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603 to the outside by the mechanism of the OS. .

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a writing process in the job control port monitor 621.

  First, in step S800, it is determined whether or not it is the first writing from Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603. This determination is made by checking the “first write flag”. If it is determined in step S800 that the writing is the first, the process proceeds to step S801, where a spool start command is called from the job control port monitor 621 to the job control print service and is managed by the job control print service. The unique job ID and spool file name are notified to the job control port monitor 621 which is the job data transmission source.

  In the case of No in step S800 or when the process of step S801 ends, the process proceeds to step S802, the “first write flag” is turned OFF, and control is performed so that step S801 does not overlap in the subsequent write process. .

  Note that the “first write flag” in step S802 is managed in association with the job ID in Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603, and is initialized to ON at the time of transmission start calling from Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603.

  In step S803, the job control port monitor 621 analyzes the job data passed from Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603, and determines whether the passed data is a job start command. If it is determined that it is a job start command, it is determined (detected) in step S804 whether there is an interrupt or priority instruction.

  If it is determined in step S804 that there is an interrupt or priority instruction based on the job data analysis, the job control printer service 622 changes the interrupt or priority print instruction job attribute to the job control print service 622 in step S805. The target print job is notified together with an ID that can be identified (the unique job ID described above).

  The job attribute may be a general job attribute such as “print type” instead of a specific attribute such as “interrupt or priority print instruction”. In the embodiment of the present invention, a job attribute change command is used as a means for instructing the job control print service to input an interrupt or priority job. However, another command such as a priority change or interrupt print execution is used. Also good.

  In step S806, the job data received from the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603 is sequentially written in the storage area based on the file name acquired in step S801, and the job writing process ends. When the job control port monitor 621 is notified of completion of job data transmission for the job from the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603, the job control port monitor 621 requests the job control print service 622 to schedule the job. Details of the interrupt or priority print control in the job control print service 622 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the job control print service 622. In this embodiment, the job control print service 622 is a service program that is activated when the computer is activated. Further, the processing of FIG. 9 is performed in parallel independently of the processing shown in FIG.

  First, in step S900, initialization processing is performed. In the initialization process, the process proceeds to step S901, which is waiting for an event process for communication with the server. In the event waiting loop in step S901, an API call by the application programs 623 and 1324 and the job control port monitor 622 using the job control print service 622, an event notification from the job control server 630, or an event notification by transition of internal processing. The occurrence of an event is detected. Then, the processing from step S902 onward is executed depending on the type of event.

  In step S902, it is determined that the event is a job submission command. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S903, and job information data is created in the RAM 202 accessible by the job control print service 622. The job information data includes at least data necessary for controlling the job transmission order (the unique job ID issued by the job control print service 622 and the operating system job ID (Windows® Spooler that issued the job) ( (Hereinafter referred to as OS job ID), job file name, reception time, priority order, etc.) and additional information such as document name, user name, etc. are included as necessary. When the job information is created, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. Even if a plurality of jobs are input by the processing of step S903, the order of these processing is controlled, and which job is skipped even if an instruction for interruption or preferential processing (deferred processing) is input, the deferred processing The next step can be easily performed even with complicated control such as which job is processed.

  If the determination in step S902 is no, it is determined in step S904 whether the event is a spool start command. This spool start command corresponds to the calling of the spool start command in step S801, for example. In the case of YES, the unique job ID and spool file name are returned in step S905 (request job port monitor 621 here).

The job control print service 622 uses an external job ID (an OS job ID issued via the OS in response to a print request) such as Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603 in the spool start command. Is notified from the job control port monitor 621), an appropriate job file name is returned from the job information created in step S903, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901.
In step S905, if there is no job information corresponding to the job information file created in step S903, processing corresponding to step S903 is executed, and job information is newly created.

  If it is determined as NO in step S904, the process proceeds to step S906. In step S906, it is determined whether the event is an attribute setting command. If YES is determined, the process proceeds to step S907, where the job attribute created in S903 is updated. In the present embodiment, attributes indicating interrupts or priority jobs are managed in the same way as normal job attributes such as document name and user name. This is shown in FIG. When the job attribute update is completed, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901.

  If YES is determined in step S906, that is, if the event is an attribute setting command, the attribute setting contents of the print job data received from the job control port monitor 621 by the job control print service 622 in step S907. Is checked to determine that it is a priority job or an interrupt job (detected).

  When it is determined NO in step S906, it is determined in step S908 whether the event from any is a schedule command. In the flowchart of FIG. 9, a schedule command event is issued from the job control port monitor 621 in response to step S801. If YES is determined, a schedule request is notified to the job control server 630 in step S909. At this time, the job attribute checked in step S907 of the job is also notified at the same time. When the schedule request process in step S909 ends, the process returns to the event wait loop in step S901. The processing in the job control server 630 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  If “NO” is determined in the step S908, it is determined whether or not the event is a schedule up event from the job control server 630 in a step S910. In the case of YES, in step S911, the job is transmitted to the device 105, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. If the job is a job for which an interrupt or priority printing has been instructed, the printing apparatus 105 performs priority printing processing. Details of the processing in the printing apparatus 105 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

  If NO is determined in step S910, it is determined in step S912 whether the event is a job completion event from the server. If YES, the process proceeds to step S913, where the job attributes and files updated and managed in S907 are deleted, and the print process for the job is completed. Subsequently, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. Note that the job control server 630 also deletes job information indicating that the print job has been completed.

  If NO is determined in step S912, it is determined in step S914 whether the event is an end event. If YES, an end process is performed in step S915, and the job control print service ends the process. If NO in step S914, other command processing is performed in step S916, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. Since other command processing is not directly related to the present invention, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an outline of processing of the job control server 630. The job control server 630 is also a service program similar to the job control print service 622, and starts and stays resident when the computer is started. When the function of the Server Machine 101 is provided in the client computer, the process in FIG. 10 is executed on the same computer as the processes in FIGS. Further, the processing of FIG. 11 described later is similarly executed in the client computer.

  When the job control print server is activated, it performs initialization processing in step S1000, and enters the event reception waiting loop in step S1001. The event waiting loop in step S1001 ends as a result of API call, a request from the job control print service 622, a notification from the device information control module 631, and a transition of internal processing. When an event occurs and the event wait loop S1001 ends, it is determined in step S1002 whether or not the event is a schedule reservation command call. This process corresponds to the process in step S909 in FIG. If YES in step S1002, the job list stored in the RAM 202 on the job control server 630 side is updated in step S1003. At this time, the job attribute is determined, and a job having an “interrupt or priority print instruction” attribute is set to be processed with priority over other jobs. For example, when the job attribute is a priority print instruction, the priority of the job is set to the highest level compared to other jobs. The processing step for setting the highest priority is referred to in the processing of S1101 in the flowchart of FIG. In step S1004, a transmission job selection event is set, and the process returns to the event reception waiting loop in step S1001.

  If NO is determined in step S1002, it is determined in step S1005 whether the event is a transmission job selection event. If YES, transmission job selection processing is performed in step S1006. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Subsequently, the process returns to the event reception waiting loop in step S1001.

  If NO is determined in step S1005, it is determined in step S1007 whether or not the event is a timer event for periodically monitoring the state of the print job. If YES, in step S1008, the device information control module 631 is used to check the transmitted job status. When the completion of the job is confirmed in step S1009, a job selection event is set in step S1010, and then the completion of the job is notified to the job control print service 622 in step S1011. The operation of the job control print service at this time is as described above. If NO is determined in step S1009 or when step S1011 is completed, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S1001. Note that the timer event is an event that occurs periodically. In addition to this, processing such as status monitoring of the printing device 105 and confirmation of the existence of the job control print service 622 is performed, but is directly related to the present invention. Because there is no, I will omit it here.

  If NO is determined in the determination in step S1007, it is determined in step S1012 whether or not the event is an end event. If YES, an end process is performed in step S1013, and the job control server 630 ends. If it is determined NO in step S1012, it is determined that the command is another command, and processing for the other command is performed, but it is omitted because it is not related to the present invention.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a transmission job determination process in the job control server 630. In step S1100, it is determined whether or not the print job data can be transmitted to a predetermined printing device (for example, the printing device 105) designated in association with the print job. The job control server 630 manages the status of the printing device and the number of transmitted jobs. When an error has occurred in the device or when a certain number of jobs have been transmitted, The transmission job selection process is terminated without transmitting a job, and other processes are performed in the printing device until the error is cleared or a job of less than a certain number has been transmitted.

  If YES is determined in step S1100, the job having the highest priority is selected in step S1101. At this time, the priority setting in step S1003 described above is added to the selection criterion. When a plurality of jobs with the highest priority are selected, the job with the earlier reception time is selected.

  In step S1102, a list of selected jobs is determined. If a plurality of jobs are selected, a job with an earlier reception time is selected in step S1103. Subsequently, the only job selected in step S1101 or step S1103 is set as a transmission candidate, and the job control print service holding the PDL data 640 of the job is notified that the transmission order has arrived. In the present invention, this process is called a schedule up notification.

If the device 105 is not ready for transmission in step S1100, or if the schedule up process is performed in step S1104 , the transmission job selection process ends. The process in step S1104 corresponds to the schedule up to be determined in step S910 in FIG. 9 described above. The job control print service 622 that has received the process of step S1104 is controlled to preferentially transmit the designated print job data to the printing device from among the plurality of held print job data. In other words, in step S805, the print job data that is subject to the job control print service 622 being interrupted or notified of a change in the priority print instruction job attribute is preferentially given to the predetermined printer device from the job control print service 622 as a postponed job. Sent to.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an outline of interrupt printing processing in the printing apparatus 105 to which the present invention is applied. The interrupt printing process is started when the printing apparatus 105 receives job data. In step S1200, it is determined whether or not there is a job being printed (using the engine). If YES, job information being printed is saved in step S1201, and the job being printed is canceled in step S1202.

  Subsequently, in step S1203, it is determined whether there is a job under analysis (during translation). If YES, the analysis process is interrupted in step S1204. Regarding the interruption of the analysis process, it is only necessary to save the job data, and it is not necessary to hold the analysis result (intermediate data). However, the analysis data may be saved together. In step S1205, an interrupt occurrence event is transmitted. This event is received and processed by the device information control module 631 that wants the event. In step S1206, printing of the interrupt job is started.

  When printing is completed, a print completion notification is issued and notified to the job control print service 622 via the device information control module 631 and the job control server 630. The processing of the job control print service when the job completion event occurs is as described above.

Subsequently, the printing device 105 processes other spooled jobs in accordance with the priority order or the reception order, but is omitted here because it is not directly related to the present invention.
Note that steps S1200 to S1206 are processing of the printing apparatus 105 in interrupt printing, and during priority printing, only the priority of the schedule is raised, and processing for interrupting the job being analyzed during printing is not performed.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the priority job or interrupt job mechanism in the print device, which is conventionally defined in the DPA, and the print on the print device in the client computer that is the print data creation source are preferentially printed. It becomes possible to establish a link with an order control mechanism for sending job data. Furthermore, according to the printing mechanism, print job data output from Windows (registered trademark) Spooler is held by the job control print service 622, and the held print job data is transmitted at a proper timing at the printing device. Therefore, print job data does not stagnate in Windows (registered trademark) Spooler. Therefore, the print job data is not delayed in the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler mechanism, the print job data transmission is not delayed in the job control print service 622, and the print output is also delayed in the print device. I will not let you.

<Second Embodiment>
Also in the second embodiment, FIGS. 1 to 5, FIG. 7, and FIGS. 10 to 12 of the first embodiment are applied. Since these drawings are redundant, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, these drawings and their descriptions are also the contents of the second embodiment.

  Note that the timing and method for determining whether or not a priority job or an interrupt job is specified differ between the first embodiment and the second embodiment. In other words, in the first embodiment, the print job control service 622 determines whether or not a priority job or the like is designated based on the analysis of the job control port monitor 621 based on data from Windows (registered trademark) Spooler. In the embodiment, a advance job ID (hereinafter referred to as UUID) notified to the job control print service 622 and a UUID included in data input from a job control port monitor (described later) are checked. Is used to determine whether the job is a priority job or the like.

(Example of software configuration and operation in print processing system)
FIG. 13 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 in the first embodiment, and in the client server model of this system, a print job including a drawing command issued from a general application such as Microsoft Word (registered trademark). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the print job control system processes the data. Blocks having the same reference numbers as those in FIG. 6 indicate the same functional blocks.

  Normally, when a printing instruction is given, the application program generates a series of drawing commands via the OS. The generated drawing command is converted into a predetermined format via a printer driver, and then passed to a Windows spooler (Windows (registered trademark) Spooler). Windows (registered trademark) Spooler takes a procedure of passing print job data to a port monitor selected and instructed by a user via a user interface and transmitting the print job data to a printer device. In this embodiment, the user designates a print job control system port monitor 621 (hereinafter abbreviated as job control port monitor) in advance for printing in the normal operation just described.

  The job control port monitor 621 is not limited to a port monitor defined by Windows (registered trademark), but may be a module that can receive and process job data, such as a language monitor or a print processor. It is also possible to assign the job control port monitor function to a plurality of these modules. In a printing system such as UNIX (registered trademark), a filter program used at the time of printing may be used.

  The application program 601 generates a series of drawing commands via the OS. Here, the drawing command generated via the OS is transferred to the PDLD driver 602.

  When a drawing command generated via the OS is input to the PDLDdriver 602, a page description language is generated by the PDLDdriver 602. Further, the PDL Driver 602 analyzes the job information, notifies the job information notification service 1324 of the interrupt printing or priority print instruction, the paper size to be used, the number of sheets, and the like, and receives the job identifier from the outside (job information notification service 1324). receive. In the job information notification service, when job information is notified from the PDL Driver 602, a unique job identifier (UUID) is generated and appropriate processing is performed according to the job information, and the job control print service 622 is notified of the job identifier (UUID). And the OS job ID and job information in Windows (registered trademark) Spooler. The job identifier (UUID) returned from the job information notification service is embedded in the job data by the PDDriver 602.

  On the other hand, the page description language generated by the PDLD driver 602 is transmitted to the device through the port monitor, or from the job control port monitor 621 corresponding to the preset PDLD driver 602 to the corresponding device 105 via the job control print service 622. Sent.

  For example, a job transmitted from a standard TCP / IP port (monitor) is subjected to print processing according to priority by the device 105.

  On the other hand, when the job control port monitor 621 is used, when the job data is notified to the job control print service 622, the job control port monitor 621 extracts the above-described job identifier (UUID), and Windows (registered trademark) Spooler. The OS job ID issued in step 1 is also notified. The job identifier (UUID) is also used for job status confirmation in the device 105. As a result, the job control print service 622 and the job control server 630 associate the job information issued by Windows (registered trademark) with the job information in the device 105 to reliably trace the print job.

  Since the operations of the print job control system print manager 623 and the print job control system server 630 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted here.

(Job control flow)
Next, the control flow of the PDL job in the printing system of the present invention will be described.
The GDI call from the application is converted by the OS and the printer driver 602 is called. The printer driver creates PDL data according to the DEVMODE setting. Information for instructing interruption or priority printing is stored in an extended area of DEVMODE by a printer driver UI (USER INTERFACE) displayed at the initial setting of printing or at the time of printing. The printer driver creates an interrupt or priority print job by checking this extended area.

An example of the interrupt print command generated by the PDL printer driver 602 is the same as that in FIG. 7 of the first embodiment.
The data created in this way is managed in units of jobs and sequentially spooled in Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603.

  In Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603, the job data is sequentially despooled (sending process) at the timing when spooling for one page is completed, when spooling for all pages is completed, or whenever spooling is performed, The job data is passed to the job control port monitor 621.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an outline of the job information notification process. This process is called twice in the PDLDdriver 602 when PDL data generation starts and when data generation ends.

  An outline of the job information notified from the job information notification service to the job control print service 622 from the PDLD driver 602 is shown in FIG. Here, in addition to job information managed by Windows (registered trademark) such as OS job ID, job name, printer name, interrupt attribute, etc. on Windows (registered trademark), the job generation is completed. The time notification includes a job identifier (UUID) notified from the job notification service at the time of job generation. It is optional to include job attributes that can be collected using other OSs or printer drivers, and this is not contrary to the spirit of the present invention. Note that the interrupt attribute in FIG. 16 includes an attribute for instructing interrupt or priority printing.

  First, when job information is notified from the PDLD driver 602 in step S1400, the job information notification service 1324 generates an identifier (UUID) for the job control print service 622 to identify the job information.

  In step S1401, it is confirmed (detected) whether the job information includes an interrupt print instruction. If NO, then in step S1402, it is confirmed (detected) whether a priority print instruction is included.

  If YES is determined in step S1401 or S1402, the priority order is changed for the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler using the OS job ID on the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler notified from the PDLDdriver 602 in step S1403. Instructed. Note that the priority order change instruction for the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler may be given by the job control print service 622 that has received the OS job ID notification in advance.

  The job whose priority has been changed is preferentially passed to the port monitor or job control port monitor 621 by the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler even if there is a preceding job in the Windows (registered trademark) spooler. The PDL job passed to the port monitor other than the job control port monitor is immediately transmitted to the device, and the device 105 performs interrupt printing processing or priority printing processing described later.

  Then, the process moves to step S1404, and when the job priority is changed in step S1403, the job information is updated. If the process has shifted from step S1402, the update process is not performed.

  In step S1405, the notified job identifier (UUID) is returned to the driver.

  On the other hand, an outline of job control operation when the job control port monitor is used will be described below.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an outline of the cooperative operation of the job control print service 622 and the job control port monitor 621. In this flowchart, the difference from the first embodiment is that step S1517 exists. Since the functions of the other steps are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given.

  In this embodiment, the job control print service 622 and the job control port monitor 621 are service programs that are activated when the computer is activated. First, in step S900, initialization processing is performed.

  In the initialization process, the job control print service 622 communicates with the server and acquires the latest information such as the printer device from the server. Subsequently, the process proceeds to the event processing wait in step S901. In the event wait loop, an event is generated by an API call by the application programs 623 and 1324 and the job control port monitor 622 using the job control print service, an event notification from the job control server, or an event notification by transition of internal processing. Detected. Then, the processing from step S902 onward is executed depending on the type of event.

  First, in step S902, it is determined whether or not a job input command has been input.

  If it is determined in step S902 that the event is a job input command, job information data is created in the RAM 202 in step S903. The job information data includes at least data necessary for controlling the job transmission order (the original job ID issued by the job control print service 622 and the OS job ID and job in the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler that issued the job). File name, reception time, priority order, etc.) and additional information such as document name, user name, etc. are included as necessary. When the job information is created, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step S902 is no, it is determined in step S904 whether the event is a spool start command. In correspondence with FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not the job control port monitor 621 has received a spool start command from the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603.

  If YES in step S904, the process proceeds to step 1517. In step S1517, reading of the spool file is notified from the job control port monitor 621 to the job control print service 622 together with the UUID, and the process proceeds to step S905. As a result of the UUID notification, the unique job ID and spool file name are returned to the job control port monitor 621 in step S905. The job control print service 622 can distinguish (detect which one) the job input based on the UUID notification is interrupt printing. This is realized by notifying the job control print service 622 of the UUID of the print job for which interrupt printing or priority printing is instructed in advance in step S1405 of FIG.

  That is, in the spool start command, the job control port monitor 621 sends the job control print service 622 to the job described above together with the OS job ID of the external Windows (registered trademark) in the preceding stage of the job control print service 622 such as Windows (registered trademark) Spooler 603. A job identifier (UUID) issued by the information notification service 1324 is notified. At this time, the job control print service 622 uses the job identifier (UUID) to search for job information previously notified from the job information notification service. If there is a matching job attribute, it is checked whether the job includes an interrupt print instruction or a priority print instruction. If it is included, the job attribute update process in step S907 in FIG. 15 is also performed.

  Further, an appropriate job file name is returned from the job information created in step S903, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. In step S905, if there is no corresponding job information in the job information file created in step S903, processing corresponding to step S903 is performed to newly create job information.

  If NO is determined in step S904, it is determined in step S906 whether the event is an attribute setting command. If YES is determined, job attribute update processing from the job control port monitor 621 to the job control print service 622 is performed in step S907. In the present embodiment, attributes indicating interrupts or priority jobs are managed in the same way as normal job attributes such as document name and user name. When the job attribute update is completed, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901.

  On the other hand, if NO is determined in step S906, it is determined whether or not the event is a schedule command in step S908. If YES is determined, a schedule request is notified to the server 630 in step S909. At this time, the job attribute of the job is also notified at the same time. Also, it is assumed that this job attribute includes a unique job ID. When the schedule request process in step S909 ends, the process returns to the event wait loop in step S901. The processing in the job control server 630 is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  If NO is determined in step S908, it is determined in step S910 whether or not the event is a schedule up event from the server 630. In the case of YES, in step S911, the job is transmitted to the device 105, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. If the job is a job for which an interrupt or priority printing has been instructed, the printing apparatus 105 performs priority printing processing.

  If NO is determined in step S910, it is determined in step S912 whether or not the event is a job completion event from the server (corresponding to a job completion event from the device). If YES, the process moves to step S913, where the job attribute and file including the unique job ID are deleted, and the printing process for the job is completed. Subsequently, the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901.

  If NO is determined in step S912, it is determined in step S914 whether the event is an end event. If YES, an end process is performed in step S915, and the job control print service ends. If NO in step S914, other command processing is performed in step S916, and the process returns to the event waiting loop in step S901. Other command processing is not directly related to the present invention and is omitted in this embodiment.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, even when a job is input to the Windows (registered trademark) Spooler, the OS job ID and UUID are notified to the job control print service 622 in advance. Without performing complicated control on the driver, the order control of Windows (registered trademark) Spooler can be easily performed for the OS job ID notified from the job control print service 622.

  As described above in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the concept of simply assigning a priority to a print job and performing advance print processing based on the assigned priority. Absent. That is, even when the priority print job or the interrupt print job instructed by the printer driver is spooled by the Windows (registered trademark) print spooler in the same manner as the normal job, and there are a plurality of jobs preceding this spooler. Thus, it is possible to avoid a situation where it is necessary to wait for transmission of a print job that is an object of interruption or priority printing until transmission processing of a plurality of print jobs is completed. Therefore, if an instruction for interrupt or priority stamp printing is given, the target print job can be processed quickly.

<Others>
In the processing of each embodiment, a storage medium recording software program codes embodying each function is provided to the system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the storage medium in the storage medium. It can also be realized by reading and executing the program code. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying such a program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM Etc. can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. This includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in an expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a general | schematic block diagram about the structure of the computer in the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the memory map of RAM202 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an FD drive 203 and an FD 204 illustrated in FIG. 2. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printing system according to a first embodiment. It is an example of the data structure of an interrupt job print command. It is a flowchart of the data writing process in a job control port monitor. 4 is a flowchart in a job control print service (client) in the first embodiment. It is a main flowchart in a job control print server. 6 is a job selection flowchart in the job control print server. 6 is a flowchart of a printer device that processes interrupt printing. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printing system according to a first embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the outline | summary of a job information notification process. 10 is a flowchart of a job control print service (client) in the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the information notified to a job information notification service from a driver.

Explanation of symbols

101 server computer 102 to 104 client computer 105 printer device 106 network 602 PDL printer driver 621 job control port monitor 622 job control print service 630 job control server

Claims (20)

An information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device ,
A receiving means for receiving print job data created based on the application data from the spooler ;
The data of a print job received above, when the attribute of the postponed job instructed to be preferentially printed output at the printer device through the user interface is configured, preferential data of the print job received Control means for controlling to output to the printer device;
Notification control means for notifying the control means of a advance job ID that can be interpreted by the control means issued according to the designation of the advance job in the printer device;
The control means preferentially outputs the print job data to the printer device when the advance job ID is set in the print job data received from the spooler. apparatus. The notification control means notifies the operating system job ID issued in accordance with the specified postpone job in the printer device,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit instructs the spooler to preferentially output a job of the operating system job ID based on the notified operating system job ID. . The notification control means notifies the control means of the operating system job ID issued in response to the designation of the advance job in the printer device together with the advance job ID,
2. The information processing according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit causes the spooler to preferentially output a job of the operating system job ID based on the operating system job ID notified together with the advance job ID. apparatus. Analyzing means for analyzing the received print job data;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit detects an attribute of the advance job based on an analysis by the analysis unit. The postponed job processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises a priority job or interrupt job. An information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device,
Receiving means for receiving print job data created based on application data;
When the received print job data is set with an attribute of a forward-feed job instructed to be preferentially printed out by a printer device, the received print job data is preferentially sent to the printer device. Control means for controlling to output,
The control means includes
Event detection means for detecting the occurrence of an event;
If the event detected by the event detecting unit is a job submission command, a job information creating means for generating a job attributes including the ID of the input job, is the job attribute attribute of the postponed job And the control means determines the attribute of the advance job and preferentially outputs the print job data corresponding to the advance job to the printer device . If the event detected by the event detecting means is a spool start command, have a job information output means for outputting said created by the job information creating means, a corresponding job information to the sending source of the print job data The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 . Analyzing means for analyzing the received print job data;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit detects an attribute of the advance job based on an analysis by the analysis unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit detects an attribute of the advance job based on a notification issued in response to designation of the advance job in the printer device. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus including a control unit that controls to output data of a print job created based on application data to an external printer device ,
A receiving process for receiving print job data created from application data from the spooler ;
The data of a print job received above, when the attribute of the postponed job instructed to be preferentially printed output at the printer device through the user interface is configured, preferential data of the print job received A control step by the control means for controlling to output to the printer device,
A notification control step of notifying the control means of a advance job ID that can be interpreted in the control step issued according to the designation of the advance job in the printer device;
In the control step, when the advance job ID is set in the print job data received from the spooler, the print job data is preferentially output to the printer device. Processing method. In the notification control step, the operating system job ID issued according to the designation of the advance job in the printer device is notified ,
11. The information processing method according to claim 10 , wherein the control step instructs the spooler to preferentially output a job of the operating system job ID based on the notified operating system job ID. . In the notification control step, an operating system job ID issued according to the designation of the advance job in the printer device is notified to the control means together with the advance job ID,
11. The information according to claim 10 , wherein in the control step, a job with the operating system job ID is preferentially output to the spooler based on the operating system job ID notified together with the advance job ID. Processing method. An analysis step of analyzing the received print job data;
The information processing method according to claim 10, wherein in the control step, an attribute of the advance job is detected based on the analysis in the analysis step. The postponed job processing method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that it comprises a priority job or interrupt job. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus capable of outputting print job data created based on application data to an external printer device,
A receiving process for receiving print job data created based on application data;
When the received print job data is set with an attribute of a forward-feed job instructed to be preferentially printed out by a printer device, the received print job data is preferentially sent to the printer device. A control process for controlling the output,
And event detection step of detecting the occurrence of an event,
If the event where the event is detected in the detection step was a job submission command, and a job information generating step of generating a job attributes including the ID of the input job, it is the job attribute of the postponed job An information processing method comprising: an attribute, and in the control step, determining an attribute of the advance job and preferentially outputting the print job data corresponding to the advance job to the printer device . If the event where the event is detected in the detection step was a spool start command, the created job information creating step, having a job information output step of outputting a corresponding job information to the sending source of the print job data The information processing method according to claim 15 . An analysis step of analyzing the received print job data;
The information processing method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, in the control step, an attribute of the advance job is detected based on an analysis in the analysis step. The information processing method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, in the control step, an attribute of the advance job based on a notification issued in response to designation of the advance job in the printer device is detected. A computer program comprising program code for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to any one of claims 10 to 18 . A computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 19 .

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