JP4353493B2 - Information processing apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides information processing capable of acquiring the identification information from issuing means for issuing identification information for identifying the print job used for monitoring or tracking a print job output to a printer to the print job. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a control method thereof.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the current printing system, an ID issued by a specific module in the printing system is set in the print job data and processing such as tracking of the print job is performed, but coexists with other systems that perform similar processing. That is not taken into account.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In other words, in the current printing system, when there are a plurality of independent printing systems or printer monitoring systems that use the same type of ID in the print job data, the ID set by one system is different from the other system. Will be overwritten with the ID. At this time, there is a problem that the previously set ID is overwritten and deleted.
[0004]
For this reason, it has been impossible to normally perform processing such as tracking of a print job using the same type of ID with all of a plurality of independent modules.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and even when there are a plurality of systems for monitoring or tracking a print job, the print job can be identified by using the identification information issued by the plurality of systems as they are. The purpose is to do.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an identification unit that issues identification information for identifying a print job used for monitoring or tracking a print job output to a printer to the print job. a acquires information processing apparatus capable identification information receiving means for receiving the print job, acquiring first identification information issued from said issuing means relative to the print job received by said receiving means an acquiring unit, when the second identification information capable of specifying the print job on the print job is already embedded, without overwriting the second identification information in the first identification information, the second characterized in that chromatic and notification means for notifying the holding means for holding a set of by the first identification information and the second identification information to set the first identification information and second identification information To.
[0007]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an issuing means for issuing to the print job identification information for identifying the print job used for monitoring or tracking a print job output to a printer. a control method for the identification information can be acquired information processing apparatus, a receiving step of receiving the print job, the first identification issued by the issuing means relative to the received print job in the receiving step An acquisition step of acquiring information, and when the second identification information capable of specifying the print job is already embedded in the print job, overwriting the second identification information with the first identification information. Instead, the first identification information and the second identification information are paired to notify the holding means for holding the pair of the first identification information and the second identification information. Characterized by chromatic and steps.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0009]
In the present embodiment, in consideration of the existence of a plurality of independent printing systems or printer monitoring systems that use the same type of ID in the print job data, when an ID is already set by a certain system, Without changing the set ID, this ID is acquired and held in this system, and the acquired ID is used for processing such as tracking a print job. By doing so, it becomes possible to normally perform processing such as tracking of a print job using the same type of ID in all of a plurality of independent systems.
[0010]
In addition, by embedding a system-specific identifier in an ID issued by the system, the IDs of the printing systems that operate independently do not collide. In this way, when tracing a print job, it is possible to determine which system's management target is the print end job notified from the printer, and printing due to ID collision It is possible to prevent job tracking failure.
[0011]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to the embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a network, which is a local area network (LAN) line such as Ethernet. A host computer (information processing apparatus) 102 is connected to a printer, which will be described later, via a network 101 so as to be communicable using a predetermined protocol. Reference numeral 103 denotes a print server, which manages the print order for each printer based on print requests from host computers (clients) connected to the network 101. Reference numerals 104 and 105 denote printers that form images on recording paper in accordance with print job data from a plurality of host computers (clients).
[0012]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the host computer according to the embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes a CPU which executes a predetermined program stored in a ROM described later and an application program stored in a hard disk based on an operating system (OS), and various devices connected to a bus described later. Control access. Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM, which is a memory in which control programs executed by the CPU 200, control data, and the like are stored. A RAM 202 is used as a work memory when the CPU 200 executes a program stored in the ROM 201 or a hard disk. A keyboard 203 provides an interface with a user together with a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown). A hard disk 204 is a large-capacity storage device that stores application programs and the like. Reference numeral 205 denotes a display such as a CRT or LCD, which functions as a user interface together with the keyboard 203. A network board 206 has a function of communicating with the printers 104 and 105, the print server 103, or other client machines shown in FIG. 1 according to a plurality of protocols. A system bus 207 is connected to the network board 206 from the CPU 200 described above, and is configured to exchange data with each other.
[0013]
Here, the configuration and operation of a print server system composed of a client machine and a server machine will be described. The client machine corresponds to, for example, the host computer 102 shown in FIG. 1, and the server machine corresponds to the print server 103.
[0014]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a client / server configuration of the printing system according to the embodiment. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a print server machine, and 302 denotes a client machine. Reference numeral 303 denotes an application, and 304 denotes a spooler on the OS. When the user instructs printing via the user interface of the application 303, a print request is issued from the application 303 to the spooler 304. A printer driver 305 receives print data from the spooler 304, converts it into a data format that can be processed by the printer, and returns it to the spooler 304. Reference numeral 306 denotes a printer monitoring system that operates in cooperation with the printer driver 305. When the printer driver 305 receives print data from the spooler 304, the printer driver 305 acquires a print job ID from the printer monitoring system 306 and embeds it in the print data. This ID is notified from the printer as the ID of the print job when the print data is printed on the printer and printing is completed. The printer monitoring system 306 uses this ID to track the print job.
[0015]
Reference numeral 307 denotes a client unit of the print server system in the embodiment, and 308 denotes a server unit of the print server system. Here, the client unit 307 and the server unit 308 of the print server system operate independently of the printer monitoring system 306. The client unit 307 receives print data that can be processed by the printer from the spooler 304. Also, the client unit 307 acquires an ID for tracking the print job from the server unit 308 of the print server system, and tries to embed it in the print data. However, this print data is an output result of the printer driver 305, and an ID issued by the printer monitoring system 306 is embedded. If the ID acquired from the server unit 308 is overwritten on the print data, the print server system can operate normally, but the printer monitoring system 306 cannot trace the print job.
[0016]
For this reason, the client unit 307 analyzes the print data, and if the same type of ID is already set, it does not overwrite the acquired ID, but acquires the ID set in the print data, and the server unit The server unit 308 is notified of the pair with the ID issued by the server 308. Thereafter, the print data is transferred to the printer (309 in the example shown in FIG. 3) via the LAN line 310. Here, the printer 309 is set to notify the ID set in the print data when printing is completed, and notifies the printer monitoring system 306 and the print server system server unit 308 of the ID of the print job that has been printed. To do. On the other hand, the server unit 308 holds the ID notified from the client unit 307, and notifies the client unit 307 of the completion of printing when a job that matches the ID of the job that has been printed notified from the printer 309 is found. To do.
[0017]
Next, a printing process sequence of the client unit 307 in the printing system in which the printer monitoring system 306 and the print server system described above exist independently will be described.
[0018]
4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the print processing sequence of the client unit when the printing system is used. First, in step S 401, the client unit 307 receives print data from the spooler 304. Specifically, first, the user instructs printing from the application 303, and the application 303 issues a print request to the spooler 304 on the OS. Then, the spooler 304 passes the print data to the printer driver 305, and the printer driver 305 converts the print data into a format that can be processed by the printer 309 and returns it to the spooler 304. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, when the printer driver 305 operates in cooperation with the printer monitoring system 306, an ID issued from the printer monitoring system 306 is acquired, and processing for embedding the ID in the print data is performed. . Thereafter, the spooler 304 passes the print data to the client unit 307 of the print server system.
[0019]
In step S402, a print job is registered in the server unit 308 of the print server system. By this registration processing, the server unit 308 schedules the print job and starts management as a target of processing such as tracking of the print job. In step S403, an ID used for tracking a print job is acquired from the server unit 308. In the current printing system, the client unit 307 always embeds the ID in the print data, and the server unit 308 tracks the print job with the issued ID. For this reason, it is impossible to trace the print job in all the systems except the system in which the ID is overwritten last.
[0020]
Next, in step S404, the client unit 307 analyzes the print data. In step S405, it is determined from the analysis result in step S404 whether the ID is already embedded in the print data. If the ID is already embedded in the print data, the process proceeds to step S406, and the already embedded ID is acquired from the print data. In step S 407, the embedded ID is notified to the server unit 308 as a set with the ID issued by the server unit 308.
[0021]
On the other hand, if the ID is not embedded in the print data in step S405, the process proceeds to step S408, and the system identifier determined by the entire system is added to the ID issued by the server unit 308. With this process, an ID that is always different from an ID issued by another printing system can be created. As an example, when the ID generation method of a plurality of systems is a character string representation of an 8-digit number starting from “00000001” and increasing by one, the same ID is issued between the plurality of systems, and print job tracking processing It may be possible to cause problems.
[0022]
Therefore, in the printing system according to the present embodiment, by adding a system name to this ID to “00000001”, it is possible to prevent IDs from colliding between systems having different system names.
[0023]
In step S409, the ID issued by the server unit 308 is embedded in the print data. In step S410, the server unit 308 is notified that the ID issued by the server unit 308 is embedded in the print data. By the processing in steps S406 to S410 described above, it is possible to notify the server unit 308 of the ID already embedded or embedded in the print data without overwriting the ID already embedded in the print data. Both the server unit 308 and the printer monitoring system 306 of the printing system can perform print job tracking processing.
[0024]
When the notification to the server unit 308 is completed, the process proceeds to step S502 shown in FIG. 5 and the print data is transferred to the printer 309 via the LAN line 310. In step S503, the server unit 308 is notified that the transfer of print data to the printer has been completed, and the process ends.
[0025]
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the case where one printing system is present on the network (LAN line 310) has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also applicable to the case where a plurality of printing systems are present. Needless to say, it can be applied. In this case, each printing system may add a unique system name such as “00000001” described above.
[0026]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) In this printing system, even if there are a plurality of independent printing systems or printer monitoring systems that use the same type of ID in the print job data, this ID is used by preventing overwriting of the ID. Processing such as print job tracking can be normally performed in all of a plurality of independent systems.
(2) By embedding an identifier unique to the system in the ID, it is possible to prevent the IDs of the printing systems that operate independently from colliding with each other.
[0027]
Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device (for example, a copier, a facsimile device, etc.) composed of a single device. You may apply to.
[0028]
Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and store the computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus in the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the programmed program code.
[0029]
In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0030]
As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.
[0031]
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) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.
[0032]
Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, even when there are a plurality of systems that monitor or track a print job, it is possible to identify the print job by using the identification information issued by the plurality of systems as they are .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a host computer in the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a client / server configuration of the printing system according to the embodiment.
4 is a flowchart showing print processing of the client unit shown in FIG. 3. FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a printing process of the client unit shown in FIG.

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus capable of acquiring the identification information from an issuing unit that issues identification information for identifying the print job used for monitoring or tracking a print job output to a printer to the print job. ,
Receiving means for receiving the print job ;
Obtaining means for obtaining first identification information issued from the issuing means for the print job received by the receiving means ;
When the second identification information that can identify the print job is already embedded in the print job, the first identification information is not overwritten with the first identification information. the information processing apparatus characterized by chromatic and notification means for notifying the holding means for holding a set of the said and second identification information in the set wherein the first identification information second identification information . The notification means uses the first identification information to specify information for identifying a system that monitors or tracks the print job when the second identification information is not embedded in the print job. The first identification information added to the first identification information and added with information for specifying a system for monitoring or tracking the print job using the first identification information is embedded in the print job and The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is notified to a holding unit . The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information for specifying a system that monitors or tracks the print job using the first identification information is a system name of the system. Control method for information processing apparatus capable of acquiring identification information from issuing means for issuing identification information for identifying the print job used for monitoring or tracking a print job output to a printer to the print job Because
A receiving step for receiving the print job ;
An obtaining step for obtaining first identification information issued from the issuing means for the print job received in the receiving step ;
When the second identification information that can identify the print job is already embedded in the print job, the first identification information is not overwritten with the first identification information. the information processing apparatus characterized by chromatic and a notification step of notifying the holding means for holding a set of the said and second identification information in the set wherein the first identification information second identification information Control method. In the notifying step, when the second identification information is not embedded in the print job, information for specifying a system for monitoring or tracking the print job using the first identification information is provided. The first identification information added to the first identification information and added with information for specifying a system for monitoring or tracking the print job using the first identification information is embedded in the print job and The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 4, wherein the holding unit is notified . 6. The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 5, wherein the information for specifying a system that monitors or tracks the print job using the first identification information is a system name of the system. . A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute each step of the control method of the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6 .

Images