JP4773885B2 - Print management apparatus and print management program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print management apparatus and a print management program, and more particularly to management of printing for a printing apparatus connected to a network.

  When a plurality of printing apparatuses such as printers and multifunction peripherals are connected to the network, the user can select a printing apparatus on the terminal and print a desired document. When the instruction is given, if the selected printing apparatus prints another document, it waits until the printing of the other document is completed. When the size of other documents is large, it takes time to complete the printing, and the printing of the document instructed may time out and an error may occur.

As an apparatus for smoothly printing a document when there are a plurality of printing apparatuses, Patent Document 1 determines whether there is a work that cannot be processed due to a failure of the own apparatus or a lack of capability, and a work that cannot be processed by the own apparatus. An image processing apparatus is described in which, if there is, a search is performed for a substitute device for work, and processing is performed for the searched substitute device. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes an image forming system that enables optimal distribution of print jobs based on job operation status information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses.
JP 2002-135508 A JP 2005-94707 A

  Once the printing of a document times out, the user deletes the job from the printing apparatus, opens a desired document with an appropriate application, and repeats the printing instruction.

A print management apparatus provided by the present invention is connected to a plurality of printing apparatuses via a network, converts print target data into print data in a format that can be processed by the corresponding printing apparatus, and converts the print data into the print data A plurality of print data output devices for outputting to the printing device are provided. The print management device receives print target data given to a predetermined print data output device, and acquires from the print device a processing status of the print data output to the corresponding print device by the print data output device An output data holding unit that temporarily holds the print target data received by the interface unit until the printing of the print data is completed, and a display device that displays the processing status of the print data acquired by the interface unit Included in the status display unit, a search unit that searches for connected printing devices, a list display unit that displays a list screen of printing devices searched by the search unit on the display device, and the list screen A selection receiving unit that receives a selection of a printing device, and before the printing of the print data is started, When the printing device from the list screen is selected, the print data output device corresponding to the printing device, and an output switching unit providing a print target data to which the output data holding unit holds.

The print management apparatus may further include a unit that acquires the apparatus status from the searched printing apparatus and determines whether the printing apparatus is capable of printing based on the acquired apparatus status. In this case, the selection accepting unit can accept selection only for printing devices that can be printed among the printing devices included in the list screen.

  According to another aspect, the present invention provides a print management program for causing a computer to function as the above-described print management apparatus.

In the present invention, the print data retaining at least until the print job is completed, also acquires the processing status of the print data corresponding to the print data, and displays it on the display device. The user can check the printing status from the display. In the present invention, the connected printing device is searched, and a list screen of the searched printing devices is displayed on the display device. If the print start of the output print data is delayed, the user can select a printing apparatus from the list screen. If a printing device is selected from the list screen before printing of the output print data is started, the held print target data is output to the print data output device corresponding to the printing device . Therefore, the user can print the output print data on another printing apparatus with a simple operation. Thereby, even if the time until the print job is started is long, the waiting time can be reduced.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is embodied as a computer connected to a printing apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral via a network, and a print management program operating on the computer.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a printing system according to the present embodiment. A network 101 connects a user terminal 102 that prints a document, a computer 103 of another user, a multifunction peripheral 104, and printers 105 and 106. The computers 102 and 103 output a print job to the MFP 104 and the printers 105 and 106 having a printer function via the network 101. The multi-function peripheral 104 and the printers 105 and 106 register print jobs in the job management table in the input order, and sequentially process the print jobs in that order.

  In this example, after the computer 103 outputs the print job J3 to the multifunction peripheral 104, the computer 102 outputs the print job J2 to the multifunction peripheral 104. For this reason, the multi-function peripheral 104 processes the print job J3 first, and treats the print job J2 as waiting during the processing. If the size of the print job J3 is large, the time required to complete the print job J3 becomes longer. Even if the size of the print job J2 is small, as long as the MFP 104 processes the print job J2, the user of the computer 102 must wait for the print job J2 to be processed for a long time until the print job J3 is completed. I must. In some situations, a timeout error may occur for the print job J2. In such a case, the computer 102 in the present embodiment presents a list of printing apparatuses connected to the network 101 to the user, and controls so that the user can easily switch the output destination of the print job J2. In this example, in addition to the MFP 104, the names “printer P1” and “printer P2” of the printers 105 and 106 are displayed in the list. If the output destination of the print job J2 is changed to the printer 105 with the name “printer P1,” the user does not have to wait for a long time until the multifunction peripheral 104 completes the print job J3.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computer used for print management. As the computer 102, a general general-purpose computer can be used. The computer 102 has a CPU 201 and a bus 202. The CPU 201 is connected to the ROM 203 and the RAM 204 through the bus 202. When the computer 102 is started in accordance with a program instruction stored in the ROM 203, the CPU 201 operates a part or all of the OS 205 on the RAM 204.

  An input device 206, a display device 207, and a communication interface 208 are also connected to the bus 202. As the input device 206, a cursor device such as a mouse or a trackball, or a keyboard can be used. As the display device 207, a liquid crystal display or a CRT display can be used. A communication interface 208 connects the computer 102 to the network 101.

  Further, an HDD 209 is also connected to the bus 202 as one of storage devices. The HDD 209 stores a file of the print management program 210 for switching the output destination of the print data. For example, the CPU 201 reads out the file of the print management program 210 from the HDD 209 when the computer 102 is started up, and operates the program 210 on the RAM 204. The computer 102 functions as a print management apparatus by operating according to the instructions of the program 210.

  In addition to the print management program 210 file, the HDD 209 also stores an execution file of the application 211 and files of the printer drivers 212 to 214. The application 211 is used when a user creates or edits data to be printed and instructs the printing of the data. For example, a word processor or spreadsheet software. The files of the printer drivers 212 to 214 are stored in the HDD 209 in advance according to the printing apparatus used by the user of the computer 102. In this example, separate printer drivers 212 to 214 are prepared for each of the three printing apparatuses, ie, the multifunction peripheral 104 and the printers 105 and 106. When the application 211 receives a print instruction from the user, the printer driver is called. The printer driver converts the data into a format that can be processed by the corresponding printing apparatus, and outputs the print data to the printing apparatus. For example, when the printer 105 receives the print data via the network 101, the printer engine 216 prints the data on a sheet according to the control of the printer controller 215. As print data output to the printing apparatus, raster format data or data described in a printer language is used.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the print management apparatus. The computer 102 operates in accordance with commands from the print management program 210 and printer drivers 212 to 214 and functions as a print management device 301 and print data output devices 302 to 304. Each of the print data output devices 302 to 304 outputs the print data designated by the application 211 to the multi-function peripheral 104, the printer 105, or the printer 106. The print management apparatus 301 communicates with the application 211 and the print data output apparatuses 302 to 304 and performs control for the user to easily switch the print data output destination.

  The computer 102 as the print management apparatus 301 includes an interface unit 305, an output data holding unit 306, a status display unit 307, a search unit 308, a list display unit 309, a selection receiving unit 310, and an output destination switching unit 311.

  The print management apparatus 301 communicates with the application 211 and the print data output apparatuses 302 to 304 through the interface unit 305. The interface unit 305 receives print target data specified by the application 211 and given to the print data output device. The interface unit 305 acquires the processing status of the print data output from the print data output device to the print device from the print device.

  The output data holding unit 306 temporarily holds the print target data received by the interface unit 305. The output data holding unit 306 monitors the processing status acquired by the interface unit 305 and holds at least the print target data until printing of the print data is completed.

  The status display unit 307 displays the processing status of the print data acquired by the interface unit 305 on the display device 207. For example, a status such as “printing standby” or “printing” is displayed on the display device 207 in association with the name of the print target data or the name of the output destination printing apparatus.

  The search unit 308 searches for a connected printing device. By referring to a file in which printing apparatuses that can be used in the computer 102 are registered in advance and checking whether communication is possible with each printing apparatus registered in the file, it is possible to search for connected printing apparatuses. In this embodiment, the MFP 104 and the printers 105 and 106 are searched for as connected printing apparatuses. The search unit 308 acquires the name of the searched printing apparatus from the file.

  The list display unit 309 displays a list screen of printing devices searched by the search unit 308 on the display device 207. The name of the searched printing apparatus can be included in the list screen. From this list screen, the user selects a printing apparatus. The input device 206 can be used for the operation. The list display unit 309 changes the display of the list screen according to the operation status. For example, the printing apparatus with the cursor is highlighted.

  The selection receiving unit 310 receives selection of a printing device included in the list screen. For example, a signal from a mouse that is the input device 206 is monitored, thereby identifying the selected printing device.

  The output destination switching unit 311 monitors inputs from the interface unit 305 and the selection receiving unit 310, and selects a printing device from the list screen until printing of print data output by the print data output device is started. Check whether or not. When a printing device is selected from the list screen before printing of the printing data output by the printing data output device is started, it communicates with the printing data output device that has output the printing data, and the printing data output device Stop printing the print data. Further, the output destination switching unit 311 communicates with the print data output device for the selected printing device, and causes the print data output device to output the print target data read from the output data holding unit 306 to another printing device. As a result, the output destination of the print target data that has already been output is switched to another printing apparatus.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of a screen displayed by the print management apparatus. As shown in FIG. 4A, when the user instructs printing in the application window 401, the CPU of the computer as the print management apparatus displays an icon 403 in a specific area of the GUI desktop screen 402. When the user moves the cursor 404 to the icon 403 and operates the mouse, the CPU displays a notification window 405 to the user on the desktop screen 402.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the notification window 405 displays the name of the print target data, the name of the printing apparatus that executes the printing, and the processing status of the print data. In this example, “MFP” is designated as a printing apparatus that executes printing, and the processing status is “Waiting for printing”. As described above, when the “multifunction peripheral” is processing a large print job, it takes a long time until printing is possible. In order to eliminate the waiting time, it is troublesome for the user to cancel the print job and redo the print instruction from the application window 401.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, the CPU displays a list screen 406 including a list of connected printing apparatuses on the desktop screen 402, and eliminates the trouble. When the user operates the cursor 404 and selects the printing device displayed in the notification window 405 at that time, the CPU displays a list screen 406. In this figure, the list screen 406 displays the printer P1 and the printer P2 in addition to the multifunction peripheral. The user can select a printing device other than “MFP” from the list screen 406 by moving the cursor 404 to one of the printing devices on the list screen 406 and operating the mouse.

  When another print device is selected from the list screen 406 while the print data processing status is “waiting for print”, the CPU switches the output destination of the print data to the selected print device. For example, when “printer P1” is selected, the CPU cancels the print job in “multifunction device” and causes the printer driver corresponding to “printer P1” to output the print data to “printer P1”.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4D, when the output destination of the print data is changed, the CPU updates the display of the notification window 405. When the output destination of the print data is changed to “printer P1”, the CPU displays “printer P1” as the printer name on the notification window 405. The “printer P1” processes the print data in place of the “multifunction device” that is processing another job, so that the user does not have to wait for the completion of the other job. Furthermore, since the print management apparatus controls the change of the output destination, the user only has to operate the list screen 406, and there is no need to perform troublesome operations in order to reduce the waiting time.

  As described above, the print management apparatus according to the present embodiment displays the list screen of the connected printing apparatuses on the display apparatus, and when the printing apparatus is selected from the list screen, the output destination of the output print job is changed. To do. Therefore, the user can print the output print data on another printing apparatus with a simple operation.

  The print management program used in the above-described embodiment can be provided to related parties and third parties by storing it in a computer-readable medium. As the computer-readable medium, a computer-readable recording medium or transmission medium can be used. For example, a program command is expressed by an electric signal, an optical signal, a magnetic signal, etc., and the signal is placed on a carrier wave and transmitted, so that the program is provided on a transmission medium such as a coaxial cable, copper wire, or optical fiber. Can do. Computer-readable recording media include optical media such as CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-RW, and magnetic media such as a flexible disk. A semiconductor memory such as a flash memory or a RAM can be used.

  The embodiments described above do not limit the technical scope of the present invention, and various modifications and applications other than those already described are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, from the list screen, only the printing apparatuses that can print at that time may be selected. In this case, the interface unit acquires a device status from the printing device searched by the search unit, and determines whether the printing device can print based on the acquired device status. If the retrieved printing device is processing another print job or has an error such as a paper jam, the interface unit determines that the printing device is not capable of printing at that time. Can be determined to be printable. The selection accepting unit accepts selection only for printing devices that can be printed among the printing devices included in the list screen. At that time, a printing apparatus that cannot be printed may be displayed in gray by the list display unit so as to notify the user of that fact. Furthermore, only the printing apparatuses that can print at that time may be included in the list screen. In this way, if only the printing device that can be printed at that time can be selected, it is possible to eliminate the need to redo the selection because the user has selected a printing device that cannot be printed.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining another example of the functional configuration of the print management apparatus. In this example, a computer 102 that operates as the print management apparatus 301 is also connected to a computer 501 through the network 101. A printer 502 is connected to the computer 501. The printer 502 is not directly connected to the network 101, and the computer 102 does not have a printer driver corresponding to the printer 502.

  In order to add the printer 502 to the search target, the print management apparatus 301 further includes a communication unit 503. The communication unit 503 communicates with another print management apparatus having a corresponding communication unit. In this example, a computer 502 is used as another print management apparatus.

  In the print management apparatus 301, the search unit 308 searches not only the print apparatuses connected to the network 101 but also other print management apparatuses. Upon receiving a request from the search unit 308, the communication unit 503 searches for another print management apparatus connected to the network 101. When another print management apparatus is searched, the search unit 308 searches for data of the print management apparatus. Return to. The list display unit 309 displays a list screen including the searched print management device on the display device 207 in addition to the searched printing device. For example, the list screen displays the names of the computers 501 functioning as other print management apparatuses in addition to the names of the printing apparatuses such as “printer P1” and “printer P2”. In this case, the computer 501 is also a selection target. When the selection receiving unit 310 receives the selection of the computer 501, the output destination switching unit 311 transmits a processing request for data read from the output data holding unit 306 to the computer 501 via the communication unit 503.

  The computer 501 has the same functional configuration as the print management apparatus 301 as another print management apparatus, and when the communication unit receives a processing request from the print management apparatus 301, the output destination switching unit in the other print management apparatus Causes the print data output device corresponding to the printer 502 to output the received data.

  In this way, by performing communication between the print management apparatuses, a print apparatus connected to any one of the print management apparatuses may be shared between the print management apparatuses.

  In the above-described embodiment, the output data holding unit holds the print target data. The output data holding unit may hold not only print target data but also print setting data such as the number of printed sheets, paper settings, and density settings. In this case, the output destination switching unit reads the print target data and the print setting data from the output data holding unit, and gives the read data to the print data output device corresponding to the change destination printing device. If the format of the print setting data differs between the print data output devices, the output destination switching unit may change the print setting data to a format suitable for the print data output device corresponding to the change destination print device. Good. By holding not only the print target data but also the print setting data in this way, even when the user has made detailed print settings, there is no need to redo the settings.

  According to the print management apparatus and the print program of the present invention, even after print data is once output to any of the printing apparatuses connected to the network, the output destination of the print data can be easily switched to another printing apparatus. It is useful for print management in printers and multifunction devices.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of an overall configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the computer used for printing. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a print management apparatus. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a screen displayed by the print management apparatus. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining another example regarding the functional configuration of the print management apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 102 Computer 104 MFP 105, 106 Printer 207 Display device 210 Print management program 212, 213, 214 Printer driver 301 Print management device 302, 303, 304 Print data output device 305 Interface unit 306 Output data holding unit 307 Status display unit 308 Search Section 309 List display section 310 Selection reception section 311 Output destination switching section

Claims (3)

A plurality of print data outputs that are connected to a plurality of printing apparatuses via a network , convert print target data into print data in a format that can be processed by the corresponding printing apparatus, and output the print data to the printing apparatus A print management device comprising a device,
An interface unit that receives print target data given to a predetermined print data output device and acquires the processing status of the print data output to the corresponding print device by the print data output device;
An output data holding unit that temporarily holds the print target data received by the interface unit until the printing of the print data is completed;
A status display unit that displays the processing status of the print data acquired by the interface unit on a display device;
A search unit for searching for a connected printing device;
A list display unit that displays the list screen printing device searched by said search unit to the display device,
A selection receiving unit for receiving selection of a printing device included in the list screen;
By printing the printing data is started, the printing device from the list screen is selected, the print data output unit that corresponds to the printing device, giving the print target data to which the output data holding unit holds A print management apparatus comprising: an output destination switching unit . Means for obtaining a device status from the searched printing device and determining whether the printing device is printable based on the obtained device status;
The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection receiving unit receives a selection only for a printing apparatus that can print among the printing apparatuses included in the list screen.   A print management program for causing a computer to function as the print management apparatus according to claim 1.

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