JP5040603B2 - Printing instruction apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print instruction apparatus and a program.

Conventionally, when a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a printing instruction apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer) that instructs printing, a technique for selecting a printing apparatus as a transmission destination of a printing instruction from the printing instruction apparatus has been proposed. (For example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In Patent Document 1, a printer device that has received print data checks the status of other printer devices in the network, and transfers the print data to a printer device that can print immediately, not in an energy saving state. As a result, the printer device in the energy saving state can reduce power consumption for returning from the energy saving state to the normal state, and can perform printing immediately.
In Patent Document 2, a printer device with the shortest startup time is automatically selected from a plurality of printer devices connected to a network, and if there is a printer device with the least power consumption, the printer device is automatically selected. is doing.

JP 2002-113925 A JP 2002-318664 A

Here, in general, when the print instructing apparatus instructs the printing apparatus to perform printing, information until the shift to the power saving mode is not considered. Therefore, for example, when a printing apparatus that shifts to the power saving mode is instructed to print after a short time and the transition time to the power saving mode is counted again from the initial value, power is wasted. Sometimes it occurred.
An object of the present invention is to instruct printing to a printing apparatus selected in consideration of information up to shifting to a power saving mode.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a generation unit that generates print information for instructing printing of an image , and a power saving mode when the print information is transmitted to each of the printing apparatuses of the plurality of printing apparatuses. The first amount of power consumed to maintain the standby state until the time until the transition to the time is counted again from the initial value and reaches the value when the print information is transmitted, and the printing is performed on each printing device. An acquisition unit that acquires a second amount of power consumed to print the image when information is transmitted; and the first power acquired by the acquisition unit from the plurality of printing apparatuses. A selecting unit that selects a specific printing apparatus that minimizes the sum of the amount and the second power amount, and the specific printing apparatus that has selected the printing information generated by the generating unit by the selecting unit. Means to send to A print instruction apparatus comprising the.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, for each of the printing devices, a storage unit that stores a transition time until each of the printing devices shifts to a power saving mode, and printing from each of the printing devices is performed. Receiving means for receiving print end information indicating completion, and updating the transition time stored in the storage means so as to decrease as time elapses, and receiving the print end information by the receiving means further comprising an updating means for updating said initial value in response to said acquisition means, wherein based on said transition time stored in the storage means, and acquires the first power amount The print instruction apparatus according to Item 1 .
The invention according to claim 3, wherein the selecting means, among the plurality of printing devices, according to claim 1, from at least one printing device not printing, and selects the particular printing device The printing instruction apparatus according to the description.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage unit that stores, for each printing device, printing status information indicating whether or not each printing device is printing, and printing from each printing device to each printing device. Receiving means for receiving printing start information indicating that printing has started, and printing end information indicating that printing in each printing apparatus has been completed, and printing status information stored in the storage means by the receiving means An update unit that updates that printing is being performed in response to reception of the print start information, and that updates that printing is not being performed in response to reception of the print end information by the receiving unit; 4. The print instruction apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein at least one printing apparatus that is not printing is specified based on the printing status information stored in the storage unit.
Invention of claim 5, wherein the selecting means, among the plurality of printing devices, from among the at least one print device is not in power saving mode, and selects said particular printing device according The print instruction apparatus according to Item 1 .
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, for each of the printing devices, a storage unit that stores a transition time until each of the printing devices shifts to a power saving mode, and printing from each of the printing devices is performed. Receiving means for receiving print end information indicating completion, and updating the transition time stored in the storage means so as to decrease as time elapses, and receiving the print end information by the receiving means Update means for updating to the initial value in response to the initial value , and the selection means specifies at least one printing apparatus not in the power saving mode based on the transition time stored in the storage means. The print instruction apparatus according to claim 5 .
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, when the printing information for instructing printing of an image is transmitted to each printing device of the plurality of printing devices to the computer, the time until shifting to the power saving mode is transmitted. The first amount of electric power consumed to maintain the standby state until it reaches the value when the print information is transmitted again from the initial value, and when the print information is transmitted to the respective printing apparatuses A function of acquiring a second power amount consumed to print an image, and a sum of the first power amount and the second power amount acquired from the plurality of printing apparatuses a function of selecting the smallest particular printing device, a program for realizing the function of controlling such that the image is printed by said selected particular printing device.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is selected in consideration of the amount of power that is additionally consumed due to the length of time until shifting to the power saving mode and the amount of power that is consumed to print an image. Printing can be instructed to the printing apparatus.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to quickly acquire the amount of power consumed additionally by increasing the time until the shift to the power saving mode as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided. it can.
According to the invention of claim 3, the waiting time due to printing is not generated.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to quickly select a printing apparatus that does not generate a waiting time due to printing, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.
According to the invention of claim 5, the waiting time due to the power saving mode does not occur.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to quickly select a printing apparatus that does not generate a waiting time due to the power saving mode as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the power consumption is selected in consideration of the additional power consumption due to the length of time until shifting to the power saving mode and the power consumption consumed for printing the image . Printing can be instructed to the printing apparatus.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a printing system to which the present embodiment is applied.
As shown in the drawing, this configuration example is an example of a printing system constructed in a certain building. In the figure, a part of the first floor and the second floor of this building is shown.
Among them, there are Room 101 and Room 102 on the first floor. In the 101st room, the client PC 10 and the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, 40c, and 40d are installed. In the 102nd room, the image forming apparatus 40e is installed. These are connected to a branch line LAN 80a laid on the first floor.
On the second floor, there are rooms 201 and 202. In the room 201, image forming apparatuses 40f and 40g are installed, and in the room 202, an image forming apparatus 40h is installed. These are connected to a branch line LAN 80b laid on the second floor.
Further, the branch LANs 80a and 80b are connected to the backbone LAN 80c.

In FIG. 1, only one client PC 10 is provided as the client PC in the 101st room. This is because the following explanation is based on the assumption that the 101st room instructs printing. Normally, a plurality of client PCs are installed in each room, but the client PCs installed in each room are omitted here. In the present embodiment, a client PC 10 is provided as an example of a print instruction apparatus.
In the drawing, the plurality of image forming apparatuses are described with different reference numerals. However, in the following description, when focusing on any one of these, “image forming apparatus 40” is described. It shall be written. In the present embodiment, an image forming apparatus 40 is provided as an example of a printing apparatus.
Further, the LAN is divided into a branch LAN and a basic LAN, and is described with different reference numerals depending on the location where they are laid. However, when describing regardless of the location where they are laid, they are simply expressed as “LAN80”. Shall.

Here, basic information defined for each image forming apparatus 40 in FIG. 1 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of such basic information.
The figure shows basic information of the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, 40f, 40g, and 40h in order from the top.
The basic information includes the following information (1) to (12). Here, (N) corresponds to information in the Nth column from the left in the table of FIG.
(1) Floor information Floor information is information indicating the floor on which the image forming apparatus 40 is installed.
(2) Room information Room information is information indicating a room in which the image forming apparatus 40 is installed.
(3) Group information Group information is information relating to grouping settings determined from the information of (1) and (2).

(4) Printer / MF information The printer / MF information indicates whether the image forming apparatus 40 is a printer machine or a so-called multifunction machine having a scanner function and a facsimile function in addition to a printer function. Information. In the figure, the printer is indicated by “P”, and the so-called multifunction machine is indicated by “MF”.
(5) Monochrome / Color Information Monochrome / color information is information indicating whether the image forming apparatus 40 is a monochrome machine or a color machine.
(6) Speed Performance Speed performance is information indicating how fast the image forming apparatus 40 can perform printing. In the figure, ppm (page per minute), which is an index indicating how many A4-size sheets can be printed per minute, is shown.
(7) Resolution The resolution is a resolution indicating the density of pixels in an image printed by the image forming apparatus 40, and is indicated by dpi (dot per inch).

(8) Power consumption during single-sheet printing The power consumption during single-sheet printing indicates the power consumed for printing one sheet by the image forming apparatus 40 (relationship between print volume and power consumption).
(9) Standby Power Consumption Standby power consumption is power consumed when the image forming apparatus 40 is in a standby state (standby state).
(10) Power Consumption during Power Saving The power consumption during power saving is the power consumed when the image forming apparatus 40 is in the power saving mode. If the power saving mode is provided in a plurality of stages such as the low power mode and the sleep mode, for example, the power consumption may be defined for each of them.
(11) Power consumption at return The power consumption at return is power consumed when the image forming apparatus 40 returns from the power saving mode.
(12) Power saving transition time The power saving transition time indicates the time until the image forming apparatus 40 shifts to the power saving mode. For each image forming apparatus 40, the time from the completion of printing to the transition to the power saving mode is determined. The time obtained by subtracting the elapsed time after the completion of printing from this time is the power saving transition time. It becomes.

By the way, in the present embodiment, each image forming apparatus 40 holds basic information defined for its own apparatus.
However, the group information (3) is not set when the image forming apparatus 40 is installed, and is set by exchanging information with another image forming apparatus 40 thereafter. That is, it is set by grouping the image forming apparatuses 40 based on the floor information (1) and the room information (2). In this case, the image forming apparatuses 40 having the same floor information (1) may be grouped, or the image forming apparatuses 40 having the same room information (2) may be grouped. Alternatively, both of them may be grouped. In the present embodiment, both groups are performed.
In that case, the following can be considered as a grouping method. That is, first, the image forming apparatus 40 having the same room information in (2) is found and the group name is shared with each other. Next, the same processing is performed for the image forming apparatus 40 having the same floor information (1). Since numbers are assigned in the order in which the power is turned on, numbers from G1 to G6 are assigned as shown in FIG.
Note that these group settings may be individually modified by the user.

  In addition, the power saving transition time of (12) is defined here as a value that changes with the passage of time, but the information that the image forming apparatus 40 actually holds has been printed by the image forming apparatus 40. The time from the start to the power saving mode (a value that does not change over time). In this case, this value is copied to the client PC 10 and then subtracted in the client PC 10.

Hereinafter, a printing system including the client PC 10 and the image forming apparatus 40 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail. 1 shows the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, 40c,..., An arbitrary one selected from these is referred to as the image forming apparatus 40.
First, the functional configuration of such a printing system will be described.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the printing system according to the present embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the printing system according to the present embodiment includes a client PC 10 and an image forming apparatus 40. Among these, the client PC 10 includes a control unit 11, a UI unit 12, a local device information storage unit 13, another device information storage unit 14, a PDL generation unit 15, a transmission unit 18, and a reception unit 19. ing. The image forming apparatus 40 includes a control unit 41, a UI unit 42, a self-device information storage unit 43, an image forming unit 44, a transmission unit 48, and a reception unit 49.

First, the configuration within the client PC 10 will be described.
The control unit 11 controls the overall operation of the client PC 10. In the present embodiment, as an example of an acquisition unit that acquires transition information that is information until each printing device shifts to the power saving mode, and an example of a selection unit that selects a specific printing device based on the transition information Further, the control unit 11 is provided as an example of an update unit that updates the transition time until each printing apparatus shifts to the power saving mode or the printing status information indicating whether each printing apparatus is printing. Yes.
The UI unit 12 functions as a user interface with the user of the client PC 10. That is, information is presented to the user or an operation from the user is accepted.

The own device information storage unit 13 stores information on a place (floor or room) where the client PC 10 is installed and group information of the client PC 10.
The other apparatus information storage unit 14 stores a copy of basic information (see FIG. 2) held by the image forming apparatus 40, a printing flag associated with the basic information, and the like. In the present embodiment, a printing flag is used as an example of printing status information. Further, the other device information storage unit 14 is provided as an example of a storage unit that stores the transition time or the printing status information.

The PDL generation unit 15 generates a PDL (Page Description Language) description, which is an example of print data (print information) that instructs the image forming apparatus 40 to perform printing, based on application data to be printed. In this embodiment, a PDL generation unit 15 is provided as an example of a generation unit that generates print information.
The transmission unit 18 transmits request data requesting basic information, print data instructing printing, and the like to the image forming apparatus 40. In the present embodiment, a transmission unit 18 is provided as an example of a transmission unit that transmits print information to a specific printing apparatus.
The receiving unit 19 receives response data including basic information from the image forming apparatus 40. In the present embodiment, a receiving unit 19 is provided as an example of a receiving unit that receives print start information and / or print end information from each printing apparatus.

Next, the configuration inside the image forming apparatus 40 will be described.
The control unit 41 controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 40.
The UI unit 42 functions as a user interface with the user of the image forming apparatus 40. That is, information is presented to the user or an operation from the user is accepted.
The own apparatus information storage unit 43 stores basic information (see FIG. 2) of the image forming apparatus 40 and the like.
The image forming unit 44 forms an image on a medium such as paper based on the print data sent from the client PC 10.

The transmitting unit 48 transmits response data including basic information to the client PC 10, and transmits request data requesting basic information, response data including basic information, and the like to other image forming apparatuses. .
The receiving unit 49 receives request data for requesting basic information, print data for instructing printing, and the like from the client PC 10 and response data including request data for requesting basic information and basic information from other image forming apparatuses. Etc.

Next, the operation of the printing system in the present embodiment will be described.
As described above, the group information is not set when the image forming apparatus 40 is installed, but in the present embodiment, the group information is already set in each image forming apparatus 40. Such setting of group information may be performed manually by the user with respect to the image forming apparatus 40 or may be performed by the image forming apparatus 40 exchanging information with another image forming apparatus 40.
In the latter case, the image forming apparatus 40 operates as follows under the control of the control unit 41.
That is, the UI unit 42 receives a group information setting request, and the transmission unit 48 requests floor information, room information, and group information from other image forming apparatuses 40. In response to this, the receiving unit 49 receives floor information, room information, and group information, and if there is the same floor information and room information of the own device stored in the own device information storage unit 43, it corresponds to it. The attached group information is set as the group information of the own device.

Assuming that group information is set in each image forming apparatus 40 as described above, the operation when the client PC 10 sets group information will be described next.
In the present embodiment, group setting for the client PC 10 is performed as follows.
That is, first, when installing the client PC 10, the floor information (1) and the room information (2) are set in advance. As a result, in the client PC 10, the printer driver inquires the group information (3) to each image forming apparatus 40 via the LAN 80, and holds it as a set value. Specifically, information such as “(1) 1F, (2) Room 101, (3) G1, G3” is held.
In the client PC 10, when a print request is made, the printer driver displays a print screen for selecting the output destination image forming apparatus 40 on the display.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the client PC 10 at this time. For example, assume that a new client PC 10 is installed in an environment including an existing image forming apparatus 40 in which group information is set. The operation of the newly installed client PC 10 in this case is shown.

  In the client PC 10, first, the UI unit 12 determines whether or not an operation for requesting setting of group information has been performed (step 101). This operation may be an operation on a display, for example. Alternatively, it may be recognized as this operation that the power of the client PC 10 is turned on.

If there is no operation for requesting group information setting, step 101 is repeated to wait for the operation.
On the other hand, if there is an operation for requesting the setting of group information, the UI unit 12 transmits the details of the operation to the control unit 11, and the control unit 11 transmits transmission of request data for requesting all information items to the transmission unit 18. Instruct. Then, the transmission unit 18 transmits request data for requesting all information items on the LAN 80 (step 102). In this case, it is sufficient to request the floor information, the room information, and the group information only for setting the group information. However, the image forming apparatus 40 can be selected later using other detailed information. Here, all information items of basic information are requested.

  In this way, the image forming apparatus 40 that has received the request data transmitted on the LAN 80 returns response data including all information items. Thereby, the receiving part 19 receives response data, and delivers the information contained in this to the control part 11 (step 103). Then, the control part 11 memorize | stores this information in the other apparatus information storage part 14 (step 104).

Next, an operation when the client PC 10 displays a print screen for selecting the output image forming apparatus 40 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the client PC 10 at this time.
In the client PC 10, first, the UI unit 12 determines whether or not there has been an operation for requesting printing (step 121). This operation may be a printing operation on a display, for example.

If there is no operation for requesting printing, step 121 is repeated to wait for the printing request.
On the other hand, if there is an operation for requesting printing, the control unit 11 performs processing for presenting candidates for the image forming apparatus 40 that is the output destination.
Specifically, first, the control unit 11 collates the information stored in the own device information storage unit 13 and the other device information storage unit 14, and the same group information as the group information set in the own device is set. The image forming apparatus 40 is selected (step 122). Next, for each predetermined reference from the selected image forming apparatuses 40, candidates for the image forming apparatus 40 that is an output destination when the reference is emphasized are determined (step 123). Here, as the predetermined standard, a standard regarding power consumption, speed performance, resolution, and the like can be considered. Further, the control unit 11 is not limited to the image forming apparatus 40 selected in step 122 with respect to a predetermined special reference, and the output destination when the reference is emphasized from all the image forming apparatuses 40. A candidate for the image forming apparatus 40 is determined (step 124). Here, as a special criterion determined in advance, a criterion relating to resolution or the like can be considered. Thereafter, a print screen including the image forming apparatus 40 determined in step 123 and step 124 as an output destination candidate is displayed (step 125).

Next, a print screen displayed by such an operation will be described.
FIG. 6A shows an example of such a print screen.
First, the “recommended print” button at the top on the left side will be described. The “recommended print” button displays the image forming apparatus 40 that belongs to the same group as the client PC 10 and that consumes the least power when performing the requested printing.
Next, the “speed priority print” button at the center of the left side will be described. The “speed priority print” button displays the image forming apparatus 40 belonging to the same group as the client PC 10 that can perform the requested printing at the highest speed.
Next, the “energy saving print” button at the bottom left side will be described. The “energy saving print” button displays the image forming apparatus 40 belonging to the same group as the client PC 10 that consumes the least amount of power when requested printing is performed. In other words, the “Recommended Print” button has a restriction that it is in standby, but the “Energy Saving Print” button does not have such a restriction. That is, the image forming apparatus 40 currently in use and the image forming apparatus 40 currently in the power saving mode can be selected.

The “high resolution print” button at the top right will be described. The “high resolution print” button displays the image forming apparatus 40 belonging to the same group as the client PC 10 that can perform the requested printing at the highest resolution.
Further, the “high resolution print” button at the center on the right side will be described. The “high resolution print” button displays not only the same group as the client PC 10 but also the image forming apparatus 40 connected to the LAN 80 that can perform the requested printing at the highest resolution.
Furthermore, the “user selected print” button at the bottom right will be described. The “user selection print” button is provided so that the user can individually select the image forming apparatus 40 desired by pressing this button.

FIG. 6B shows an example of a user selection print screen displayed when the “user selection print” button is pressed on the print screen of FIG. The client PC 10 refers to the group information in the basic information stored in the other device information storage unit 14 and displays the image forming apparatuses 40 in groups.
FIG. 6C shows an example of a user selection print screen displayed when the “Group 1” button is pressed on the user selection print screen of FIG. 6B. The client PC 10 refers to the group information in the basic information stored in the other device information storage unit 14 and displays information about each image forming device 40.
In the figure, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H represent the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, 40f, 40g, and 40h in FIG. 1, respectively. .

Here, the user selects a desired image forming apparatus 40 from any of these screens. As a result, in the client PC 10, the transmission unit 18 transmits print data to the selected image forming apparatus 40.
In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the image forming apparatus 40a is selected by pressing the “recommended print” button in FIG. Then, the client PC 10 transmits print data to the image forming apparatus 40a, and the image forming apparatus 40a performs printing based on the print data. Then, information indicating that printing has been completed is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 40a to the client PC 10, and in the client PC 10, the UI unit 12 displays a message indicating that printing has been performed by the image forming apparatus 40a.
FIG. 7 is an example of such a print completion message.

By the way, in the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “recommended print” button and the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “energy saving print” button on the print screen of FIG. Determine from power perspective.
For example, when there is an image forming apparatus 40 that shifts to the power saving mode for a while and an image forming apparatus 40 that does not shift to the power saving mode for a while, the latter image forming apparatus 40 is selected as an output destination, and the power saving mode is selected. The power efficiency is better when the waste of power consumption due to the counting of the time until shifting to is started from the initial value.
Further, for example, when there is an image forming apparatus 40 in a standby state and an image forming apparatus 40 in a power saving mode, the former image forming apparatus 40 is selected as an output destination and returned from the power saving mode. The idea of eliminating wasted power has been in the past. However, depending on the relationship between the power consumption value when maintaining the standby state and the power consumption value when returning from the power saving mode, it is possible to reduce the power consumption by uniformly selecting the output destination in this way. It may not connect.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the “total power consumption”, which is the power consumption in each image forming apparatus 40 when performing the requested printing, is compared, and the output image forming apparatus 40 is selected. .

Further, in the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “recommended print” button is selected from the waiting image forming apparatuses 40 that belong to the same group as the client PC 10.
Therefore, in this embodiment, it is necessary for the client PC 10 to manage whether or not each image forming apparatus 40 is in a standby state (whether printing is in progress or in a power saving mode). The basic information stored in the unit 14 is updated based on response data from the image forming apparatus 40 to the print instruction. The operation at that time will be described below.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the client PC 10 at this time. It is assumed that this process is started at a certain time interval t in the client PC 10.
When this process is activated, in the client PC 10, first, the receiving unit 19 determines whether or not response data for the print information has been received (step 141).
As a result, when it is determined that the response data for the print information has not been received, the receiving unit 19 notifies the control unit 11 accordingly. Then, the control unit 11 subtracts the value t from the power saving transition time that is not “0” among the power saving transition times of the basic information of each image forming apparatus 40 stored in the other apparatus information storage unit 14. (Step 142). If the power saving transition time is “0”, it is determined that the image forming apparatus 40 has already shifted to the power saving mode, and no subtraction is performed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that response data for the print information has been received, the receiving unit 19 determines whether the response data is print start information indicating the start of printing in the image forming apparatus 40 or print end information indicating the end of printing. Is determined (step 143).
If the response data is printing start information, the receiving unit 19 notifies the control unit 11 to that effect. Then, the control unit 11 indicates that the printing flag for the image forming apparatus 40 that is the transmission source of the response data is being printed out of the printing flags accompanying the basic information stored in the other apparatus information storage unit 14. Is set to “ON” (step 144).
If the response data is printing end information, the receiving unit 19 informs the control unit 11 to that effect. Then, the control unit 11 indicates that the printing flag for the image forming apparatus 40 that is the transmission source of the response data among the printing flags accompanying the basic information stored in the other device information storage unit 14 is not printing. “OFF” is set (step 145). Thereafter, the power saving transition time is returned to the initial value (step 146). Here, the initial value of the power saving transition time is the power saving transition time included in the basic information received from each image forming apparatus 40 in step 103 of FIG. 4, and the client PC 10 stores the initial value in a predetermined memory. It is assumed that it is evacuated and held.

As described above, on the assumption that each image forming apparatus 40 is managing whether or not each image forming apparatus 40 is printing or in the power saving mode, the client PC 10 performs a “recommended print” button in step 123 of FIG. The operation when determining the image forming apparatus 40 to be displayed will be described.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the client PC 10 at this time.
In the client PC 10, first, the control unit 11 reads the basic information of one image forming apparatus 40 from the other apparatus information storage unit 14 (step 161). Then, with reference to the printing flag accompanying the basic information, it is determined whether or not the image forming apparatus 40 is printing (step 162). Here, if it is determined that the image forming apparatus 40 is printing, the process proceeds to step 165. If it is determined that printing is not being performed, the power saving transition time of the basic information is referred to and the image is displayed. It is determined whether or not the forming apparatus 40 is in the power saving mode (step 163).

As a result, if it is determined that the image forming apparatus 40 is in the power saving mode, the process proceeds to step 165. If it is determined that the image forming apparatus 40 is not in the power saving mode, the control unit 11 performs additional printing. The power consumption is obtained (step 164).
Note that the additional power consumption is obtained by adding the two power amounts. Here, these two electric energy will be described as a first electric energy and a second electric energy.
The first power amount is an amount of power that is additionally consumed when printing is performed and the power saving transition time is counted again from the initial value.
The second power amount is an amount of power that is additionally consumed by printing itself.

  Thereafter, the control unit 11 determines whether or not all the image forming apparatuses 40 have been evaluated (step 165). If there is an image forming apparatus 40 that has not been evaluated, the process returns to step 161 to perform the same processing. On the other hand, if all the image forming apparatuses 40 have been evaluated, the image forming apparatus 40 that minimizes the additional power consumption obtained in step 164 is selected as the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “recommended print” button ( Step 166).

  Although the operation when determining the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “recommended print” button has been described here, the operation when determining the image forming apparatus 40 displayed on the “energy-saving print” button is substantially the same. is there. In that case, the narrowing down to the image forming apparatus 40 that is not printing in step 162 and the narrowing down to the image forming apparatus 40 that is not in the power saving mode in step 163 are not performed, and the power saving is performed in step 164. The third power amount that is additionally consumed by returning from the mode may be taken into consideration.

Hereinafter, the calculation method of power consumption in step 164 will be described using specific numerical values.
Among the image forming apparatuses 40 whose basic information is shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the same group as the client PC 10 are image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e. In this case, the group “G3” based on the floor information is adopted as the group. Among these image forming apparatuses 40, the image forming apparatuses 40d and 40e have a power saving transition time “0” and are in a power saving mode. Although not shown, it is assumed that the print flag for the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, and 40c is “OFF”. Then, the image forming apparatus 40 in the standby state in the same group as the client PC 10 becomes the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, and 40c.
Therefore, it is considered that the image forming apparatus 40 to be displayed on the “recommended print” button is determined from the three image forming apparatuses 40.

FIG. 10A shows a part extracted from the basic information of the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, and 40c necessary for obtaining the first power amount and the second power amount described above. In the figure, model A, model B, and model C mean the image forming apparatuses 40a, 40b, and 40c, respectively.
Here, items corresponding to each row in the figure will be described in detail.
“Power consumption during single printing” corresponds to the power consumption during single printing in (8) of FIG. Here, it means the amount of power consumed when printing one sheet.
“Standby power consumption” corresponds to the standby power consumption in (9) of FIG. Here, it means the amount of power consumed during the standby state from when the image forming apparatus 40 completes printing until it shifts to the power saving mode. In the present embodiment, the time from the completion of printing to the transition to the power saving mode is uniformly 15 minutes. In this case, the standby power consumption is the amount of power consumed when the standby state continues for 15 minutes.

“Power consumption during power saving” corresponds to the power consumption during power saving shown in (10) of FIG. Here, it means the amount of power consumed from when the image forming apparatus 40 enters the power saving mode to when the power is turned off. For example, if the power is turned off in 8 hours after entering the power saving mode, the power consumption during power saving is the amount of power consumed when the power saving mode continues for 8 hours.
“Power consumption at return” corresponds to the power consumption at return in (11) of FIG. Here, it is the amount of power consumed when the image forming apparatus 40 returns from the power saving mode. For example, in the case of model A, if it takes 0.75 minutes to return from the power saving mode, 1215 Wh of power is consumed in 0.75 minutes. In the case of model B, if it takes 2 minutes to return from the power saving mode, 1058 Wh of power is consumed in 2 minutes.
“Power saving shift time” corresponds to the power saving shift time of (12) in FIG. 2 and indicates the time until the image forming apparatus 40 shifts to the power saving mode.

And the 1st electric energy and the 2nd electric energy which were mentioned above are calculated | required using the numerical value shown to Fig.10 (a).
FIG. 10B is a diagram showing numerical values related to the calculation of the first electric energy and the second electric energy.
Here, items corresponding to each row in the figure will be described.
“Power consumption due to initialization of power saving transition time” is an item corresponding to the first power amount. That is, it is the amount of power added by returning the counter that counts the time until shifting to the power saving mode to the initial value. For example, in the model A, printing is performed when the time required for shifting to the power saving mode is 3 minutes and 12 seconds, and counting for 15 minutes is started again. In the case of the model A, 170 Wh is consumed when the standby state continues for 15 minutes, so that the additional power consumption is 133.7 Wh (= 170 × (1−3.2 / 15)). In the case of the model B, printing is performed when the time until shifting to the power saving mode is 10 minutes and 36 seconds, and counting for 15 minutes is started again. In the case of model B, 230 Wh is consumed when the standby state continues for 15 minutes, so that the amount of additional power consumed is 67.5 Wh (= 230 × (1−10.6 / 15)). Further, in the model C, printing is performed when the time until shifting to the power saving mode is 14 minutes 48 seconds, and counting for 15 minutes is started again. In the case of model C, 215 Wh is consumed when the standby state continues for 15 minutes, so the amount of power consumed additionally is 2.9 Wh (= 215 × (1-14.8 / 15)).
Therefore, considering only the first power amount, the power saving machine is model C.

Further, “power consumption during single printing” is an item corresponding to the second power amount, and is the same as “power consumption during single printing” in FIG. In model A, 9.79 Wh of power is consumed to print one sheet, in model B, 12.42 Wh of power is consumed to print one sheet, and in model C, one sheet is printed. 16.37 Wh of power is consumed.
Actually, the amount of power consumption is obtained by multiplying this by the number of sheets to be printed. However, considering the second amount of power per sheet, the power saving machine is model A.

Thus, in the numerical values adopted in the present embodiment, the power saving machines are different between the first power amount and the second power amount. In such a case, there is a possibility that the power saving machine is switched according to the number of printed sheets.
Specifically, in this example, model C is a power saving machine for 1 to 16 sheets, model B is a power saving machine for 17 to 25 sheets, and model A is saved for 26 or more sheets. Become a power machine.

In the present embodiment, the most power-efficient image forming apparatus 40 is specified based on the total of the first power amount and the second power amount, and printing is instructed to the image forming apparatus 40. I did it. However, in order to realize the idea of reducing power consumption by selecting the image forming apparatus 40 that does not shift to the power saving mode for a while as the output destination than the image forming apparatus 40 that shifts to the power saving mode for a while. However, such a configuration is not necessarily required.
For example, it may be considered that the image forming apparatus 40 whose time until shifting to the power saving mode is equal to or less than the threshold is not selected as the output destination. Such a configuration is an example of selecting a specific printing device based on the transition information that is information until each printing device shifts to the power saving mode.

In the meantime, the selection of the image forming apparatus 40 as the output destination has been performed in the client PC 10 so far, but the present embodiment is not limited to this. For example, the selection of the output destination image forming apparatus 40 may be realized in a print server that processes print requests to a plurality of image forming apparatuses 40. Therefore, the hardware configuration will be described on the assumption that the selection of the image forming apparatus 40 as the output destination is realized by the general-purpose computer 90.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the computer 90.
As shown in the figure, the computer 90 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 91 as a calculation means, a main memory 92 as a storage means, and a magnetic disk device (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) 93. Here, the CPU 91 executes various types of software such as an OS (Operating System) and applications to realize the above-described functions. The main memory 92 is a storage area for storing various software and data used for execution thereof, and the magnetic disk device 93 is a storage area for storing input data for various software, output data from various software, and the like. .
Further, the computer 90 includes a communication I / F 94 for performing communication with the outside, a display mechanism 95 including a video memory and a display, and an input device 96 such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  It should be noted that the program for realizing the present embodiment may be provided by being stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, as well as provided by communication means.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printing system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of basic information defined for each image forming apparatus in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation example of client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation example of client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the screen displayed on client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the screen displayed on client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation example of client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation example of client PC in embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the numerical value used for calculation of the power consumption in embodiment of this invention. It is a hardware block diagram of the computer which can apply embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Client PC, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... UI part, 13 ... Own apparatus information storage part, 14 ... Other apparatus information storage part, 15 ... PDL production | generation part, 18 ... Transmission part, 19 ... Reception part, 40 ... Image Forming device, 41... Control unit, 42... UI unit, 43... Own device information storage unit, 44.

Claims (7)

Generating means for generating print information for instructing printing of an image;
For each printing device of a plurality of printing devices, when the print information is transmitted to each printing device, the time until the transition to the power saving mode is counted again from the initial value to the value when the print information is transmitted. The first power amount consumed to maintain the standby state until the time until and the second power amount consumed to print the image when the print information is transmitted to each printing apparatus are acquired. Acquisition means to
A selecting unit that selects a specific printing device that minimizes the sum of the first power amount and the second power amount acquired by the acquiring unit from the plurality of printing devices ;
A printing instruction apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the print information generated by the generation unit to the specific printing apparatus selected by the selection unit. For each printing device, storage means for storing a transition time until each printing device transitions to a power saving mode;
Receiving means for receiving, from each of the printing apparatuses, printing end information indicating that printing in each of the printing apparatuses has ended;
Updating means for updating the transition time stored in the storage means so as to decrease as time elapses, and updating to the initial value in response to reception of the print end information by the receiving means; ,
The print instruction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires the first power amount based on the transition time stored in the storage unit. The printing instruction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the selection unit selects the specific printing apparatus from at least one printing apparatus that is not printing among the plurality of printing apparatuses. Storage means for storing printing status information indicating whether or not each printing apparatus is printing, for each printing apparatus;
Receiving means for receiving, from each of the printing devices, print start information indicating that printing in each of the printing devices has started, and print end information indicating that printing in each of the printing devices has been completed;
The printing status information stored in the storage unit is updated to indicate that printing is being performed in response to reception of the printing start information by the receiving unit, and printing is not being performed in response to reception of the printing end information by the receiving unit. Update means for updating to the effect,
4. The print instruction apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the selection unit specifies at least one printing apparatus that is not printing based on the printing status information stored in the storage unit. The printing instruction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the selection unit selects the specific printing apparatus from at least one printing apparatus that is not in a power saving mode among the plurality of printing apparatuses. For each printing device, storage means for storing a transition time until each printing device transitions to a power saving mode;
Receiving means for receiving, from each of the printing apparatuses, printing end information indicating that printing in each of the printing apparatuses has ended;
Updating means for updating the transition time stored in the storage means so as to decrease as time elapses, and updating to the initial value in response to reception of the print end information by the receiving means; ,
The print instruction apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the selection unit specifies at least one printing apparatus not in the power saving mode based on the transition time stored in the storage unit. On the computer,
For each printing device of a plurality of printing devices, when print information for instructing printing of an image is transmitted to each printing device, the time until shifting to the power saving mode is counted again from the initial value, and the printing information is transmitted. A first amount of electric power consumed to maintain the standby state until reaching a value when the image is printed, and a second electric power consumed to print the image when the print information is transmitted to each printing apparatus. The ability to get the amount of power ,
A function of selecting a specific printing device that minimizes the sum of the acquired first power amount and the second power amount from the plurality of printing devices;
Program for the image to achieve the function of controlling to be printed at a selected said particular printing device.

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