JP6157260B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that downloads and prints a print job stored in a server on a network.

  A cloud print service is known in which an image forming apparatus downloads and prints a print job stored on a network (Patent Document 1).

  In the cloud print service, a server providing the service discloses an API for controlling a print job, and an image forming apparatus uses the API to realize cloud print. The API consists of at least the following three. One is an API (hereinafter referred to as fetch) that obtains a list of job information stored on the server. The other is an API for downloading job tickets and image information (hereinafter referred to as download). The last one is an API (hereinafter referred to as contorl) that controls the job status. A job has at least the following three states. Print waiting state (hereinafter referred to as QUEUED), downloaded state (hereinafter referred to as IN_PROGRESS), and printed state (hereinafter referred to as DONE).

JP 2002-108576 A

  FIG. 3 shows a flow when a print job stored on the network is downloaded and printed. When performing the printing process, the image forming apparatus first executes fetch in S101, acquires a list of job information stored on the server, and proceeds to S102. In S102, it is checked whether there is a job waiting to be printed from the acquired job list, and if there is, the process proceeds to S103. If not, exit. In S103, a ticket and image information of a job waiting for printing are downloaded, and the process proceeds to S104. In S104, an image is printed based on the downloaded information, and the process proceeds to S105.

  In S105, control is executed to set the job status on the server to the printed status. By executing this control, the job status is set to “printed”, so that there is no job waiting to be printed in the next determination of S102, and the printing process is terminated. At this time, if the control execution of S105 fails, there is a problem that the same job is printed because the state of the job printed earlier is still waiting for printing in the next determination of S102.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to avoid printing the same job a plurality of times when the control API fails.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus of the present invention includes:
Job information list acquisition procedure (S402, S413, S420) for acquiring a list of job information accumulated on the server, and job information download procedure (S404) for downloading job tickets and image information from the acquired job information list information ) And a job state control procedure (S406, S409) for setting a job state on the server,
A failure information generation and retention procedure (S415, S416, S417) for generating and retaining failure information when the job status control procedure fails;
A job determination procedure (S401, S411) for determining a job to be processed based on the failure information generated in the failure information generation and holding procedure;
A processing method determination procedure (S412) for determining a processing method of a job to be processed based on the failure information generated in the failure information generation and holding procedure.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid printing the same job multiple times even if the control API fails.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a use environment of an image forming apparatus (MFP) in the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of MFP 200 shown in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the process which downloads and prints the job from the server on a network. It is a flowchart which shows the printing process in a present Example. The failure information in a present Example is shown.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a use environment of an image forming apparatus (MFP) in the present embodiment. The cloud print server 100, the MFP 200, the wireless network router 400, and the like are connected to the cloud network 500. The PDA terminal 300 is connected to the cloud network 500 via the wireless network router 400.

  The PDA terminal 300 communicates with the cloud print server 100 using a predetermined protocol in response to a print instruction from the user, and transmits a print request.

  The cloud print server 100 receives a print request from the PDA terminal 300 and notifies the MFP 200 that a print job has arrived.

  In accordance with the notification from the cloud print server 100, the MFP 200 receives a print job from the cloud print server 100 using a predetermined protocol, and executes printing. The outline of the protocol will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of MFP 200 shown in FIG. 2, the MFP 200 includes a CPU 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a network interface card (NIC) 204, an external input controller (PANELC) 205, various buttons or a touch panel (PANEL) 206. The MFP 200 includes a display controller (DISPC) 207, a display (DISPLAY) 208, a disk controller (DKC) 209, and a hard disk (HD) 210. The MFP 200 further includes a printer unit (PRINTER) 211 and a scanner unit (SCANNER) 212.

  The CPU 201 generally controls each device connected to a system bus (System BUS) 213 and executes a firmware module stored in the ROM 202 or the HD 210 which is a large-scale storage device. Note that the firmware module includes at least two modules, and the firmware module can be updated for each module.

  Further, the CPU 201 executes processing shown in each flowchart described later based on a firmware module as a control program. In some cases, the HD 210 may be used as a temporary storage location for images. The RAM 203 functions as a main memory and work area for the CPU 201.

  The panel ELC 205 controls an instruction input from the panel 206 installed in the MFP. The DISPC 207 controls drawing on the DISPLAY 208.

  The NIC 204 bidirectionally exchanges data with other MFPs and file servers (not shown) via the LAN 214. The PRINTER 211 forms an image on a recording sheet by an electrophotographic method. The SCANNER 212 reads an image printed on a recording sheet. The SCANNER 212 is equipped with an auto document feeder (not shown) as an option, and can automatically read a plurality of documents.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of job download and print processing according to this embodiment. The job download and print processing are stored in the HD 210 shown in FIG. 2 together with other programs, and are developed in the RAM 203 when power is supplied. When receiving a job submission notification from the server or receiving a job presence inquiry request from the user, the MFP starts the flow of FIG. First, in S401, the failure information queue is checked to see if there is failure information of a job that failed WebAPI. If there is no failed job, the process proceeds to S402. If there is a failed job, the process proceeds to S411. The failure information queue has the information shown in FIG. Specifically, it holds a job ID for identifying the job and information indicating the cause of the failure. At initial startup, this queue is empty.

  In S402, fetch is performed. A list of job information stored in the server is acquired by fetch, and the process proceeds to S403. In S403, it is checked whether there is a job waiting to be printed from the acquired list. If there is a job waiting to be printed, the newest job waiting to be printed is set as a job being processed, and the process proceeds to S404. If not, the process ends. In S404, download is executed to download the job information being processed, and the process proceeds to S405.

  In S405, the execution result of download is confirmed. If the result is successful, the process proceeds to S406. If it has failed, go to S413. In S406, control is executed to set the status of the job on the server to IN_PROGRESS indicating that the download is completed, and the process proceeds to S407.

  In S407, the execution result of control is confirmed. If it is successful, the process proceeds to S408. If it has failed, the process proceeds to S416. In S408, the downloaded job is printed, and the process proceeds to S409. In S409, control is executed to set the status of the job on the server to DONE indicating that printing has ended, and the process proceeds to S410. In S410, it is confirmed whether or not the control is successful, and if successful, the process proceeds to S418. If unsuccessful, proceed to S417. In S411, the failure information is popped from the failure information queue to acquire the information, and set as job information being processed. Further, the area holding the failure information is cleared, and the process proceeds to S412.

  In S412, the failure factor is checked from the acquired failure information, and if it fails in the control of IN_PROGRESS setting or fails in donwload, the process proceeds to S404, and if it fails in the control of DONE setting, the process proceeds to S420. In S413, fetch is executed to acquire the job list from the server, and the process proceeds to S414. In S414, it is confirmed in the acquired job list whether the job currently being processed is waiting for printing. If the job is waiting for printing, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to S403.

  In S415, failure information indicating that the download has failed is generated and added to the failure information queue, and the process ends. In S416, failure information indicating that the control for setting to IN_PROGRESS has failed is added to the failure information queue, and the process ends. In S417, information indicating that the control for setting DONE has failed is added to the failure information queue, and the process ends.

  In S418, it is confirmed whether there is any remaining information in the failure information queue, and if there is not, the process proceeds to S402. If there is, the process proceeds to S419. In S419, the top information of the failure information queue is popped, the held job ID is set as a processing job, and the popped information is cleared. Then, the process proceeds to S409.

  In S420, fetch is performed to download the job list from the server, and the process proceeds to S421. In S421, it is determined whether or not there is a print waiting job that is newer than the job being processed in the acquired job list. If there is a new job waiting to be printed, the process proceeds to S404 to print the job. If not, go to S409 to execute control again.

  With the configuration described above, the MFP 200 according to the present embodiment can prevent the same job from being printed many times even when the control fails.

100 ... LAN
200 ・ ・ ・ MFP
206 ・ ・ ・ PANEL
208 ・ ・ ・ DISPLAY

Claims (1)

Job information list acquisition procedure (S402, S413, S420) for acquiring a list of job information accumulated on the server, and job information download procedure (S404) for downloading job tickets and image information from the acquired job information list information ) And a job state control procedure (S406, S409) for setting a job state on the server,
A failure information generation and retention procedure (S415, S416, S417) for generating and retaining failure information when the job status control procedure fails;
A job determination procedure (S401, S411) for determining a job to be processed based on the failure information generated in the failure information generation and holding procedure;
A processing method determination procedure (S412) for determining a processing method of a job to be processed based on the failure information generated in the failure information generation and holding procedure;
An image forming apparatus comprising: