JPH04287113A - Printer output controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress the requirement of manual work for the change of an output printer at a minimum in the case of exchanging sheets or a fault. CONSTITUTION:A representative group name registration part 7 divides plural printers into plural groups and registers the representative name of the group and a printer group belonging to the group. A printer state storage part 2 stores the utilization state of each printer, unused state, fault state and the sheet name of a finally outputted report. An output waiting report information requesting part 4 takes out the destination printer group representative name of the report on standby at a waiting matrix name, output sheet name and the attribute of the report. An output printer deciding part 3 decides the output printer by collating information fetched by this output waiting report information request part 4 with he representative printer group name and the printer state.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer output control device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional technology, when a report is to be output to a printer, a printer device for output is specified at the time of report creation, and the reports are output in the order registered in a report output queue.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In such technology,
When creating a report, it is necessary to decide which printer to use for output, and in some cases, printer paper may have to be replaced frequently. Furthermore, if a failure occurs in the printer device, there is a drawback that the user must change the output destination printer device.

The present invention aims to eliminate such drawbacks and provides a printer output control device that can efficiently output reports to a printer without being aware of the status of the output destination printer. purpose.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The printer output control device of the present invention provides (A) a printer that divides a plurality of connected printers into a plurality of groups and registers the representative name of the group and the group of printer devices belonging to the group; group representative name registration means; (B) printer group representative name storage means for storing the printer group representative name registered by the printer group representative name registration means and the group of printer devices belonging to the group; and (C) each printer device. (D) printer device status storage means for storing the usage status, unused status, failure status of the printer, and the paper name of the final output report; and (D) the destination printer group representative name and output paper for the report waiting in the queue means. and (F) determining the output printer device by comparing the information retrieved by the output waiting report information requesting device, the printer group representative name, and the printer device status. and output printer device determining means.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the printer output control device has an output queue that is a queue means for registering the sending order of reports sent via one of the plurality of printer devices 10-1 to 10-n connected to the computer. Report management section 5, report output queue section 6, and printer device 10-1
A printer device status storage section 2 which is a means for storing the usage status, unused status, and failure status for each ~10-n and the paper name of the final output report, and a report destination printer group waiting in the queue means. Output waiting report information requesting unit 4 for extracting a representative name and output paper name, and printer group representative name registration for dividing a plurality of connected printers into a plurality of groups and registering a representative name of a group and a group of printer devices belonging to the group. means 7; a printer group representative name storage unit 1 for storing printer group representative names registered by the printer group representative name registration means and printer groups belonging to the group; and information taken in by the report information requesting means; An output printer device determination unit 3 is provided which is a means for determining an output printer device by comparing the printer group representative name and printer device status.

[0007] The user uses the printer group representative name registration means 7 to register in advance the printer group representative name and information on the group of printer devices belonging to the group in the printer group representative name storage unit 1. Report output queue section 6
When the report is registered, the output waiting report management section 5
notifies the output waiting report information requesting unit 4 of the registered report information. The notified output waiting report information requesting unit 4 notifies the output printer device determining unit 3 of the output waiting report information, and the output printer determining unit 3 stores the printer group representative name storage unit from the notified printer group representative name. 1 and fetches information on the printer group that belongs to that printer group representative name.

The output printer device determination unit 3 determines the printer status storage unit 2 based on the information on the printer group that has been taken in.
, and compare the output status of the printer device and the paper name of the notified output waiting report with the paper name of the final output report of each printer device. If there is no printer device in a non-output state among the imported printer group, the process ends.

If there is a printer device 10-1 in the group of imported printer devices in which the paper name of the final output report and the paper name of the report waiting for output are the same in a non-output state, the output printer device 10-1 is determined; The list output program means 9-1 is notified of the report information, and the printer status storage unit 2 is made to store that the printer 10-1 is in the output status. After receiving the report information, the list output program means 9-1 starts outputting the report.

[0010] If there is no printer in the imported printer group that has the same paper name for the final output report and the same paper name for the output waiting report in the non-output state, and there is a printer output device that has the same paper name in the output state, , the printer waits for notification of the end of output processing from the printer device.

When there is no printer device with the same paper name as the output waiting report in both the non-output state and the output state among the imported printer devices, the printer device 10-n in the non-output state is determined and the list is Output program means 9-n
Notify the report information to. The notified list output program means 9-n notifies the user that paper replacement has occurred, and notifies the output printer device determination unit 3 when the paper replacement has been completed and output has started, and output The printer device determination section 3 causes the printer device state storage section 2 to store the fact that the printer device 10-2 has entered the output state and the name of the paper being outputted.

When the list output program means 9-1 completes the output, it notifies the output printer device determination section 3 of this fact, and the output printer device determination section 3 selects the same paper name as the paper name last output by the printer device. It is checked with the output waiting report management section 5 via the output waiting report information requesting section 4 whether there is any report waiting to be outputted, and if there is, the list output program means 9-1 is notified of the information of the report. If there is not, the output printer determining unit 3 refers to the printer device status storage unit 2, retrieves the paper name of the printer device in the output state, and requests output waiting report information again to see if there are any output waiting reports with other paper names. It is checked with the output waiting report management section 5 via the output waiting report management section 4, and if there is, it is notified to the list output program means 9-1, and if not, the process is terminated.

If a failure occurs in the printer device 10-1 during report output, the list output program means 9-1
notifies the output printer device determining unit 3 of this fact, and the output printer device determining unit 3 causes the printer device status storage unit 2 to store that the printer device 10-1 is in a failure state, and the printer of the report that was being outputted is Determine the output printer device again from the group name and paper name.

[0014]

Effects of the Invention As explained above, the present invention divides a plurality of printer devices connected to a computer into a plurality of groups, and allows the group to be designated as an output device, thereby making it possible to select among the group of printer devices belonging to the group. By determining the display device from the above, it is possible to minimize human intervention such as replacing paper or changing the display device in the event of a failure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printer group representative name storage section 2 Printer device status storage section 3 Output printer device determination section 4 Output waiting report information request section 5 Output waiting report management section 6 Report output queue section 7 Printer group representative name registration means 8
report file

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A printer output control device comprising a queue means for registering the sending order of reports sent via one of a plurality of printer devices connected to a computer, comprising: (A) a plurality of printer devices connected to a computer; printer group representative name registration means for dividing the printers into a plurality of groups and registering a representative name of the group and a group of printer devices belonging to the group; (B) a printer group representative name registered by the printer group representative name registration means; (C) Printer group representative name storage means for storing the names of printer devices belonging to the group; and (C) printer device status storage for storing the usage status, unused status, and failure status of each printer device, and the paper name of the final output report. means and (D)
(F) an output waiting report information requesting means for extracting the destination printer group representative name, output paper name, and report attribute of the report waiting in the queue means; (F) information fetched by the output waiting report information requesting means; What is claimed is: 1. A printer output control device comprising: output printer device determining means for determining an output printer device by comparing a printer group representative name and a printer device status.