JPH05233174A - Lan server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display the list of jobs including information while cuing now on a display on the side of a requester. CONSTITUTION:At the time of being required to acquire the list of the jobs from the requester 1, a print server 21 within a LAN server 2 acquires job information registered to a cue to set it within a packet and also acquires job information while cuing now to set it there so as to return them to the requester. At the time of receiving respective pieces of job information, the requester 1 outputs and displays the present cue information including information while cuing as the display of the list of the jobs in accordance with the respective pieces of received information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a LAN server system which comprises a server equipped with a printer and a plurality of requesters, and which provides a printing service to a requester having a print request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In office use, a LAN server system is widely used in which each person occupies a personal computer and shares a large-capacity file or high-performance printer possessed by a server connected via a LAN line. Came to be.

Generally, in the LAN print service, a concept called a queue is introduced in the server. By introducing a queue, it becomes possible to print on a shared printer without disturbing the print requests of many users. This operation principle diagram will be briefly described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 6, even if the users of the requesters A and B are simultaneously printing (processing for executing printing on the personal computer side), those data are immediately output to the printer. Rather, it is stored once in a temporary file.

When printing is completed (when the processing for executing printing on the personal computer side is completed), both users A and B send a packet indicating the completion of printing to the print server. When the print server receives the print completion packet, it closes the temporary file and registers it in the queue as a job.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing that the user A has sent a packet indicating the end of printing, that is, from the data of the user who sent the packet indicating the end of printing to the print server even if many people are printing at the same time. It is printed in sequence. When looking at the list of jobs in the queue from the requester, the list of jobs can be acquired by transmitting a corresponding protocol to the print server.

The list information includes information such as the date registered as a job in the queue, the size of the job, and the status of the job. The job status contains information about whether the job is being printed or is waiting to be printed, so that you can know whether the job you requested to print is printing. it can.

However, only the jobs registered as jobs in the queue are displayed in this job list, and the jobs currently being queued are not displayed. Therefore, it is possible to accurately grasp the current usage status of the queue. There was a problem that I could not.

[0009]

As described above, conventionally, when the job list of the queue is displayed on the display of the requester, only those registered as jobs in the queue can be displayed. Therefore, there is a problem that the current usage status of the queue cannot be accurately grasped because the one currently being queued is not displayed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a LAN server system capable of contributing to smooth operation of a LAN system by displaying jobs currently queued on a display. The purpose is to

[0011]

[Constitution of the invention]

[0012]

A LAN server system of the present invention receives a print end request from a plurality of requesters,
In a LAN server system that has been registered in the queue and is waiting for printing as a job in the print server, a job list acquisition request is sent to the print server to obtain a job list, and the job list obtained from the print server is displayed on the display. Means of the requester and the job information registered in the queue is acquired and set in the packet, and the information of the job currently being queued is also acquired and set in the packet, and the requester that made the request And a means in the print server for replying.

[0013]

With the above-described configuration, the data printed by the application program on the requester (print data to be printed out after the print execution processing is completed) is passed to the print server via the LAN program on the requester.

The print data is temporarily stored in an area called a queue, and when the print server receives a print end request from the requester, registration in the queue is completed,
It becomes a job in the print server and waits for printing. By displaying the list of jobs waiting to be printed on the display of the requester, the status of the queue can be known. The job list includes status information indicating that printing is in progress and waiting for printing, and information about queuing. As a result, the current queue information can be accurately obtained, and the LAN can be operated smoothly.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a requester,
For example, it is a device such as a laptop type personal computer having no printer. The requester 1 has, for example, a keyboard, a plasma display, and a floppy disk drive as peripheral devices as standard equipment. A plurality of requesters 1, which are devices such as personal computers, are connected to a LAN server 2 via a LAN line 3.

Reference numeral 2 is a LAN server to which the high performance printer 4 is connected as an output control target. The LAN server 2 includes a print server 21 and a queue 22,
It becomes the control center of the LAN system.

The LAN server 2 is composed of, for example, a relatively high performance desktop type personal computer, and in addition to the above-mentioned high performance printer 4 as an output control target, a CRT display, a keyboard, a fixed large capacity. A disk device or the like is provided as a peripheral device.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention in time series. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. That is, reference numeral 1 is a requester, reference numeral 2
Reference numeral 1 is a print server provided in the LAN server 2, and reference numeral 3 is a LAN line.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a job list display example for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the job list display displayed on the display of the personal computer which is the requester 1 is shown. Is an example of.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are also diagrams showing job list display examples for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.
4 shows an example of the job list display when the queue is in the state of FIG. 6, and FIG. 5 shows an example of the queue list display when the queue is in the state of FIG. This job list display shows the job number, user name, date, and
Items are shown in order of time, size, and status. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

A system for realizing a general LAN print service is as shown in FIG. That is,
The data printed by the application program on the requester 1 is passed to the print server 21 in the LAN server 2 via the LAN program on the requester 1.

The print data sent from the requester 1 is
Once stored in an area called a queue (hereinafter this action is called queuing), when the print server 21 receives a print end request from the requester 1, registration in the queue is completed, and a job in the print server 21 is stored. And wait for printing. The status of the queue can be known by displaying the list of jobs waiting to be printed on the display of the requester 1.

Specifically, first, the personal computer serving as the requester 1 sends a job list acquisition request to the print server 21 in the LAN server 2 in order to obtain the job list.

Upon receiving this request, the print server 21 in the LAN server 2 first acquires the information of the job C (see FIG. 6) currently registered in the queue 22 and sets it in the packet.

Next, the information of the job currently being queued is acquired and set in a packet. This job is a temporary file, so we get information from it. Then, this packet is transmitted to the requester 1.

The requester 1 displays the job list of the queue on the plasma display of its own system based on the received packet. At this time, there is an item indicating the status in the packet, and it is possible to recognize whether it is currently printing, waiting for printing, or queuing, and the list is as shown in FIG. become.

As a specific example showing the relationship between the queue status and the list display, FIG. 4 shows the job list display when the queue is in the status shown in FIG. 6, and the job list display when the queue is in the status shown in FIG. The list display is shown in FIG.

By displaying such a job list, it becomes possible to accurately obtain the current queue information including the information on the queue, so that the LAN can be operated smoothly.

[0030]

As described above, according to the LAN server system of the present invention, the current queue information including the information being queued can be obtained as a job list display, so that the current queue information can be accurately displayed. Can be grasped,
Therefore, the LAN can be operated smoothly.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in time series.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a job list display example of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a job list display example when the queue is in the state of FIG. 6 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

5 is a diagram showing a job list display example when the queue is in the state of FIG. 7 in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of a queue when users A and B print at the same time (perform a print execution process).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state of a queue when user A sends a packet indicating the end of printing.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Requester, 2 ... Print server, 3 ... LAN line, 4 ... High-performance printer, 21 ... Print server, 22
…queue.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A LAN server system that receives print end requests from a plurality of requesters, completes registration in a queue, and waits for printing as a job in the print server.
A request list acquisition request is sent to the print server to obtain the job list, and the means in the requester that displays the job list obtained from the print server on the display and the job information registered in the queue are acquired in the packet. A LAN server system comprising means in a print server for setting and setting information in a packet that is currently being queued, setting the information in the packet, and responding to a requester who made a request. 2. The LAN server system according to claim 1, wherein the job list includes status information indicating that printing is in progress, waiting for printing, and information about queuing.