JPH05289833A - Network print control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the easy and quick processing of recognition of the print state and the printer state, cancel of print of a print file spooled in a gateway, and broadcast print. CONSTITUTION:A gateway 7 to which multiple hosts and multiple printers are connected consists of a data transmission/reception means 10 which transmits and receives data, a reception processing means 12 which enqueues management information in print queues 15 corresponding to printers recognized by analysis of received commands while classifying this information by states of printers and performs the print file storage processing, and a transmission processing means 14 which transmits management information enqueued in print queues 15 corresponding to printers and the print file and performs the processing to inquire about the printer states of corresponding printers and their print states. A file directory is provided for each printer and is linked to files.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to, for example, different communication protocols (hereinafter referred to simply as "protocols").
The present invention relates to a network print control system in which a plurality of data processing devices such as a host computer having at least one and at least one printer are connected on the same transmission medium. The present invention relates to a multi-host computer connected to a transmission medium and a network print control system that supports at least a multi-printer among multi-printers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional network print control system in which a plurality of data processing devices and printers are connected on a transmission medium will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of a gateway connected to a network in the conventional example. FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the transmission / reception process, the print queue, and the printer in the conventional example. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of queuing in the conventional example. In FIG. 25, a gateway 90 connected to a network (not shown) transmits and receives data, and a data transmitting and receiving unit 91 that performs processing of converting a different protocol into a predetermined protocol, and the data transmitting and receiving unit 91 receives the data. A command analysis unit 92 for analyzing a command included in the data, a file transfer processing unit 93 for queuing management information of data received from a workstation, which will be described later, and a process for storing the data as a print file, and a queue. It is composed of a print processing unit 94 for transmitting the input management information and print file to the printer 95 (Printing / XNS) via the data transmitting / receiving unit 91. Further, on a network (not shown), for example, a plurality of workstations 96 (GAP / X
NS), workstation 97 (FTP / TCP / I
P, Telnet / TCP / IP), and at least one printer 95 (Printing / XNS) are connected.

For example, a print request is made from the workstation 97 to the printer 95 having a different protocol. In the data transmitting / receiving unit 91, the workstation 97
The data is received by the protocol and sent to the command analysis unit 92. The command analysis unit 92 analyzes the command from the received data, recognizes the content of the command, for example, the print request and the printer, and activates the file transfer processing unit 93. The file transfer processing unit 93 receives the print-requested data from the workstation 97, queues the management information included in the data in a print queue (not shown), and
A print file is stored in a spool (not shown). The print processing unit 94 takes out the management information queued in the print queue and the print file stored in the spool, and sequentially sends them to the printer 95 via the data transmitting / receiving unit 91 according to the protocol of the printer 95.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the relationship among the transmission / reception process, the print queue, and the printer is shown in FIG.
As shown in. That is, each workstation 9
The data for which a print request has been issued from 6 and 97 is received by the data transceiver 91. The management information included in the data is the reception processes 101 to 1 including the command analysis unit 92 or the file transfer processing unit 93.
03, the print queue 104 is sequentially queued. After that, the transmission process 105 takes out the management information from the head of the print queue 104, and takes out the print file from the spool (not shown) based on the management information. Then, the transmission process 105 performs processing for transmitting the management information and the print file to the requested printer A, for example. The network print control system as described above is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 3-75921 and 3-759.
This is described in detail in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49.

When a specific file on a host computer connected to a transmission medium is output to a plurality of printers, there are generally the following two types. In the first method, the host computer transmits to the desired printer a plurality of times. In the second method, after the file sent from the host computer is received by the gateway, the file is copied to the spool corresponding to the desired printer. Then, the file copied to the spool is printed by the corresponding printer. JP-A-3-17728
The publication describes a broadcast output control method for outputting the same file contents to a plurality of printers. However, the broadcast output control method described in the above publication does not mention the case of cancellation, although it describes file deletion in a multi-printer. Further, in the broadcast output control method described in the above publication, all outputs must be managed, so an output management process must be provided between the reception process and the transmission process. Furthermore, in the broadcast output control method as described above,
If the user wants to cancel the printing of the file, the output management process also has to perform a cancel process, which has the disadvantage that the process is still complicated.

[0006]

However, in the gateway 90 of the network print control system in the above conventional example, the print queue 104 and the transmission process 105 connected to the print queue 104 are one in the entire system. Therefore, one sending process 1
After performing the requested process for connecting to the printer A, for example, 05 extracts one management information from the head of the print queue 104 and sequentially transmits the management information and the print file. Therefore, for example, FIG.
Management information is printed in the print queue 1 in the order shown in
If the data is queued at 04, one transmission process 105 performs processing for responding to a request to printer B or printer C having a small amount of data while performing transmission processing for printer A having a large amount of data, for example. I can't. That is, the request to the printer B or the printer C is made to wait until the transmission processing of the printer A having a large amount of data is completed.

Further, the transmission process 105 of the network print control system in the above conventional example, after transmitting the management information and the print file to the printer side,
Delete this. Therefore, the sending process 105
After sending the management information and the print file to the printer side, it was not possible to know in what state the print requested from the workstation side was processed. Similarly, there is no means for the administrator on the gateway side to know the print status of the printer or the status of the printer. For example, the sending process 105
After sending the print file to the printer side, at the workstation or gateway side, whether the printer side is queuing, whether the printer is printing, whether printing is completed normally, Alternatively, it was not possible to know whether or not the printing ended abnormally.

Further, neither the workstation side nor the gateway side has a function of canceling data being queued. Therefore, an incorrectly transmitted file is queued, waits for its turn, is transmitted to the printer, and the printer cancels the file for the first time. Therefore, there is a problem in that some printers have to wait for processing because of files that no longer need to be printed.

The method of copying the file sent from the host computer to the spool corresponding to the gateway printer is efficient because it requires only one transmission as compared with the method of transmitting from the host computer to the printer a plurality of times. is there. However, since the file received by the gateway is copied to the spool corresponding to the printer, there is a problem that the disk in the spool is pressed. In order to solve the pressure on the disk, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-17728, a file is given an attribute to solve the problem. However, the technique disclosed in the above publication requires a process of managing information for determining whether or not output to all printers has been completed in order to delete a file, which makes management complicated.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a network print control system which is not kept waiting due to a request to a different printer. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a network print control system capable of grasping the print status after printer transmission and the printer status from the gateway and data processing device sides. The present invention is
An object of the present invention is to provide a network print control system capable of canceling printing of a print file spooled at a gateway. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a network print control system that simplifies the gateway processing when performing broadcast printing, and that can standardize the processing for multiple printers and speed up the processing.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(First invention) In order to solve the above problems, a network print control system of the present invention comprises a plurality of data processing devices (2, 3, ... In FIG. 1) and at least one printer (see FIG. , 5, 1 ... are connected on a transmission medium (1 in FIG. 1), and the transmission medium (1)
To the data transmitting / receiving means (10 in FIG. 1) that is connected via the interface to the data transmitting / receiving means and the command received by the data transmitting / receiving means (10), and is recognized according to the analyzed command. The print queues corresponding to the printers (5) (see FIG.
15) in which the management information of the data is queued, and the reception processing means (12 in FIG. 1) for storing the print file of the data, and the management information queued in the print queue (15) and It is provided with a gateway (7 in FIG. 1) that performs processing for transmitting a print file and that also includes transmission processing means (14 in FIG. 1) corresponding to the printer (5).

(Second Invention) The transmission processing means (14) in the network print control system of the present invention is provided with a printer (5) corresponding to the transmission processing means (14) and a function of inquiring about the print state thereof.

(Third Invention) A means for queuing management information in the print queue (15) corresponding to the printer (5) in the network print control system of the present invention by distinguishing each state of the printer (5) (FIG. 1 of 15
2, 153, 154, 155).

(Fourth Invention) The reception processing means (12) in the network print control system of the present invention includes a cancel queue (FIG. 1) corresponding to the reception processing means (12).
No. 156) has a function of requesting connection of management information for cancellation.

(Fifth Invention) A network print control system according to the present invention has a print file directory for each printer, and at the time of broadcasting, the reception processing means (1).
2) is characterized in that the same print file is linked to the target directory, and the transmission processing means (14) removes the corresponding link each time the output of the printer is completed.

(Sixth Invention) In the network print control system of the present invention, a field for describing the number of output printers is provided in the management information, and the reception processing means (12) is provided.
Is assigned to the field from the class designation information, and the transmission processing means (14) subtracts the number described in the field each time the output of the printer is completed.

[0017]

[Work]

(First Invention) For example, a data processing device such as a host computer sends a print request via a network to a printer having a different protocol. The data from the data processing device is received by the transmitting / receiving means from the network via the interface. Then, the data received by the transmission / reception means by the predetermined protocol is analyzed by the reception processing means for a command included in the received data, and if the command is a print request, the print data is received and stored in the spool, Queue data management information in the print queue corresponding to the printer. Thereafter, the transmission processing unit corresponding to the printer sequentially retrieves the management information from the print queue corresponding to the same printer, and transmits the management information and the print file corresponding to the management information to the requested printer by the protocol of the printer. To do. Therefore, one printer is provided corresponding to each of the print queue and the transmission processing unit, so that it is not kept waiting depending on the states of the other printers.

(Second Invention) Since the transmission processing means is provided corresponding to each printer, the status of the printer after transmission of the management information and print file is
For example, the processing to inquire about normal, abnormal, or busy has become faster. Similarly, the transmission processing unit can quickly inquire about the print state, for example, whether the printing of the file has been completed normally or has ended abnormally.

(Third Invention) The print queue provided corresponding to the printer is provided with, for example, a spool queue, a pending queue, a terminated queue, an aborted queue, or the like. The management information of the print-requested data is queued in the spool queue until it is sent to the printer after the print file is received, for example. After the management information is sent to the printer, it is queued in the pending queue until printing is completed. Similarly, the management information is stored in the terminated queue after the print is completed and before the printer prints after receiving the print file.If there is a print error, the management information is stored in the aborted queue or after receiving the print file. If there are print cancels before being sent to the printer, they are queued in the cancel queue. The cancel queue is provided for each receiving process, for example. As mentioned above, the print status in the printer is
Since the queuing is performed according to the state, the print state can be known.

(Fourth Invention) For example, in the case of deleting a file on the host computer that has requested a print cancel, the reception processing means recognizes that there is a cancel request, and is queued in the print queue. Since it has a function of requesting that the existing management information be linked to the cancel queue, it can be canceled before the print file is sent to the printer. Therefore, the processing can be shortened compared to the case where the printing is canceled after the management information and the print file are transmitted to the printer.

(Fifth Invention) The gateway has a print file directory for each printer. Then, when printing one print file from the host computer with a plurality of printers, the reception processing means
Link to the target directory for the same print file. That is, the print file has one entity, and a pointer is placed in another directory, for example. Then, the transmission processing means disconnects the corresponding link each time the output of the printer is completed. Broadcast printing is simple and fast because it only links or unlinks the print files and directories. Further, the spool disk on the gateway is not pressed.

(Sixth Invention) The management information is provided with a field that describes the number of output printers that print simultaneously. Further, class designation information to be printed at the same time for the printer connected to the transmission medium is predetermined as a table. The reception processing means gives the number of printers to the field based on the class designation information sent from the host computer. Then, the transmission processing means subtracts the number described in the field each time the output of the printer is completed. Therefore, by looking at the management information field, it can be immediately known whether or not the printing is completed. Further, by providing a field for the number of output printers in the management information, it is possible to delete the print file on the host computer after printing is output by all printers in a multi-printer environment. With the above processing, the processing in the gateway can be simplified, and the processing for multiple printers can be standardized and speeded up.

[0023]

EXAMPLE FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a network 1 includes a plurality of data processing devices such as host computers 2, 3, ... And printers 5, 6.
... are connected via the gateway 7. The host computers 2 and 3 are, for example, TCs.
It has a P / IP / FTP protocol 11. The printers 5 and 6 have, for example, the XNS protocol 13. Further, a gateway 7 connected to the network 1 has a console 8 for controlling the gateway 7 or for displaying or changing an operating state, and a spool 9 for storing a print file 900 or the like.
And are provided. Further, the gateway 7 includes the host computers 2, 3, ...
, And so on, and at the same time, the above-mentioned host computers 2, 3, ..., And the printer 5,
6, a data transmission / reception unit 10 corresponding to different protocols, and a reception process 12 that analyzes a command of data received by the data transmission / reception unit 10 to perform reception processing of its management information and a file. , A process for transmitting the management information and the print file to the requested printer, and a function for inquiring the print state and the printer state, and transmission processes 14, 14 'provided corresponding to the print queue described later. 1
4 ″, ..., Each printer 5, 6 capable of queuing the management information of the received data based on the print state.
..., print queues 15 provided corresponding to
5 ', 15 ", ..., A console command processing unit 16 for performing processing according to commands from the console 8 such as displaying and changing control and operating states of the gateway 7 and a command input process not shown. The gateway 7 does not include devices such as a CPU, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, and peripheral devices that are not directly related to the present embodiment.

The data transmission / reception unit 10 is composed of a reception unit 11 capable of processing data according to the type of protocol and a transmission unit 13 capable of transmitting data according to the printer protocol. Receiving process 12, 12 ', 1
2 ″, ... are a plurality of host computers 2, 3, ...
.. are provided so as to be able to perform the processing of, and the command analysis unit 121 for analyzing the command of the received data and the processing for receiving the print file 900 of the data and transferring it to the spool 9. And a file receiving unit 122. Send process 14,
, 14 ′, 14 ″, ... Are provided corresponding to the printers 5, 6 ,, ... Connected to the network 1, and from the print queues 15, 15 ′, 15 ″,. Along with taking out the management information, the print file 900 is taken out from the spool 9 and, for example, a file sending unit 141 that sends the requested printer 5, a print status inquiry unit 142 that inquires the status of the sent print file, and an inquiry about the printer status. It is composed of a printer status inquiry unit 143. For example, the print state inquiry unit 142 has a function of inquiring whether the transmitted print file is in a waiting state, is being printed, whether printing has been normally completed, or printing has been abnormally completed. Further, the printer status inquiry unit 143 causes the printers 5, 6, ...
Has a function of inquiring whether there is room to put a print file in the spool of the printer 5, whether the printers 5, 6, ... Are abnormal, or whether the printers 5, 6 ,. ..

The print queues 15, 15 ', 15 ", ...
.. after receiving the print file, the printer 5,
6, a spool queue 152 for queuing the management information until it is transmitted, a pending queue 153 for queuing the management information until the printing is completed after transmitting the print file to the printer, and a print A terminated queue 154 for queuing the management information after the completion of the process, and an aborted queue 155 for queuing the management information if a print error occurs before the print file is transmitted to the printer. An operation unit 151 for performing an operation for moving or deleting management information queued in each queue. Further, the print queues 15, 15 ′, 15 ″, ...
14 ', 14 ", ..., respectively. The receiving processes 12, 12', 12" ,. If there is a request to cancel, the spool queue 152, which queues the management information of the print file to be canceled, is connected to the cancel queues 156, 156 ′, 156 ″, ... It is possible to make a request to the operation unit 151. The operation unit 151 reconnects the management information of the spool queue 152 to the cancel queue 156 according to the above request.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the transmission process and the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2
In, for example, a print request from the host computer 1 is analyzed by the receiving process 12 for its command. By analyzing this command, the receiving process 12 recognizes, for example, the printer 5 to be output,
The operation unit 15 of the print queue 15 so that the management information is queued in the print queue 15 corresponding to the printer 5.
Request to 1. Then, in response to the request, the operation unit 151 queues the management information received by the receiving process 12 in the spool queue 152 of the print queue 15 corresponding to the printer 5. The management information queued in the spool queue 152 is taken out by the transmission process 14 also corresponding to the printer 5. The transmission process 14 recognizes the print file based on the management information and transmits it to the printer 5.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a print queue according to the embodiment of the present invention. The print queue shown in FIG. 3 is the same as that shown in FIG. The thick solid line shows normal queuing, the thin solid line shows queuing when an abnormality occurs in printing, and the dotted line shows queuing when canceling.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are views for explaining a state in which management information is queued in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when taking out the free space management information from the free queue and writing the management information into the spool queue. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram when the management information is transferred from the spool queue to the pending queue. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when the management information is changed from the pending queue to the terminated queue. The print queue 15 corresponding to the printer 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. Free queue 157 in print queue 15
Is a preset number of free space management information 157-1, free space management information 157-2, free space management information 157-3, ...
・, And are connected. For example, the printer 5 is recognized by the command analysis unit 121 in the reception process 12. Then, the receiving process 12 receives the data and stores it in the spool 9 as a file, and then makes a request for queuing the management information to the operation unit 151 of the print queue 15 corresponding to the printer 5. Then, the operation unit 151 removes the free space management information 157-1 at the top of the free queue-157 and sets the received file name in this management information, and the spool queue 152
Queuing at the end (after 152-2 in FIG. 4). Then, the head of the free queue 157 becomes the free space management information 157-2. Further, the transmission process 14 corresponding to the requested printer 5, for example, requests the operation unit 151 to take out the management information at the head of the spool queue 152 (for example, the management information 152-1 already queued). After that, the file name in the spool is extracted from the extracted management information, and the file is transmitted to the printer 5. Further, the operation unit 1
51 sets a sending flag in the management information 152-1 being transmitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, after the transmission process 14 completes the transmission of the print file to the printer 5, the operation unit 151 displays the management information at the head of the spool queue 152,
That is, the management information 152-that has already been queued
1 is added to the end of the pending cue 153. At this time, the request ID returned from the printer 5 is set in the management information. Therefore, the head of the spool queue 152 becomes the management information 152-2. The file that has been transmitted is deleted from the spool 9. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, the management information requested to be canceled by the operation unit 151 of the print queue 15 via the console 8 is transferred to the cancel queue 156. Further, the transmission process 14 takes out the management information at the head of the pending queue 153 to the printer 5 which has made a print request, inquires the status of the transmitted file by using the request ID as an argument, and the print file is being printed. In this case, the operation unit 151 is requested to set the printing flag in the print waiting management information (a) attached to the head of the pending queue 153.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the file status inquiry result is normally completed by the request of the transmission process 14, the operation unit 151 sends the management information (a) waiting for printing or being printed to the terminated queue 154. Replace at the end of. Therefore, pending queue 1
The head of 53 is management information (b) waiting for printing.
Further, when the result of the inquiry about the file status is abnormal, the operation unit 1 is requested by the transmission process 14.
51 transfers the management information to the aborted queue 155. Then, when a predetermined number or more of management information set in advance is accumulated in the terminated queue 154 and the aborted queue 155, the operation unit 151 stores the first management information (a) at the end of printing in the free queue 15.
Move to the beginning of 7.

FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrams showing a transmission / reception process management table and management information for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7 (a),
The transmission process management table 71 includes the transmission process 14
, A process status area 710 that describes a start or stop status, a printer status area 720 that describes whether the operating status of the printer is normal or abnormal, and a request from another process to the sending process 14, for example, the receiving process 12 After receiving the data, the request area 730 to the transmission process, which describes a notification that the management information has been queued in the spool queue 152, and the spool queue 15
2, a spool queue area in which a queue table 741 in which the first pointer, for example, the position of management information 1, the last pointer, for example, the position of management information 4, and the number queued in the spool queue 152, for example, “4” is described 740 and also pending cue 1
The pending queue area 750 that describes the queue table 751 of 53 and the terminated queue 15
The terminated queue area 760 in which the queue table 761 of No. 4 is described and the aborted queue 155
An aborted queue area 770 in which the queue table 771 of FIG. 7 is described, a cumulative end area 780 in which normal completion is described in which the total number of files whose printing has been normally completed is recorded, and an abnormal end total area in which cumulative total of files whose printing is abnormally ended is described And 790.

In FIG. 7B, the management information 72 is used to inquire, for example, a file name area 721 in which the file name for which a print request has been made and the print state after sending the print file to the printer. An area 722 in which a request ID is described, a status flag area 723 in which a flag is set to notify a status such as a file being transmitted by the transmission process 14 or a file is being printed by a printer, and a next management in which a position of the next management information is described. And a pointer area 724 to information.

In FIG. 7C, the receiving process management table 73 has a process state area 73 in which, for example, the start or stop state of the receiving process 12 is described.
1 and the host computer 2 that describes how the connection state between the host computer 1 and the host computer 2, for example, is described.
Connection state area 732 and a request from another process to the receiving process, for example, a notification that the file has been queued in the cancel queue 156 to delete the file on the host computer 2, or a notification that the receiving process should be stopped. Request area 73 to the receiving process that describes the information such as
3, the start pointer of the cancel queue 156 describing the cancel queue 156, for example, the position of the management information 1, the last pointer, for example, the position of the management information 4, and the number queued in the cancel queue 156,
For example, it is composed of a cancel queue area 734 in which a queue table 735 in which "4" is written is described.

Next, the operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. For example, a file stored in the host computer 2 may be transferred to the printer 5
When printing on, the print file sent from the host computer 2 is received by the receiving unit 11 of the data transmitting / receiving unit 10 of the gateway 7 via the network 1, and then the print file is received by the receiving process 12. (Step 81). Also, after the print file is received by the file receiving unit 122, the file name is described in the management information 72 and stored in the spool 9 as the file 900. The receiving process 12 uses the file name of the file received from the host computer 2, for example, to determine the printer 5 to be printed.
Recognize. After that, the receiving process 12 uses the printer 5
Spool queue 15 in print queue 15 corresponding to
The operation unit 15 so as to queue the management information 72 in
Request to 1. Then, in response to this request, the operation unit 151 queues the management information 72 in the spool queue 152 (step 82). Reception process 12
Seeing the reception process management table 73 (see FIG. 7), if there is a request from the host computer 2 to cancel printing while the print file management information 72 is queued in the spool queue 152. The print file on the host computer 2 is deleted (step 83). Further, the operation unit 151 goes to the management information 72 queued in the terminated queue 154, and according to the status flag of the status flag area 723, the management information 72 of the file not deleted in the terminated queue 154 is displayed. When the reception process 12 knows the existence, it deletes the print file on the host computer 2 (step 84). Further, the operation unit 151 checks the queuing number of the management information 72 linked to the terminated queue 154 or the aborted queue 155, and if the number is equal to or more than a predetermined number, the last management is performed. The information 72 is connected to the free queue 157 (see FIG. 4) to prepare for queuing of a new print file (step 85).

The transmission process 14 corresponding to the printer 5 requested to print by the host computer 2 knows the print file name from the management information 72 at the head of the spool queue 152, and obtains the print file 900 from the spool 9 (step 811). The transmission process 14 sends the spool queue 152 to the operation unit 151.
Request to set the sending flag to
The print file is transmitted to the requested printer 5 (step 812). The sending process 14 sends the print file to the printer 5 and then sends the request I
D is set in the management information 72, and for the operation unit 151,
The management information 72 is moved to the pending queue 153 and a request is made to delete the file in the spool 9 (step 813). After that, the operation unit 151 searches for the management information 72 queued in the pending queue 153 from the beginning. Then, based on the retrieved management information 72, the transmission process 14 inquires the printer 5 about the status of the print file that has been transmitted to the printer 5 and has not been printed (designating the request ID) ( Step 814). According to this inquiry, the transmission process 14 skips the search for the management information 72 and returns it to the beginning if the print file is waiting for processing. If the inquiry result is printing, the transmission process 14 requests the operation unit 151 to set a printing flag in the status flag area 723 (see FIG. 7B) of the management information 72. When the inquiry result is normal termination, the transmission process 14 requests the operation unit 151 to move the management information 72 to the terminated queue 154 (step 81).
6). When the inquiry result is not normal, the transmission process 14 sends the management information 72 to the aborted queue 1
The operation unit 151 is requested to move to 55 (step 817).

Next, the command input process is shown in FIG.
It will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. Gateway 7
The administrator of can cancel the printing of the print file by inputting on the console 8. For example, the cancel information of the print file input from the console 8 is analyzed by the console command processing unit 16, and the operation unit 151 is requested to cancel the print file. The operation unit 151 recognizes that the command from the console command processing unit 16 is to cancel the print file (step 86). Operation unit 15
1 is management information 72 of the specific file that has been canceled
From pending queue 153 to cancel queue 15
Move to 6 (step 87). Then, the input command process (not shown) deletes the print file to be canceled from the spool 9 of the gateway 7 (step 88).

The console 8 operates normally or abnormally with respect to all the printers 5, 6, ... Connected to the network 1, spool loading, paper out, etc.
In addition, a command for checking the print status of each printer, for example, the status of standby, printing, normal or abnormal printing, etc., can be input. Then, the administrator of the gateway 7 can know various states of the gateway 7 by the command.

Normally, the print file is temporarily stored in the spool 9 after being received by the receiving process 12, and then transmitted to a desired printer by the transmitting process 14. Then, the transmission process 14 deletes the print file from the gateway 7, that is, the spool 9 after transmitting the print file to the printer 5. Further, the transmission process 14 requests the reception process to delete the print file of the host computer 2 when the printing is completed as a result of the inquiry about the print state,
The receiving process deletes the print file on the host computer 2. Next, when the cancel command is input from the host computer 2 to the reception process 12 or from the console 8 to the console command processing unit 16 while the spool queue 152 has the print file management information 72, the operation unit 151 , The print file management information 72 is moved to the cancel queue 156. The operation unit 151 also deletes the print file in the spool 9 and then requests the receiving process to delete the print file of the host computer 2, and the receiving process deletes the print file on the host computer 2. To do.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a problem in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the receiving process searches the terminated queue according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining another problem in one embodiment of the present invention. When deleting a file on the host computer connected to the transmission medium after printing is completed, the receiving process searches the terminated queue to find undeleted management information as shown in FIG. And get the file name.
After that, the receiving process issues a delete command to the host computer to delete the file, delete the file, and change the undeleted management information to deleted. However, in a multi-printer environment,
As indicated by 0, there are as many receiving processes as there are printers and must search all terminated queues. In addition to the terminated queue, the receiving process needs to search the cancel queue and the aborted queue. Therefore, the receiving process searches these queues, which causes processing overhead.

When the management information queued in the terminated queue is queued for a certain number or more, the management information must be deleted in order from the oldest one. However, the management information that has not deleted the file on the host computer connected to the transmission medium cannot be deleted. Therefore, the receiving process needs to search the terminated queue even when deleting the management information and remove the management information that has not deleted the file on the host computer.
Processing overhead. Although it is necessary to delete the file on the host computer after all the printers have finished outputting, the configuration of the reception process and the transmission process of the embodiment shown in FIG. .. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, even if the receiving process retrieves "F1" indicating that printing has ended from the terminated queue, which printer has ended
Or it was unclear whether it was unfinished. Then, the receiving process provided a counter in the common memory, counted the number of prints, and learned that all the prints were completed by this count. However, such processing
It had the drawback of becoming complicated.

FIG. 12 shows the overall configuration of a host computer and printer connected to a gateway which is another embodiment of the present invention. Note that FIG. 12 shows only the configuration necessary for explaining the present embodiment. In FIG. 12, the gateway 7'is, for example, the gateway 7'as a client, the host computer 1 in which the spool connection is set to retrieve the file on the host and delete the file on the host after printing is completed, and the gateway. Connected to the host computers 2 and 3 in which the FTP connection is set so that 7'is a server, the host computer 4 in which the XNS connection is set so that the gateway 7'is a server, and the gateway 7 '. It is composed of printers 1 to 3. In addition, the gateway 7 ', when the spool connection is set, the list command to the host computer 1,
A receiving process FTP that retrieves and deletes a file from the host computer 1 by issuing a retrieve command and a delete command, and a receiving process (FTPD) that stores the file in response to a request from the host computer side.
12, 12 'and a receiving process (XNSD) 12 ",
It is composed of transmission processes 14, 14 ', 14 "(XNS) for transmitting print files to the printers 1 to 3.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram for explaining a receiving process and a transmitting process according to another embodiment of the present invention. A reception process 120 and a transmission process 140 shown in FIG. 13 are different in some functions from the reception process 12 and the transmission process 14 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. That is, the sending process 120
In addition to the function shown in FIG. 1, for example, a management information connection request unit 123 having a function of requesting connection of management information for cancellation to a cancel queue and a target directory and a link for the same print file are provided. The link beam processing unit 124 and the printer number assigning unit 125 that assigns the number of printers to the field that describes the number of printers.

In addition to the functions shown in FIG. 1, the receiving process 140 has a link disconnection processing unit 144 having a function of disconnecting the corresponding link each time the output of the printer is completed, and the number of printers in the field in which the number of printers is described. And a printer number subtracting unit 145 having a function of subtracting each time the output of the printer is completed.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the structure of a received file and directory which is another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 14, for example, "host1" is the host computer name and "0ABF2314" is the file name given by the host computer. Also, for example, "AA
"001122" indicates a file name in the gateway 7 '. As shown in FIG. 14, the file received in the gateway 7'is converted into an internal file name,
It is placed in the directory corresponding to the output printer. In FIG. 14, two spool connections “host1”, one spool connection “host2”, and the format of four files addressed to the same printer received from one FTP connection inside the gateway are shown. Show. The directory names of printers 1 to 3 are created in the order described in the printer definition file.

In the printer definition file, information for designating a printer consisting of one or a plurality of groups connected to the transmission medium is classified and defined by the concept of class. For example, a class is defined as: Class Specified printer A printer 1 B printer 2 C printer 3 D printer 1 printer 2 E printer 1 printer 3 F allprinter G printer 2 (default class if not specified and printer 2 according to the class above) A table in which printer names are associated with each other is stored in a storage unit (not shown).

Next, the case of printing out on a plurality of printers will be described. FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a connection between a directory and a file which is another embodiment of the present invention. In order to print out to multiple printers, each connection processing side (Spool / XNS / F
Printer assignment file (/ etc / gw /
The class described in "printer_assign) can be specified by the following method. For example, S
When printing out by the printers 1 to 3 in each pool / XNS / FTP connection, the class “F” is designated at the beginning of the file name on the host computer side. In the case of FTP connection,
On the host computer side, the class "F" can be designated for the directory. Furthermore, in the case of an XNS connection, the host computer side
It is also possible to specify the class "F" in the ge parameter.
That is, when "F" is described as a parameter, the same file is printed from the printer definition file by all the printers 1 to 3 connected to the transmission medium. The printer is determined from the specified class name and stores the received data in the directory of the first printer described in the class. After the received data is stored in the directory, the other directories are linked with the files in the initially stored directory. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, an actual file is connected to the directory "printer1" in the spool, and "printer1" is connected.
The directories "er2" and "printer3" are linked to the actual files.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the management information and the output printer which is another embodiment of the present invention. File management information is queued in the spool queue of each printer. For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the management information A and the management information B are already queued in the printer 1, and the management information 1 is newly added. The management information 2 is queued in the printer 2, and the management information 3 is queued in the printer 3. The management information of the printers 1 to 3 includes the file name “file1” when received, the file name “AA001122” inside the gateway, the number “1” for identifying the connection of the transmission source, and the output printer The IDs “1”, “2”, and “3” are described.

When deleting a spool file in the gateway, when transmission to each printer is completed, the transmission process removes the link from the file under the directory corresponding to that printer from the management information. As a result, the substance of the file is deleted when the output to all printers is completed.

Next, the queuing state in the broadcast in this embodiment will be described in detail. The print queue of the present embodiment eliminates the trouble of searching the terminated queue, the aborted queue, and the cancel queue at the time of broadcasting. That is, FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a print queue which is another embodiment of the present invention. The print queue includes a spool queue 161, a pending queue 162, and a terminated queue 16.
3 and a cancel queue 164.
The terminated queue 163 queues management information such as normal termination of printing, abnormal termination of printing, and termination due to cancellation. In the cancel queue 164, the same management information as the terminated queue 163 is queued at the same time.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the spool queue of each printer which is another embodiment of the present invention. In the case of simultaneous transmission from one host computer to three printers, management information is queued in the spool queues of printers 1 to 3, as shown in FIG. At this time, the reference area of the management information stores the number of printers (3 in this case) that have transmitted the broadcast simultaneously.
FIG. 19 is a view for explaining how to connect queuing which is another embodiment of the present invention. When printing is complete, each sending process acknowledges the end of printing the file on the printer. Then, the management information queued in the pending queue is replaced with the terminated queue. At this time, the “protocol type” field of the management information is checked, and in the case of a protocol in which a file on the host computer is deleted after printing is completed, this management information is placed in the cancel queue of the receiving process determined by the “connection ID” field. Queue.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining management information which is another embodiment of the present invention. The management information shown in FIG. 20 includes an area for describing a received file name when it is received from a host computer, an area for describing an internal file name in the gateway, an area for describing an ID of a connected host computer, and a host. Area for writing the ID of the output printer designated by the computer, area for writing the request ID for inquiring about the status of the remote printer, area for setting a status flag that indicates waiting for printing, printing in progress, etc. Normal end or abnormal end of printing Areas for describing print result information that informs etc., areas for describing the protocol type of the connected host computer, reference areas for describing the number of print broadcasts, areas for describing the pointer to the next management information, etc. is there.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a canceling process which is another embodiment of the present invention. In the management information shown in FIG. 21, only the reference area is shown,
The described number represents the number of printers to be broadcast. In the cancel processing, the management information queued in the spool queue is transferred to the terminated queue.
The subsequent processing is the same as the processing when printing is completed.
In addition, the receiving process periodically searches the management information in the cancel queue, extracts the management information in which the description of the reference area is 1, and connects the management information to the free queue.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining file deletion which is another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22, the three alphabetical characters of the management information indicate the file name inside the gateway, and the numbers are described in the reference area, and indicate the number of printers when performing broadcast printing. When the cancel queue is in the state as shown in FIG. 22, when the management information (a) is queued in the cancel queue, first, the same internal file name as the internal file name “AAD” of the management information to be queued is used. Check whether the management information that it has is queued. If the management information having the same internal file name is not queued, it is newly queued at the end of the cancel queue. Next, in the case of the management information (b) with the internal file name “AAA”, the same internal file name “AA
It will not be queued because "A" is already queued in the cancel queue. Then, the number described in the reference area of the queued management information is decremented.

Next, when deleting a file, the receiving process periodically searches the cancel queue and retrieves the management information whose management information reference area is 1. Further, the receiving process deletes the file on the host computer and moves the management information to the free queue as shown in FIG. Note that "1" described in the reference area means that printing has been completed or canceled by all printers.

When deleting a terminated queue,
The transmission process checks the number of queued management information when the management information is queued in the terminated queue. Further, the transmission process deletes the required number of pieces of management information from the head of the terminated queue when the management information is queued for a certain number or more.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining a memory state inside a gateway which is another embodiment of the present invention. The memory inside the gateway has a cancel queue corresponding to each receiving process, an area showing the state of the connected host computer, and an area for controlling the host computer. Further, the memory inside the gateway has a spool queue, a pending queue, a terminated queue, an area showing the status of the printer, and an area for controlling the printer for each transmission process corresponding to the printer. In the internal memory of the gateway, each area is managed by the general management unit.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining the flow from a print request to file deletion according to another embodiment of the present invention. First, there is a print request from the host computer. The file receiving unit 122 in the receiving process receives the file name to be printed from the host computer (step 2311). The file receiving unit 122 determines the output printer and the storage directory file from the file name sent from the host computer, for example, the first character defined by the printer definition file (step 231).
2). Also, the printer number assignment unit 1 in the receiving process
25 adds the number of printers to the management information based on the printer definition file. Next, the file receiving unit 122 in the receiving process receives the file from the host computer (step 2313). The link beam processing unit 124 in the receiving process links the file corresponding to the output printer designated by the host computer (step 2314). The management information connection request unit 123 in the receiving process requests the operation unit 151 of the print queue 15 to queue the management information in the spool queue corresponding to the output printer (step 2315).

The file transmission unit 141 in the transmission process corresponding to the printer obtains the file from the management information at the head of the spool queue (step 2316). Then, the file transmission unit 141 sets a sending flag in the spool queue and transmits the file to the output printer (step 2317). After the file transmission unit 141 transmits the file to the output printer, the link removal processing unit 144 moves the management information to the pending queue and removes the file link (step 2318). The print status inquiry unit 142 in the transmission process searches for management information in the pending queue,
The output printer is inquired about the print result (step 2319). Further, the print status inquiry unit 142 checks whether or not the printing is completed. If the printing is not completed, the processing from step 2316 is repeated until the printing is completed (step 2320).
When the printing is completed, the status inquiry unit 143 of the printer in the transmission process stores the completion status in the management information for the operation unit 151 of the print queue 15 and moves the management information to the terminated queue. To request. Further, the status inquiry unit 143 of the printer requests the operation unit 151 to delete from the head of the terminated queue if the terminated queue is queued for a certain amount or more (step 2321). Then, the printer number subtraction unit 145 in the transmission process subtracts the printer number of the management information. The operation unit 151 queues the same management information as the management information queued in the terminated queue in the cancel queue in response to a request from the transmission process side (step 2322).

File receiving unit 12 in the receiving process
2 checks whether or not there is a cancellation request from the transmission process (step 2323). The file receiving unit 1
22 retrieves the management information of the cancel queue and takes out the file in which "1" is described in the reference area of the management information (step 2324). After that, the file receiving unit 122 deletes the file of the host computer and prepares to receive a new file (step 2325).

As described in detail above, the gateway in this embodiment has been described in the case where the host computers or printers having different protocols are connected to the network. If the gateway is provided, the print status and the printer status can be known.

[0061]

According to the present invention, since the gateway has the print queue and the transmission process corresponding to the printers connected to the network, the file transmission and the status inquiry can be performed in parallel for each printer. Therefore, the processing speed and efficiency can be increased. The transmission process and the print queue corresponding to each printer simplify and speed up the print status and printer status inquiry processing, and reduce the waiting time of the print processing.

According to the present invention, the receiving process switches the management information from the spool queue to the cancel queue,
If the print file is being received, the print file on the host computer in the cancel queue is deleted after the print file is terminated. Therefore, there is always one connection between the host computer and the receiving process, and there is no need to make a connection for deleting the print file on the host computer while the receiving process is receiving the print file. Also, the cancellation queue is
Since it is provided for each receiving process, when canceling a plurality of print files, deletion in the receiving process can be collectively performed by connecting a plurality of pieces of management information to the cancel queue.

According to the present invention, since each printer has a directory for print files, a simple process in which the reception processing means links the target directory or the transmission processing means removes the link at the time of broadcasting. Allows you to print and delete files at high speed. In addition, the disk in the spool is not stressed because it only links to the directory. According to the invention,
Since the management information has an area for describing the number of output printers, the output completion status of the printer can be easily and quickly determined only by looking at the number described in the area.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a transmission process and a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a print queue according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when taking out free space management information from a free queue and writing the management information into a spool queue.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram when transferring management information from a spool queue to a pending queue.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when the management information is transferred from the pending queue to the terminated queue.

7A to 7C are diagrams showing a transmission / reception process management table and management information for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a problem in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which a receiving process searches a terminated queue according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining another problem in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an overall configuration diagram of a host computer and a printer connected to a gateway which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a receiving process and a transmitting process according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of a received file and a directory according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a connection between a directory and a file which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between management information and an output printer which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a print queue that is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a spool queue of each printer that is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining how to connect queuing which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining management information that is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a cancel process which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining file deletion which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining a memory state inside a gateway which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a flow from a print request to file deletion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of a gateway connected to a network in a conventional example.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining a relationship among a transmission / reception process, a print queue, and a printer in a conventional example.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of queuing in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Network 2,3 ... Host computer 5,6 ... Printer 7 ... Gateway 8 ... Console 9 ... Spool 10 ... Data transceiver 11 ... TCP / IP / FTP protocol 12, 12 ', 12 ", ... Receiving process 13 ... XNS protocol 14, 14', 14", ... Sending process 15 ... Print queue 151 ... Operating unit 152, 161. ... Spool queues 153 and 162 ... Pending queues 154 and 163 ... Terminated queues 155 ... Aborted queues 156, 164 ... Cancel queues 16 ... Console command processing unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A network print control system in which a plurality of data processing devices and at least one printer are connected on a transmission medium, and data transmission / reception for transmitting / receiving data is connected to the transmission medium via an interface. Means and a command received by the data transmission / reception means, queues the management information of the data in the print queues corresponding to the printers recognized according to the analyzed command, and prints the print file of the data. Receive processing means for storing, and processing for sending the management information and print files queued in the print queue,
A network print control system comprising a transmission processing unit corresponding to a printer and a gateway including the transmission processing unit. 2. The network print control system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission processing unit is provided with a printer corresponding to the transmission processing unit and a function for inquiring a print state of the printer. 3. The network print control according to claim 1, wherein the print queue corresponding to the printer is provided with a unit for queuing management information for each printer state. system. 4. The reception processing means is provided with a function capable of requesting connection of management information for cancellation to a cancellation queue corresponding to the reception processing means. Item 3. The network print control system according to Item 3. 5. A printer has a directory of print files for each printer, and at the time of broadcasting, the reception processing unit links with the target directory for the same print file, and the transmission processing unit corresponds to each output completion of the printer. The network print control system according to claim 1, wherein the link is disconnected. 6. A field for describing the number of output printers is provided in the management information, the reception processing means assigns the number to the field from the class designation information, and the transmission processing means sets for each output end of the printer. 2. The network print control system according to claim 1, wherein the number described in the field is subtracted.