JPH06161677A - Print server device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To receive print data transferred from a client machine provided with a file transfer means and output it to a printer. CONSTITUTION:The client machine 4 supports a file transfer protocol program 25 file-transferring to a print server device 6. The print server device 6 remote- logs-in and receives a file transferred from the client machine at the same time by a file transfer protocol demon program 21 and the print server device 6 processes received data by a filter program 22 to output it from an output port connected to a specified printer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print server device for connecting to a local area network and printing data received from a client machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a general local area network to which a print server device is connected. In FIG. 1, 1 is, for example, an Ethernet cable,
2 and 3 are transceivers, respectively. In this example, the client machine 4 is connected to the transceiver 2 via the transceiver cable 5, and the print server device 6 is connected to the transceiver 3 via the transceiver cable 7. The print server device 6 has a printer cable 9
The printers 8a and 8b are connected via a and 9b.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the print server device 6 spools print data transmitted from a client machine such as the client machine 4 via a local area network into a print queue, and prints the print data according to the print data spooled in the print queue. To control. Using such a print server device 6, a plurality of client machines can share the printer.

Next, when the client machine prints printer data using the print server device,
A conventional data processing method for a client machine and a print server will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, lpr
10 is a remote print program executed by the client machine 4, lpd is a remote print daemon program executed by the client machine 4, and lpd1
Reference numeral 2 is a remote print daemon program executed by the print server device 6. In the client machine 4, the remote print program 10 sends print data to the remote print daemon program 11. The remote print daemon program 11 sends the print data to the remote print daemon program 12 of the print server device 6 via the network.
The remote print daemon program 12 of the print server device receives the print data and outputs it to the printer 8.

[0004]

However, such a conventional print server device cannot receive print data from a client machine that does not support the commands of the remote print program lpr and the remote print daemon program lpd. , Such a client machine could not share the printer using the conventional print server device.

An object of the present invention is to enable a printer to be used as long as it has a file transfer means for transferring files between terminals, even if it does not support the remote print program and remote print daemon program. To provide a print server device.

[0006]

A print server device of the present invention is a print server device connected to a local area network to which a terminal having a file transfer means for transferring a file to another terminal is connected. A file name information transmitting means for transmitting to the client machine the file name information of the print file in which the print data should be stored in response to the directory content display command of the file transmitted from the client machine via the local area network; File transfer means for receiving file data transmitted from a client machine via a local area network by executing a file transfer command by the machine and storing the file data in the print file, and data of the print file Characterized in that a print data processing means for processing the data to be supplied to the printing apparatus.

[0007]

In the print server device of the present invention, the file name information transmission means receives the directory content display command of the file transmitted from the client machine via the local area network, and receives the print file for storing the print data. The file name is transmitted to the client machine, and the file transfer means receives the file transmitted from the client machine via the local area network by the execution of the file transfer command by the client machine and stores it in the print file. And the print data processing means is
The data of the print file is processed into the data to be given to the printing device.

In order to operate as described above, if the client machine is provided with a means for transferring the contents of the file via the local area network, by transferring the print data to the print file of the print server device, The data can be output to the printing device.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hardware configurations of a client machine and a print server according to an embodiment of the present invention are shown in FIGS.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the client machine,
The microprocessor unit 30 executes a program previously written in the ROM 31 and a program loaded in the RAM 32. The microprocessor unit 30 reads and writes data and programs from and to the hard disk drive 34 through the interface 33, and reads and writes data and programs from and into the floppy disk drive 36 through the interface 35. Further, the operation content of the keyboard 40 is read through the interface 37 and displayed on the display device 41 such as a CRT through the interface 38. Further, communication control is performed with the local area network via the communication interface 39.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the print server device.
The microprocessor unit 50 executes a program previously written in the ROM 51. The RAM 52 is used as a working area for storing a printer registration table and print data to be described later and for processing the same. The microprocessor unit 50 outputs print data to a plurality of printers via the interface 53. It also controls communication with the local area network via the communication interface 54. Although a device dedicated to the print server is shown in FIG. 4, a general personal computer may be used as the print server device.

Next, when the client machine prints the print data using the print server device,
A data processing method of the client machine and the print server device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the client machine 4 has means for executing the file transfer protocol program 25, and the print server device 6 has means for executing the file transfer protocol daemon program 21 for remote login by the file transfer protocol program 25. The client machine 4 is, for example, a UNIX machine and uses a TCP / IP type file transfer protocol “FTP”. In the print server device 6, reference numeral 24 is a printer registration table that stores combinations of printer names, filter names, and output port names. Further, the filters 22a, 22b ... 22
n is a filter program execution means for processing input print data into print data of a required format according to the printer, and output ports 23a, 23b ... 23n are connected to printers 8a, 8b. Is a port for outputting print data to.

In FIG. 2, the file transfer protocol daemon program 21 of the print server device 6 is always operating, and the file transfer protocol program 25 of the client machine 4 is executed to first log in remotely. The client machine 4 executes the ls command (file directory content display command) of the file transfer protocol (ftp) program, and the print server device 6 uses the printer name of the printer registration table 24 as the file name to send the file name information to the client machine 4. Forward. This allows the client machine 4 to know the file name (printer name) used by the print server device 6. After that, in the client machine 4, by the put command (file transfer command) of the file transfer protocol (ftp) program,
Write the print data file to be printed to the file represented by the target printer name. This allows the file transfer protocol (ftp) program to
The print data file is transferred to the print file in which the printer name of the print server device 6 is the file name. The print server device 6 refers to the printer registration table 24 for the received file data, processes the print data by the corresponding filter program, and outputs the print data to the output port of the corresponding output port name.

As described above, even if the client machine that does not support the remote print program and the remote print daemon program as shown in FIG. The printer connected to the print server device can be used.

[0015]

According to the present invention, print data can be printed out from a client machine equipped with a file transfer means. As a result, any client machine equipped with the file transfer means can use the printer connected to the print server device according to the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a general local area network to which a print server device is connected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a print server apparatus and an apparatus connected thereto according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a client machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a print server device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional print server device and a device connected thereto.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-Network Cable 2,3-Transceiver 4-Client Machine 5,7-Transceiver Cable 6-Print Server Device 8,8a, 8b, 8c-Printer 9a, 9b-Printer Cable 10-Remote Print Program 11, 12-Remote Print Daemon program 21-File transfer protocol daemon program 24-Printer registration table 25-File transfer protocol program

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A print server device connected to a local area network, to which a terminal having a file transfer means for transferring a file to / from another terminal is connected, wherein the print data is transmitted from a client machine via the local area network. File name information transmission means for transmitting the file name information of the print file that should store the print data to the client machine in response to the command to display the directory contents of the incoming file, and the client machine executes the file transfer command to execute the local area network. File transfer means for receiving file data transmitted from the client machine via the client machine and storing the file data in the print file; Print server apparatus characterized by comprising a Todeta processing means.