JPH06168085A - Printing management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain more correct prediction, and to attain effective scheduling for plural queues by predicting the processing time of data from printing history information in the past. CONSTITUTION:A printing request managing part 8 having received a printing request predicts the data conversion processing time to format capable of being printed at printing parts 4,4'... from the printing history information in the past. It registers and holds the data processing time predicted in this way in a printing history information holding part 7. If there is no retained printing request presently, it investigates the state of printing devices 1, 1'... and the queues 5, 5'.... If there is the queue which has no processing waiting request among the queues, it loads the printing request in it, and if there is no queue which has no processing waiting request, it registers the printing request in a list holding part 9, and a retention period starts. If there is the retained printing request, it registers it in the list holding part 9, and waits for the end of the retention period while accepting other printing requests. The end of the retention period is a case that some definite time elapses or the case that one of the printing devices has no processing waiting request.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print management system for a printing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a relatively large-scale print management system is composed of a plurality of printing devices, a plurality of printing management devices, or one printing management device and a plurality of printing computers or one electronic computer. Often. In the printing device of the print management system, the time required to print the data is not clearly known, so the number of requests in the means for holding the print request at the time of the print request (hereinafter referred to as “queue”) and ,
The queue is selected based on the amount of data. The print requests in the queue are printed in the order in which they are held.

On the other hand, although the processing speed of the electronic computer has improved due to the increase in the speed of the electronic computer, the usage efficiency of the printing device has not increased, and as a result, the printing device is obliged to obtain necessary information. was there. Further, the print information in the past has not been used so far for selecting the queue.

[0004]

Therefore, for example, 2
Even if there is a book queue and the queue is submitted to the queue with a small number of waiting requests at that time, printing may be faster if the queue is placed in the other queue.

Further, when a print request with a short processing time comes immediately after a certain very long print request is submitted to the queue and both are submitted to the same queue, the latter data is the previous data. Will wait until is processed.

Therefore, there has been a problem that the use efficiency of the printing apparatus is deteriorated.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a printing apparatus having means for holding print requests, means for holding data of print requests, and past printing of print requests. It is provided with means for holding the processing time, means for predicting the printing processing time from the past printing processing time, and means for inputting a print request to the printing device based on the predicted printing processing time. This is due to the print management system.

Further, in the above print management system, a time measuring means, a means for receiving a print request for a certain period of time, a means for temporarily holding the print request, a means for predicting a print processing time for each reception of the print request, And a means for deciding a priority order of a print request to a printing device based on the predicted print processing time.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the use efficiency of the printing apparatus is improved.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration when the present invention is implemented. In this embodiment, the printing device 1,
1 ', ..., Print management device 2 and electronic computers 3, 3', .. The above devices are connected by a communication means 11. The printing devices 1, 1 ′, ... Are composed of printing units 4, 4 ′, ... Queues 5, 5 ′, ... And print control units 6, 6 ′,. The print history information holding unit 7 is a holding unit, a print request management unit 8, a print request list holding unit 9 is a unit that holds a pending print request, and a timer unit 10. The print history information holding unit 7 includes a data name of a print request, a date and time when the print request is accepted by the print request management unit 8, a date and time when the print request is queued, an estimated processing time, and a time required for actual processing (CPU.
Holds time and null value for data that has not been processed. The communication means 11 includes printing devices 1, 1 ', ...
Data and control signals are transmitted between the print management device 2 and the print management device 2, and between the print management device 2 and the electronic computers 3, 3 ', ... (D, d', ..., E, e ', ..., F, f. ′,…).

The print request management unit 8 updates the print history information holding unit 7 (g), reads the processing time of past data from the print history information holding unit 7 (g), and processes the print request processing time and queue. Predict the waiting time of 5, 5 ', .... The print request management unit 8 stores and manages the pending print request in the print request list holding unit 9 (h). The print request management unit 8 controls the timer unit 10 (starts, stops, and suspends the timer operation) (i), and the timer unit 10 controls the print request management unit 8
Is notified that a certain time has passed (j). The print request management unit 8 receives the print control units 6 and 6 via the communication unit 11.
Request printing from 6 ', ... (E). That is, the print request is submitted to the queue.

The print control units 6, 6 ', ...
5 ', ... Are used to manage print requests (c, c',
…). The print control units 6, 6 ', ... Print the state of the queues 5, 5', .., the end of printing, and the data conversion time (CPU time) by the printing units 4, 4 ', .. The request management unit 8 is notified (d, d ', ...). The printing units 4, 4 ', ... Receiving instructions from the print control units 6, 6', ... (b, b ', ...) Convert the data into a printable format and print. At the end of printing, the print controller 6 is notified of the end of printing and the data conversion processing time (CPU time) (a, a ', ...).

The flow of printing processing in the embodiment will be described below. The electronic computers 3, 3 ′, ... Are communication means 11
The print processing is started by transmitting the print request and data to the print request management unit 8 via (f, f ′, ...).

FIG. 2 shows an overall flow chart of the printing process.
That is, it is repeated to determine whether or not to accept a print request, whether or not a certain fixed time has elapsed (in the present embodiment, 5 minutes), and whether or not printing has ended.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart when a print request is accepted.
The print request management unit 8 that has received the print request predicts the data conversion processing time (CPU time) to the printable format in the printing units 4, 4 ′, ... From the past print history information. The data processing time predicted in this way is registered and held in the print history information holding unit 7. If there is no print request currently held, the printing apparatus 1, 1 '..., Queue 5,
Check the situation of 5 ', ... If there is a queue 5, 5 ', ... Which has no processing waiting request in the queue, the print request is put into it, and if not, the print request is registered in the print request list holding unit 9, and the hold period starts. If there is a pending print request, it is already in the pending period, so the print request is registered in the print request list holding unit 9 and the end of the pending period is waited for while accepting another print request. The end of the hold period, if a certain time (5 minutes) has elapsed from the start of the hold period,
Alternatively, any one of the printing apparatuses 1, 1 ′ ... Is no longer waiting for processing.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of the process of inputting the print request to the queue when a certain time has elapsed from the start of the hold period (end of the hold period). When the hold period ends, in order to correctly reflect the print history information updated during the hold period, the processing time is estimated again for the print request registered in the hold print request list holding unit 9. The queues 5, 5 ', ... Are selected and put in order by the following procedure in order from the print request having the shortest estimated processing time. Calculate the processing waiting time when it is put into each queue. That is, the total of the estimated processing times of the print requests waiting in line for each queue and the remaining processing time of the printing requests being processed (estimated processing time-current processing time (CPU time)) It is the addition. At this time, if the remaining processing time is 0 or less, it is regarded as 0. The print request with the highest priority is submitted to the queues 5, 5 ', ... Which have the shortest waiting time for processing. The queue to which a print request is submitted has a long processing wait time, so the processing wait time of this queue is recalculated, and the next print request is submitted to the queue with the shortest processing wait time compared to other queues. . In this way, the calculation (recalculation) of the processing waiting time of the queue and the submission of the print request to the queue with the minimum waiting time are repeated,
All print requests that have been held are queued 5, 5 ', ...
Throw in.

The printing apparatuses 1, 1 '... Process sequentially from the print request at the head of the queue. The print control units 6, 6 '... Instruct the print units 4, 4' ... To print the print request data at the head of the queues 5, 5 ',. Printing section 4,
4 '... converts the print request data instructed into a printable format, and prints.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart after printing is completed. The printing units 4, 4 '... indicate the CPU time required for the formatting process when the printing is finished and the printing control unit 6, 6'.
Notify ... The print control unit 6, which has received the print end notification
6 '... Takes out the data to be printed next from the head of the queues 5, 5', ... And instructs the printing units 4, 4 '. The print control units 6, 6 ′ notify the print request management unit 8 of the end of the print processing and the CPU time required for the print processing. Upon receiving this notification, the print request management unit 8 records the processing time in the print history information holding unit 7 as the print history information of the corresponding data. Further, the print request management unit 8 has the queues 5, 5 ', ... Of the printing apparatuses 1, 1' ...
The status is checked, and if there is no request waiting for processing, the hold is terminated and the print request is put into the empty queues 5, 5 ', ....

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of a method of predicting the processing time of a print request. As the predicting method, the print history information holding unit 7 is searched for a match with the data name of the print request, and the average processing time (CPU time) is used as the print request predicted processing time. If the data name of the print request does not exist in the print history information holding unit 7, the average processing time of all data in the print history information holding unit 7 is set as the estimated processing time.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the number of print management devices is one is shown, but the number of print management devices may be plural.

[0022]

As described above in detail, by using the present invention, the processing time of data is predicted from the past print history information, so that more accurate prediction can be made and waste of a plurality of queues can be avoided. No scheduling is possible.

Further, requests received within a certain period are queued from the one having a short processing time, so that a request having a short processing time tends to be processed before a request having a short processing time is received immediately before. Therefore, the use efficiency of the printing device is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an overall flowchart of a printing process according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart when a print request is received according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process of inputting a print request to a queue after the end of the hold period according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart after printing is finished according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for predicting the processing time of a print request according to the embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1 '... printing device 2 printing management device 3, 3' ... electronic computer 4, 4 '... printing unit 5, 5' ... queue 6, 6 '... printing control unit 7 printing history information holding unit 8 printing request management unit 9 Print request list holding unit 10 Timer unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus having means for holding a print request, means for holding data of a print request, means for holding a past print processing time of a print request, and printing from the past print processing time. A print management system comprising: means for predicting a processing time; and means for inputting a print request to the printing device based on the predicted print processing time. 2. The print management system according to claim 1, wherein a time measuring unit, a unit that receives a print request for a certain period of time and temporarily holds the print request, and a print processing time is predicted for each reception of the print request. And a means for deciding the priority order of the print request to the printing apparatus based on the predicted print processing time.