JPH0675725A - Printer control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the waiting time and enhance a workability of a printer in a printer control system where plural printers are connected together via a network by providing a means which decides a candidate printer that can output a print form based on the information on the load states, etc., of the printers. CONSTITUTION:A candidate printer extracting part 5 of a printer control system retrieves the attribute information in response to an instruction given from a request processing part 4 and acquires an identifier of a printer 10 that can output a print form of a designated size. Then, the identifier is supplied to the part 4. A printer information correcting part 8 checks the load state of the printer 10 based on the identifier received from the part 4. Then the part 4 decides the printer 10 as a printer that can output the form as long as the printer 10 is available. Meanwhile the part 4 performs again the extraction of the printer 10 and the collection of the information on the load state if the printer 10 is busy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control system, and more particularly to a printer control system for selecting from a plurality of printers connected to a network a printer that meets the conditions specified at that time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a technique for selecting a predetermined printer from a plurality of printers connected to a network, there have been the following techniques, for example. (1) Printer connection switching means is provided between the server and a plurality of printers connected to the server, each workstation sends a printer select command to the server prior to sending print data, and the server sends the printer select command to the server. After switching the switching means to the corresponding printer, the completion notification is returned to the workstation, and the workstation receives the notification and then sends the print data (JP-A-3-126125). (2) The processing speed, resolution, etc. of the connected printer are stored in the first storage means as unique information, and the processing speed and the number of files waiting to be printed, which are the reference for selecting the printer to be used, are defined as the second information. When the file is stored in the storage means and is transmitted from the data processing device serving as the host,
A printer to be used is selected based on the unique information and the definition information (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-32943).

[0003]

However, in the prior art, regarding the paper size, the user (apparatus user) must select and specify the printer capable of outputting the paper of that size. . Therefore, there were the following problems. (1) The user must be aware of the size of the paper that can be output from each printer, which is troublesome. (2) There were other printers that could output that size, and if that was possible, it was possible to output immediately, but because it was not easy to know, many files were queued. There was a problem that it took a very long time to output because I specified the one that was output. (3) Since the user could not easily know the end of the output, there was the trouble of having to go back and forth. The object of the invention of claim 1 is to solve the above-mentioned problems 1 and 2,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer control system in which the user does not have to care about the size of the printable paper one by one and there is no need to wait for a long time even if there is an available printer. It is an object of the invention of claim 2 to solve the above-mentioned problem 3 and to provide a printer control system in which it is not necessary to visit the printer twice or three times until it is output.

[0004]

To achieve the above object, according to the invention of claim 1, in a printer control system in which a plurality of printers are connected via a network, an identifier and attribute information of the connected printers are provided. Storing means for storing the print output conditions, designating means for designating the print output conditions, extracting means for searching the attribute information stored in the storage means, and extracting printer candidates matching the designated print output conditions, and the printer. An information collecting unit that collects information such as the load state of the candidate and a printer determining unit that determines the printer to output based on the information such as the load state of the printer candidate are provided. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, there is provided notifying means for notifying the user of the processing state of the printer determined by the printer determining means.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the identifier of each connected printer and the attribute information such as the printable paper size are stored in the storage means. When the print output conditions such as the output file name and the paper size are specified by the designating unit, the search unit searches the attribute information stored in the storage unit, and the candidate printers matching the print output conditions are extracted. . The information collecting means collects information on the extracted load states of the candidate printers, such as busy (busy: another file is currently being printed out) and available (available: immediate printing possible). If available, the candidate printer is set as the output printer by the printer determination means. If it is busy, extraction of candidate printers and collection of information such as load status are executed again, and output printers are determined. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to be aware of the printable size of each printer, and there is no need to wait for a long time until the output even if there is a vacant printer. According to the second aspect of the invention, after the file to be output is transmitted to the printer determined by the printer determining unit, the notifying unit notifies the user of the processing state, for example, waiting for output or output completed. . Therefore, there is no need to bother twice or three times before the output.

[0006]

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a display unit, which comprises a CRT (cathode ray tube) display device, an LCD (liquid crystal display device), and the like. Reference numeral 2 denotes an input unit, which includes a keyboard, a mouse and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a print control unit (print application program or the like), which requests the print conditions input by the user from the input unit 2 according to the display on the display unit 1 to the request processing unit 4
Supply to. In this embodiment, "paper size", "file name to be output" and "option (additional) information" are the printing conditions. The request processing unit 4 commands the candidate extraction unit 5 to extract output printer candidates based on the printing conditions. In response to this, the candidate extraction unit 5 searches the printer attribute storage unit 6. The printer attribute storage unit 6 stores the identifier and attribute information of each printer. FIG. 2 shows an example thereof. In the present embodiment, the user preselects some of the printers (10-1 to 10-N) connected to the network to be used,
The identifier is registered in the printer attribute storage unit 6.

[Printer 1 to printer on the left side]
4 is an identifier registered in this way, and if it is possible to select in advance in this way, it is possible to limit the printers used for the convenience of the user, such as avoiding those in another room or another floor. I can. If you don't need it,
The identifiers of all the printers connected to the network may be registered in the attribute information storage unit 6.
A3, B4, etc. on the right side of FIG. 2 are attribute information, and represent the paper size that can be output by the printer 10 of the identifier. This attribute information is updated when the database management unit 9 is activated and every predetermined time. The “predetermined time” is determined according to the occurrence frequency of paper out of the printer and the frequency of paper size change.
If the number of output sheets is large and the paper runs out in half a day, it is preferable to update at intervals less than that. In the case of a printer that stores a large number of sheets and keeps enough for 2-3 days. A renewal once every 24 hours will be sufficient. The database management unit 9 inquires of each printer 10 about the printable paper size at every predetermined time. Then, the returned paper size is written in the printer attribute storage unit 6 as new attribute information of the printer.

In response to a command from the request processing unit 4, the candidate extracting unit 5 retrieves this attribute information and obtains an identifier of a candidate printer, that is, a printer capable of outputting a paper of a designated size at that time. This identifier is supplied to the request processing unit 4. If there is no printer 10 capable of outputting the designated size paper, an error message is returned to the print control unit 3. The print control unit 3 displays this error message on the display unit 1. When the request processing unit 4 returns the identifier, it supplies the identifier to the printer information collecting unit 8. The printer information collection unit 8 collects information such as the load state of the printer 10. In this example, availabl
This load status is indicated by e or busy. availabl
"e" means "available", which means that there is no file currently being output or no file is queued and that the file can be output immediately after it is sent. busy means "in operation", and it means that there is a possibility that another file is currently being output or there is a file that is queued, and even if it is sent, it cannot be output immediately.

If the candidate printer 10 is available, the request processing unit 4 determines this candidate printer as an output printer. If the printer is busy, the candidate printers are extracted and the information on the load status is collected again, and the available printers are determined as the output printers. If all the printers 10 registered in the printer attribute storage unit 6 are busy, it is unavoidable that the last candidate printer is the output printer after knowing busy. The request processing unit 4 supplies the identifier of this output printer to the print control unit 3. At this time, the print control unit 3 sends the file to be printed out to the printer 11 having the designated identifier.

The printer 11 (output printer) to which the file to be output is supplied receives the print request ID (so-called acceptance number of the file) from the print control unit 3.
Return to. This ID is supplied to the request processing unit 4.
The processing unit 4 supplies the print request ID to the processing state monitoring unit 7 and gives an instruction to monitor the processing state. The processing performed by the processing status monitor 7 is shown in FIG. That is, when there is a command from the request processing unit 4 in response to a request from the print processing unit 3 (step S21) and a print request ID is supplied (step S22), the monitoring unit 7
Inquires the print processing state of the printer 10 based on the ID (step S23). When the print processing status is returned from the printer 10, the reply content is notified to the print control unit 3 via the request processing unit 4. The print control unit 3 notifies the user of the reply content and the name (identifier) of the transmitted printer (displayed on the display unit 1). (Step S24). (The word "step" is omitted hereafter.) This process is repeated at regular intervals, for example, every 30 seconds, until the print processing state is completed (S25 "No" → S23). It should be noted that this "constant interval" is also appropriately determined according to the system characteristics.

The operation of the entire embodiment is shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a request (command) is input in the following format by pressing the keyboard of the input unit 2 or selecting a menu by operating the mouse. print-[p] -s papersize filename [printer] print indicates a print request (print output command). -[P] represents an option (additional condition). When p is added, the file is sent directly to the printer specified by the user. This option is useful, for example, if it contains symbols or figures that can only be output by a specific printer. In this case, the specified printer identifier is put in the [printer] position. -s papersize
Represents the size of the paper to be output. filename represents the name of the file to be output at that time. Note that the attribute information stored in the printer attribute storage unit 6 is as shown in FIG.

Under these assumptions, the processing of this embodiment in the following three cases will be described. 1) When there is an available printer. 2) When there is no available printer (when all are busy). 3) When there is no printer that can output the requested size of paper. First, suppose you type print -sA4 testfile, then printer2 or printer
Suppose that any of 3 is available. This case corresponds to the case of (1) above. First, this input request is supplied from the print control unit 3 to the request processing unit 4 (S1). The request processing unit 4 takes out the requested paper size “A4” from this request (S2), and instructs the candidate extraction unit 5 to extract candidate printers based on this printing condition. In response to this, the candidate extraction unit 5 searches the printer attribute storage unit 6 (S3).

As the printer attribute storage unit 6 is searched,
The printer 10-2 having the second identifier of printer2 conforms to the printing conditions at this time. (Hereinafter, the identifier itself in FIG. 2 is also used as a printer name). The candidate extracting unit 5 supplies the identifier printer2 of this candidate printer to the request processing unit 4 (S4 “Yes”). The request processing unit 4 supplies this identifier to the printer information collecting unit 8. The printer information collection unit 8 uses this printer printer2
Is inquired about the load state of (S5). Where this p
It is assumed that rinter2 is available (S6 “Ye
s "). Information such as the load state is returned to the request processing unit 4. The request processing unit 4 determines this candidate printer as an output printer (S11). While here this p
It is assumed that rinter2 is busy (S6 “No”). In this case, the process proceeds to S7. In the previous search, only printer2 was searched. Therefore, S7 is "Yes" and S3
The processing of S6 is repeated. Here, it is assumed that the next candidate printer3 is available. This prin
ter3 is set as the output printer (S11).

When the same request print -sA4 testfile is input, both printer2 and printer3 are busy.
It was. This case corresponds to the case of (2) above. This is the same as the above case (1) until printer2 is busy and the processes of S3 to S6 are repeated until the next printer3 is selected as a candidate printer. Here this printer3 is also b
It's usy. Therefore, the process proceeds to S7 again. As shown in FIG. 2, search items still remain in the attribute information storage unit 6.
Then, S3 is executed again. But searched here
printer4 cannot output A4. Therefore, in S4, "N
It becomes "o" and it progresses to S8. There are no more search items (S8 "N
o ”). By that time, it is inspected whether there is a printer having the required paper size (S9). Here, "Ye
s ". Finally, printer3, which is a candidate, is set as an output printer (S11).

It is assumed that the request print -sB5 testfile is supplied this time. No printer capable of outputting the B5 paper is registered. The steps S1 to S4.fwdarw.S8.fwdarw.S3 are repeated until printer4 in FIG. 2 is searched. Then, the answer of S4 for this printer4 is "No". Proceed to S8. At this time, no printer had the required paper size. Error message is request processing part 4
It is returned to the print control unit 3 via (S10) and displayed on the display unit 1. On the other hand, when the output printer is determined as in the cases 1) and 2), the printer name (identifier) is returned to the print control unit 3. The control unit 3 sends the file to be output to the output printer 10 and displays the printer name on the display unit 1. Then, the processing state monitoring unit 7 is instructed to start the processing (S13). In response to this, the monitoring unit 7 executes the above-described processing of FIG.

Correspondence between each structure of the embodiment and the structure of claim 1 or 2 is shown below. It is to be noted that those using the same name on both sides and those already described are omitted.
Printer attribute storage unit 6 → storage unit, input unit 2 → designation unit, candidate extraction unit 5 → extraction unit, printer information collection unit 8 →
Information collection means, request processing section 4 → printer determination means, processing state monitoring section 7 → notification means.

[0017]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the identifier of each connected printer and the attribute information such as the printable paper size are stored in the storage means, and the output file name and the paper size are stored. When a print output condition such as is specified, this attribute information is searched and candidate printers that match the print output condition are extracted. Then, the load states of the extracted candidate printers are collected, and availa
If it is ble, it is set as the output printer, and if it is busy, the candidate printer is extracted again and information such as the load state is collected to determine the output printer. Therefore, the user does not need to pay attention to the printable size of each printer, and there is no need to wait for a long time until the output even if there is a vacant printer. According to the second aspect of the invention, after the file is transmitted to the output printer, its processing state, for example, the state of waiting for output or the state of being output, is monitored and notified to the user. Therefore, there is no need to bother twice or three times before the output.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a printer identifier and attribute information.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a processing state monitoring unit 7.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the embodiment.

[Explanation of Codes] 2 Designating means 4 Printer determining means 5 Extracting means 6 Storage means 7 Notifying means 8 Information collecting means 10 Printers A3, A4, B4 Attribute information printer1 to printer4 identifiers

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a printer control system in which a plurality of printers are connected via a network, storage means for storing identifiers and attribute information of the connected printers, and designating means for designating print output conditions. An extracting unit that retrieves the attribute information stored in the storage unit and extracts a printer candidate that matches a designated print output condition; an information collecting unit that collects information such as a load state of the printer candidate; A printer control system comprising: a printer determining unit that determines a printer to be output based on information such as a load state of a printer candidate. 2. The printer control system according to claim 1, further comprising notifying means for notifying a user of a processing state of the printer determined by the printer determining means.