JPH0895726A - Print server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a print server system which is convenient for a user when a printer in printing operation enters a stack-over state. CONSTITUTION: A host device 112 performs printing-out operation by a 1st printer that is previously specified, and prints out next and succeeding pages by selecting a 2nd printer and also prints out a status sheet showing the printing-out operation by the 2nd printer on the 1st printer if the full state of recording paper on the paper discharge tray of the 1st printer is detected. Further, the host device 112 displays a message indicating the printing-out operation by the 2nd printer on the display means of the 1st printer and the display means of the host device 112, prints out a status sheet on a 3rd printer, and also displays that on the display means of the 3rd 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 system for selectively printing out image data from a host computer by a plurality of printers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a plurality of printers selectively print out image data from a host computer, a print server system of this type is provided with a stackover detection unit in each printer and outputs a detection signal to the host computer. If a stack-over condition of the printer which is transmitting and printing is detected, the printing is suspended until the stack-over condition is released. Incidentally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-310452 discloses a method of stopping the operation of a printer or a copying machine having a plurality of ejecting parts when a stackover state occurs.

[0003]

However, in the conventional print server system, printing is suspended until the stack-over state is released, so that if the user does not release the stack-over state, subsequent printing can be resumed. There is a problem that it cannot be done and the operation is troublesome.

It should be noted that there is a method of switching to another printer and continuing printing when a stack-over state occurs, but in this case, the user does not know that the printer has been switched, and recording by a different user is not possible. Paper is mixed in one printer, which is inconvenient to return. Therefore, a situation occurs in which printing is performed again.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a print server system which is convenient for the user when the printer being printed is in a stackover state.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the first means includes a plurality of detecting means, each of which has a discharge tray and a detecting means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the discharge tray is full. The printer and the first printer designated in advance print out, and when the detection unit of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is full, the second printer is selected and the next printer is selected. It is characterized in that it is provided with a host device for printing out the pages after the page and for printing out by the first printer a status sheet indicating that the printing is to be carried out by the second printer.

A second means is a plurality of printers each having a paper discharge tray, a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is in a full state, and a first designated beforehand. The printer prints out, and when the detection unit of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in the full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages. And a host device for displaying on the display means of the first printer that printing is to be performed by this printer.

The third means has a plurality of printers each having a discharge tray and a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the discharge tray is full, and a display means, and is designated in advance. Print out with the first printer,
When the detection means of the printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in the full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages, and at the same time, to print out by the second printer. A host device for displaying on the display means is provided.

The fourth means prints by a plurality of printers each having a discharge tray and a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the discharge tray is full, and a first printer designated in advance. When the recording means on the discharge tray is detected to be full by the detecting means of the first printer, the second printer is selected to print out the subsequent pages and And a host device that prints out a status sheet indicating that printing is to be performed by a third printer designated in advance.

A fifth means is a plurality of printers each having a paper discharge tray, a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is in a full state, and a first designated in advance. The printer prints out, and when the detection unit of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in the full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages. And a host device for displaying on the display means of a third printer designated in advance that printing is to be performed by this printer.

The sixth means selects the second printer when the detection means of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is full in the first to fifth means. It is characterized in that it is provided with means for setting whether or not to print out the subsequent pages.

[0012]

According to the first means, the second printer is selected and the subsequent pages are printed out when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being full while the first printer is printing out. At the same time, the status sheet indicating that the second printer prints out is printed out by the first printer.

In the second means, the second printer is selected and the next and subsequent pages are printed out when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being full while the first printer is printing out. At the same time, the fact that the second printer will print out is displayed on the display means of the first printer.

In the third means, the second printer is selected and the subsequent pages are printed out when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in a full state during the printing of the first printer. At the same time, the fact that the second printer will print out is displayed on the display means of the host device.

According to the fourth means, when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in a full state during the printing of the first printer, the second printer is selected and the subsequent pages are printed out. At the same time, a status sheet indicating that the second printer will print out is printed out by the third printer designated in advance.

In the fifth means, the second printer is selected and the subsequent pages are printed out when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being full while the first printer is printing out. At the same time, the fact that the second printer will print out is displayed on the display means of the third printer designated in advance.

The sixth means sets whether or not to continue the printout by the second printer when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as the full state during the printout of the first printer. Since it is possible, the user can select whether or not to continue the printout.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a print server system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer shown in FIG. 1 in detail, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the operation of the print server system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for.

In the print server system shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of printers 11 to 1n and a host computer device 112 are connected via a bidirectional interface, and the host computer device 112 is a host device of the printers 11 to 1n, for example, a personal computer. It is a computer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine, or the like. Host computer 1
Reference numeral 12 sends print data to the printers 11 to 1n, and manages the printers 11 to 1n by receiving statuses from the printers 11 to 1n. In particular, the printer currently printing is in a full (stackover) state. Then, the control as shown in FIG. 3 is performed. The host computer 112 is also connected to another host computer 112 via a network or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the printers 11 to 1n includes a controller 100 and a printer engine 108.
And a panel device 110, a disk device 114, and the like. The engine 108 actually prints on the recording paper, and has a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the recording paper on the discharge tray and a full (stackover) state.

The panel device 110 is constructed so that the user can be informed of the current state of the printer by means of a display and the mode can be instructed by means of input keys. The disk device 114 is, for example, a floppy disk device or a hard disk device, and is used to store various data such as font data, programs and print data.

Explaining the configuration of the controller 100 in detail, the CPU 101 controls the entire controller 100 based on a program previously stored in the program ROM 104, a mode instruction from the panel device 110, and a command from the host computer 112. To do.

The IC card 102 uses font data and CP
It is used to supply the program of U101 from the outside, and the font pattern data and the program supplied by the IC card 102 are stored in the RAM 106. The RAM 106 is also used as a work memory of the CPU 101, an input buffer for input data, a page buffer for print data, a memory for download fonts, etc., and a non-volatile (NV) RAM 103 stores mode instructions from the panel device 110. Used for.

Engine interface (I / F) 107
Command and status with the engine 108,
Communication of print data is performed, and the panel interface 109 is used.
By communicating commands and statuses with the panel device 110, the panel device 110 informs the user of the printer status and enables the user to specify a mode. The host interface 111 communicates with the host computer 112, and, for example, a Centro I / F or RS232C is used. The disk interface 113 is used to communicate with the disk device 114.

In the controller 100 having such a configuration, when data such as a character code, a control code, and a control command is received from the host computer 112 via the host interface 111, the data is stored in the RAM1.
It is temporarily stored in the input buffer of 06. Next, the data held in the input buffer is taken out, and the start address of the font pattern for each character,
Layout information such as width, height and print position is stored in the page buffer. Then, when the page buffer for one page is completed, the data is expanded in the frame buffer by a bitmap.

When this expansion is completed, a paper feed tray selection command, a paper ejection tray selection command, and a print command are sent to the engine 108 via the engine interface 107, and the bitmap data expanded in the frame buffer is converted into video data. send. The engine 108 selects a paper feed tray based on the paper feed tray selection command to feed the paper, prints based on the video data, and selects the paper ejection tray based on the paper ejection tray selection command to eject the paper.

Next, the operation when the discharge tray of the printer designated by the user is stacked over will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, in the case where the discharge tray of the printer designated by the user stacks over, the recording paper of the subsequent page is printed out by the other second printer to continue the printing (the discharge continuation mode). ) Is settable by the user via the host device 112.

First, as described above, the engine 108 prints on the recording paper based on the command and the video data to print out one page (step S).
1). Upon completion of printing one page, it is determined whether or not the discharge tray of the printer is in the stack-over state (step S2). If not, the above process is repeated for each page (step S1).
On the other hand, in the case of the stack over state, it is determined whether or not the discharge / continue mode is set (step S3). Then, if the discharge / continue mode is not set, the subsequent printing is interrupted and this processing is terminated, while if it is set, it is determined whether or not there is another available printer. (Step S4).

When there is another available printer, the second printer to print out the next page is determined (step S5), and then "print out from other second printer" is displayed. Is used as a status sheet to print out from the original first printer (step S6), and the process returns to step S1 to print out from the next page to the new second printer.

If there is no other available printer, the information indicating "cannot be printed out by the new second printer" is used as a status sheet to print out by the original first first printer. Then, (step S7), the subsequent printing is interrupted, and this processing ends.

Therefore, in the above-described embodiment, when the first printer designated by the user is in the stack-over state, when the discharge / continue mode is set, "printing by another second printer" is performed. Since the information indicating "Yes" is printed as the status sheet by the original first printer, the user can know that the second printer is printing even if the printing is continued.

It should be noted that the discharge tray can normally discharge about several sheets even in the stack-over state, so that a problem such as a jam does not occur even if one status sheet is discharged. Further, if there is no other available second printer in step S7, the status sheet indicating that "printing cannot be performed by the second printer" may not be discharged.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The processing shown in steps S1 to S5 is the same as steps S1 to S5 shown in FIG.
In the third embodiment, when the first printer is in the stack-over state (step S2) and the discharge / continue mode is set (step S3), the second printer that is available is If there is (step S4), the information indicating "print out by another second printer" is displayed on the display unit of the panel device 110 of the first printer (step S6a).

If there is no other available second printer (step S4), information indicating that "the second printer could not print out" is displayed on the panel device of the first printer. It is displayed on the display unit 110 (step S7a). Therefore, also in this embodiment, even if the printout is continued, the user can know that the printout is made by the other second printer.

In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 5, in the host computer which is the host device 112, information (step S6b) indicating "print out by another second printer" or "print out by the second printer". Could not be done "(step S7
Display b). Therefore, the printout can be continued by the second printer, and the user can know that the printout is made by the other second printer by displaying this information on the display by the host computer. . Since the processes shown in steps S1 to S5 are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The fourth embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the status sheet is printed out when the discharge tray of the first printer is stacked over.
The printer is configured to be configurable. That is, first, as in the first embodiment, when the discharge tray of the first printer is in the stack-over state (step S2), the discharge-continue mode is set (step S3), and other If there is a vacant second printer (step S4), the second printer to print out the next page is determined (step S5).

Next, in the fourth embodiment, "other second
The printer prints out a status sheet indicating “print out by printer” (step S6c) and returns to step S1 to print out from the next page by a new second printer. Further, even when there is no available second printer, the status sheet indicating that "the second printer could not be selected" is printed out by the third printer (step S7c), and the subsequent printing is performed. To end this process.

Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, the printout can be continued in the same manner as in the first to third embodiments, and the user can know that it is being printed by another printer. In addition to this, since the status sheet is printed out by the third printer designated in advance, the status sheet is discharged to the discharge tray of the original first printer as in the first embodiment, and a problem such as a jam occurs. Can be prevented.

The fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is a combination of the second and fourth embodiments. That is, information indicating "print out by another second printer" is displayed on the display unit of the panel device 110 of the third printer (step S6d), and "print out by the second printer may be performed." Information indicating that "it was not possible" is displayed on the display unit of the panel device 110 of the third printer (step S7d).

[0040]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in the full state during the printout of the first printer, the second printer Is selected and the next page and subsequent pages are printed out, and the status sheet indicating that the second printer prints out is printed out by the first printer, so that the printer being printed is in a stackover state. In this case, the user can know the continuation of printout from the status sheet, and thus a convenient print server system can be realized.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in the full state during the printing of the first printer, the second printer is selected and the following pages are displayed. Is printed out, and the fact that the second printer will print out is displayed on the display means of the first printer. Therefore, if the printer being printed is in a stackover state, the user can The printout continuation can be known, and thus a convenient print server system can be realized.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in the full state during the printout of the first printer, the second printer is selected and the following pages are started. Is printed out, and the fact that the second printer will print out is displayed on the display means of the host device. Therefore, when the printer being printed is in the stackover state, the user prints out by displaying on the host device. The continuation can be known, and thus a convenient print server system can be realized.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in the full state during the printout of the first printer, the second printer is selected and the following pages are started. Is printed out, and a status sheet indicating that printing is to be performed by the second printer is printed by the third printer that is designated in advance. Therefore, if the printer that is currently printing is in the stackover state, The printout continuation can be known from the status sheet of the third printer designated in advance, so that a convenient print server system can be realized.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the second printer is selected when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as being in the full state during the printing of the first printer, and the next page and subsequent pages are selected. Is printed out and displayed on the display means of the third printer instructed to print out by the second printer. Therefore, when the printer being printed is in the stack-over state, The printout continuation can be known from the display of the designated third printer, and thus a convenient print server system can be realized.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, whether the second printer continues the printout when the recording paper on the discharge tray is detected as the full state during the printout of the first printer. Since it can be set whether or not to print, the user can select whether or not to continue the printout.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a print server system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer of FIG. 1 in detail.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the print server system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print server system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the print server system of the third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print server system according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print server system according to the fifth exemplary embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11-1n Printer 100 Controller 108 Engine 112 Host computer device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of printers each having a paper discharge tray and a detection unit for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is in a full state; When the detection means of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in a full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages, and the second printer prints out. And a host device that prints out a status sheet indicating the above with a first printer. 2. A plurality of printers each having a discharge tray, a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the discharge tray is in a full state, and a plurality of printers, and a first designated printer for printing out. When the detection unit of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in the full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages, and the second printer prints. First to be out
And a host device to be displayed on the display means of the printer, the print server system. 3. A plurality of printers each having a paper discharge tray and a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is full, and a first printer designated in advance and having a display means. When the recording means on the discharge tray is detected as full by the detecting means of the first printer, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages. A print server system comprising: a host device for displaying on the display means that a printer prints. 4. A plurality of printers each having a discharge tray and a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the discharge tray is in a full state, and a first printer designated in advance prints out, When the detection means of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in a full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages, and the second printer prints out. And a host device that prints out a status sheet indicating by a third printer designated in advance. 5. A plurality of printers each having a paper discharge tray, a detection means for detecting whether or not the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is in a full state, and a plurality of printers, and a first designated printer for printing out. When the detection unit of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in the full state, the second printer is selected to print out the next page and subsequent pages, and the second printer prints. A print server system, comprising: a host device that causes a display unit of a third printer, which is designated in advance, to display a message indicating that the printout is to be performed. 6. When the detecting means of the first printer detects that the recording paper on the discharge tray is in a full state, the second printer is selected to set whether or not to print out the subsequent pages. The print server system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: