JPH09179702A - Method and unit for printer control - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the printer control unit applied with the printer control method capable of rational and adequate printing operation even at a large- capacity print request of low priority. SOLUTION: This printer control unit performs printer output by a printer server 20 at a priority-set print request from a client 10 in network constitution. The job division part 23 of the printer server 20 divides a print job of low priority into pages according to a priority judgement signal from a priority judgement part 21 and outputs job division signals, and a subordinate spool device 24 spools the divided jobs with the job division signals and sends them to a main spool device 22. A job spool judgement part 25 judges the job status of the main spool device 22 and sends a status judgement signal to the subordinate spool device 24 to acknowledge the spooling by the main spool device 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control method for controlling print output on a printer server side in response to a print request from a client terminal that is network-configured, and a printer control apparatus to which the same is applied.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a network-configured printer control device, when a client terminal makes a print request to a printer server including a printer, the printer server side performs print output in the order of request regardless of the amount of print jobs. There is.

In recent printer control devices, a print request from a client terminal is set with a priority order (priority), and a printer server side has been developed to perform print output in descending order of priority order.

Incidentally, as a well-known technique relating to the data processing according to the priority order and the management of the printer in such a printer control device, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-8753 is available.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-31980
For example, a method of sharing peripheral devices disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 123953 can be cited.

[0005]

In the case of printer control by the printer control device described above, when a print request is made from a client terminal to a printer server, print output (print processing) is performed in the order of request from the client terminal or in order of priority. For example, when printing with a print process for a large-capacity print request with a low priority (priority), the print job is divided on the client terminal side and the empty state of the printer is observed before printing. There is the inconvenience of having to.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its technical problem is to control a printer which can print reasonably and accurately even with respect to a large-capacity print request having a low priority. A method and a printer control device to which the method is applied are provided.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when a client terminal having a network configuration sets a priority to a printer server and a print request is made,
A printer control method for performing printer output for a print job with a low priority when there is no printer output for a print job with a high priority in the printer server is obtained.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, in the printer control device in which the client terminal which sets the priority and issues the print request and the printer server which outputs the printer in response to the print request are network-configured, the printer server is A printer control device that outputs a printer for a print job with a low priority based on a result of determining that there is no printer output for a print job with a high priority according to a print request is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in the printer control device, the printer server outputs a priority determination signal indicating a result of determining the priority of the print job in response to the print request, and a priority determination section. Based on the priority determination signal, the main spool device that outputs to the printer in the spooled order for the print job with the high priority, and the page unit that is preset for the print job with the low priority based on the priority determination signal The job split signal, a sub-spool device that spools a print job divided based on the job split signal and has a low priority, and sends the print job to the main spool device. The status determination signal indicating the result of storing and determining the job status in the main spool device is stored in the sub spool. Printer controller having a job spool determination section that gives permission of the spool relative to the main spool device transmits to the pool device is obtained.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The printer control method and printer control apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, the outline of the printer control method of the present invention will be briefly described. In this printer control method, when a client terminal having a network configuration sets a priority to a printer server and a print request is made, when the printer server does not output a printer for a print job having a high priority, The printer output relating to a low print job is performed.

If such printer control is performed, a printer output related to a print job having a large capacity and a low priority is automatically performed when the printer is idle, so that the client terminal side is required as in the conventional case. It becomes unnecessary to divide the print job, observe the empty state of the printer, and print.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of a printer control apparatus according to an embodiment to which this printer control method is applied.

In this printer control device, a client 10 that sets a priority and issues a print request, and a printer server 20 that outputs a printer in response to the print request are network-configured. The printer server 20 includes a printer 30. Has been.

Of these, the printer server 20 outputs a priority determination signal indicating the result of determining the priority of a print job in response to a print request, and a priority determination unit 21.
Based on the priority determination signal, the main spool device 22 that outputs to the printer in the spooled order for the print job with the high priority, and for each page set in advance for the print job with the low priority based on the priority determination signal A job dividing unit 23 that divides and outputs a job dividing signal;
A job in the main spool device 22 that stores a sub-spool device 24 that spools a low-priority print job that is split based on a job split signal and sends the print job to the main spool device 22, and a split state in the sub-spool device 24. A status determination signal representing the result of the status determination is transmitted to the sub spool device 24 to send it to the main spool device 2.
And a job spool determination unit 25 that gives permission for spooling to job No. 2.

Therefore, the printer control by this printer control device will be specifically described below. In this printer control device, when a print request is executed from the client terminal 10 on the network, the client terminal 10
Sets the priority of the print request to "high" or "low".

In the printer server 20, the priority determination section 21 sends a priority determination signal to the main spool device 22 for a print job with a high priority set, but a print job with a low priority set. With respect to, the priority determination signal is transmitted to the job dividing unit 23.

The main spool device 22 outputs the printers in the spooled order with respect to the print jobs having a high priority based on the priority determination signal, and the job dividing unit 23 outputs the pages for each page set in advance based on the priority determination signal. Job is mechanically divided, and a job with a low priority is transmitted to the sub spool device 24 as a job division signal and spooled.

The job spool determination unit 25 stores the split state of the sub spool device 24, and the initial state is set to "ready". Main spool device 22
As the print job is spooled to the job spool determination unit 25, the status of the job spool determination unit 25 changes from "ready" to "wait".
-1 ”,“ wait-2 ”, ...
When the main spool device 22 is spooled, “wai
The value of n is incremented by 1 in sequence from 1 as "t-n". The status of each job, "waiting for printing" or "printing", is set in the main spool device 22. When the job status of “waiting for printing” changes from “printing in progress” to “printing”, the status of the job spool determination unit 25 is decremented by 1 for the value of n in “wait-n”, and the status of “wait-1” is changed. Sometimes "ready"
Is set to

When the job status becomes "ready", the job spool judging section 25 permits the main spool device 22 to spool according to the status judgment signal and stores the job having a low priority in the sub spool device 2.
Give to 4. As a result, one of the spooled jobs is transmitted from the sub spool device 24 to the main spool device 22 and spooled. As a result, when the printer 30 is in an empty state for a print job having a high priority, the printer output for the print job having a low priority is automatically performed.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a client terminal in a network sets a priority to a printer server to make a print request, the printer server prints with a high priority. When there is no printer output related to the job, the printer output related to the print job with a low priority is automatically performed. Therefore, the client terminal side divides the print job and observes the available status of the printer. The inconvenience that had to be printed is eliminated, and it becomes possible to print reasonably and accurately even for a low-volume, large-capacity print request. In particular, in the case of the printer server here, when performing the printer output for the print job having a low priority, it can be spooled at one time, so that it has a capacity setting function at the time of the printer output.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a printer control device according to an embodiment to which a printer control method of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Client Terminal 20 Printer Server 21 Priority Judgment Unit 22 Main Spool Device 23 Job Dividing Unit 24 Sub Spool Device 25 Job Spool Judgment Unit 30 Printer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When a client terminal having a network configuration sets a priority to a printer server and a print request is issued, the priority level is set when the printer server does not output a printer for a print job having a high priority. A printer control method comprising performing printer output for a low print job. 2. A printer control apparatus in which a client terminal that sets a priority and issues a print request and a printer server that outputs a printer in response to the print request are network-configured. A printer control device for performing a printer output for a print job with a low priority based on a result of determining that there is no printer output for a print job with a high priority. 3. The printer control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printer server outputs a priority determination signal indicating a result of determining the priority of the print job in response to the print request, A main spool device that performs printer output in the spooled order for print jobs with high priority based on the priority determination signal, and for each page set in advance for print jobs with low priority based on the priority determination signal And a sub-spool device for spooling a print job divided based on the job split signal and having a low priority, and transmitting the job to the main spool device, and a sub spool. Stores the division status of the device and represents the result of judging the job status in the main spool device. A printer control apparatus, comprising: a job spool determination unit that transmits a status determination signal to the sub spool apparatus and gives spool permission to the main spool apparatus.