JPH09185473A - Printer controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the confusion of the output result, to keep order relation between preferential jobs and to suitably execute ordinary jobs concerning a printer controller with which the preferential jobs are interrupted and outputted. SOLUTION: At the time of interrupted printing due to the preferential jobs, such printing is outputted to a printer control means 2 by an interruption reporting means 3 so that the interrupted printing can be easily recognized from the output result. Besides, a job execution order managing means 1 inhibits the reinterruption of preferential jobs so that the output result at the time of preferential job execution can not be confused, and the preferential jobs are processed in the order of reception so that the order relation between the preferential jobs can be kept. Further, since the processing ratio of ordinary jobs to the preferential job is set by a preferential job output ratio setting means 4, even when a lot of preferential jobs are generated, the state of not processing the ordinary jobs for a long time is avoided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control device, and more particularly, when a print job from a workstation, a personal computer or the like connected to a network is received and output to a printer, a normal job is being executed. The present invention relates to a printer control device that can interrupt the.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a print control apparatus which receives print jobs from a plurality of clients and performs print processing. The print control device performs output processing of the printer in the order of the received jobs. Therefore, if the job received first is a file with a large number of pages, the subsequent jobs will wait for a long time until the previous job is completed, and the output result will be output immediately even if the number of prints is small. Can't get

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-2860
In the print control apparatus described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 17, a priority is added to a job, and when a job having a higher priority than the job currently being printed is transmitted, the processing of the job currently being printed is interrupted, The job transmitted later is printed, and after the printing is completed, the printing of the interrupted job is resumed.

Further, even when the output request due to the interrupt is detected even during the output, the output under execution is interrupted, the output due to the interrupt is preferentially processed, and the interrupted output is restarted after the end of this processing. (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-0
No. 65721), the order of the print queue is rearranged according to the priority added when the job is issued, and the printer is set to 1
The head of the print queue is monitored every time a page is output, and when the head job is changed, the print process currently being executed is interrupted and the changed job is printed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-187112). Print data with a small number of prints is preferentially read from a spool and printed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-149617).

[0005]

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-
Since the priority printing in 286017, JP-A-03-065721, and JP-A-06-187112 is performed by interrupting the job at the time of execution, another priority print is performed during the output result of the job of another user. The output results of the job are output in a sandwiched form, which requires time-consuming sorting of the output results. Further, the user who has issued the interrupted job cannot know whether or not the interrupt printing has been performed, so that the output result may be confused.

If another priority print job is interrupted during execution of the priority print, the obtained output result becomes more confusing, and the job for which the priority print is instructed later is printed earlier, If the order relationship between print jobs is compromised or if priority print instructions are issued frequently, normal print jobs that have been ordered first, that is, jobs that do not have priority print instructions, are postponed, and all priority print jobs are delayed. It may not be output until the job output is completed.

In the prioritized printing in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-149617, a job with a large number of prints is preferentially printed, so that a job with a large number of prints is postponed, and a great amount of time is required to be output. There was a problem that it would be

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and prevents confusion of the output result, maintains the order relation between the priority prints, and even when the priority prints frequently occur, the normal print job is performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer control device capable of appropriately printing.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of a printer control apparatus according to the present invention. In this figure, the printer control device controls the job execution order management unit 1 that manages the order of received print jobs, and the printer 5 to perform printing according to the order set by the job execution order management unit 1. Printer control means 2
An interrupt notification unit 3 for notifying the printer control unit 2 that the priority job should be output so that it can be recognized during interrupt printing, and an offset value for interrupting a normal job with a priority job at a predetermined rate. And the priority job output ratio setting means 4 for setting.

The job execution order management means 1 queues the normal jobs in the order in which they are received. When a priority job is received, if the job being executed is a normal job, the job is given priority over this job. If the job being executed is a priority job, the re-interruption of the priority job is prohibited, and the priority job is queued at the order position to be executed in preference to the normal job.

The printer control means 2 controls the printer 5 to print according to the execution order of the job execution order management means 1. When a priority job is interrupted during execution of a normal job, the interrupt notification unit 3 can distinguish the output result of the job in execution from the output result of the interrupt job. Output paper of a size different from the job.
Further, when there is an interrupt job, the printer control unit 2 is allowed to print paper of different colors or sizes to the printer 5.
To be output.

When a plurality of priority jobs are queued in the job execution order management means 1, the priority job output ratio setting means 4 does not change the order in which the priority jobs are received, and offsets the normal jobs at a predetermined ratio. The value, that is, the interrupt interval of the priority job is arbitrarily set. Upon receiving a plurality of priority jobs, the job execution order management unit 1 refers to the offset value set in the priority job output ratio setting unit 4, and sets the priority job to the processing order that is the offset value after the final priority job. Make sure you insert it.

Therefore, according to the printer control apparatus of the present invention, it can be easily confirmed from the output result that the interrupt job is printed, and it is possible to prevent the output result from being confused. By prohibiting the re-interruption of the priority jobs, the output result when the priority jobs are executed is not confused, and the order relation between the priority jobs can be maintained. Further, since the user can change the processing ratio of the normal job to the priority job, it is possible to output the normal print job even when the priority print requests are frequently made.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the printer control device according to the present invention.

The printer control apparatus 10 according to the present invention is connected so as to receive a print job transmitted via a network and output it to the printer 20. The printer control device 10 instructs a job acceptance unit 11 that accepts a print job, a print order determination unit 12 that determines the print order of the accepted jobs, and a discharge of paper for notifying that when interrupt printing is performed. Interrupt notification paper discharge instruction section 13, a print job spool section 14 for registering the processing order of print jobs, a printer control section 15 for controlling printing in accordance with the processing order, and an existing register for interrupt printing. An interrupt offset value storage unit 16 that stores an interrupt offset value that is an interval between registration positions with a registered interrupt print, and an interrupt offset value control unit 1 that changes the interrupt offset value.
And 7. The print job spool unit 14 has a queue 14 for registering the processing order of print jobs.
a, which is an area for storing information on whether or not the job currently being processed is a priority job in the printer control unit 15, and refers to the area when a priority print request is made, and Has a priority in-execution flag 15a used for prohibiting a job from interrupting. The job acceptance unit 11, the print order determination unit 12, and the print job spool unit 14 configure the job execution order management unit 1 in FIG. 1, the printer control unit 15 configures the printer control unit 2, and the interrupt notification sheet discharge instruction. The unit 13 constitutes the interrupt notification unit 3, and includes the interrupt offset value storage unit 16 and the interrupt offset value control unit 17.
Constitutes a priority job output ratio setting means 4.

When a print job is sent from a client such as a workstation or a personal computer on the network, the job receiving unit 11 receives the print job. The job accepted by the print job accepting unit 11 is sent to the print order determining unit 12, and it is determined whether the accepted job is a job to be printed with priority, and the print order of the jobs is determined based on the result. .
The determination of the priority in the print order determination unit 12 is the number of pages of the print job, the size of the print job, the estimated print time, the identifier of the client who sent the job, the identifier of the user who sent the job, a priority print instruction from the client, etc. Or a combination of two or more. Here, a job determined to be a job to be preferentially printed is referred to as a “priority job”, and a job determined not to be a priority job is referred to as a “normal job”. Further, the print order determining unit 12 determines the print order based on the information indicating the priority print / no print determined here, the information of the queue 14a in the print job spool unit 14, and the state of the priority execution flag 15a. , And instructs the interrupt notification sheet discharge instruction section 13 to discharge the sheet for notifying the interrupt, and the printer control section 15
In response to the command, the print job is interrupted, the interrupt printing is instructed, and the print job spool unit 14 is instructed to store the job.

The interrupt notification sheet discharge instruction section 13 discharges the sheet for notifying that the interrupt print is performed when the print order determination section 12 interrupts the printing of the current job and performs the interrupt print. The printer controller 15 is instructed. The paper to be used is an interrupted job, a paper larger in size than the paper used by the interrupted job, or a paper of a different color. The print job spool unit 14 registers the job at the designated position in the queue 14a according to the print order information instructed by the print order determination unit 12. In the queue 14a, a priority flag is set together with information on each print job. The printer control unit 15 is normally the print job spool unit 1
Among the jobs registered in the queue 14a within 4, the job with the earliest print order is selected, and the print processing is sequentially performed. The printer control unit 15 includes a priority execution flag 1 indicating whether the job currently being printed is a priority job.
5a is set, and the print job spool unit 14
This is set when a job is selected from the internal queue 14a and printing is started, and when there is an instruction from the printing order determination unit 12. In this embodiment, if the job is a priority job, the priority execution flag 15a is set to "TRUE", and if it is a normal job, it is set to "FALSE". The printer control unit 15 also interrupts the printing of the job currently being processed, prints the interrupt job when interrupt printing is performed, and interrupts printing of the interrupt job after the printing of the interrupt job is instructed by the printing order determination unit 12. Controls to restart the printing of the job that was being performed.

The interrupt offset value storage unit 16 is a unit for storing the interrupt offset value used by the printing order determination unit 12 to determine the order of jobs in the queue 14a. The interrupt offset value control unit 17 allows the user to freely change the value of the interrupt offset value storage unit 16 through an appropriate user interface.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of the printing order determining unit. Upon receiving a print job, the printer control device 10 first determines whether the job is a priority job (step S1). If it is not a priority job, the accepted job is additionally registered at the end of the queue 14a, and the priority flag of the job is set to "FALSE" (step S2). If it is determined in step S1 that the job is a priority job, then it is determined whether or not a job whose priority flag is “TRUE”, that is, a priority job already exists in the queue 14a (step S).
3). Here, the priority flag in the queue 14a is "TRU".
If the job of “E” exists, the maximum value (= a) of the processing orders among the jobs of “TRUE” is checked, and it is determined whether the job exists in the processing order obtained by adding the interrupt offset value (n) to the maximum value. Yes (step S4). Where (a +
If a job exists in the (n) th processing order, (a +
A job is inserted after the (n) th job and its priority flag is set to "TRUE" (step S5). (A
If the + n) th job is the last job, the queue 14
Add a job to the end of a and set its priority flag to "TRU
"E" (step S6).

If there is no job whose priority flag is "TRUE" in the judgment of step S3, it is judged whether the priority execution flag 15a is "TRUE", that is, whether the job being executed is a priority job. Yes (step S7). If the priority execution flag 15a is "TRUE", the job is inserted at the head of the queue 14a and the priority flag is set to "TRUE" (step S8). Priority execution flag 15a is "TRUE"
If not, the print process is performed by interrupting the job currently being processed. First, the printer controller 15 is instructed to interrupt the printing of the job currently being output (step S
9) After the printing of the job is interrupted, the interrupt notification paper discharge instruction unit 13 is instructed to discharge the interrupt print notification paper (step S10). After that, the priority execution flag in the printer control unit is set to "TRUE" (step S11), execution of the priority job is interrupted, and execution of the interrupted job is resumed after printing is completed (step S12).

Next, a specific operation example of the printing order determination unit 12 will be described with reference to the contents of the queue 14a and the priority execution flag 15a. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the contents of the queue and the priority execution flag.

According to the illustrated example, the queue 14a has fields for processing order, priority flag and job. Here, as a premise of the description of the operation example, the normal job J
An example is given in which OB0 is executing printing and there is one normal job JOB1 in the queue 14a. As shown in the figure, the queue 14a in this case has the priority "FALSE" and the job "JOB" at the processing order "1".
1 ". The priority execution flag 15a is set to "FAL.
SE ”. In the case of a normal job, the job is always added to the end of the queue 14a, and the priority flag is always set to "FALSE".

In this state, when a print request for the normal job JOB2 is made next, the queue 14a in the print job spool section 14 is represented as shown in FIG. That is, the requested normal job JOB2 is registered at the processing order "2" at the end of the queue 14a.

Furthermore, in the state of FIG.
It is assumed that there is a print request for "OB0". In this case, first, a job whose priority flag added to each job in the queue 14a is "TRUE" is searched for. here,
Since such a job cannot be found, the state of the priority execution flag 15a is detected next. Priority flag 1
Since 5a is “FALSE”, the print order determination unit 12 instructs the printer control unit 15 to interrupt the printing of the job currently being output, and after interrupting the printing of the job, the interrupt notification paper ejection instructing unit 13 And instruct to eject the interrupt notification sheet.

The interrupt notification paper discharge instruction section 13 prints the interrupt print using a paper of a size larger than the paper of the job for which printing has been interrupted or the job to be interrupted and printed, or a paper of a different color. Then, the printer control unit 15 is instructed to eject. After that, the priority execution flag 15a in the printer control unit 15 is set to "TRUE" to interrupt the execution of the priority job "excellent job 0". At this time, the states of the priority execution flag 15a and the queue 14a are as shown in FIG.

If there is a print request for the priority job "excellent JOB1" while the priority job "excellent job 0" is being executed, the priority flag added to each job in the queue 14a is "TRUE" as in the previous time. Find a job. Since no such job is found in the queue 14a of FIG. 6, the state of the priority execution flag 15a is detected next.
Since the priority execution flag 15a is "TRUE", it is determined that the priority job is being executed, and further interrupt printing is not performed. When a request for another priority job is made during execution of the priority job, another priority job is registered in the queue 14a instead of executing an interrupt. In this case, since there is no job with the priority flag "TRUE" in the queue 14a, the priority job is inserted at the head of the queue 14a and the priority flag of the priority job is set to "TRUE". At this time, the states of the priority execution flag 15a and the queue 14a are as shown in FIG.

Next, when there are a plurality of priority jobs,
A mechanism for maintaining the order relation of these processes and enabling the already registered normal jobs to be processed without being extremely delayed will be described. First, in order not to disturb the order relation, interruption by a subsequent priority job is prohibited during execution of the priority job, and the subsequent priority job is registered in the queue 14a. If jobs have been registered, do not change the order of priority jobs. Furthermore, in order to interrupt the priority job at an appropriate position so that the already registered normal job is not postponed indefinitely by the subsequent priority job, the priority job of the subsequent priority job is registered in any order of the queue 14a. Is set in advance as an interrupt offset value. The setting of the interrupt offset value is performed by the interrupt offset value control unit 17, and an example of the user interface in that case is shown below.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of the interrupt offset value setting screen. According to the illustrated example, the screen 17a for setting the interrupt offset value is provided with a portion for numerically inputting the interrupt offset value, a button for setting the interrupt offset value, and a button for canceling. When the interrupt offset value is input and the setting button is pressed, the interrupt offset value control unit 17 stores the interrupt offset value in the interrupt offset value storage unit 16. In this way, the interrupt offset value can be arbitrarily set by the administrator, and is referred to when the printing order determination unit 12 determines in which order of the queue 14a the subsequent priority job will be registered, as described later. To be done. Further, the interrupt offset value is an integer of 0 or more (n = 0, 1, ...
・), And here, n = 1.

In the situation as shown in FIG. 7, when a print request for the priority job "excellent JOB2" is further issued, first, the priority flag added to each job in the queue 14a is "TRUE". The job is searched for and the registration status of the priority job is checked, and the job with the latest processing order is searched for. The maximum value of the processing order of these priority jobs is a
And In the example of FIG. 7, the excellent job 1 corresponds to this, and the processing order is a = 1. Here, since the job exists at the processing position after the interrupt offset value n (= 1) from the processing order a, the priority job “excellent JOB2” is the position at the processing order after the processing order a by the interrupt offset value n. Be interrupted by. That is, the new priority job is a job of processing priority a + interrupt offset value n, here,
It is inserted at the position after the job of processing order 2. At this time, the priority flag of the inserted job is set to "TRUE".

The priority execution flag and the state of the queue at this stage are as shown in FIG. In this way, when a print request for a priority job is made, the job being printed is interrupted at the first time, the priority job is interrupted, and then the priority job is printed while sandwiching a fixed number of normal jobs. It is inserted into the queue 14a of the spool unit 14. At this time, interruption of other priority jobs is prohibited during interruption printing, and the output order of the priority jobs is maintained.

Further, when there is an output request for the priority job "excellent JOB3", the queue 14a is updated as shown in FIG. 10 by the same processing as the previous time. In this state, when a print request for the priority job "excellent JOB4" is made, first,
Among the jobs with the priority flag “TRUE” added to each job in the queue 14a, the job with the latest processing order is searched. Here, the priority job having the latest processing order is the job “excellent JOB3” having the processing order a = 5. A job (processing order 6) having processing order a + interrupt offset value n of the job is searched. Since such a job does not exist, a priority job is added to the end of the queue 14a and the priority flag of the job is set to "TRUE". As a result, the state of the queue 14a becomes as shown in FIG.

Thus, the interrupt offset value n is set to 1
With the above, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a normal job is not printed at all even if a priority job frequently occurs. Further, by setting the interrupt offset value to 0, the printing of the normal job is postponed as in the prior art, but the order relation between the priority jobs is maintained.

Since the interrupt offset value n can be easily changed by the user interface of the interrupt offset value setting screen 17a provided in the interrupt offset value control unit 17, the printer utilization status, the number of times of priority job occurrence, etc. can be set. In consideration of this, it is possible to freely set the priority of the priority job.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, a sheet on which the fact is printed is output at the time of priority printing, and the sheet used at this time is used for the interrupted job and the interrupted job. By using a paper that is larger than the paper to be printed or that has a different color, it is possible to easily identify the priority print from the output results, even for the user who has not instructed the priority print, and prevent the output results from being mixed up. It becomes possible.

Further, since interruption of other jobs is prohibited at the time of executing the priority printing, it is possible to prevent confusion of the output result at the time of executing the priority printing, and it is possible to maintain the order relation between the priority jobs. In addition, even when a large number of priority print requests are issued, it is possible to output a normal job, and by setting an interrupt offset value, the user can change the processing ratio of a normal job to a priority job.

Next, another embodiment will be described in which the interrupt offset value is not automatically set by the administrator but is automatically changed by a preset method. The interrupt offset value control unit 17 can be configured to dynamically change the interrupt offset value set by the interrupt offset value control unit 17 according to the usage status of the printer. This change is made to the value set by the administrator or to the predetermined initial value. Here, the interrupt offset value control unit 17 determines the interrupt offset value based on the interrupt generation frequency, the average output time of interrupt printing, the average output time of a normal job, and the like.

Specifically, when there is a normal job which is postponed by the subsequent priority job being inserted, the average output time of the normal job at the processing position to be inserted and the subsequent The interrupt offset value is changed when a predetermined condition is satisfied in consideration of the capacity of the priority job and the estimated required printing time. For example, when the number of pages and the number of copies of the normal job are small and the number of pages and the number of copies of the subsequent priority job are very large, a change such as increasing the interrupt offset value is made. As a result, it is possible to dynamically determine the output ratio of the priority job and the normal job according to the usage status of the printer.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the interrupt job is printed, the interrupt notification means outputs the effect, so that the output result is prevented from being mixed up. In addition, the job execution order management unit prohibits reinterruption of priority jobs and does not set the priority order between priority jobs, so that the output result at the time of priority job execution is not confused and the order relationship between priority jobs can be maintained. It will be possible.
Further, since the processing ratio of the normal job to the priority job can be set by the priority job output ratio setting means, it is possible to prevent the normal job from being delayed and not output even when the priority print requests are frequently made.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a principle configuration of a printer control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a printer control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a print order determination unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying contents of a queue and a priority execution flag.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying contents of a queue and a priority execution flag.

FIG. 6 is a diagram exemplifying contents of a queue and a priority execution flag.

FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplifying contents of a queue and a priority execution flag.

FIG. 8 is a diagram exemplifying a screen for setting an interrupt offset value.

FIG. 9 is a diagram exemplifying the contents of a queue.

FIG. 10 is a diagram exemplifying the contents of a queue.

FIG. 11 is a diagram exemplifying the contents of a queue.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Job Execution Order Management Means 2 Printer Control Means 3 Interrupt Notification Means 4 Priority Job Output Ratio Setting Means 5 Printers 10 Printer Control Units 11 Job Receiving Units 12 Printing Order Determining Units 13 Interrupt Notification Paper Discharge Instructing Units 14 Print Job Spooling Units 14a Queue 15 printer control unit 15a priority execution flag 16 interrupt offset value storage unit 17 interrupt offset value control unit 20 printer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A print control apparatus capable of interrupting another job while a print job is being executed, wherein normal jobs are queued in the order in which they are received, and priority jobs are given priority over jobs being executed. Job execution order management means for managing the job execution order so that the jobs are executed or queued prior to the normal job, and printer control for controlling the printer to print according to the execution order by the job execution order management means. Means and when there is an interruption of a priority job during the execution of a normal job,
A print control apparatus, comprising: an interrupt notification unit that notifies the printer control unit to output a different color paper or a different size paper from the job before and after the interrupt job. 2. The print control according to claim 1, wherein the job execution order management unit is configured to prohibit re-interruption of another priority job when the job being executed is a priority job. apparatus. 3. When queuing a plurality of priority jobs in the job execution order management means, an offset value for interrupting a normal job at a predetermined ratio is set without changing the order of reception of priority jobs. 2. A priority job output ratio setting means is further provided.
The print control device described.