JPH09305337A - Multi-address processing controlling method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute the instruction operation of a multi-address processing by means of a simple operation when document data is transmitted to another processor so as to execute the processing by executing control so as to permit the device of the destination of a group which is indicated by means of a group object to request the processing of processing object data. SOLUTION: A printer group register part 14 registers printers 141-143 for executing multi-address printing as a group. The object expressing the registered group is generated by an object generating part 18. When a client prints the same document in plural print servers 131-133 and the operation is executed to the object of the printer group, the object which is selected by the operation is judged by an input/output interface part 11 and a multi-address print control part 12 executes the multi-address processing. Therefore, an operator does not need to repeat the same operation many times, so that operability is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcast processing control method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a network print system in which clients connected to a network share a plurality of servers connected to the same network and perform printing. In the above, the present invention relates to a broadcast print control method and apparatus for performing broadcast print from at least one client to a plurality of printers connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a network print system in which a plurality of clients connected to a network share one or a plurality of print servers connected to the same network, and printing is performed by an arbitrary print server.

In such a network print system, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of client devices 721 to 723 are connected to a network communication path 71, and a plurality of print servers 731 to 731 are connected to the same network communication path 71. 733 is connected to form a network system. Printers 741 to 743 are connected to the print servers 731 to 733, respectively, and the client devices 721 to 723 specify the printers 741 to 743 and issue print requests. In this type of network printer system, print requests from the client devices 721 to 723 are accepted by the print servers 731 to 733 to which the respective printers are connected, and the print servers 731 to 733 respond to the print requests respectively. The printers 741 to 743 are controlled to execute print processing based on print requests from the client devices 721 to 723, respectively.

In such a network print system, for example, as in the "printer control operation system" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-59838, a client device uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to print an object. The print instruction of the document data can be performed by a simple operation. That is, it is possible to easily give a print instruction by a simple icon operation (drag and drop operation) on the screen.

A specific example will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation example in the case of instructing printing of document data by operating an icon on the screen using a graphical user interface. Graphical user interface (GU
When the print instruction of the document data to be printed is issued by using I), as shown in FIG. 8, an icon of an object pointing out each printer is displayed on the screen, and as the print data to be printed, , On the screen 80, the document data “Document 2” in the opened document window 81 is selected by the pointer cursor (black arrow) 89 to be in the selected state, and the icon of this document data “Document 2” is changed to the printer icon “ Printer 1 "8
Drag and drop onto 2. This allows
A print instruction for the document data “Document 2” can be given.

That is, in this case, the operator operates the mouse of the pointing device to position the pointer cursor (black arrow) 89 on the position of the icon of the document data "Document 2" in the document window 81, In this state, the left mouse button is pressed to select and instruct the document data “Document 2”. When the mouse button is pressed on the character string "Document 2" displayed in the document window 81 on the screen 80, the document data "Document 2" is selected, and the document data "Document 2" to be operated is displayed. When "" is in the selected state, the line of the character string of "Document 2" is highlighted in order to indicate the selected state. Then, when the operator continues to move the mouse while holding down the left button of the mouse, the pointer cursor 89 changes its shape to a black arrow with the shape of the document added, and the shape moves. The pointer cursor 88 having changed is moved onto the icon 82 representing "Printer 1", and the mouse button is released at that position. This operation is called a drag-and-drop operation, which means that the printer 1 has instructed to print out the document data “Document 2” in the document window 31.

[0007]

However, according to the document printing instruction method by the icon operation using the GUI of the related art, for example, when the same document data is printed out by a plurality of printers,
In other words, in the case of broadcast printing, it is necessary to repeat the same drag & drop operation as described above for each printer icon many times, which causes a problem of complicated operations. This problem generally applies not only to broadcast printing, but also to broadcast processing by other processing devices in the network.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide the same document data to a plurality of document data in a network system to which a plurality of processing devices such as printer servers are connected. To provide a broadcast processing control method and apparatus capable of performing a broadcast processing instruction operation with a simple operation when document data is transmitted to another processing apparatus such as a printer for processing and processing. It is in.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, a plurality of processing devices are connected to a network, and at least one processing device has the same processing target data in a plurality of other processing devices. In the broadcast processing control method for requesting processing, a group object that points out a combination of the processing devices of the destinations for the broadcast processing as a group is created, and the processing target data and the processing instruction are selectively given to the group object. It is characterized in that the broadcast processing is performed by controlling so as to make a processing request of the processing target data to the destination device of the group pointed out in the selected group object. In the broadcast print control method according to the present invention when the processing device is a printer, in a network print system in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, a combination of a plurality of printers for broadcast printing is combined. Create a group object that points out as a group, output the print target data and the print instruction to the group object, and make a print request for the print target data to a plurality of printers of the combination of the groups pointed out by the group object. Control and print in broadcast. As described above, according to the method of the present invention, when the client processes the same document to a plurality of processing devices such as print servers by broadcast processing such as broadcast printing, the client operator repeats the drag & drop operation many times. Since it is not necessary, operability is improved.

Further, the broadcast print control apparatus of the present invention is
In a network print system in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, a printer group registration means (14) for registering a combination of printers for broadcast printing as a group, and the printer group registration means An object creating means (18) for creating an object for identifying the selected printer group, a judging means (11) for judging whether or not the object is selected,
When the determination unit determines that the object has been selected, the broadcast print control unit (12) that controls printing of the same document to the printer group corresponding to the selected object. The basic feature is to have and. Also,
More specifically, the broadcast print control device of the present invention is
In a network print system in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, a file storage means (17) for storing a document to be broadcast-printed to a plurality of printers connected to the network, and a broadcast print. A print queue management means (16) for managing a print queue of a document file to be printed, a printer group registration means (14) for registering a combination of a plurality of printers for broadcast printing as a group, and a combination of grouped printers are identified. An object creating means (18) for creating an object to be processed, a judging means (11) for judging whether or not the object is selected, and a print key when the judging means judges that the object is selected. -Multicast print control means (12) for performing a print request and transmission to the printers of a plurality of print servers registered as a group from the file stored in the file storage means according to the print queue of the management means And is provided.

According to the broadcast print control apparatus of the present invention having the above characteristics, the printer for registering the broadcast printing is registered as a group by the printer group registration means,
When an object representing the registered group is created by the object creating means and the client prints the same document on a plurality of print servers (broadcast printing), the operator of the client creates an object of the printer group (representative printer icon). When the drag and drop operation is performed on the object, the object selected by the operation is judged by the judging means, and the broadcasting control means performs the broadcasting process, so that the operator repeats the drag and drop operation many times. Since it is not necessary, operability is improved.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a network print system in which a broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention is implemented in one mode. Further, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation example in the case where an instruction to print the document data is given by an icon operation on the graphical user interface screen by the broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a network and 11
Is an input / output interface unit, 12 is a broadcast print control unit, 13 is a group judgment unit, 14 is a group registration unit, and 1 is a group registration unit.
5 is a print control unit, 16 is a print queue management unit, 1
7 is a file storage unit, 18 is an object creation unit, 19
Is a network interface unit, 111 is a client device, 131 is a first print server, 141 is a first
Printer, 132 is a second print server, 142 is a second printer, 133 is a third print server, 14
Reference numeral 3 is a third printer. Moreover, in FIG.
Is a screen of the client device, 21 is a document window, 2
Reference numeral 2 is a representative printer icon, 23 is a first printer icon, 24 is a second printer icon, 25 is a third printer icon, and 29 is a pointer cursor.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the network printer system, the client device 111, the first print server 131,
The second print server 132 and the third print server 133 are connected to form a network system. The first print server 131, the second print server 132, and the third print server 13
3, a first printer 141, a second printer 142, and a third printer 143 are connected to the respective printers 3, and each printer server controls the printer to execute the print processing requested by the client device. To do.

In the network print system configured as described above, the client device 111 has an input / output interface unit 11, a broadcast print control unit 12, a group judgment unit 13, as processing elements for performing broadcast print control. Group registration unit 14, print control unit 1
5, print queue management unit 16, file storage unit 17,
An object creating unit 18 and a network interface unit 19 are provided, and these processing elements perform broadcast print control.

The file storage unit 17 stores a document to be broadcast-printed on a plurality of printers connected to the network, and the print queue management unit 16 is provided.
Manages a print queue for files of documents to be broadcast printed. The object creating unit 18 creates an object (representative printer icon) for identifying a combination of grouped printers, displays it on the screen as an element of the graphical user interface, and corresponds to this object (representative printer icon). The printer group registration unit 14 registers, as a group, a combination of a plurality of printers for printing by broadcast.

When the input / output interface unit 11 determines that an object (representative printer icon) has been selected by operating the mouse on the graphical user interface screen, and thus determines that the object has been selected. The broadcast printer control unit 1
2 controls to send a print request for the same document from the files stored in the file storage unit 17 to the printers of a plurality of print servers.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of icon operation and an example of operation in the case of broadcast printing from a client device to a plurality of printers will be specifically described. As in the case described above, in the client apparatus 111, the operator sends one document data “Document 2” to the first printer 141, the second printer 143,
2 and the third printer 143, the operator moves the pointer cursor 29 by operating the mouse to the document window 2 as shown in FIG.
In accordance with the document data “Document 2” in 1, the pointer cursor 29 is moved to the icon 22 representing the “representative printer 1” while the left button of the mouse is kept pressed, and the left button of the mouse at that position is moved. Release the.
Performs so-called drag and drop operation.

When such a drag-and-drop operation is performed, the input / output interface unit 11 (FIG. 1) detects the event of the drag-and-drop operation that has occurred here, and provides information that can identify the source of the event. The broadcast print control unit 12 is notified. That is, in this case, when the input / output interface unit 11 detects the event of the drag and drop operation, the broadcast print control unit 12 supplies information that can identify the “representative printer 1” of the icon 22 that is the source of this event. To notify.

In the broadcast printer control unit 12, drag &
Based on the information about the event of the drop operation, the representative printer 1 of the object name is notified to the group determination unit 13. As a result, in the group judgment unit 13, the representative printer of the grouping table (FIG. 5) registered in the group registration unit 14 based on the “representative printer 1” of the object name notified from the broadcast printer control unit 12. Whether or not "representative printer 1" is registered in the name column is searched, and if registered, "printer 1, printer 2, printer names of the printer names grouped under" representative printer 1 "here are registered. "Printer 3" is taken out and returned to the broadcast print control unit 12. In this case, for example,
If the notified object name “representative printer 1” is not registered in the grouping table, the group judgment unit 13 notifies the broadcast print control unit 12 to that effect.

When the broadcast print control unit 12 receives the printer name of "printer 1, printer 2, printer 3" from the group judgment unit 13, the broadcast print control unit 12 instructs the print queue management unit 16 to "printer 1, printer 2, printer 3". , ”And the file name“ document 2 ”of the document data to be printed. If the designated printer icon is not registered as the representative printer in the grouping table as a result of the inquiry of the group judgment unit 13 by the broadcast print control unit 12, the broadcast print control unit 12 specifies the designated printer icon. The printer icon is notified to the print queue management unit 16 of the printer name and file name.

After that, according to the normal network print control processing method, each print request is issued to each printer to control the network print. That is, the print queue management unit 16 takes out the file of the document data “document 2” to be printed from the file storage unit 17, registers it in the queue corresponding to each printer, and issues a print request to each printer.

That is, the print control unit 15 sequentially takes out the print requests registered in the queue of the print queue management unit 16 from the queue and, via the network interface unit 19, prints the printer name "printer 1,
The print servers of the first printer 141, the second printer 142, and the third printer 143 corresponding to the printer 2 and the printer 3 ”(the first print server 131, the second print server 132, and the third print server 131, respectively). Print server 133). Then, the document data “Document 2” is printed out by each printer. As a result, a broadcast print requesting a print to a plurality of printers is executed by a print instruction operation for one printer icon.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining another operation example in the case of issuing an instruction to print document data by operating an icon on the graphical user interface screen by the broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention. In this case, the representative printer icon for designating a plurality of grouped printers is not used, but a plurality of individual printer icons are designated for broadcast printing. As a specific example, for example, the operator may select “Document 2” of the document data.
The case where two types of printers, the printer 2 and the printer 3, print out will be described.

As the operation in this case, instead of the drag & drop operation, a drag & click operation with the left and right buttons of the mouse is performed. That is,
As shown in FIG. 3, the operator moves the pointer cursor 39
To the document data “Document 2” in the document window 31, hold down the left mouse button and move the pointer cursor 39 to the icon 34 representing “Printer 2”.
Perform a drag operation to move it up and click the right mouse button at that position. When another printer is designated, the operation of moving the mouse to the icon representing the printer to be designated next and clicking the right mouse button at that position is repeated. This allows
Specify multiple printer icons.

Dragging such a print request instruction
When the click operation is performed, the input / output interface unit 1
As a result, the broadcast print control unit 12 sends information that can identify the event that has occurred and the source of the event.
To notify. In other words, in this case, the first drag &
Upon detection of the click operation event, the broadcast print control unit 12 is notified of the event that has occurred and the information that can identify the icon 34 that indicates the "printer 2" that is the source of this event. The broadcast print control unit 1 provides information for identifying the click operation event and the icon indicating the printer that is the source of this event.
Notify 2.

In the broadcast print control unit 12, since the event that has occurred is a drag-and-click operation, the print queue management unit 16 immediately notifies the printer with the printer name "printer 2" (for example, the second printer 14).
2) Request printing to. In the broadcast print operation example in this case, the operator repeats such a drag-and-click operation for each printer icon, so that various types of individual printers can be operated even if the operation is not performed by the representative printer icon. It is possible to select and perform broadcast printing. That is, the broadcast printing can be controlled even for a printer different from the plurality of printers grouped by the representative printer icon.

When selecting the last printer, the operator holds the left mouse button and moves the pointer cursor 39 to the icon 35 representing the last printer.
(For example, the icon representing "printer 3"), and release the left mouse button at that position. The operation in this case is similar to the case where the above-mentioned ungrouped printer is selected by the drag & drop operation, and the subsequent operation is performed by the print control unit 15 as in the case described above.
The print request queue of the print queue management unit 16 is taken out, and via the network interface unit 19,
Print processing for a print request of a normal network print system is performed.

The operator designates a plurality of printers to be grouped and designated by the representative printer icon, using the group registration section 14 to freely group and designate them. That is, the group registration unit 14 is activated from the input / output interface unit 11 via the object creation unit 18, registers the representative printer name in the grouping table, and registers the printer names belonging to this group. This allows grouping of printers. When the printers are grouped, the group registration unit 14 uses the object creation unit 18 to create an object (printer icon) representing the representative printer, and passes this object to the input / output interface unit 11 to display the graphical user interface. Display on the display screen.

Next, the process of broadcast print control by the broadcast print control unit, which is a main part of the broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention, will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the broadcast print control unit. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the group judgment unit that extracts the printer name belonging to the group, and FIG. 6 is the grouping table of the group registration unit used when searching for the printer name belonging to the group from the representative printer name. It is a figure which shows an example.

Description will be made with reference to these figures. In the broadcast print control process, as shown in FIG. 4, when the process is started, first, in step 41, the content of the event detected by the icon operation is determined. If the content of the event is drag and drop, the process proceeds to step 42 and it is determined whether the operated icon is the representative printer icon. When it is determined that the operated icon is the representative printer icon, the process proceeds to the next step 43, and group determination processing for determining a group from the representative printer is performed. Then, the process proceeds to the next step 44, in which each printer name belonging to the group extracted from the grouping table in the group determination process is extracted. And
Go to step 46.

On the other hand, in the judgment processing of step 41,
If the content of the event is drag and click,
Since the printer is selected by the individual printer icon, the process proceeds to step 45. Further, in the determination processing of step 42, even when the icon is not the representative printer icon, the process proceeds to step 45, and the printer name is extracted from the icon selected on the screen. Then, the process proceeds to step 46, in which the printer queue management unit is notified of each print request as the print request, and the process is terminated.

In the group judgment processing (step 43) in the broadcast print control processing, as shown in FIG. 5, when the processing is started, the grouping table is searched by the representative printer name in step 51. And next step 5
In 2, it is determined whether there is a matching representative printer name. If there is no matching representative printer name, the process is terminated. If a matching representative printer name is found, in the next step 53, the printer name belonging to the group of the representative printer name is taken out, and here Ends the process.

The grouping table used in this processing is composed of a representative printer name field 61 and a grouping printer name field 62, as shown in FIG. The representative printer name corresponding to the representative printer icon created by the object creating unit 18 is registered. Correspondingly, in the grouped printer name field 62, each printer name to be grouped is registered as a group of the representative printer.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the client prints the same document on a plurality of print servers (broadcast printing), the operator of the client repeatedly performs drag and drop. The operability is improved because it is not necessary to repeat the operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a system of a network print system in which a broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention is implemented in one mode;

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation example in the case where a print instruction of document data is given by an icon operation on a graphical user interface screen by the broadcast print control apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining another operation example in the case of instructing printing of document data by an icon operation on a graphical user interface screen by the broadcast print control device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a broadcast print control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a group determination unit for extracting a printer name belonging to a group,

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a grouping table of a group registration unit used when searching for a printer name belonging to a group from a representative printer name;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a network print system,

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an operation example in the case of instructing printing of document data by operating an icon on the screen using a graphical user interface.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Network, 11 ... Input / output interface section,
12 ... Broadcast print control unit, 13 ... Group determination unit, 1
4 ... Group registration unit, 15 ... Print control unit, 16 ... Print queue management unit, 17 ... File storage unit, 18 ... Object creation unit, 19 ... Network interface unit, 20 ... Client device screen, 21 ... Document window, 22 ... Representative printer icon, 23 ... First printer icon, 24 ... Second printer icon, 25 ...
Third printer icon, 29 ... Pointer cursor, 3
0 ... Screen, 31 ... Document window, 32 ... Representative printer icon, 33-35 ... Printer icon, 39 ... Pointer cursor, 61 ... Representative printer name field, 62
... Grouped printer name field, 71 ... Network communication path, 80 ... Screen, 81 ... Document window, 88
... Pointer cursor, 89 ... Pointer cursor, 82-
84 ... Printer icon, 111 ... Client device,
131 ... First print server, 141 ... First printer, 132 ... Second print server, 142 ... Second printer, 133 ... Third print server, 143 ... Third
Printers, 721 to 723 ... Client device, 73
1-733 ... Print server, 741-743 ... Printer.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A broadcast processing control method in which a plurality of processing devices are connected to a network, at least one processing device transmits the same processing target data to another plurality of processing devices, and requests processing, Create a group object that points out the combination of the processing devices of the destinations to be output as a group, and selectively output the processing target data and the processing instruction to the group object, and the destination of the group pointed out by the selected group object Method for controlling broadcast processing by controlling the apparatus to perform processing request for processing target data. 2. A network printer, in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, creates a group object that points out a combination of printers for broadcast printing as a group, and prints to the group object. A broadcast print control method comprising outputting target data and a print instruction, and controlling the printer of the group indicated by the group object to make a print request for the print target data and performing the broadcast printing. 3. A printer group registration unit for registering a combination of printers for broadcast printing as a group in a network print system in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, and the printer group registration unit. Object creating means for creating an object for identifying the printer group registered in, a judging means for judging whether or not the object is selected, and a case in which the object is selected by the judging means, A broadcast print control device, comprising: a broadcast print control means for controlling transmission of a request for printing the same document to a printer group corresponding to the selected object. 4. In a network print system in which a plurality of print servers and at least one client are connected to the same network, a file storage means for storing a document to be broadcast-printed to a printer connected to the network, and a broadcast print. A print queue management unit for managing a print queue of a document file to be stored, a printer group registration unit for registering a combination of printers for broadcast printing as a group, and an object for identifying the printer group registered by the printer group registration unit. An object creating means for creating; a judging means for judging whether the object is selected; and a print queue tube when the judging means judges that the object is selected. And a broadcast print control means for performing a control of taking out a file from the file storage means according to a print queue of the processing means, requesting a print to a printer group corresponding to the selected object, and transmitting the print request. Report print control device.