JPH09325869A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry on a print operation with no intervention of an operator by making a printer having a fault itself find another printer in a network as its substitute to process the unprinted data and also notify a host device of the substitute of the printer. SOLUTION: Data to be printed are sent to a printer 81 via a print data sending part 10 of a host device 12, and a print part 71 of the printer 81 starts a print operation. If the part 71 has a fault, a print state report part 61 notifies a state display part 11 and also an inter-printer communication part 51 of the fault of the part 71. The part 51 detects a printer 82 that can normally operate via the information exchange instruction which are previously set at both inter- printer communication parts 51 and 52. Then the unprinted data are processed and the substitution of the printer 82 is reported to the device 12. Thus, it's possible to carry on the print operation with no data sent again from the device 12 nor any intervention of an operator.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system configured by connecting a plurality of printing devices via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a failure such as paper shortage or paper jam occurs in a printing apparatus, the host apparatus which has sent the print data is notified of the failure occurrence, and an operator is given a cause of failure of the printing apparatus. Was informed of the exclusion. Since the printing is stopped until a failure occurs in the printing apparatus and the cause of the failure is eliminated, the host-side program is also stopped until the operator intervenes.

A printing system that sends out print data and comprises a host device and a plurality of printing devices is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-21.
No. 05320. In such a system, when the host device receives a failure notification from the printing device during print data output, the host device selects a printing device capable of printing from the printing device group and avoids interruption of the printing operation.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional printing system, when a failure occurs in the printing apparatus which sends out the print data, the print data is sent out until the intervention of the operator is requested and the cause of the failure is eliminated. The host side had the drawback of having to suspend the output.

Further, in the system described in the above publication, when a failure occurs, the print data sending-out host side needs to select a printing apparatus capable of printing from a plurality of printing apparatus groups. In such a case, there is a drawback in that if a failure occurs in the print data sending host, the alternative printing device cannot be selected.

Furthermore, the print data remaining in the printing device in which the failure has occurred is discarded and retransmitted from the host if the printing operation cannot be continued even if the cause of the failure is eliminated. It had the drawback of having to do it.

Incidentally, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-180622, a printer device that substitutes for running out of paper or the like is defined in advance. Therefore, if the defined printer is out of order, the printing process is continued. There is a drawback that you cannot do it.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and its purpose is to prevent data retransmission from the host side and operator intervention when an abnormality occurs in the printing apparatus. Even so, it is to provide a printing system capable of continuously printing.

[0009]

A printing system according to the present invention comprises a host device for sending data to be printed and first and second printing devices for selectively printing data from the host device. In the printing system including the first printing device, the first printing device sends a replacement command when a failure occurs in the device itself, and the second printing device for the replacement command. Is sent to the second printing device, the second printing device sending the unprinted data that has not been printed by the own device to the second printing device. It is characterized in that it includes means for responding to the generated change command and means for printing the unprinted data sent from the first printing device.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation of the present invention is as follows.

When a fault occurs in the printer device that is printing, the faulty device itself searches for a substitute printer device existing on the network, processes unprinted data, and notifies the host device of the substitute fact. As a result, printing can be continued without data resending from the host and without operator intervention.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention. In the figure, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a host device 12,
It is configured such that a plurality of printer devices are connected by a network 9 capable of bidirectional communication.

The host device 12 comprises a data sending section 10 for sending print data and a status display section 11 for displaying the processing status of the print data sent from the printer side and the status of the printer apparatus. There is. The status display unit 11 is a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
And a liquid crystal display.

As shown in FIG. 2, each printer device receives data from the data sending unit 10 of the host device 12, prints the data, and reports the status of the printing unit 4. The printing status reporting unit 3 and the inter-printing apparatus communication unit 2 that receives a report indicating that the printing apparatus is in an abnormal state from the printing status reporting unit 3 and communicates with another printing apparatus.

In the system of the present embodiment, the number of printer devices is two, but more printer devices may be included.

Returning to FIG. 1, the data to be printed is sent from the print data sending unit 10 of the host device 12 to the printer device 81, and the printing unit 71 in the printer device 81 starts printing. Here, when a failure occurs in the printing unit 71, the printing status reporting unit 61 notifies the status display unit 11 of this and also notifies the inter-printing device communication unit 51. The inter-printer communication unit 51 starts searching for another printer connected to the network 9. In this case, an information exchange command preset in the inter-printer communication unit is used to start searching for a printer that can operate normally.

When the inter-printer communication unit 52 in the other printer device 82 recognizes the information exchange command, it inquires of the print state reporting unit 62 about the state of the print unit 72. And
In the printable state, the inter-printer communication unit 52 notifies the inter-printer communication unit 51 that the own device is in the printable state.

The inter-printing device communication section 51 notifies the printing state reporting section 61 of the alternative printing apparatus information and inquires of the printing section 71 about the presence or absence of unprinted print data. The print status reporting unit 61 notifies the status display unit 11 of the alternative information. The printing unit 71 notifies the print status reporting unit 61 of the presence or absence of unprinted print data.

If there is no unprinted print data, the print status reporting unit 61 permits the inter-printer communication unit 51 to switch. The inter-printer communication unit 51 is the inter-printer communication unit 5
2 is notified of the switching permission. Communication unit 5 between printing devices
2 notifies the printing status reporting unit 62 of the switching permission. The print status reporting unit 62 notifies the status display unit 11 of the alternative information and requests the print data sending unit 10 to continuously send the print data.

On the other hand, when there is unprinted print data in the print section 71, the print status reporting section 61 requests the print section 71 to deliver the print data. The delivered print data is sent to the inter-printer communication unit 52 through the inter-printer communication unit 51. The inter-printing device communication unit 52 delivers the received print data to the printing unit 72 through the printing state reporting unit 62. In the printing unit 71, when there is no unprinted print data, the printer device 81 is switched to the printer device 82 in the same manner as in the state without print data described above.

Next, the operation of each printer for realizing the above processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the figure, each printer device, if there is data to be printed, prints the data (step 31 → 35). If the printing is not completed, it is confirmed whether or not a failure has occurred in the device itself (step 36).
→ 37), if there is no obstacle, continue printing (step 3)
7 → 35). When the printing is completed, a standby state is made in which it is determined whether there is the next printing or an information exchange command from another printer device (steps 31 → 32).
→ 31 ...).

If there is an information exchange command from another printer device, it is responded to (steps 32 → 33). Wait until print data is received (step 33 → 34).
When print data is received, it is printed (step 3)
4 → 35).

If a failure occurs during this printing, the fact is notified to the host device or the like (step 37 →
38). Then, in order to change the printing operation, an information exchange command is output to another printer device (step 3
9) Wait until another printer responds (step 40).

When the other printer device responds, it is judged whether or not there is any unprinted data that has not been printed yet (step 41). If there is no unprinted data,
The switching permission is notified (steps 41 → 43). If there is unprinted data, the unprinted data is transmitted to the switching destination printer device, and then switching permission is notified (steps 41 → 42 → 43).

After the switching permission is notified, since the printer device of the switching destination performs printing thereafter, the host device is requested to continuously transmit the print data (step 44). As a result, the operation returns to the printing operation, and the same processing is performed thereafter (steps 44 → 35 → 36 ...).

As described above, the present printing system is a printing system including a host device for sending data to be printed and first and second printing devices for selectively printing data from the host device. It is assumed. Then, the first printing device sends a replacement command when a failure occurs in the printing device itself during printing, and when the second printing device responds to the replacement command, the printing device completes printing. The unprinted data that has not been sent is sent to the second printing apparatus.
On the other hand, the second printing device prints the unprinted data sent from the first printing device in response to the change command sent from the first printing device.

Further, the first printing apparatus notifies the upper apparatus that the second printing apparatus prints subsequent data when the second printing apparatus responds to the sent change command. is there. Then, the host device sends the data to be sent after this notification to the second printing device, not the first printing device.

In short, in the present printing system, when a fault occurs in the printing device, the faulty device itself searches for another printing device existing on the network as a substitute, processes the unprinted data, and outputs the higher order data. The device is informed of the replacement. As a result, it is possible to continue printing without the intervention of the operator and without the retransmission of data from the host device. Therefore, the operator need only confirm the display indicating that the printing device has been replaced.

The present invention can take the following aspects in connection with the description of the claims.

(3) When the upper device receives the notification that the second printing device prints subsequent data,
The printing system according to claim 2, further comprising display means for displaying that effect.

(4) Any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a network to which the first and second printing devices and the host device are connected and which enables bidirectional communication between these devices. The printing system described in Crab.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a failure occurs in the printing apparatus, the failure apparatus itself searches for another printing apparatus existing on the network as a substitute, and unprinted data is printed. By performing the above process and notifying the host device of the substitution, there is an effect that printing can be continuously performed without the intervention of an operator and without the retransmission of data from the host device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing apparatus used in the printing system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 network 10 print data sending unit 11 status display unit 12 host device 51,52 inter-printing device communication unit 61,62 printing status reporting unit 71,72 printing unit 81,82 printer device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A host device for sending data to be printed and a first device for selectively printing data from the host device.
And a second printing device, wherein the first printing device sends a replacement command when a failure occurs in its own device during printing, and the replacement command sending means. And a sending unit that sends to the second printing device unprinted data that has not been printed yet when the second printing device responds to the command. A printing system comprising: means for responding to a change command sent from the first printing device; and means for printing the unprinted data sent from the first printing device. 2. The first printing device notifies the higher-level device that the second printing device prints subsequent data when the second printing device responds to the change command. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification unit that sends the data to the second printing apparatus after the notification.