JPH10116161A - Print controller and resource information managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a print server to process a print job and an inquiry job for resource information in parallel. SOLUTION: A job decision part 20 decides the kind of an inputted job. When the job is a print job, decomposing is performed after a spring. When the job is an inquiry job, on the other hand, corresponding resource information is read out after the inquiry contents are interpreted, and then outputted to the client PC as the request source. The resource information is automatically generated at the time of the initialization or resource change of the device, so that the latest resource information is stored in a storage part 36. The resource information management part 34 manages the resource information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print control device and a resource information management method, and more particularly to management of resource information of resources used in job processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a network printing system, a printer that performs printing on paper is controlled by a print server, whereby the printer is shared by a plurality of clients (client devices) on a network. Generally, print data (print job) from a client is described in a page description language (PDL) such as PostScript (registered trademark), and when the print job is input to a print server, functions as a PDL interpreter and an imager. The PDL file is interpreted by the decomposer to generate image data of each page, and the image data is supplied to a printer to print each page.

[0003] There are various protocols between the client and the print server.
For some protocols, such as AppleTalk®,
Prior to sending a print job from a client, it is necessary to form a connection between the client and the print server, and obtain the resource information sent from the server on the client side. Here, the resource information is
For example, the information indicates fonts and resolutions that can be used in job processing such as decomposing, and is generally information to a server that may be changed or information that may be different depending on the server. Since the resource information dynamically changes due to addition, deletion, change, and the like, basically, it is necessary to obtain the current resource information when a print job is formed. On the client side, the contents and attributes of the print job are determined based on such resource information.

Conventionally, such resource information is obtained by sending an inquiry job described in a page description language to a print server, and interpreting and executing the contents of the inquiry job by a decomposer, similarly to a print job. Was. That is, an instruction for returning, for example, a usable font name is incorporated in a file of an inquiry job, and the decomposer executes such an instruction.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, it is pointed out that other print jobs cannot be processed while the inquiry job is being processed by the decomposer, and printing is delayed. Was. On the other hand, while another job is being processed, the inquiry job cannot be processed, and an immediate response to the inquiry cannot be made. Therefore, it has been a factor to reduce the operation efficiency of the system.

[0006] It has also been pointed out that a protocol that requires maintaining a connection between a client and a print server during an inquiry cannot be applied to a spooling type print server or the like.

[0007] The above problems are not limited to decomposers.
The same is pointed out in other job processing units such as a converter for converting a print data file.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a print control apparatus and a resource information management system capable of processing a resource information inquiry job even while a job processing unit is performing processing. It is to provide a method.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus and a resource information management method capable of processing a print job from another client even if a connection is maintained with a client for querying resource information. To provide.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a print control apparatus that performs spooling of a job and processes an inquiry job without interrupting the processing of the print job.

Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the necessity of decomposing every time an inquiry job is input, to store and manage dynamically changing resource information, and to process the inquiry job at high speed. It is in.

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a job processing unit that processes a print job while using a resource for job processing, and reads a job type sent from a client device, and A job determining unit that determines an information inquiry job; and a resource information management unit that outputs, when the inquiry job is determined, resource information corresponding to the inquiry content to the client device. .

According to the above configuration, the resource information of the resources related to the job processing unit is managed by the resource information management unit. When it is determined by the job determination means that the inquiry job has been input, the inquiry job is processed separately by the resource information management unit without being given to the job processing unit. That is, in the related art, an inquiry job is processed by a job processing unit in the same manner as a print job, but in the present invention, an inquiry job is separated from other jobs and processed by another system. If the print control apparatus according to the present invention is configured to be able to communicate simultaneously with a plurality of clients, a print job from another client can be maintained while maintaining a connection with the client that has inquired for resource information. Can be accepted. That is, the inquiry job and the print job can be processed in parallel. Further, according to the present invention, the load on the job processing unit can be reduced, and job spooling can be handled.

[0014] Inside or outside the resource information management means,
It is desirable to provide a storage unit in which the latest dynamically changing resource information is written. However, when an inquiry job is input, the resource management unit can directly investigate the resources and obtain / generate the resource information. The job processing unit is preferably a decomposer, but may include other processing units such as a file converter.

The concept of resources includes all resources that are directly or indirectly related to job processing, and particularly includes all information that may be queried from the client side. For example, the resource information includes font name, logo, pattern, form, resolution, decomposer version, VM Status
s, procedure sets, printer-specific functions, files, and the like. Here, the entity of the resource may exist in the print server, or may be external.

(2) A preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that it comprises an inquiry job interpreting means for interpreting the inquiry contents of the inquiry job. The inquiry job interpreting means can be incorporated in, for example, the job determining means, or can be incorporated in the resource information managing means. Various forms of the inquiry job can be considered. For example, as described later, a comment sentence of the PDL file can be used, and the inquiry job can be configured in a file format different from the print job file. . In the present invention, the inquiry job interpreting means is similar in some sense to the job processing unit in interpreting the contents of the job. However, a means having a limited function of interpreting the inquiry contents is sufficient. Yes, and
It must be configured at least separately from the job processing unit.

(3) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, when the job determination unit determines the print job, the print job is sent to the job processing unit, and the job determination unit determines the inquiry job. In this case, the inquiry job itself or the content of the inquiry is sent to the resource information management means. That is, based on the result of the job determination, the destination of the input job is set, and if it is a print job, it is sent to the job processing unit via a spooler, for example, as in the conventional case. Separately processed.

(4) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus includes a resource information storage unit in which resource information is written. This resource information management means stores the current resource information and functions as an information table. When a plurality of job processing units are provided, resource information is managed for each job processing unit.

(5) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a resource information creating means for creating resource information to be written into the resource information storing means at the time of initial setting or resource change. If resource information is created and updated at the time of device startup or subsequent resource change, it is not necessary to create resource information when an inquiry job is actually input, and the inquiry job can be processed quickly. It becomes possible.

(6) Preferably, the resource information creating means is substantially a resource information creating file to be processed by the job processing unit, and the resource information creating file is used when initialization or resource It is characterized in that it is automatically given to the job processing unit at the time of change. The job processing unit is constituted by software or hardware, and by giving a resource information creation file to the job processing unit, a command is executed in accordance with the file, and as a result, resource information is created. The resource information is written to the resource information storage.

(7) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus includes resource change detecting means for detecting the change of the resource, and the resource information managed by the resource information managing means is updated when the resource is changed. .

The change of the resource includes concepts such as addition, deletion, and replacement of the resource. If the resource information is updated immediately after the change of the resource as described above, it is possible to cope with any inquiry immediately.

(8) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the resource change detecting means has a function of detecting when a resource is installed.

(9) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the job processing section is a decomposer for interpreting the contents of the print job to generate image data of each page, and the resource information includes at least the decomposer. The name of the font to be used is included. As described above, the decomposer functions as a PDL interpreter and an imager, and font data is indispensable for realizing the functions.

(10) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for processing a print job using a plurality of job processing units while utilizing resources for job processing. And a means for managing the resource information for each job processing unit, wherein the inquiry contents are determined when the inquiry job is determined. Resource information management means for outputting resource information according to the above to the client device.

For example, when a plurality of types of job processing units are provided corresponding to a plurality of types of PDLs, resource information is managed for each job processing unit. Incidentally, it is not necessary to manage the resource information for the job processing unit corresponding to the protocol in which the inquiry of the resource information is not performed. In this case, the resource information is managed for the other job processing units.

(11) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a job processing unit which processes a print job as a file described in a page description language while using resources for job processing. An inquiry job determining unit that reads a job type by referring to a comment sentence in an input file to determine an inquiry job of resource information; and, when the inquiry job is determined, according to the inquiry content. Resource information managing means for outputting the resource information to the client device.

This utilizes, for example, a comment sentence (information identified by a symbol string of %% and ignored during decomposition) in the above-mentioned PostScript file. That is, for example, when a comment sentence of a PostScript file includes a specific keyword or the like, it is determined to be an inquiry job, and the content of the inquiry described in the comment sentence is identified to specify resource information corresponding to the query. It is.

(12) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a job processing unit which processes a print job as a file described in a page description language while using resources for job processing. A query job determining means for recognizing an attribute of an input file and determining a query job of resource information as a file described based on a predetermined rule, and, when the query job is determined, the content of the query Resource information management means for outputting the corresponding resource information to the client device.

According to the above configuration, for example, ISO / IE
C10175 Document PrintingApprication (DP
An inquiry job is created using a file based on A). Here, the DPA is a rule for setting print attributes and the like outside the PDL file.
It can be sent to the print server in front of the PDL file or alone. Of course, various methods other than those described above can be employed for the method of creating the inquiry job.

(13) In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a resource information storing step of storing resource information for identifying a resource which can be used in job processing, and a resource information storing step for storing the resource information. An inquiry job determining step of reading an inquiry job of resource information by reading the type of the job, and outputting resource information according to the inquiry to the client device when the inquiry job is determined. And a step.

(14) In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the method includes a resource change detecting step of detecting that the resource has been changed, and when the resource change is detected, the stored resource information is updated. It is characterized by that.

(15) Further, according to the present invention, a step of writing resource information for identifying a resource that can be used in job processing to the storage means, reading the type of the input job, and inquiring the resource information A resource information management program for executing, by a print server, a step of determining a job, and a step of, when the inquiry job is determined, reading and outputting resource information corresponding to the inquiry from the storage unit. A stored medium is provided.

Here, the concept of the medium includes all storage media on which software can be recorded.
A floppy disk (FD), a CD-ROM, a hard disk (HD), a ROM, and the like are included. When the job processing unit or the like is configured by software, the resource information management program may be stored on the same medium on which the software is stored. The print server basically includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an H
D, a computer having a disk drive and the like. The printer may be locally connected to the print server using a dedicated line, or may be remotely connected via a network.

[0035]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a network printing system according to the present invention. The network 10 includes a print server 12 as a print control device and a plurality of client PCs 14 and 16.
And are connected. Here, the client PC 14,
A computer 16 is provided with software for creating a print job as a print data file and software for creating an inquiry job described later. The print server 12 is composed of a computer,
The print job is processed and image data of each page is output to the printer 30. Here, although the printer 30 is locally connected to the print server 12 in FIG. 1, the printer 30 may of course be remotely connected to the print server 12.

In the print server 12, the communication unit 18
Functions as a network interface, and a print job, an inquiry job, and other jobs (for example, a font installation job) are input to the communication unit 18. When a job is input, the communication unit 18
Is sent to the job determination unit 20 from which the job type is determined. That is, the input job is a print job, an inquiry job,
Or, it is determined whether the job is another job. If the job is a print job or another job, the job is returned to the communication unit 18 and the same processing as in the related art is performed. on the other hand,
If the determined job is an inquiry job, the inquiry job is sent to the inquiry job interpreting section 32, as described later in detail.

Therefore, if the input job is a print job, the print job is input to the spooler 22 via the communication unit 18. The spooler 22 performs job scheduling, and the input print job, that is, the print data file is temporarily stored in the storage device 24. Then, at the stage where the processing order has come, the stored print job is read out, and the decomposer 26 reads the print job.
Sent to The decomposer 26 functions as a PDL interpreter and an imager, interprets print data described in a page description language, and generates image data of each page based on the result. At that time, font data as one of the resources stored in the storage device 28 is used. The image data of each page generated by the decomposer 26 is output to the printer 30 via a printer controller (not shown).

Other jobs other than the print job and the inquiry job are processed in the same manner as described above. For example, when a job for installing a font is input, the job is executed by the decomposer 26, and as a result, the font (font data) is obtained. Is installed in the storage device 28. Of course, font installation is
Direct storage of fonts without using the decomposer 2
8, the data is directly output from the communication unit 18 to the storage device 28. Such processing is the same as in the related art. The installation of such a font is performed according to an instruction from any client, or performed according to an instruction from a management client.

Next, processing of an inquiry job and management of resource information will be described in detail.

When the input job is judged to be an inquiry job by the job judging section 20, the inquiry job is sent to the inquiry job interpreting section 32 without being sent to the spooler 22. This inquiry job interpreter 3
2 interprets the contents of the inquiry of the inquiry job and notifies the resource information management unit 34 of the contents of the inquiry. The resource information management unit 34 is a unit that manages resource information of resources that are directly or indirectly related to the decomposer 26 that is the job execution unit in this embodiment. The resource information management unit 34 stores the resource information. The connected resource information storage unit 36 is connected.

In this embodiment, the print server 1
2 at the time of initial setting or when a resource change is detected,
The resource information is written to the resource information storage unit 36 via the resource information management unit 34. That is, the resource information storage unit 36 always stores the latest resource information. In order to perform such control, in this embodiment, a resource change detection unit 38 and a resource information creation unit 40 are provided as some functions of the decomposer 26. The resource change detection unit 38 detects the addition, deletion, or replacement of a resource as a resource change, and the resource information creation unit 40 stores the resource information in a file at the time of the resource change or at the time of the initial setting. And passed to the resource information management unit 34. Incidentally, in the present embodiment, the resource change detection unit 38 and the resource information creation unit 40 are substantially configured as a file (or a program) in which instructions executed by the decomposer 26 are described. Alternatively, at the time of initialization, the file is automatically processed by the decomposer 26. As a result, the resource information is written into the resource information storage unit 36.

Therefore, when the content of the inquiry job is notified from the inquiry job interpreting unit 32 to the resource information management unit 34, the resource information management unit 34 reads the resource information corresponding to the inquiry content from the resource information storage unit 36. Then, the resource information is output to any client PC that is the inquiry source via the communication unit 18.
For example, when asked for available font names,
The resource information management unit 34 outputs the font name of the font currently available to the decomposer 26 as resource information.

As is clear from the above description, the inquiry job is processed separately from the processing such as the print job, that is, parallel processing is realized. Accordingly, the inquiry job can be processed even while the decomposer 26 is processing another job, and on the other hand, a print job or the like can be processed while the inquiry job is being processed. In this embodiment,
The communication unit 18 can simultaneously communicate with a plurality of client PCs.

Thus, according to the above embodiment, even if the job is spooled on the print server 12, the inquiry job can be processed smoothly, and the processing between the client PC and the print server 12 can be performed during the processing of the inquiry job. Even if it is necessary to maintain the connection, the inquiry job can be processed without any problem. In addition,
Since the inquiry job itself is a very short file, even if a plurality of inquiry jobs are input at the same time, each inquiry job is processed quickly and no problem occurs.

In the above embodiment, the resource information is not always generated by decomposing every time an inquiry job is input, but the latest resource information is always secured. There is an advantage that a reply can be made. That is, there is also an advantage that the operating efficiency of the decomposer 26 can be improved by effectively utilizing the idle time.

In FIG. 1, an inquiry job interpreter 32
Can be realized as a part of the function of the job determination unit 20, or can be realized as a part of the function of the resource information management unit 34. In the present embodiment, the job determination unit 20 and the inquiry job interpretation unit 32 are substantially configured as one processing unit 33. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 41 denotes a file (or program) having a resource change detection function and a resource information creation function. In FIG. 1, each of the storage devices 24, 28, and 36 can be formed on substantially the same storage device, or can be configured as separate storage devices.

FIG. 2 conceptually shows the contents stored in the resource information storage unit 36 shown in FIG. In the resource information storage unit 36, the resource name (resource identification information) is managed for each type of resource. For example, fonts, logos, resolutions, versions, and the like are managed as resources. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the specific contents of the resources as shown in FIG. For example, the present invention can be applied to a case where resources related to a job processing unit other than the decomposer 26, for example, a conversion unit such as a text converter are managed.

Next, a specific example of the inquiry job will be described. The inquiry job can be configured by using, for example, the comment sentence of the above PostScript file, or can be configured by using a DPA file based on the above DPA. Hereinafter, each will be described.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a print job described in PostScript. FIG. 4 shows an example in which an inquiry job is created using the comment sentence of such a PostScript file. In FIG. 4, for example, a part following %% is recognized as a comment sentence, and in the present embodiment,? Begin Feature Quer
If the keyword y exists, the file containing the keyword is determined as a query job. As shown in FIG. 1, the determination of the keyword is performed by the job determination unit 20, and the inquiry job interpretation unit 32 interprets the specific inquiry content based on the determination result. Of course, as described above, the job determination and the interpretation of the inquiry may be performed simultaneously.

Conventionally, such an inquiry job is processed by the decomposer 26, but in the present embodiment, by processing only such an inquiry job in a different system, the above-described various advantages can be enjoyed.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the DPA file 102. This DPA file 102
Apart from the DL file, it is a file added to the PDL file for setting print attributes and the like. Of course, as shown in FIG.
In addition to adding the L files and sending them together to the print server, it is also possible to output only the DPA file 102 to the print server. Therefore, in the present embodiment, such a DPA file 102 is used as an inquiry job.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which such a DPA file is used as an inquiry job.
For example, as shown in the figure, a file containing a description for querying supported fonts is created and sent to the print server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the resource information management method according to the present embodiment. This flowchart will be described with reference to FIG.

In S101, the communication unit 18 receives a job output from any client PC. The received job is sent to the job determination unit 20 as shown in FIG. 1, and the job is determined.
This is indicated by S102 in FIG. S103
In step S104, it is determined whether the input job is a font download job. In step S104, it is determined whether the input job is a print job. That is, in S103 and S104, it is determined whether the input job is a download job, a print job, or an inquiry job. If the job is a font download job, the job is spooled and decomposed in S105, and the font is installed in the storage device 28. Although the font can be stored directly in the storage device 28 as described above, it is not shown in FIG. The processing of other jobs is not shown.

In step S106, the resource change detection unit 38 detects that the resource has been changed. In step S107, the resource information creation unit 40 creates resource information according to the detection, and the resource information is registered in the resource information storage unit 36. You. Thereby, the resource information storage unit 3
6 is updated. S106 and S107 above
As described above, a file having, for example, a resource change function and a resource information creation function
This can be performed by processing the above.

On the other hand, if the job is determined to be a print job, the job is spooled under the control of the spooler 22 in S108, the print job is decomposed in S109, and the result is decomposed in S110. The image data of each page is output to the printer.

On the other hand, if the inquiry job is determined,
In S111, the inquiry content is interpreted by the inquiry job interpretation unit 32, and the inquiry content is notified to the resource information management unit 34. As a result, the resource information corresponding to the inquiry is read from the resource information storage unit 36, and the read resource information is transmitted to the requesting client PC via the communication unit 18 in S113.
Output to

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of another embodiment. The same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a plurality of decomposers 26A, 26B, 26C
Is provided. These decomposers each process a specific PDL language, and resource information of the decomposers 26A and 26B is managed by the resource information management unit 34. Decomposer 26
For C, for example, an inquiry from the client PC cannot be considered, so that resource information is not managed in this embodiment. Of course, when the inquiry about the resource information is made to all the decomposers, it is necessary to manage the resource information for all of them.

FIG. 9 shows a specific example of the resource information storage unit 37 shown in FIG. In the resource information management unit 37, resource information is managed for each decomposer, and in this embodiment, particularly, resource information common to each decomposer is uniformly managed. Therefore,
When the inquiry content is notified from the inquiry job interpreting unit 32, the resource information management unit 34 outputs the resource information of the item corresponding to the inquiry content of the decomposer to be inquired to the client PC. Incidentally, when there is an inquiry about resource information for all decomposers, the resource information of each decomposer is ORed, that is, the resource information unique to each decomposer and the resource information common to them are integrated and sent to the client PC. May be output. According to the resource information storage unit 37 shown in FIG. 9, since resource information common to each decomposer is managed collectively, there is an advantage that the memory capacity can be saved.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The inquiry job of the resource information can be processed even while the job processing unit is performing the processing. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to process a print job from another client even if a connection is maintained between clients for inquiry of resource information. According to the present invention, even when spooling a job, it is possible to process an inquiry job without hindering the processing of a print job. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to decompose every time an inquiry job is input, and it is possible to store and manage dynamically changing resource information and to process the inquiry job at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a network printing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing specific contents of a resource information storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an inquiry job.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a function of a DPA file.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an inquiry job using a DPA file.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the print server.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another embodiment of the print server.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing specific contents of a resource information storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 print server, 14, 16 client P
C, 18 communication unit, 20 job determination unit, 26 decomposer, 28 storage device, 30 printer, 32 inquiry job interpretation unit, 34 resource information management unit, 36
Resource information storage unit, 38 Resource change detection unit, 40
Resource information creation unit.

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A job processing unit that processes a print job while using a resource for job processing, and a job determination unit that reads a type of a job transmitted from a client device and determines an inquiry job of resource information. And a resource information management unit that, when the inquiry job is determined, outputs resource information corresponding to the inquiry to the client device. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an inquiry job interpreting unit that interprets an inquiry content of the inquiry job. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the job determination unit determines the print job, the print job is sent to the job processing unit, and the job determination unit determines the inquiry job. In this case, the print control apparatus sends the inquiry job itself or the contents of the inquiry to the resource information management unit. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a resource information storage unit in which resource information is written. 5. The printing control apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a resource information creating unit that creates resource information to be written to the resource information storage unit at the time of initial setting or resource change. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the resource information creation unit is a resource information creation file that is substantially processed by the job processing unit, and the resource information creation file is used at the time of initial setting or A print control device automatically provided to the job processing unit when a resource is changed. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a resource change detecting unit configured to detect a change in the resource, wherein the resource information managed by the resource information managing unit is updated when the resource is changed. Control device. 8. The print control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said resource change detection means has a function of detecting when a resource is installed. 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the job processing unit is a decomposer that interprets the contents of the print job to generate image data of each page, and the resource information includes at least the decomposer. A print control device including a name of a font to be used. 10. A plurality of job processing units for processing a print job while using resources for job processing, and a job for reading a job type sent from a client device and determining a job for inquiring resource information. Determining means, and means for managing the resource information for each job processing unit, wherein when the inquiry job is determined,
A resource information management unit that outputs resource information corresponding to the inquiry to the client device. 11. A job processing unit for processing a print job as a file described in a page description language while using resources for job processing, and a job by referring to a comment sentence in the input file. A job determining unit that reads a type of the resource information and determines a resource information inquiry job; and a resource information management unit that outputs, when the inquiry job is determined, resource information according to the content of the inquiry to the client device, A print control device comprising: 12. A job processing unit for processing a print job as a file described in a page description language while using resources for job processing, recognizing an attribute of the input file, and recognizing the attribute based on a predetermined rule. Job determination means for determining an inquiry job of resource information as a file described as described above, and resource information management means for outputting, when the inquiry job is determined, resource information corresponding to the content of the inquiry to the client device, A print control device, comprising: 13. A resource information storage step of storing resource information for identifying resources available for job processing, and reading a job type sent from a client device to determine a resource information inquiry job And a resource information output step of, when the inquiry job is determined, outputting resource information corresponding to the content of the inquiry to the client device. 14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising a resource change detecting step of detecting that the resource has been changed, wherein the stored resource information is updated when the resource change is detected. A resource information management method comprising: 15. A step of writing resource information for identifying a resource that can be used in job processing to a storage unit, a step of reading an input job type and determining a resource information inquiry job, A step of reading and outputting resource information corresponding to the content of the inquiry from the storage means when the job is determined, and a resource information management program for executing the resource information management program on a print server.