JPH1024644A - Network printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network printing system capable of being rapidly restored when abnormality is generated in the printer connected to a network. SOLUTION: When trouble is generated in the printer 13A of a network printing system 1, a network controller 11 sends a signal letting a terminal device 9-1 issuing a printing command know the generation of trouble as shown by an arrow D. When the trouble pinter 13A is not eliminated even after the passage of 3min, the network controller 11 transmits a signal letting a terminal device 9-2 know the generation of trouble as shown by an arrow E. Therefore, even if there is no user of the terminal device 9-1, trouble can be eliminated by the user of the terminal device 9-2 and the printer 13A is rapidly restored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network comprising at least a plurality of terminal devices and printing means such as a printer connected via a communication line, and based on a command from an arbitrary terminal device. The present invention relates to a network print system that enables a printing unit to perform a printing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique has been proposed in which a printer is connected to a network and a printing operation is performed from an arbitrary computer on the network. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-75667 discloses that a network is used.
A technique for transmitting the status of a printer to a terminal device during printing is disclosed. According to this technique, it is possible to notify a user who is at a remote place that the printer has run out of paper or an abnormal operation. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 316134 discloses a technique for transmitting not only an abnormality of a printer but also a method of coping with the abnormality to a network or the like. According to this technique, a printer in which an abnormality has occurred can be easily recovered, and a desired operation can be performed quickly.

[0003]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, a desirable printing operation may not be performed for the following reasons. That is, even if the state of the printer and the method of coping with the abnormality are transmitted to the terminal device, the user of the terminal device does not always notice this. For example, even if "paper jam has occurred" is displayed on the display of the terminal device, the user may not be near the terminal device.

[0004] Even if the user sees this display,
A remote user cannot be dealt with. Even if the user is unable to cope with the situation, if multiple printers are connected to the network, the other printers can perform the printing operation, but the printer in which the error occurred cannot be recovered. Become. This is an extremely unhealthy state for a network configured to perform a printing operation smoothly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a network print system capable of promptly recovering from an abnormality in a printer connected to a network.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention A network printing system according to a first aspect of the present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, comprises: a printing unit for printing an image on a predetermined recording medium; A plurality of terminal devices connected to the printing unit via a predetermined communication line to form a network; a failure detection unit for detecting occurrence of a failure in the printing unit; and a case where the failure detection unit detects a failure. To one of the terminal devices, a notifying unit that outputs a signal for notifying a person near the terminal device of the occurrence of a failure, a network print system comprising: It is provided in a different place from the terminal device that outputs a signal for notification,
An output unit that performs an output operation using sound, light, text, or the like in response to an external signal; and the failure detection unit detects the failure even if a predetermined time has elapsed after the occurrence of the failure is notified by the notification unit. And a notification area enlarging means for issuing the signal to the output means to perform the output operation when the occurrence of is continuously detected.

Here, as the printing means, various printers such as a serial dot printer and a laser printer, a plotter and the like can be considered. In such a network print system, the printing means is abnormal (for example, a paper jam).
Occurs, the failure detection means detects this, and the notification means issues a signal to any of the plurality of terminal devices. This signal is for notifying a person near the terminal device of the occurrence of the failure, and the terminal device may send some message to a display device normally provided, or may output a BEEP sound. If it is a terminal device that can generate the sound, it may be notified by sound. Further, the processing being performed in the terminal device at that time may be interrupted to notify that a failure has occurred.

[0008] If a user or the like is present in this terminal device (hereinafter referred to as "the terminal device" means a terminal device to which the notification means emits a signal), a failure occurs in the printing means. This signal indicates that the printing has occurred, and the printing means can be restored by taking appropriate measures. On the other hand, if there is no user of the terminal device at the time when the signal is issued, the printing unit remains in the fault state.

Therefore, when this state continues for a predetermined time, the notification area expanding means issues a command to the output means to perform an output operation. This output operation uses sound, light, characters, and the like, thereby notifying that the fault has not been removed for a predetermined time. In other words, the signal issued by the notification area expanding means and the notification means is the same in that a failure is reported. However, since the output unit is located at a different place from the terminal device, when the output unit performs the output operation, the area where the notification is made is expanded.

That is, in the network printing system, when a failure occurs in the printing means, first, some notification operation is performed in the terminal device, and after a predetermined time has passed since the notification operation was performed. If the failure is not eliminated, the output operation is performed at a place different from the terminal device.

Therefore, according to the network printing system of the present invention, even if there is no user of the terminal device, after a lapse of a predetermined time, a person at a location where the output operation by the output means can be sensed is obstructed. Is notified, the trouble that has occurred in the printing means is removed at an early stage.

Output means include speakers, lamps,
A liquid crystal display panel or the like is conceivable. Further, as a place where these are installed, a place where there is a high possibility that a person is present is preferable in order to exhibit the above-mentioned effects. For example, since this printing system is part of a network, it is preferable to install the printing system near another terminal device at a location different from the terminal device. In this case, the output means is, for example, an LED
As a small lamp using the
If the ED is configured to blink, and it is placed on a display device of another terminal device or placed beside the terminal device, the ED is easily noticed, so that it can be expected that the terminal device is quickly restored.

Further, the output means may not be separated from the other terminal device, and the output operation may be performed by using another terminal device as the output means, as in the present invention.
As an output operation in this case, as in the operation performed by the terminal device in response to a signal generated by the notification means, a message is displayed on the display device, a beep is notified, or the terminal device performs the operation at that time. It is good to interrupt the processing that is being performed. With this configuration, it is not necessary to configure the output unit again.

Further, according to the present invention described in claim 3,
If the other terminal device is a terminal device used by the administrator of the network print system, the occurrence of a failure in the printing means will be notified to the administrator after a predetermined time has elapsed. Becomes In addition, since the administrator is likely to be near the terminal device and is often experienced in restoring the printing unit, it can be expected that the restoration is promptly performed.

In a case where a user or an administrator is at a remote place, the present invention according to claim 4 may be adopted. That is, the output unit is a telephone, and the notification area expanding unit includes a modem connected to the telephone line, and a calling unit that issues a signal to the modem to cause the telephone to perform at least a calling operation.

That is, when a predetermined time elapses from the occurrence of the fault, the calling means emits a signal through the modem to perform a calling operation or the like to the telephone. It is desirable that the telephone to be subjected to the calling operation be a telephone trained by a user who has recovered printing means (hereinafter referred to as a trained person) or a telephone of an administrator of the network print system. The person who has received the calling operation may, for example, make a call to the telephone nearest to the failed printing unit, issue a recovery instruction, or teach a specific method. In this way, the trained person or the administrator does not need to be directly accessible to the network or in the vicinity of the printing means, and can issue an instruction for recovery at the home where the telephone is located.

Conventionally, when a failure occurs, a person who notices the failure but does not know how to cope with the failure can contact a trained person or the like by telephone. It may take some time to look up, and it may even be unclear who to call. In this regard, in the present invention, since the calling means makes a telephone call directly via the modem, it is possible to surely receive instructions.

If only the calling operation is performed, it cannot be distinguished from a silent telephone. For example, various troubles that may occur in the printing unit are recorded on a tape in advance, and a sound corresponding to the troubles generated is recorded. It is even more preferable to output "Toner shortage" or the like subsequent to the calling operation. If a trained person or an administrator has a mobile phone, he or she can make a paging operation on the cell phone, so that the trained person can take an action freely, which is very useful.

Further, the output means may be a portable radio, and the notification area expanding means may emit a signal for causing the portable radio to perform at least a calling operation. Here, examples of the portable wireless device include a device capable of two-way communication such as a transceiver and a portable ham wireless device, and a pager dedicated to reception. Therefore, in the present invention described in claim 4, it is possible to achieve the same effect as when the telephone is configured as a mobile telephone.

In the case of a pager, the notification area expanding means is provided with a modem, as in claim 4, and also transmits a pager message held by a trained person or the like.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network print system 1 to which the present invention is applied. The network print system 1 (hereinafter, also simply referred to as the print system 1) includes a host computer 3,
The communication control unit 5 is provided with four terminal devices 9 (referred to as terminals in this figure.) Via the network line 7. When distinguishing each of the four terminals, a hyphen and a numeral shown in this figure are attached.
A terminal device 9-1 and the like) and four network controllers 11 are connected to each other, and the printers 13 are connected to the network controllers 11 respectively.

The communication control unit 5 temporarily stores the image data sent from the terminal device 9 and transmits the image data and the command sent from the host computer 3 to the terminal device 9 or the printer 83 to which the image data or command is transmitted. In addition, it performs access management and the like of the entire printing system 1.

The print output performed by the network print system 1 is started when a print command is issued from each terminal device 9. The print command also includes designation of which of the four printers 13 to output, and the communication control unit 5 transmits the print data transmitted subsequently to the designated printer 1.
3 is printed out. As described above, the communication control unit 5 performs a process corresponding to the exchange work, but the process of the communication control unit 5 will be omitted below, and the data flow from the terminal device 9 to the printer 13 will be described when showing the flow of print data. Is shown as if it were flowing directly. For example,
An arrow A in the figure indicates a state in which print data is transmitted from the terminal device 9-1 to the network controller 11A.

The printer 13 corresponds to the printing means of the present invention, and each of the four printers has a different specification, and the user of the terminal device 9 can select one of the four printers in accordance with the specification and the like. And issue a print command. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the terminal device 9. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the terminal device 9. As shown in FIG.
21, a RAM 23, a ROM 25, an input / output circuit 27, a network I / F 29, and a computer system mainly including a bus 31 connecting these components.
The input / output circuit 27 further includes a CRT display device 33.
(Displayed as CRT in the figure), keyboard 35, mouse 3
7. Fixed disk 39 (shown as HDD in the figure) and floppy disk drive 41 (shown as FDD in the figure)
Is connected. The ROM 25 stores a program for performing processing and the like described later, and the network print system 1 is operated by the CPU 21 executing the program. RAM 23
It is mainly used as a temporary storage location when executing programs.

The user of the terminal device 9 creates a drawing or a document by using the mouse 37 or the keyboard 35, and when printing out these, gives a predetermined instruction by using the mouse 37 or the keyboard 35. put out. CPU2
Upon receiving this instruction, the network controller 11 sends a print instruction and print data via the network I / F 29 to the network controller 11 connected to the designated printer.
Send to

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the network controller 11. FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the network controller 11. As shown in the figure, the network controller 11 includes a CPU 51, a RAM 53,
ROM 55, input / output circuit 57, network I / F5
9 and a bus 61 connecting these components. In the ROM 55,
A program is stored, and when the CPU 51 executes the program, processing described later is performed. The printer 13 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to an input / output circuit 57.
The input / output circuit 57 transmits image data to the printer 13 and receives signals (reception OK, occurrence of paper jam, etc.) from the printer 13. Note that the modem 63 and the like shown by broken lines in this figure are not described here because they relate to another embodiment described later.

FIG. 4A shows a print data transmission process performed by the network controller 11. FIG.
FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating print data transmission processing. This process is started when the network controller 11 receives a print command from the terminal device 9. That is, when this processing is started, first, in step (hereinafter simply referred to as S) 110, an output command to the printer 13 is received. An arrow A shown in FIG. 1 indicates a flow of an output command when an output command for printing out is issued from the printer 13A from the terminal device 9-1 (hereinafter, this case will be described as an example). In this case, this processing is being executed by the network controller 11A.)

Returning to FIG. 4A, the print data transmitted following the output command is transmitted from the input / output circuit 57 to the printer (S120). Arrow B shown in FIG.
Is the network controller 11A to the printer 13
A shows a flow in which print data is transmitted to A.

The above is the processing for performing the normal printing operation. That is, when the output of the print data from the printer 13 is completed without any delay, the process ends. On the other hand, when a failure (for example, a paper jam) occurs when the printer 13A outputs print data, the network controller 11A performs a failure notification process shown in FIG. 4B. That is, FIG. 4B is a flowchart illustrating the failure notification processing. Note that this flowchart is described specifically for the case where the terminal device 9-1 has transmitted the output command to the printer 13 according to the above example. This process is started when the corresponding network controller 11 detects an error signal output by the printer 13 in response to any failure in the printer 13. This error signal is hereinafter referred to as fault information. The printer is not limited to the printer 13 shown in FIG. 1 and the like, and usually has a sensor corresponding to the failure detection unit of the present invention as various sensors. Then, the system is configured to notify the user of the detected failure by turning on the LED or to display characters on the liquid crystal panel. The printer 13 of the network print system 1 transmits these signals. To the network controller 11
And the network controller 11 can identify the type of the fault that has occurred.

When this process is started, first, in S210, failure information is received from the printer 13A connected to itself, and in S220, a print command which has caused the failure is issued. The failure information is transmitted to the terminal device 9 (here, the terminal device 9-1), ie, a process as notification means of the present invention. This state is shown in FIG. FIG. 5A is a block diagram in which the host computer 3 and the communication control unit 5 are omitted from the block diagram shown in FIG. An arrow C shown in the figure indicates that a fault has occurred in the printer 13A and that fault information has been transmitted to the network controller 11, and an arrow D indicates that print information has been transmitted to the terminal device 9-1. Is transmitted. The transmission of the fault information to the terminal device 9-1 does not actually flow as shown by the arrow D, but is sent to the communication control unit 5 shown in FIG. 1 and from there to the terminal device 9-1. Sent. Although not shown in FIGS. 5 and 4B, the terminal device 9-1 which has received the failure information displays the failure information as a message on its own CRT display device 33. For example, when the toner shortage occurs in the printer 13A, it is determined that the toner is insufficient.
It is displayed on the T display device 33.

Returning to FIG. When the transmission of the fault information to the terminal device 9-1 is completed, the process proceeds to S230, where the printer 13
It is determined whether or not the fault in A has disappeared. This is determined based on whether or not the failure information is subsequently issued from the printer 13A. The cause of the disappearance of the failure may be that the person who has viewed the message displayed on the CRT display device 33 has taken appropriate measures to recover the printer 13A, or that a minor failure has been naturally corrected. . If the fault has been removed, the process ends. If the failure has occurred as it is, S24
The process proceeds to 0, and it is determined whether or not the time t1 has elapsed since the start of this processing. The time t1 is assumed to be 3 minutes here. If three minutes have not elapsed, the process returns to S230, and waits until the failure is removed or three minutes have elapsed.

If it is determined in S240 that three minutes have elapsed, the flow advances to S250 to transmit failure information to the terminal device 9-2. This is because the network controller 11 determines that there is no person near the terminal device 9-1 for the reason that the failure is not removed even after 3 minutes, and the other terminal device 9 (here, the terminal device 9-2) The message is displayed on the screen, and a person in the vicinity is restored. FIG. 5 shows the flow of the fault information at this time.
(B). FIG. 5B is similar to FIG.
Is a diagram in which the host computer 3 and the communication control unit 5 are omitted from the block diagram shown in FIG. 3, and an arrow E indicates a state in which print information is transferred to the terminal device 9-2.

Next, the process proceeds to S260, where it is determined whether or not the failure in the printer 13A has been eliminated. This is S23
0 is the same as the processing performed at 0. Then, the process of S270 performed when the fault persists is the same as S240. However, here, not 3 minutes, but 5 minutes (t2 = 5m
in) Determine whether it has elapsed. That is, in S260 and S270, the process waits until the obstacle is removed or 5 minutes elapse. When the obstacle has disappeared (determined as YES in S260), the process ends. If the fault information remains output even after 5 minutes, the network controller 11A further transmits this fault information to the terminal device 9-.
Transfer to 3. An arrow F in FIG. 5B shows this flow.

The outline of the fault notification processing described above is as follows. That is, when a failure occurs in the printer 13, first, the failure information is transmitted to the terminal device 9 that has operated the printer 13, and waits until the printer 13 is restored. 3
If the printer 13 is not recovered after waiting for minutes, the failure information is also transmitted to another terminal device 9 and waits for 5 minutes. If the failure is still not removed, the failure information is transmitted to another terminal device 9 as well. That is, S230 and subsequent steps of the failure notification process correspond to the notification area expanding unit of the present invention, and the terminal device 9-2 and the terminal device 9-3 correspond to the output unit.

By performing such a process, for example, even if a failure occurs in the printer 13A in a state where no user of the terminal device 9-1 is present, the terminal device 9 will be operated after three minutes have passed.
-2, the fault information is transmitted, so that the fault is removed at an early point. Unfortunately, even when there is no person in the terminal device 9-2, the failure information is further transferred to the terminal device 9-3, so that the possibility that the printer 13A can be restored is extremely high.

It should be noted that if the fault information is sent to all the terminal devices 9 from the beginning, a plurality of people may run to the printer 13A at once, or, conversely, no one can rely on other people. In some cases, it is not efficient to go to see the state of the printer 13. In this regard, since the message displayed on the CRT display device 33 by performing the fault notification processing includes the meaning of "no one can deal with", the fault notification is appropriate.

As described above, the network print system 1 has been described as one embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and can be implemented in various modes. For example, in the failure notification processing, the notification area is expanded only twice, but may be further performed.
For example, when the fault information has been transmitted to the terminal device 9-3 in S280 and 10 minutes have elapsed after the fault information has been generated, the fault information may be transmitted to the terminal device 9-4. Further, in the network print system 1, the number of the terminal devices 9 is four, but when a larger number of terminal devices 9 are connected, the failure information is further transferred to the other terminal devices 9 and the notification area is set. It may be enlarged.

The transfer target of the fault information may be changed to something other than the terminal device 9. For example, a pager is carried by a person who is proficient in handling the four printers 13 (hereinafter referred to as a proficient person), and a signal line 65 is connected to each network controller 11 as shown by a broken line in FIG. A method of connecting the modem 63 via the Internet is considered. Then, a command is issued from the input / output circuit 57 to the modem 63 to sound the pager carried by the trained person.
FIG. 6 shows a process to which this is applied. FIG. 6 is the same as FIG.
Only the part after the mark “X” of the failure notification processing shown in (b), that is, the part replacing S250 to S280 is shown. That is, FIG. 6 shows a process in a case where the failure information is transmitted to the terminal device 9-1, but the failure is not removed even after three minutes. Then, it is assumed that the second pager is carried not only by the skilled person but also by the administrator of the network print system 1.

If the recovery by the user of the terminal device 9-1 is not received even after 3 minutes, the modem 63 is reset in S310.
The number of the pager carried by the trained user is transmitted. Then, a message corresponding to the failure information is transmitted in S320. As this message, a correspondence table is determined in advance, for example, 001 is “paper jam” 002
May send these numbers as "paper out", but if you carry a pager that can display characters,
The failure information can be specifically transmitted as “Printer B Cami-Zari” or the like. However, between S310 and S320, 30
It is assumed that a time of about seconds is left. Then, the pager of the trained person sounds or trembles and notifies the occurrence of the obstacle. In this way, the printer 13 can promptly receive an appropriate recovery operation by a skilled person.

However, since there is a case where the skilled person cannot cope with the situation, the system waits for the time t3 (t3 is, for example, about 5 minutes) until the failure is solved in S330 and S340, and then proceeds to S3.
At 50, the number of the second pager carried by the administrator is transmitted to the modem 63. Then, after about 30 seconds, a message corresponding to the failure information is transmitted in S360. Then, the second pager of the manager notifies the occurrence of the failure. In this case, the printer 13 can be quickly restored with a considerably high probability. Note that S310 and S320 and S350 and S360 correspond to the processing as a calling unit of the present invention.

Although the failure notification processing is performed only by the network controller 11, it may be performed by the terminal device 9 or the host computer 3. When the terminal device 9 performs the communication, the network controller 11 continuously transmits the failure information and receives the failure information. If the failure remains after 3 minutes, the failure information is transferred to the terminal device 9-2. It is better to do it. The same applies to the case where the host computer 3 performs the processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network print system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a terminal device 9;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a network controller 11;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a print data transmission process and a failure notification process performed by a network controller.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which fault information is transmitted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of sounding a pager in the failure notification process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Network print system 3.
Host computer 5 Communication control unit 7 Network line 9
Terminal device 11 Network controller 13
... Printers 21, 51 ... CPU 23, 53 ... RAM 2
5, 55 ROM 27, 57 input / output circuit 29, 59 network I
/ F 31, 61 ... bus 33 ... CRT display device 63 ... modem

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hirohiro Kondo 151-1 Nashiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Inside of Brother Industries, Ltd. (72) Inventor Masashi Suzuki 15-1 Nashiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi No. Within Brother Industries, Ltd. (72) Inventor Noriyuki Makino Inside Brother Industries, Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] A printing unit for printing an image on a predetermined recording medium; a plurality of terminal devices connected to the printing unit via a predetermined communication line to form a network; Failure detection means for detecting occurrence;
Notification means for outputting a signal for notifying a person near the terminal device of the occurrence of a failure to any of the terminal devices when the failure detection unit detects the failure. In the network printing system, an output is provided at a location different from the terminal device to which the signal for notifying is output by the notifying unit, and performs an output operation using sound, light, text, or the like in response to an external signal. Means, and even if a predetermined time has elapsed after the occurrence of the failure is notified by the notification means, the signal is output to the output means if the failure detection means continues to detect the occurrence of the failure. A notification area expanding means for performing the output operation. 2. The network print system according to claim 1, wherein said output means is one of said plurality of terminal devices. 3. The network print system according to claim 2, wherein the output unit is the terminal device used by an administrator of the network print system. 4. The output means is a telephone, the notification area expanding means is a modem connected to a telephone line, and a calling means for sending a signal to the modem to cause the telephone to perform at least a calling operation. The network print system according to claim 1, further comprising: 5. The portable radio, wherein the output means is a portable radio, and the notification area expanding means generates a signal for causing the portable radio to perform at least a calling operation on the portable radio. The network print system according to claim 1, wherein