JPH10283416A - On-line document output control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a document output time and to make good use of spool file resources by dividing and spooling document data transferred from a host computer in prescribed units, and outputting them to a final printer device simultaneously with the division and spooling. SOLUTION: This system is equipped with a terminal device 1, and a spool file device 6 and a printer device 8 connected to the terminal device 1. A divisional spool information registering means 2 registers information (e.g. the number of pages, etc.) as a unit of divisional storage of document data received by the terminal device 1 in the spool file device 6. A spool managing means 5 analyzes the number of pages of document data transferred from a host computer and divides and spools the document data in the spool file device 6 according to the information registered by the divisional spool information registering means 2. A document output means 7 outputs the document data (more than one subfile) divided and spooled by the spool managing means 5 to the printer device 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to an online form output control system in which a form transferred from a host computer is spooled by a terminal device and finally output to a printer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional online form output method, after all data of a form transferred from a host computer has been received / spooled, final output to a printing apparatus is performed.

As a prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-75153 discloses that a printer in a system in which communication control is provided for a plurality of lines receives print control data consisting of a plurality of lines at the same time, A multi-reception print control method capable of printing out the received data is disclosed.

This multi-reception print control method allocates a spool file and a paper discharge tray for each line, and determines whether or not the mode is occupied by one line. A multi-line multi-print job is executed by selecting a timeout period and a discharge tray number from the console.

[0005]

However, the first problem with the conventional online form output method is that all data of the form transferred from the host computer is received / spooled by the terminal device, and then the final printer is completed. Since the data is output to the apparatus, it takes a lot of time to output the form, especially when outputting a large amount of forms.

The reason is that all data of the form transferred from the host computer is output to the final printer after reception / spooling is completed.

A second problem is that a form transferred from a host computer is held on a spool until output to a final printer is completed. File resources are required.

The reason is that all the data of the form transferred from the host computer is held on the spool until the output to the final printing device is completed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an online form output system that improves the total form output throughput and reduces the required amount of spool file resources.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided an online form output control system for receiving / spooling form data transferred from a host computer, and then outputting the received form data to a printer.
Division spool information registration means for registering information serving as a unit for dividing and storing the form data received by the terminal device in the spool file device; analyzing the form data transferred from the host computer to register the divided spool information; Spool management means for splitting the form data into the spool file device based on the information registered by the means, and form output means for outputting the form data divided and spooled by the spool management means to the printer device. Thus, an online form output control method is obtained.

[0011]

According to the online form output control method of the present invention, in the form data spool processing in the terminal device,
A unit (for example, the number of pages) for dividing and spooling the form data is defined, and the form data of the specified unit is divided and stored in the spool file device, and the divided and spooled form data is sequentially output in parallel to provide a total. It reduces the time required for form output and makes effective use of spool file resources.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of an online form output control system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The online form output control system receives form data transferred from a host computer (not shown) /
After spooling, it is finally output to the printer device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the terminal device 1 which realizes the online form output control system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in this online form output control method, a terminal device 1 and a spool file device 6 connected to the terminal device.
And a printer device 8.

The terminal device 1 registers information (for example, the number of pages, etc.) as a unit for dividing and storing the form data received by the terminal device 1 in a spool file device 6 on the terminal device 1. A spool management unit 5 for analyzing the number of pages of the form data transferred from the host computer and dividing spooled form data in the spool file device 6 based on the information registered by the divided spool information registration unit 2; Spool management means 5
Form output means 7 for outputting form data (a plurality of sub-files) divided and spooled by the printer to the printer device 8
And

Further, the terminal device 1 has a spool management information table 3 for registering information serving as a reference for dividing and outputting form data transferred from the host computer, and a form data transfer from the host computer to the host computer. The form receiving unit 4 receives the first form data transferred from the company, determines the identification name of the received form, and notifies the spool management unit 5 of the form identification name and the received form data.

Next, the operation of the online form output control method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, prior to the operation of the online form output system, information (eg, the number of pages, etc.) serving as a reference for dividing and outputting form data transferred from the host computer is divided by using the divided spool information registration means 2. To the spool management information table 3. This operation needs to be performed once before the operation of the online form output system, and thereafter is unnecessary.

The form receiving means 4 operates by transferring the form data from the host computer, receives the first form data transferred from the host computer, determines the identification name of the received form, and receives the form identification name and the received form name. The form data is notified to the spool management means 5.

The spool management means 5 analyzes the number of pages of the notified form data, determines the split spool identifier in the spool file device 6 for storing the form data, and determines the split spool identifier and the analyzed form. After registering the number of data pages and the form identification name in the spool information management table 3, the form data is stored in the spool file device 6 as a sub-file of the determined split spool identification name, and the subsequent form reception means 4 An instruction to receive the form data is issued.

As a result, the form receiving means 4 can execute the subsequent (2
), And notifies the spool management means 5 together with the form identification name.

The spool management means 5 analyzes the number of pages of the notified form data, and analyzes the number of pages and the number of pages of the form data stored in the spool file device 6 (the number of pages registered in the spool management information table 3). ) Is checked, and the reference page number to be divided and spooled is checked, and the following operation is performed.

(Case 1) When the number of pages of the form data is smaller than the reference page number; after registering the total number of pages of the received form data in the spool information management table 3, the split spool identifier currently spooled Is stored in the spool file device 6 as a sub-file of the
Is instructed to receive the subsequent form data.

(Case 2) When the number of pages of the form data> the reference number of pages; the form data up to the number of pages to be divided and spooled is stored in the spool file device 6 as a sub-file of the currently spooled divided spool identification name. At the same time, the split spool identifier to be newly spooled is determined, the remaining form data is stored in the spool file device 6, and the page number of the form data stored as a sub-file of the newly determined split spool identifier is stored in the spool management information table. 3 is stored. Thereafter, the form receiving means 4 is instructed to receive the subsequent form data, and the form output means 7 is instructed to output the sub-file of the old divided spool identifier having reached the number of pages to be divided and spooled.

As a result, the form receiving means 4 and the form output means 7 operate in parallel. First, the form output means 4 receives the subsequent form data and notifies the spool management means 5 together with the return form identification name. Subsequent operations of the spool management means 5 repeat the same operations as when the second and subsequent form data are received.

On the other hand, the form output means 7 extracts form data corresponding to the notified form identification name and split spool identification name from the spool file device 6 and starts outputting the form to the printer device 8. Then, when the form output to the printer device 8 is completed, a notification to that effect is sent to the spool management means 5.

In this way, the spool management means 5 deletes the form data of the notified form identification name from the spool file device 6, checks whether there is form data to be subsequently output, and if there is a form output. Then, the form output unit 7 is again notified of the form output instruction.

The form output means 7 extracts form data corresponding to the notified form identification name and split spool identification name from the spool file device 6 and starts outputting the form to the printer device 8. Then, when the form output to the printer device 8 is completed, a notification to that effect is sent to the spool management means 5. The subsequent operation of the spool management means 5 repeats the same operation as when the above-described form output completion notification is received.

As described above, the operation of dividing the form data from the host computer into a prescribed number of pages and storing the divided data in the spool file device, and sequentially outputting the form data completed to be stored in the spool file device to the printer device By performing these operations in parallel, the total form output throughput in the online form output system is improved. At the same time, the spool file resources are reduced by deleting the split spooled form data every time the output is completed.

[0029]

As described above, the first effect of the online form output method according to the present invention is that the total form from the form output request to the host computer to the final output to the printing apparatus is completed. Throughput of typical form output processing is improved.

The reason is that the form data transferred from the host computer is divided and spooled in specified units,
This is because it is a system that outputs the data to the final printer at the same time as split spooling.

The second effect is that the file capacity for spooling the form data transferred from the host computer can be reduced.

The reason is that the form data transferred from the host computer is divided and spooled in specified units,
This is because the spool file is output to the final printer device at the same time as the split spool, so that the spool file that has been finally output to the printer device is deleted from the spool each time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an online form output method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal device 2 Split spool information registration means 3 Spool management information table 4 Form receiving means 5 Spool management means 6 Spool file device 7 Form output means 8 Printer device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An online form output control method for receiving / spooling form data transferred from a host computer and then outputting the form data to a printer apparatus, wherein a spool file apparatus on a terminal apparatus and the spool file apparatus receive the form data by the terminal apparatus. Divided spool information registration means for registering information as a unit for dividing and storing the formed form data, and analyzing the form data transferred from the host computer, based on the information registered by the divided spool information registration means, An online form output, comprising: a spool management means for dividing and spooling form data in the spool file device; and a form output means for outputting form data split and spooled by the spool management means to the printer device. control method. 2. The online form output control method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device has a spool management information table for registering the information serving as a reference for dividing and outputting form data transferred from the host computer. ,
By transferring the form data from the host computer, the first form data transferred from the host computer is received, the identifier of the received form is determined, and the form identification name and the received form data are notified to the spool management means. An online form output control system, comprising: 3. The online form output control system according to claim 1, wherein said form output means outputs a plurality of sub-files divided and spooled by said spool management means to said printer. Online form output control method. 4. The online form output control method according to claim 1, wherein the form data from the host computer is divided into a prescribed number of pages and stored in the spool file device, and the spool file device An on-line form output control method, wherein an operation of sequentially outputting the form data whose storage to the printer has been completed to the printer is performed in parallel.