JPH11119937A - Network printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable correct charging management, in a network printer dealing with a multiple protocols. SOLUTION: Correct charge management can be done by providing a network printer 1 with a network adapter 10 having communication protocol parts 11, 12 and 13 for receiving the communication printing data of the multiple protocols containing charging information and printing object data, communication application parts 14, 15 and 16 for adding a printing processing instruction to the communication print data and outputting them and a charging managing protocol selecting means 17 for outputting by the communication print data in the communication protocol and communication application selected by a user when performing charging management, a controller 21 for receiving and outputting the communication printing data outputted from the network adapter 10, a printing part 22 for printing the printing object data, and a charge managing part 27 for acquiring the charging information from the printing part 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer and an MFP (print processing apparatus capable of using functions such as a copy, facsimile, printer, and scanner) directly connected to a network.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-protocol printer, MFP, facsimile, and the like capable of performing charge management.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, local area networks (L)
2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of a system using an AN, a plurality of terminal devices such as a personal computer (PC) and a workstation (WS) have been connected. When these terminal devices print data, they commonly use printers, MFPs, and the like connected on the same network.

FIG. 8 shows a configuration in a case where a network printer having an MFP is commonly used on a network. Here, three workstations 300 (WS A, WS B, WS C) are used for the terminal device, and are connected to the network 400. The network printer 500 is also connected to the network 400. The network printer 500 includes the network adapter 100 and the MFP 200, and
0 is connected to the network 400 via the network adapter 100. Network adapter 10
0 accepts communication print data from the workstation 300 according to the communication protocol used in the network 400, adds a print processing command to the data, and outputs the data to the MFP 200.

[0004] Various communication protocols are used by terminal devices. For example, connection-type TCP (Transmission Control
olProtocol) and TCP / IP consisting of connectionless IP (Internet Protocols) that plays the role of network layer
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protoco
ls), connectionless IP that plays the role of network layer
X (Internetwork Packet eXchange) (Novell, USA, N
etWare) and the connection-oriented S responsible for the transport layer
IPX / Sequenced Packet eXchange (PX)
SPX (Internetwork Packet eXchange / Sequenced P
acket eXchange), AppleTalk which is responsible for application layer, presentation layer and session layer
(US Apple, Macintosh). Therefore, it is desired that the network printer 500 is compatible with a multi-protocol corresponding to these communication protocols. In addition, since it is necessary to charge for the cost of using the network printer 500, it is desired that the network printer 500 is compatible with charging management.

[0005]

In the case where the accounting management is performed by the conventional network printer 500, since the multi-protocol is used, the communication protocol may be different for each job to be managed. Further, there is a difference in accounting information obtained from communication print data for each communication protocol used for communication. In such a case, charging management may become unequal for each communication protocol, and charging management cannot be performed correctly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to correctly manage charging in a multiprotocol network printer.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a network printer according to the first aspect of the present invention transmits communication target data and communication print data including accounting information by a plurality of communication protocols. The communication protocol unit to be accepted, the communication application unit to add a print processing command to the communication print data accepted by the communication protocol unit and output, and the output of the communication application unit to be selected by the user when performing accounting management. A network adapter having a charge management protocol selecting unit that outputs only communication print data in a communication protocol and a communication application; a controller that receives and outputs communication print data output from the network adapter; Print according to the instruction A printing unit for printing the data, characterized in that a billing management unit that acquires accounting information from the printing unit.

[0008] Therefore, printing is performed only by the communication protocol and the communication application selected by the user by the charging management protocol selecting means, and the communication protocol and the communication application are of one type. Resolved,
Billing management can be performed correctly. A network printer according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a communication protocol unit for receiving communication print data including data to be printed and billing information according to a plurality of communication protocols, and a communication print data received by the communication protocol unit. A communication application unit for adding and outputting a print processing instruction,
When performing accounting management by receiving the output of the communication application unit, a network adapter having accounting management protocol selecting means for outputting only a predetermined communication protocol and communication print data in the communication application, and an output from the network adapter. A communication unit that receives and outputs the communication print data; a printing unit that receives the output of the controller and prints data to be printed in accordance with a print processing instruction; and a billing management unit that acquires billing information from the printing unit. And

Therefore, the printing is performed only by the predetermined communication protocol and communication application by the charging management protocol selecting means, and only one communication protocol and communication application are used. This has been resolved, and billing management can be performed correctly. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network printer including a first printer including data to be printed according to a plurality of communication protocols.
A communication protocol unit for receiving second communication print data obtained by adding additional charge information to the communication print data; and a communication application unit for adding a print processing command to the second communication print data received by the communication protocol unit and outputting the print processing command. A network adapter, a controller that receives and outputs the second communication print data output from the network adapter, acquires additional charge information from an output of the controller, and outputs the second communication print data if the acquisition is successful; A billing information acquisition unit that does not output the second communication print data if it fails, a printing unit that receives the output of the billing information acquisition unit and prints the data to be printed according to a print processing instruction, and outputs additional billing information from the billing information acquisition unit. And a charging management unit for acquiring.

In this case, the first data including the data to be printed is
Since additional charge information is added to the communication print data,
The charging information acquisition means can acquire the additional charging information from the output of the controller. Further, since the additional charging information is not affected by the difference in the communication protocol, correct charging management can be performed regardless of the difference in the communication protocol. Claim 4
A network printer according to the invention described in claim 1 is
In the network printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, additional charge information is added to the communication print data, and the charge management protocol selection unit that outputs only the communication print data in the communication protocol selected by the user; or Having the charging management protocol selecting means for outputting only the communication print data in the predetermined communication protocol, obtaining additional charging information from the output of the controller, and outputting a print processing command if the obtaining is successful; Receiving the output of the charging information obtaining means and the output of the charging information obtaining means which does not output the print processing command if the printing fails, inspects the additional charging information and the charging information, outputs communication print data if valid, and prints communication printing if invalid Charge information checking means that does not output data, and receives the output of the charge information checking means A printing unit for printing the data to be printed according to the print processing instruction to acquire the additional charging information from the charging information acquisition means, characterized in that a billing management unit that acquires accounting information from the printing unit.

Here, the check by the charge information checking means is invalid if both the additional charge information and the charge information cannot be obtained. In this case, correct charging management can be performed by the charging management protocol selecting unit and the charging information obtaining unit, and complicated charging management can be performed by using both the charging information and the additional charging information. In addition, the charging information checking means checks whether the charging information and the additional charging information are valid, so that correct charging management can be performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example when a network printer according to an embodiment of the present invention is commonly used on a network. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a network printer, which is connected to a network 40, for example. The network printer 1 has a facsimile function in addition to a printer function, and has a workstation (indicated by WS in the figure) 30 connected to a network 40.
Print out (record and output) print data sent from terminal devices such as A, 30B, and 30C;
Print out the internally processed data described later,
Facsimile transmission can be performed according to a known G3 or G4 facsimile communication procedure. Although this high-performance network printer will not be described in detail, for example, a print recording unit that employs a known electrophotographic recording system prints out print data on recording paper. On the other hand, the workstations 30A, 30B and 30C are CR
It has a T (Cathode Ray Tube) display device and a keyboard, and is capable of selectively executing a plurality of software processes by an intelligent function. And the printer status of the network printer 1 can be confirmed on the display device. The network printer 1 has a digital copy function of printing out image data read from a set document, for example, and is generally called a multi-function digital copier.

As shown in FIG. 1, the network printer 1 has a network adapter 10 and an MFP 20 that can use functions such as copying, facsimile, printer, and scanner. Is connected to the network 40 via the. The network adapter 10 is configured according to a communication protocol used in the network 40.
It receives communication print data from the workstation 30, adds a print processing command to the data, and outputs the data to the MFP 20.

Workstations 30A, 30B, 30
Various communication protocols are used by C. For example, a connection-type TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) that carries a transport layer and a connectionless IP (Internet Protocol) that carries a network layer are used.
TCP / IP (Transmission Control)
l Protocol / Internet Protocols), connectionless IPX (Internetwork Packe)
eXchange) (November, USA, NetWare) and connection-oriented SPX (Sequenced Packet
IPX / SPX (Internetwork Pa) consisting of eXchange)
AppleTalk (Apple Inc., Macinto, Inc.), which is responsible for the application layer, presentation layer, and session layer (cket eXchange / Sequenced Packet eXchange).
sh). The network printer 1 supports multi-protocols corresponding to these communication protocols.
Further, since it is necessary to charge the workstation 30A, 30B, 30C for the cost of using the network printer 1, it is necessary to charge the network printer 1. Therefore, the network printer 1 performs the charging management described later.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the network printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The network adapter 10 of the network printer 1 includes a communication protocol unit 11, 12, 13 and a communication application unit 1.
4, 15, and 16 and a charging management protocol selecting means 17 are provided. Although details of the network adapter 10 are not shown, for example, a CPU (Central Processor Unit)
And a central processing unit consisting of an interrupt controller, etc.
ROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory)
And PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) and EE
PROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Rea)
ROM (Read Only Memory) which is composed of storage elements such as
nly Memory) section, a RAM (Random Access Memory) section to which necessary data is exchanged by the CPU, and an MFP 20 that functions as a buffer memory and is a printer apparatus main body.
A shared memory that sends and receives control information and print data such as print request commands to and from it, creates a frame to send and receive control information and print data, sends and receives the frame, and checks the received frame for errors. And a LAN interface that is connected to a physical transmission medium such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber that constitutes the network 40 and transmits and receives data via the network 40.

The communication protocol units 11 to 13 receive communication print data from the workstation 30 according to a plurality of communication protocols. The communication print data includes print target data to be printed and billing information necessary for billing. The billing information is, for example, a user ID (identification information such as a user name) for specifying a user or a group ID (identification) assigned to each group such as a department or a project. In the first embodiment, the communication protocol unit 11 is TCP / IP, the communication protocol unit 12 is IPX / SPX, and the communication protocol unit 1
3 accepts AppleTalk. That is, the communication protocol unit 11 recognizes only communication print data according to TCP / IP, outputs it, and does not recognize communication print data according to another protocol. The communication protocol unit 12
It recognizes only PX / SPX communication print data, outputs it, and does not recognize communication print data of another protocol. The communication protocol unit 13 recognizes only communication print data by AppleTalk, outputs the data, and does not recognize communication print data by another protocol.

Communication application units 14, 15, 16
Prints a print processing command to the communication print data received by the communication protocol units 11, 12, and 13, and outputs the print data.
Here, the print processing instruction is data indicating the setting of various conditions for printing. In the first embodiment, the communication application unit 14
d, the communication application unit 15 is 3S Print independently developed by the applicant, and the communication application unit 16 is paperserver. Note that lpd is TCP / I
P, 3S Print is TCP / IP and IPX / S
PX and paperserver are communication applications compatible with AppleTalk. Here, which communication application unit is used is determined by each of the terminal devices 30A to 30A.
0C or the like is determined when transmitting the communication print data. For example, when TCP / IP is used as a communication protocol, lpd is used if the terminal device transmits communication print data corresponding to lpd, and 3S Print is used if the terminal device transmits communication print data corresponding to 3S Print. You.

The billing management protocol selecting means 17 receives the output of the communication application unit 14, 15, or 16,
Only the communication print data according to the communication protocol and the communication application selected by the user are output to the controller 21. The MFP 20 includes a controller 21, a print processing unit 22, an image reading device 23, and a facsimile device 2.
4, a system control unit 25, a display operation unit 26, and a charge management unit 27. The controller 21 receives the output of the billing management protocol selecting unit 17 and
The image is output to the image reading device 23 and the facsimile device 24. Here, since printing is considered, the data is output to the print processing unit 22, but may be output to the image reading device 23 and the facsimile device 24 depending on the type of the communication application unit.

The print processing unit 22 responds to a print processing instruction by
Print the data to be printed. Image reading device 23
Reads an image of a document or the like set on the image reading device 23. The facsimile device 24 is a device that reads and transmits an image of a set document or the like and receives and prints out image information. The system control unit 25 cooperates with the charging management unit 27 to
1. It controls the operations of the print processing unit 22, the image reading device 23, and the display operation unit 26, and also controls the transfer of data between the devices.

The display operation unit 26 acquires and displays information from the system control unit 25, and sends an input by a user operation to the system control unit 25. The accounting management unit 27 receives and records information of a job to be managed for accounting such as printing from each of the print processing unit 22, the image reading device 23, and the facsimile device 24, and records the information.
Prints information of the job to be charged, transmits data via the controller 21, or deletes it. Here, the information of the job to be managed for accounting includes accounting information, and further includes the number of sheets required for printing.

More specifically, the charge management unit 27 includes the print processing unit 22, the image reading device 23, and the facsimile device 2.
4 receives, for example, a count of the number of pages printed out from the print processing unit 22 as information corresponding to the data amount of the data processed by the print processing unit 22 and print functions (for example, a monochrome print function) necessary to print out the print data. Alternatively, the color printing function) is determined, billing information for billing according to the use is created, and the created billing information is added to the user ID or group ID to accumulate (store) and manage.

When there is a request from the controller 21 or the system control unit 25 to print out or transfer the totalized accounting information, the accounting management unit 27 sends the accounting information to the user ID or the group ID in response to the request. The data is totaled every time, and the totaling result information is converted into data corresponding to each process and then output to the output request destination.
For example, in the case of a print output request, the format conversion is performed on the tabulation result information of print data that can be processed by the print processing unit 22, and in the case of a data transfer request by data communication to the workstations 30A to 30C, the tabulation result is transmitted to the workstation. The format is converted to data that can be processed by 30A to 30C and transmitted to each. When a data transfer request by facsimile communication is received, the accounting result aggregation information can be converted into facsimile data and then transmitted to the destination using the facsimile device 24. Further, the billing information managed by the billing management unit 27 may be arranged in such a manner that, in addition to the above-described ID unit, the print result is totalized for each print data in response to a request and the result is transferred.

In response to the management of the charging management unit 27, the user sets the communication protocol to IP, the communication application to 1pd, and sets the ID of the charging target job to PRINT.
(Printing is charged). FIG. 3 shows information for each job requesting such a session. Note that FIG.
In the job number 123, the protocol ID is IP,
Application ID is 1pd, User name is RICHOTAR
O, request source address is 133.139.123.123, job ID is PR
INT, the job number 124 is the protocol ID I
PX, application ID is rprinter, user name is NO
NE, the request source address is NONE, and the job ID is PRINT.

The operation of the charging management protocol selecting means 17 at the time of a session request will be described with reference to FIG. First, when a session is requested (S101), it is determined whether the job ID in the information at the time of requesting the session is a charging target, that is, a charging job ID (S102). Here, if it is not a billing job ID, it is not a billing target and the requested session processing is performed (S105). If it is a charging job ID, it is determined whether the protocol ID and the application ID in the information at the time of the session request are those selected by the user (S103). If it is not selected by the user, it is invalidated and no processing is performed. If it is selected by the user, the information at the time of requesting the session is checked as valid (S104). The inspection refers to, for example, whether or not a user name is specified. As a result of the inspection, if the session processing is permitted, the session processing is started (S105). If not, no processing is performed.

The two jobs 123 and 124 in FIG.
PR indicates that the job ID is the ID of the chargeable job.
Since it is INT, both jobs proceed to S103. Here, the job 123 proceeds to S104 because the protocol ID and the application ID match the user's selection. The session processing is not performed for the job 124 because the protocol ID and the application ID are different from those selected by the user. The job 123 is further subjected to the information check at the time of requesting the session, and the user name and the request source address are properly specified, so the process proceeds to S105, and the processing of the session is started.

As described above, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the printing is performed by the charging management protocol selecting means 17 only by the communication protocol and the communication application selected by the user. Then, since the communication protocol and the communication application are one type, the difference in the billing information obtained from the communication print data is resolved,
Billing management can be performed correctly.

The configuration of the network printer according to the second embodiment of the present invention is substantially the same as the configuration of the network printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The difference is that a communication protocol and a communication application that permit session processing such as printing are predetermined in the charging management protocol selection unit 17.

As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, printing is performed only by the predetermined communication protocol and communication application by the charging management protocol selecting unit 17. Then, since there is only one type of communication protocol and communication application, the difference in billing information obtained from the communication print data is eliminated, and billing management can be performed correctly.

In the following description, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 will be used for the same or similar components as those in the first embodiment together with the reference numerals in FIG. 1 showing the common components. FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a network printer according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The network adapter 10 of the network printer 1 of this embodiment has communication protocol units 11, 12, 13 and communication application units 14, 15, 16 as in the first embodiment. However,
The communication print data received by the communication protocol units 11, 12, and 13 (hereinafter, referred to as "second communication print data") is converted into communication print data including data to be printed (hereinafter, referred to as "first communication print data"). It is the one to which additional charging information is added. The additional charging information is the same as the charging information. Although the first communication print data may include billing information, such billing information is not used in the third embodiment. Only additional charge information is used.

The MFP 20 includes a controller 21, a print processing unit 22, an image reading device 23, and a facsimile device 2.
4, a system control unit 25, a display operation unit 26, and a billing management unit 27, and further, a billing information acquisition unit 28. The billing information acquisition unit 28 receives the output of the controller 21, acquires additional billing information therefrom, and outputs the second communication print data to the print processing unit 22 if the acquisition is successful. If the acquisition fails, the second communication print data is not output.

As described above, in the third embodiment of the present invention, the additional charge information is added to the first communication print data including the data to be printed, and Acquire additional charging information. If an attempt is made to acquire the accounting information included in the first communication print data, the accounting information cannot be acquired correctly due to a difference in the protocol. However, since the additional charging information is not affected by the difference in the protocol, correct charging management can be performed.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a network printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The network printer 1 has a network adapter 10 and an MFP 20. The network adapter 10 has communication protocol units 11, 12, and 13 and communication application units 14, 15, and 16 as in the first embodiment. The network adapter 10 further includes a charging management protocol selecting unit 17. The billing management protocol selecting means 17 is similar to that of the first or second embodiment, but outputs only the communication print data of the communication protocol selected by the user to the controller 21 regardless of the communication application. It has become.

The communication protocol units 11, 12, and 13
The communication print data (hereinafter, referred to as “second communication print data”) received by the communication print data including data to be printed (hereinafter, referred to as “first communication print data”) is obtained by adding additional charge information. is there. The additional charging information is the same as the charging information. Note that the first communication print data may include accounting information, but in the fourth embodiment, complicated management can be performed using the additional accounting information together with the accounting information.

The MFP 20 has a controller 21, a print processing unit 22, an image reading device 23, a facsimile device 24, a system control unit 25, a display operation unit 26, and a charge management unit 27, as in the first embodiment. The controller 21 and the like are also the same as in the first embodiment. MFP
20 further includes a billing information acquisition unit 28 and a billing information inspection unit 29.

The billing information acquiring means 28 is the same as in the third embodiment. That is, it receives the output of the controller 21, acquires the additional charge information therefrom, and outputs the second communication print data to the charge information inspection unit 29 if the acquisition is successful. If the acquisition fails, the second communication print data is not output. The billing information checking unit 29 includes a billing information acquiring unit 28.
And checks the additional charge information and the charge information, and if valid, outputs the communication print data. If invalid, the communication print data is not output. The inspection of the additional charging information and the charging information is invalid if both the additional charging information and the charging information cannot be obtained.

FIG. 7 shows the operation of the network printer according to the fourth embodiment. First, when a session is requested (S201), whether the job ID in the information at the time of requesting the session is a charging target, that is, the charging job I
D is determined (S202). Here, if the charge job ID is not the charge job ID, the session process is started because the charge job ID is not the charge target (S205). If it is a charging job ID, it is determined whether the protocol ID in the information at the time of the session request is selected by the user or is predetermined (S203). If it is not selected by the user or predetermined, it is invalidated and no processing is performed. The choice of the user,
Alternatively, if it is a predetermined one, it is determined as valid and it is determined whether the application ID is selected by the user or whether it is a predetermined one (S204). If the application ID is selected by the user or predetermined, the start of session processing is permitted (S20).
5). If the application ID is not selected by the user or predetermined, the start of the session process is not permitted, and the additional charging information and the charging information are checked (S206). Here, if both the additional charging information and the charging information cannot be obtained, the session becomes invalid and the session processing is discarded (S207).

For example, if the chargeable job ID is PRINT
It is assumed that IP and IPX are selected for the communication protocol and lpd is selected for the communication application. Here, when the job ID of the session is PRINT, the protocol ID is IP, and the application ID is ftp (a type of application for implementing file transfer), whether the application ID is selected by the user,
Alternatively, it is determined whether or not it is a predetermined one (S204).
Since D is different, additional charging information and charging information are checked (S206). Here, if the additional charge information can be obtained, printing is performed, and if not, printing is not performed.

As described above, in the fourth embodiment of the present invention, correct accounting management can be performed by the accounting management protocol selecting unit 17 and the accounting information acquiring unit 28. Further, when printing is performed using a specific printer driver, such as when Windows 95 (product name) is used, additional billing information can be easily added to the print data. As a result, complicated charge management can be performed.

Further, since the charging information checking means 29 checks whether the charging information and the additional charging information have been obtained, correct charging management can be performed. Further, even when a communication application different from the user's selection is used, the session processing can be performed by acquiring the additional charging information, so that the multiprotocol function can be effectively utilized.

[0040]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a multi-protocol network printer is used, a user who wants to perform billing management can use the same printer simply by changing settings. In addition, accounting management can be performed by ordinary printing means without using a special printing program or driver. Further, a communication protocol and a communication application to be used can be freely selected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a multi-protocol compatible network printer is used,
A user who wants to perform billing management can use the printer by simply changing settings on the same printer. In addition, it is possible to easily set only a communication protocol and a communication application that can perform billing management correctly. According to the third aspect of the invention, when a multi-protocol-compatible network printer is used, a user who wants to perform billing management can use the printer by changing settings on the same printer and adding billing information during printing. .

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when printing is performed using a specific printer driver, it is easy to add additional charge information to print data, and by adding special information, complicated information is added. Management is also possible. At the same time, even when using a communication application such as ftp, printing can be performed while accounting management is performed, and the multi-protocol function can be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration when a network printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention is commonly used on a network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of information at the time of a session request of the network printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a charging management protocol selecting unit in the network printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network printer according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a network printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in a case where a network printer having an MFP according to the related art is commonly used on a network.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network printer 10 Network adapter 11, 12, 13 Communication protocol part 14, 15, 16 Communication application part 17 Charge management protocol selection means 20 MFP 21 Controller 22 Print processing part 23 Image reading device 24 Facsimile device 25 System control part 26 Display operation Unit 27 charging management unit 28 charging information acquisition unit 29 charging information checking unit 30 workstation 40 network 100 network adapter 200 MFP 300 workstation 400 network 500 network printer

Claims (4)

[Claims] A communication protocol unit for receiving communication print data including data to be printed and billing information according to a plurality of communication protocols; and adding a print processing command to the communication print data received by the communication protocol unit. A communication application unit for outputting, and a charging management protocol selecting unit for outputting only the communication print data in a communication protocol and a communication application selected by a user when performing charging management in response to the output of the communication application unit. An adapter, a controller that receives and outputs the communication print data output from the network adapter, a printing unit that receives the output of the controller, and prints the data to be printed according to the print processing command, The billing information And billing management unit Tokusuru,
A network printer comprising: 2. A communication protocol unit for receiving communication print data including data to be printed and billing information according to a plurality of communication protocols, and adding a print processing command to the communication print data received by the communication protocol unit. A communication application unit for outputting, and a charging management protocol selecting unit for outputting only the communication print data in a predetermined communication protocol and a communication application when performing accounting management in response to the output of the communication application unit. An adapter, a controller that receives and outputs the communication print data output from the network adapter, a printing unit that receives the output of the controller, and prints the data to be printed according to the print processing command, The billing information And billing management unit that acquires,
A network printer comprising: 3. A communication protocol unit for receiving second communication print data in which additional charge information is added to first communication print data including data to be printed according to a plurality of communication protocols, and the communication protocol unit receives the second communication print data. A network adapter having a communication application unit that adds a print processing command to the second communication print data and outputs the second communication print data; a controller that receives and outputs the second communication print data output from the network adapter; An accounting information acquisition unit that acquires the additional accounting information from the output, outputs the second communication print data if the acquisition is successful, and does not output the second communication print data if the acquisition is unsuccessful; Printing that receives the output of the print target and prints the data to be printed according to the print processing instruction. And a charging management unit that obtains the additional charging information from the charging information obtaining unit. 4. A communication management system according to claim 1, wherein additional charge information is added to said communication print data, said charge management protocol selecting means outputting only said communication print data in said communication protocol selected by a user, or said predetermined communication protocol. The accounting management protocol selecting means for outputting only the communication print data in the above, acquiring the additional accounting information from the output of the controller, outputting the print processing command if the acquisition is successful, and if the acquisition fails, A charging information acquisition unit that does not output the print processing instruction; and receives an output of the charging information acquisition unit, checks the additional charging information and the charging information, outputs the communication print data if valid, and outputs the communication print data if invalid. Charging information checking means for not outputting communication print data; receiving an output of the charging information checking means A printing unit that prints the data to be printed in accordance with the print processing command, and acquiring the additional charging information from the charging information obtaining unit;
A charging management unit that acquires the charging information from the printing unit;
The network printer according to claim 1, further comprising: