JPH11161449A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system with which power consumption of a printer connected on a network can be more efficiently controlled. SOLUTION: A print server 20 detects the log-out of a work station 10 or detects the disconnection of a logic session between the print server 20 and the work station 10 and changes a power unit 34 of a printer 30 from an ordinary mode to a energy save mode. Thus, the printer 30 to be switched to the energy saving mode after the elapse of a fixed time can be changed to the energy save mode without waiting its own function and the power consumption of the printer 30 can be efficiently managed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system in a printer connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer is provided with a mechanism for switching to an energy saving mode as a standard function when the printer is not used for a certain period of time.

[0003] A printer device in a print system which includes a plurality of workstations, a print server, and a printer device, and controls the data transfer to the printer device to output print data from the plurality of workstations, There was a mechanism to switch to energy saving mode.

However, since the print server in the conventional print system only controls the transfer of data to the printer, it takes time to output the print data from the printer which has been switched to the energy saving mode. The problem had arisen.

To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
-278859 printing system was proposed. In this print system, when print data is output to a printer having an energy saving mode, a control command for shifting the energy saving mode to the normal mode is transmitted before sending the print data, so that the print data output in the printer is output. This was to shorten the time.

[0006] However, in this proposal, only the time reduction at the time of print data output is considered, and the switching of the printer to the energy saving mode after the print data output is not considered. In this case, a timeout method for shifting the printer device to the energy saving mode when print data is not received for a certain period of time is executed.
In this method, there is a problem in that power is wasted because power is not transferred to the energy saving mode for a certain period of time even after printing is completed.

[0007] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication
A printer system of 09-44324 was proposed. In this proposal, when there is no remaining data in the spool file provided in the host computer in the combination of the host computer and the printer, a power command for switching to the energy saving mode is transmitted to the printer.

However, in this proposal, only the case where the host computer and the printer are physically connected is considered, and the concept unique to the network is not considered.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art, considers use in a network, and considers not only print data but also the connection state between a client and a print server, thereby achieving a more efficient operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a print system capable of realizing a high power consumption control.

[0010]

A printing system according to the present invention comprises at least one workstation, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer apparatus having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. When the print server detects logout from the workstation, the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer device.

The printing system according to the present invention also comprises at least two workstations, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. Upon detecting logout from all workstations connected to the network, the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer.

The printing system of the present invention further comprises at least one workstation, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. When the logical session with the workstation is disconnected, the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer device.

The print system of the present invention further comprises at least two workstations, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network, When the logical session with all the workstations connected on the network is disconnected, the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a print system 100 according to the present invention. The printing system 100 mainly includes a plurality of workstations (WS) 1
0, the print server 20, and the printer device 30 constitute a network.

Each of the workstations 10 has a computer function as a single unit, and can be used as a terminal of another host computer. In this system, each workstation 10 is connected to a print server 20 and a printer device 30 via a LAN cable 50, and when printing data processed by the workstation 10, the workstation 10 logs in to the print server 20. When the login is successful, the print data is sent to the print server 20.

The print server 20 mainly comprises a queue management service unit 21, a printer sharing service unit 22, a connection management service unit 23, a protocol processing unit 24, a printer I / F 25, and a LAN I / F 26.

The queue management service unit 21 is connected to the print spool 40 and registers print data from each workstation 10 as a queue in a storage device such as a disk or a memory, and prints out the queue from the queue in response to a request. Retrieve data.

The printer sharing service unit 22 sends the data received from the workstation 10 to the queue management service unit 21 via the network to be added to a queue, or takes out the data from the queue and prints it out of the printer device 3.
Transfer to 0.

The connection management service unit 23 manages connection with each workstation 10, user authentication, and the like. The protocol processing unit 24 performs communication on the network with each workstation 10. The communication protocol generally includes two types of protocols, a connection type and a connectionless type. The protocol used at the time of printing uses connection type communication in order to guarantee data. Therefore, communication between each workstation 10 and the print server 20 is performed after establishing a logical session.

The connection management service unit 23 has an authentication function for preventing unauthorized intrusion from each workstation 10 and enables the use of server resources only from the time of logging in to the time of logging out. . That is, the printer device 3 on the print server 20
In order to use 0, a login must be performed.

The printer device 30 mainly includes a printer I / F
A printer command processing unit 32 for interpreting control commands and print data input from 31, a print processing unit 33 having various mechanisms for outputting print data, a power supply unit 34, and a power supply unit 34 in a normal mode / energy saving mode. The power supply controller 35 manages the mode change according to the operation such as time.

The required power consumption of the printer device 30 is significantly different between a printing state and an idle state where printing is not performed, and the printer apparatus 30 has an energy saving mode in which power consumption is minimized in the idle state. Have.

The commands that can be interpreted by the printer command processing unit 32 include, for example, switching the power supply unit 34 from the normal mode to the energy saving mode, such as "ESC W0" for the energy saving mode and "ESC W1" for the normal mode. Alternatively, a command for switching from the energy saving mode to the normal mode is defined by an escape sequence command.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an operation flow of the print system of the present invention. In this operation flow, the workstations 10 constituting the network,
Each operation of the print server 20 and the printer device 30 is shown.

First, the operation of the workstation 10 will be described. The workstation 10 first performs initialization (step 201), and logs in to the print server 20 (step 202).

If the login is successful in step 202, the print data is transmitted to the print server 20 (step 203). When the transmission of the print data to the print server 20 in step 203 is completed, logout from the print server 20 is executed (step 20).
4) The printing operation ends.

Next, the operation of the print server 20 will be described. Upon receiving the login from the workstation 10 (step 211), the print server 20 receives the print data transmitted from the workstation 10 (step 212), and controls the queue management service unit 21 to convert the received print data. Print spool 4
Store to 0.

Next, the queue control service section 21 and the printer sharing service section 22 are controlled to read out the print data stored in the print spool 40 and send the print data to the printer device 30 via the printer I / F 25. Transfer (step 213).

Next, the connection management service unit 23
When logout from the workstation 10 is detected (step 214), an energy-saving mode command is sent to the printer device 30 (step 215), and the printer 30 enters a standby state.

Next, the operation of the printer 30 will be described. When print data is received via the printer I / F 31 in step 213 of the print server 20, the printer command processing unit 32 changes the print processing unit 33.
Of the print data is executed (step 221), and printing is performed.

Further, step 21 of the print server 20
When the power saving mode command is transmitted via the printer I / F 31 by the power supply controller 5, the power supply controller 35 changes the power supply device 34 from the normal mode to the energy saving mode (step 222).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the operation flow of the printing system of the present invention. In this operation flow, similarly to the flow of FIG. 2, each operation of the workstation 10, the print server 20, and the printer device 30 that constitute the network is shown.

The operations of steps 301 to 304 of the workstation 10 and steps 321 to 322 of the printer 30 in this embodiment correspond to steps 201 to 204 in FIG. 30 steps 221-
Since the operations are the same as those in step 222, the description thereof is omitted.

The operation of the print server 20 in this embodiment will be described. When the print server 20 receives the login from the workstation 10 (step 31)
1) The print data transmitted from the workstation 10 is received (step 312), and the queue control service unit 21 is controlled to store the received print data in the print spool 40.

Next, the queue management service unit 21 and the printer sharing service unit 22 are controlled to read out the print data stored in the print spool 40 and send the print data to the printer device 30 via the printer I / F 25. Transfer (step 313).

Next, the connection management service unit 23
Upon detecting logout from the workstation 10 (step 314), the server determines whether there is a user logged in from another workstation (step 315).

If it is determined in step 315 that there is no user logged in from another workstation, an energy saving mode command is sent to the printer 30 (step 316). Step 31
If it is determined in step 5 that there is a user who has logged in from another workstation, the system enters a standby state. As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to log in from a plurality of workstations.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the operation flow of the print system of the present invention. In this operation flow, similarly to the flow of FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, each operation of the workstation 10, the print server 20, and the printer device 30 constituting the network is shown.

First, the operation of the workstation 10 will be described. The workstation 10 first performs initialization (step 401), and causes the print server 20 to establish a logical session (step 402). In step 402, the logical session and the print data are transmitted to the print server 20 (step 403). When the transmission of the print data to the print server 20 in step 403 ends, the logical session with the print server 20 is disconnected (step 404), and the printing operation ends.

Next, the operation of the print server 20 will be described. When a logical session is established with the workstation 10 (step 41).
1) The print data transmitted from the workstation 10 is received (Step 412), and the queue management service unit 21 is controlled to store the received print data in the print spool 40.

Next, the queue control service unit 21 and the printer sharing service unit 22 are controlled to read out the print data stored in the print spool 40 and send the print data to the printer device 30 via the printer I / F 25. Transfer (step 413).

Next, the connection management service unit 23
Upon detecting disconnection of the logical session with the workstation 10 (step 414), the CPU determines whether there is a logical session for printing with another workstation (step 415).

If it is determined in step 415 that there is no logical session for printing with another workstation, an energy saving mode command is sent to the printer 30 (step 416). If it is determined in step 415 that a logical session for printing exists with another workstation, the process enters a standby state.

Next, the operation of the printer 30 will be described. When the print data is received via the printer I / F 31 in step 413 of the print server 20, the printer command processing unit 32
, And executes predetermined processing of print data (step 421) to perform printing.

Step 416 of the print server 20
As a result, when the energy saving mode command is transmitted via the printer I / F 31, the power supply controller 35 changes the power supply device 34 from the normal mode to the energy saving mode (step 422).

[0046]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the printing system of the present invention, the print server 20 detects the logout of the workstation 10 and switches the power supply 34 of the printer 30 from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. To change the mode, the mode can be changed to the energy saving mode without waiting for the function of the printer device 30 itself that switches to the energy saving mode after a predetermined time, and efficient power consumption management becomes possible.

When the log-out of the workstation 10 is detected and the power supply 34 of the printer 30 is changed from the normal mode to the energy saving mode, the log-in status from another workstation is confirmed to shift to the energy saving mode. Printer device 3 in the network
0 enables efficient power consumption management.

When a logical session is established between the workstation 10 and the print server 20, the disconnection of the logical session between the workstation 10 and the print server 20 is detected, and the power supply 34 of the printer 30 is turned off. In order to perform the energy saving mode and to shift to the energy saving mode by determining whether or not there is a logical session for printing with another workstation, efficient power consumption management of the printer device 30 in the network is performed. Enable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a print system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the print system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the print system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the print system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 workstation (WS) 20 print server 21 queue management service unit 22 printer sharing service unit 23 connection management service unit 24 protocol processing unit 25 printer I / F 26 LAN I / F 30 printer device 31 printer I / F 32 printer command unit 33 print processing unit 34 power supply unit 35 power supply controller 40 print spool 50 LAN cable 100 print system

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising at least one workstation, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer device when detecting logout from the workstation. 2. A printing system comprising: at least two workstations; a print server connected to the workstation via a network; and a printer having an energy-saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer device when detecting logout from all workstations connected to the network. 3. A printing system comprising: at least one workstation; a print server connected to the workstation via a network; and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print server sends an energy saving mode command to the printer device when a logical session with the workstation is disconnected. 4. A printing system comprising at least two workstations, a print server connected to the workstation via a network, and a printer having an energy saving mode connected to the print server and the workstation via a network. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print server sends an energy-saving mode command to the printer device when a logical session with all workstations connected on a network is disconnected.