KR100512952B1 - network printer system and printing method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The network printer system of the present invention provides a shared storage and a plurality of prints for storing data of a shared document in one or more print servers in a file of a shared document in a general format created by a client upon outputting at least one of a print command and a save command. A client having a storage / print management program having a function of additionally recording a code of a control command related to an individual print that designates a shared document by designating a single document or printing a shared document by designating and sending it to a print server. ; And a storage device for storing data of the shared document, and storing the data of the shared document in the storage device according to a control command transmitted from the client through the storage / print management program upon input of at least one of a print command and a storage command. And a printer server having a central processing unit that controls the storage device to perform at least one operation of transferring the data of the document and the shared document to a designated printer and performing a print job. The printing method of the network printer system of the present invention includes the steps of additionally recording a code of a control command in a file of a shared document on a client and transmitting the code to a print server, and the printer server of the shared document in a storage device according to the control command transmitted from the client. Performing at least one of storing data and transferring data of the shared document to a designated printer to proceed with the print job.

Description

Network printer system and printing method {for network printer system and printing method therefor}

The present invention relates to a network printer system and a method of printing the same, and more particularly, by using a printer server function between printers belonging to the network printer system, the data of a shared document such as a main document or a frequently used document is mutually exchanged between printers. The present invention relates to a network printer system and a method of printing the same, by allowing transmission and printing or transmission and storage to each other, thereby allowing a print job to be performed by utilizing some or all of the printers belonging to the network printer system as necessary.

As shown in FIG. 1, a general example of a network printer system (Network Printer System) 1 is connected to a printer 10 to perform printing and directly connected to the printer 10 to drive the printer 10 to perform printing. A printer server 11 such as a personal computer or workstation, a plurality of clients 12 such as a personal computer or workstation requesting printing to the printer server 11, and a printer server 11 and a client 12 are connected. The communication line 13 is provided.

Looking at the operation of such a network printer system (1), if you want to share the document created first, the user who wants to share the document to the printer server 11 so that multiple users can use the shared document created in the client 12 And store it in a storage device (not shown) of the print server 11.

As such, when the data of the shared document is stored in the storage device of the print server 11, not only the user who created the shared document but also other users can view the shared document in the print server 11 in which the file of the shared document is stored. .

When printing a shared document stored in a storage device of the print server 11, a user who wants to print retrieves a file of the shared document from the print server 11 through the client 12, and then prints the file. When a print command is issued through the printer driver, the print server 11 sequentially transmits data of the shared document to the printer 10.

The printer 10 that has received the data of the shared document from the printer server 11 determines whether the printer 10 is currently printing, and if it is determined that the printer 10 does not perform another printing job, If a print job is performed and another print job is in progress, the printer waits for the print job to finish and then checks whether other print jobs are finished.

Then, when the printing is finished or an error occurs during printing, the printer 10 sends a predetermined command to the print server 11, and the printer 10 is displayed on the screen of the display unit such as the monitor of the print server 11. The message corresponding to the predetermined command sent from is displayed.

However, such a network printer system 1 allows multiple users to share and use a single printer 10 through the print server 11, thereby storing the data of the shared document in the storage device of the client who created the shared document or It provides the advantage that all users registered in the network printer system 1 can easily access and print shared documents without having to send the shared documents to the printer every time, but connect multiple clients to one printer. Because of the structure, the following problem occurs.

That is, since the data of the shared document is sequentially transmitted to the printer 10 by one printer server 11 and printed, the print job speed is reduced when a large amount of print jobs are performed.

In this case, in order to speed up the print job, there is an inconvenience in that the print job must be carried out by transferring the data of the shared document to each of several printers connected to the network printer system or to several printer servers connected to each printer.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the main object of the present invention is to print the data of the shared document such as the main document or frequently used documents using the printer server function between the printers belonging to the network printer system A network printer system and a method of printing the same, which can be transferred to each other and printed or transmitted to each other, and can be stored conveniently and efficiently by utilizing some or all of the printers belonging to the network printer system as needed. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is a printer server having a function of storing a shared document or a computer having a storage device which has a function of storing a shared document when performing a large amount of print jobs in a network printer system, as well as another computer connected to the network printer system. The present invention provides a network printer system and a printing method thereof which enable a large amount of print jobs in a short time by retransmitting and printing data of a shared document to another printer in the network printer system by means of the printing command.

According to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of printers for performing printing, at least one printer server for controlling printing, a plurality of clients requesting printing to the printer server, and the client and In a network printer system comprising a communication line connecting between a print server and at least one of a client and a printer, the client includes a file of a shared document in a general format created by the client upon output of at least one of a print command and a save command. Codes for control commands related to shared printing, which stores data of shared documents on one or more print servers, and shared prints that specify shared prints, and shared prints that specify multiple prints, or individual prints that specify a single print, to print shared documents. To record the print server And a storage / print manager having a function of transmitting to the storage server, wherein the print server stores the data of the shared document, and the print / print manager from the client upon input of at least one of the print command and the save command. A central processing unit that controls the storage device to perform at least one operation of storing the data of the shared document in the storage device and transmitting the data of the shared document to a designated printer and performing a print job according to the transmitted control command. It provides a network printer system comprising.

In a preferred embodiment, the code of the control command includes: whether to store the data of the shared document on the print server, the name of the printer server to save when storing the data of the shared document, whether to print the shared document, and when printing the shared document. Contains the name of the printer to which the print server will send the shared document for printing.

The printer server is comprised of one of a personal computer and a workstation. In this case, the printer may be partly connected to the communication line through the print server, and the rest may be directly connected to the communication line, or all may be connected to the communication line through the print server.

Optionally, the printer server may be configured as an image forming apparatus having a storage device capable of storing data of a shared document. In this case, the printers are all connected to the communication line.

The storage device of the printer server may be one of a storage device in the form of a semiconductor memory and a storage device using a storage material in the form of a tape or a disk.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a plurality of printers that perform printing, at least one printer server controlling printing, a plurality of clients requesting printing to the printer server, and between and between the client and the printer server. A printing method of a network printer system including a communication line connecting at least one of the printers, the method comprising: whether a client stores data of a shared document in a file of a shared document in a printer server, and prints the data of the shared document in a printer. When saving to the server, the printer server name to be saved, whether to print the shared document, and when printing the shared document, the printer server additionally records the code of the control command related to the printer name to which the shared document data is to be sent for printing and sends it to the print server. Steps, and from the client A network printer system including the step of the print server storing at least one data of a shared document in a storage device and transmitting the data of the shared document to a designated printer and performing a print job according to the control command. Provides a method of printing.

In a preferred embodiment, the printing method of the present invention determines whether a large amount of shared documents are printed before proceeding with a print job, and in the case of a small amount of printing, the data of the shared document is transferred to another printer without using the printer of the printer server. Performing printing, or checking whether the designated printer exists among the printers registered in the network printer system and whether there is an abnormality of the designated printer, and sending abnormal status information to the client when the designated printer does not exist or has an abnormality. It may further include.

In addition, the printing method of the present invention, in the client sharing the shared document stored in the print server, the step of instructing the print server to print the shared document to the printer server storing the data of the shared document, the printer server in accordance with the print command of the client shared document The step of transmitting the data of the specified printer to the printer further comprises the step of performing a print job.

Hereinafter, a network printer system and a printing method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2, a network printer system 100 of the present invention is schematically illustrated.

The network printer system 100 of the present invention includes a plurality of printers 101 to perform printing, shared storage for storing a shared document to be shared, and shared printing or one printer 101 using a plurality of printers 101. One printer server 110 for controlling individual printing using a plurality of clients 120, a plurality of clients 120 requesting shared printing or individual printing and sharing storage to the printer server 110, and a client 120 and a printer server 110. And a communication line 130 such as a local area network cable (LAN cable) connecting between the client 120 and the printer 101.

Each client 120 has a first central processing unit (CPU) 121 controlling the client 120, and a general write on the client 120 upon output of at least one of a shared print or individual print command and a shared save command. In the file of the shared document of the form, whether to share data of the shared document to the print server 110, whether to share the data of the shared document, the name of the printer server to be shared, whether to share or individually print the shared document, And sharing and printing the shared document, the print server 110 additionally records a code of a control command related to a printer name to which the data of the shared document is to be transmitted for shared printing, and transmits the code to the print server 110. The first storage device 123 in which the management program is installed is included. Client 120 is preferably configured as a personal computer or workstation.

The shared storage / print management program may consist of a program such as a printer driver installed in an application that can create a shared document in a general format.

The printer server 110 may include a second storage device 115 that stores data of a shared document created using a computer of the client 120, and a shared document transmitted from the client 120 through a shared storage / print management program. A second central processing unit 114 for controlling the storage device 115 to share data in the storage device 115 or to transmit data of a shared document to a designated printer 101 to perform a shared print or an individual print job. Equipped. The printer server 110 is preferably configured as a personal computer or workstation connected to one printer 101.

The second storage device 115 is a flash memory, a storage device in the form of a semiconductor memory such as electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), or a storage material in a disk or tape form such as a hard disk. It can be configured as a device.

The second storage device 115 stores not only the data of the shared document but also a program controlling the functions of the second CPU 114.

In the second central processing unit 114, the code of the control command transmitted together with the file of the shared document from the client 120 through the shared storage / print management program shares the data of the shared document to the second storage device 115. When only the shared storage command to be stored is included, only the operation of sharing and storing the data of the shared document is performed in the second storage device 115. In the case of including both the shared storage command and the shared or individual print command, the second storage is performed. The second storage device 115 is controlled to perform shared sharing or individual printing by simultaneously storing and storing the data of the shared document in the device 115 and transmitting the data of the shared document to the designated printer 101.

In addition, the second central processing unit 114 may be shared or individually printed through a shared storage / print management program from a client 120 sharing a shared document shared in the second storage device 115 of the print server 110. When a command is input, the second storage device 115 is controlled to transmit data of the shared document stored in the second storage device 115 to the designated printer 101 to perform shared printing or individual printing.

In the above, the network printer system 100 of the present embodiment has been described and illustrated that only one printer 101 is connected to the communication line 130 through the print server 110, the present invention is not limited to this, the printer One or more or all of the 101 may be configured to be connected to the communication line 130 through a plurality of print servers (not shown) having the same function as the print server 110. In this case, when inputting control command information of the shared storage / print management program, if a plurality of printer server names are stored to store the data of the shared document, the corresponding print servers may transmit data of the shared document received from another printer server to its own central processing unit. Can be stored in

Also, in the present embodiment, the printer server 110 is described and illustrated as being composed of a personal computer or a workstation, but the printer server is an image forming apparatus such as a printer having a storage device capable of sharing and storing data of a shared document. It may also be configured as (not shown). In this case, all the printers including the printer functioning as the print server are directly connected to the communication line 130.

The printing method of the network printer system 100 according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 as follows.

First, the user creates a shared document in a general format in an application on the client computer or workstation of the client 120, and then enters an application on the personal computer of the client 120 to proceed with shared storage and shared printing or individual printing. Select whether to share the shared document and the shared print or individual print function of the shared storage / print management program such as the installed printer driver, to store the data of the shared document on the print server 110, the name of the printer server to be shared, and the shared document. Control command information relating to whether or not to share print or individually print, and the name of the printer to which the print server 110 sends data of the shared document for shared print or individually print.

At this time, when the shared document is shared printed, a plurality of printers including a printer connected to the print server 110 are designated as the printer 101 to be shared printed.

After inputting the control command information into the shared storage / print management program, and then clicking the shared storage and the shared print or individual print command, the first central processing unit 121 of the client 120 controls the file to the file of the shared document. The additional code is recorded and transmitted to the print server 110 through the communication line 130 (S10).

Subsequently, the second central processing unit 114 of the print server 110 receiving the data of the shared document and the code of the control command shares and stores the data of the shared document in the second storage device 115 based on the code of the control command. It is determined whether or not to (S20).

If it is determined that the storage is shared, the second central processing unit 114 stores the shared document in the second storage device 115 (S30).

Thereafter, the second central processing unit 114 determines whether it is shared printing (S40), and the user selects individual printing for draft printing of the shared document, etc., and determines that it is not shared printing or the user does not print any print. If it is determined that no command is input, the second central processing unit 114 transmits the shared document only to the printer 101 connected to the print server 110 to perform printing alone or ends the job (S50).

However, if it is determined in step S40 that the printing is shared, the second central processing unit 114 determines whether to print a large amount of shared documents (S60).

If it is determined that printing in a small amount, the second central processing unit 114 goes to step S50 even if a plurality of printers 101 are designated to perform shared printing, the printer 101 connected to the print server 110 In the case where it is determined that printing is performed by sending a shared document only and printing in large quantities, the printers 101 registered in the network printer system 100 are checked to proceed with shared printing (S70).

Subsequently, the second CPU 114 checks whether the printer 101 designated by the user exists among the checked printers 101, based on the control command information transmitted from the client 120 (S80).

As a result of the check, if the designated printer 101 does not exist in the network printer system 100 or there is an error, the second central processing unit 114 runs an application program and sends a message corresponding to the abnormal state to the printer server 110. In addition to displaying on a display unit (not shown), such as a monitor of the display, it is transmitted to the client 120 to display through a display unit (not shown) of the client 120 such as a monitor (S90). At this time, the user checks the contents of the message displayed on the display unit and takes necessary measures to solve the problem.

If it is confirmed in step S80 that there is no abnormality, the second central processing unit 114 retransmits the data of the shared document to the printer 101 designated by the user (S100), and the printers 101 print the received shared document. If (S110), the print job is finished.

In addition, when printing the shared document from the client 120 sharing the shared document stored in the printer server 110, after loading the file of the shared document of the print server 110 through the application from the client 120, Enter control command information related to whether to share or individually print a shared document through the shared storage / print manager of the application, and the name of the printer to which the print server 110 sends data of the shared document for sharing or individual printing. After clicking the shared print or individual print command, the printing is performed in the same manner as the steps after the step S30 described with reference to FIG. 3 above.

As described above, the network printer system and its printing method of the present invention transmit data of a shared document such as a main document or a frequently used document to each other by using a printer server function between printers belonging to the network printer system. By printing or transferring them to each other and storing them, you can use some or all of the printers belonging to the network printer system as needed to print. It provides the effect of convenient and efficient printing.

In addition, the network printer system of the present invention and a printing method thereof have a printer server having a function of storing data of a shared document or a computer having a storage device which creates a shared document when a large amount of print jobs are performed in the network printer system. In addition, by retransmitting and printing the data of the shared document to other printers in the network printer system by printing commands of other computers connected to the network printer system, it provides an effect of enabling a large amount of print jobs in a short time.

In the above, certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and any person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the spirit and spirit of the present invention as claimed in the claims may have various modifications and Modifications may be made.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional network printer system.

2 is a block diagram of a network printer system according to the present invention.

3 is a flow chart illustrating a printing process of the network printer system of FIG.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

1, 100: network printer system 10, 101: printer

11, 110: printer server 12, 120: client

13, 130: communication line 114, 121: central processing unit

115, 123: storage

Claims (12)

A plurality of printers performing printing, at least one printer server controlling printing, a plurality of clients requesting printing to the printer server, and at least one of the client and the printer server and between the client and the printer. In the network printer system including a communication line for connecting, The client is selected from among a shared print for printing a document created by designating a plurality of prints, an individual print for designating a document by designating one print, and a shared storage for storing data of the document in one or more print servers. A storage / print management program having a function of additionally recording a code of a command in a file of the document and transmitting it to the print server; The printer server stores the data of the document, and stores the data of the document in the storage device according to the control command sent from the client, and transmits the data of the document to the designated printer for printing. And a central processing unit for controlling said storage device to perform at least one of the operations in progress. The method of claim 1, wherein the code of the control command is configured to store data of the document on the printer server, a printer server name to be stored when storing data of the document on the printer server, and whether to print the document. And a printer name to which the print server will send the document for printing when printing the document. The network printer system of claim 1, wherein the printer server comprises one of a personal computer and a workstation. 4. The network printer system according to claim 3, wherein some of the printers are connected to the communication line through the print server, and others are directly connected to the communication line. 4. The network printer system according to claim 3, wherein all of the printers are connected to the communication line through the print server. A network printer system according to claim 1, wherein the print server includes an image forming apparatus having a storage device capable of storing the document. 7. The network printer system of claim 6, wherein the printers are all connected to the communication line. The network printer system of claim 1, wherein the storage device of the printer server comprises one of a storage device in the form of a semiconductor memory and a storage device using a storage material in the form of a tape or a disk. In the printing method of a network printer system,       Whether or not the client stores the data of the created document on the print server, the name of the printer server to be stored when the data of the document is stored on the print server, whether to print the document, and shared printing when the document is printed. Additionally recording, in the file of the document, a code of a control method relating to a printing method including an individual print and a printer name to which the printer server sends data of the document for printing; Transmitting a file of the document in which the code of the control command is additionally recorded, from the client to the printer server; And According to the control command sent from the client, the print server performs at least one of storing the data of the document in a storage device and transmitting the data of the document to the designated printer to perform a print job. A method of printing a network printer system, comprising the steps of: 10. The method of claim 9, wherein before the print job is processed, it is determined whether a large amount of printing of the document is performed, and in the case of a small amount of printing, printing is performed by using a printer of the printer server without transferring data of the document to another printer. The method of printing a network printer system, further comprising the step. 10. The printer according to claim 9, wherein the designated printer does not exist or has abnormality by checking whether the designated printer exists among the printers registered in the network printer system and whether there is an abnormality of the designated printer before proceeding with the printing operation. And transmitting the abnormal status information to the client. The method of claim 9, Instructing the print server to store the document data at the client sharing the document stored at the print server; And And printing, by the print server, the data of the document to the designated printer according to a print command of the client to perform a print job.