KR19990056576A - How to Schedule and Output a File - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for setting a time for outputting a file, storing the time, information about the file in a storage medium, and storing the file in an auxiliary memory device of the computer. Comparing the time of the real-time clock of the computer to determine whether there is a file to print; and if there is a file to print after the determination, printing the file stored in the storage medium through the printer; After printing, deleting information on the file from which the printing is finished and time information for outputting the file from the storage medium.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform a print job during the idle time without using a computer, thereby improving the use efficiency of the computer, and it is possible to print a plurality of output data continuously, thereby increasing user convenience.

Description

How to schedule and output a file.

The present invention relates to a printer output method, and more particularly, when the number of users of the printer, or when the user has a continuous job other than the print job using a computer, the time to output each of the files to be printed And a method for outputting a file at a preset time.

In general, printers are the most common means of viewing, storing, and outputting the results of a computer's processing in document form for delivery to others. Basic components such as multifunction devices, personal computers, fax machines, electronic cash registers, and automated teller machines Until now, daisy-wheel type printers, pin type printers, inkjet type printers, and laser type printers have been developed. In particular, inkjet printers and laser printers are predominant in the diffusion models.

In recent years, as printers are increasing in demand with office automation devices such as scanners and facsimiles, each office automation device is being developed with high performance to expand its own functions. It is a trend to produce and sell products that perform complex document output functions while reducing economic burden and installation space for users by developing each office automation device used as a single unit.

In the general computer system configuration as shown in FIG. 1, an output method for controlling the flow of information of an input / output bus is performed in a central processing unit. Received through the interface and interpreted it to send a control signal to the printer controller output was made to the printer.

That is, as soon as a print command is input to output a file to be printed, output to the printer is performed.

However, in the conventional output method, when the printing of multiple documents is specified at the same time, since the spooling must be performed for each document, the execution of the print job is delayed, and the user performs other work in addition to the print job continuously using the computer. If you do, the work efficiency of the computer was relatively low.

Therefore, the present invention was devised to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to set an output time for a file to be printed and to output using idle time without using a computer, thereby increasing the use efficiency of the computer. It provides a way to output several files simultaneously and continuously.

1 is a block diagram showing a general computer system configuration;

2 is a block diagram showing a computer system configuration for carrying out the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for reserving and outputting print data according to the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

100: computer 110: auxiliary storage device

120: printer 130: EEPROM

140: real time clock (RTC)

A method of reserving and outputting print data of the present invention for achieving the above object includes setting a time for outputting a file, storing the time and information on the file in a storage medium, and storing the file in a secondary storage device of a computer. Storing the file in the storage medium, comparing the time with the time of the real-time clock of the computer, and determining whether there is a file to print. Printing the file through the printer, and after the printing, deleting information on the file from which the printing is completed on the storage medium and time information for outputting the file.

Preferably, the information on the file includes a location of an execution program for executing a program that created the file and a name of the file for printing in the execution program.

Preferably, the storage medium is an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM) capable of erasing electrically stored contents and recording new contents.

Hereinafter, the objects, features, and advantages of the present invention described above will be described in more detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram showing a computer system configuration for carrying out the present invention.

In the present specification, the general configuration of the computer will be omitted and only the portions cited in the present invention will be described.

First, the printer 120 outputs a file to be printed transmitted from the computer 100.

The auxiliary memory device 110 stores files to be printed, such as document data and graphic data created using the computer 100.

In the EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) 130, information and outputs of the files to be printed in order to reserve and output files to be printed in accordance with the present invention, such as document files and graphics files created using the computer 100 The information on the time is stored. After the file to be printed is output, the information on the file to be printed and the information on the output time are deleted.

The real time clock (RTC) is used to determine the output by comparing the information on the output time of the file to be printed stored in the EEPROM (130).

An operation of the present invention having such a configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

First, a print file such as text data and graphic data for output at a reserved time is selected from the text data and a program for creating the graphic data (step: S11).

The output time for outputting the set print file to the printer 120 is set in the program (step S12).

Here, the program for creating the text data and the graphic data is provided with a separate print management program for setting the output time.

After setting the time, information on the selected file and information on the set time are stored in an EEPROM (abbreviated as EEPROM) 130 and the print file is stored in an auxiliary memory device ( 110) (S13).

Here, the information on the selected file includes the location of the execution program for executing the program that created the selected file and the name of the selected file for printing in the execution program.

After the storage, while the user is performing other tasks using the computer, the time of the Real Time Clock (RTC) 140 provided in the computer 100 and the EEPROM 130 are stored. Compared to the set time of the file (step S20), when the set time and the time of the real time clock 140 are the same, the file stored in the auxiliary memory device 110 is printed to the printer 120. (Step: S30).

After the printing, the output file and the data for the time set for printing the output file are deleted from the EEPROM 130 and the operation ends (step S40).

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may make various changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be appreciated that modifications or variations may be made. Therefore, changes in the future embodiments of the present invention will not depart from the technology of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a print job during an idle time without using a computer, thereby increasing the use efficiency of the computer, and printing a plurality of output data continuously, thus improving user convenience. It can increase.

Claims (3)

In the method for printing a file created on a computer using a printer, Setting a time for outputting the file, storing the time and information on the file in a storage medium, and storing the file in an auxiliary memory device of the computer; After the storing, comparing the time with the time of the real-time clock of the computer to determine whether there is a file to print; After the determination, if there is a file to be printed, printing the file stored in the storage medium through the printer; And after the printing, deleting information on the file from which the printing is completed and time information for outputting the file on the storage medium. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the file is The location of the executable program for executing the program that created the file, and A method for reserving and outputting a file comprising a name of the file for printing in the executable program. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium A method of scheduling and outputting a file, characterized in that it is an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM) capable of erasing electrically stored contents and writing new contents.