KR20050008078A - Printing system and Method for establishing printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A network print system and a constructing method thereof are provided to store a large quantity of log files at a low expense without needing a server computer. CONSTITUTION: A server printer(10) is connected to the network(40) and is equipped with an HDD(Hard Disk Drive)(16). At least more than one client printer(20,30) is connected to the network and transmits the log file, which is print state information for print data, to the server printer. The client printer is equipped with an ID recognized by the server printer and transmits the log file generated for a print work together with the ID to the server printer.

Description

Printing system and method for establishing printing system

The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly, to a printing system and a method of constructing a printing system capable of managing log files for each printing apparatus at a place where a plurality of printing apparatuses are operated.

In general, printing apparatuses such as inkjet printers, laser printers, and bubble jet printers implement printing data transmitted from a computer connected in a 1: 1 connection with a computer generating print data, on a medium such as paper. In this connection method, one computer monopolizes one printing apparatus, and another computer is difficult to implement an image through the printing apparatus.

On the other hand, with the spread of a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a printing apparatus having a network interface card attached to a printing apparatus is widely used. The printing apparatus with a network interface card can be connected to a plurality of computers. However, when there are many users who want to use the printing apparatus, for example, in the case of offices or public buildings, the number of printing apparatuses increases according to the number of users. Print jobs are often interrupted or failed for some of the data. At this time, the printing apparatus generates a log file which is printing error information on the print data, and the generated log file is displayed on a display panel (not shown, LED, LCD, etc.) provided in the printing apparatus. In such a printing apparatus, the storage of log files is limited according to the capacity of the built-in memory (eg, RAM, flash ROM). Accordingly, a printing apparatus including a mass storage medium such as a hard disk drive has been disclosed to increase the storage of log files, but as is well known, a mass storage medium such as a hard disk drive may be connected to the printing apparatus. When equipped, the production cost of the printing apparatus is greatly increased. In some cases, the price of mass storage media may be comparable to that of low-cost printing devices.

In order to solve this problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (JP-A-2001-125762), when transmitting print data to a server printer connected to a server computer, first stores the data on the hard disk drive of the client computer, and then prints the data according to the state of the server computer. Although a printing system for determining whether to transmit has been disclosed, this requires a server printer to be connected to a specific computer (server computer), which is currently unnecessary in a network printer that does not require a connection with a separate server computer. When building a printing system using a server computer, the print data generated on the client computer is printed through the server printer from the client computer via the server computer. When a printing error occurs, the user of the client computer goes to the server computer and prints it. After the processing for canceling and rerunning the job is completed, reprinting is possible. This is not only very inconvenient for the print job, but when a plurality of client computers are connected to the server computer, there is a problem in that the print job for the print data from the time when the print error occurs is stopped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system and a method of constructing a printing system capable of storing a large number of log files at low cost without requiring a server computer. have.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing a printing system according to the present invention;

2 is a detailed block diagram of the server printer shown in FIG. 1;

3 is an example of a log file stored in the hard disk drive shown in FIG. 2, and

4 shows a flowchart according to an embodiment of a method of constructing a printing system according to the present invention.

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

10: server printer 11: network interface card

16: hard disk drive 20, 30: client printer

20a, 30a: network interface card 40: network

50a to 50n: computer

In accordance with the present invention, at least one or more network communication is possible, a server printer having a storage medium, and network communication is possible, and at least one or more log files, which are print status information of print data, can be transmitted to the server printer. A client printer is provided, wherein the server printer is achieved by a printing system that stores log files transmitted from the at least one client printer through the network to correspond to each client printer on the storage medium.

The at least one client printer has a unique identifier identifiable by the server printer, and preferably transmits a log file generated during a print job for the print data together with the unique identifier to the server printer.

The log file may include information on whether the print job is performed and the type and number of errors generated during the execution of the print job when the server printer and the client printer perform a print job on the print data.

According to the present invention, a method for constructing a printing system comprising at least one printer capable of network communication and generating and transmitting and receiving a log file which is print status information on print data is provided. Setting the printer as a server printer and registering a unique identifier of the server printer in at least one printer connected through the network.

The server printer preferably stores a log file of the client printer according to a unique identifier provided in the at least one client printer.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 shows a schematic block diagram of a printing system according to the invention.

The illustrated printing system includes a server printer 10, client printers 20 and 30, and a network 40.

The server printer 10 prints print data transmitted from some computers among the plurality of computers 50a to 50n connected through the network 40. In this case, the computer connected to the server printer 10 registers the IP information (IP) of the server printer 10, and the print job may be performed only through the server printer 10 corresponding to the registered IP information. Similarly, the client printer can also perform print jobs only through a computer (at least one of 50a to 50n) that has registered its IP information. Preferably, the server printer 10 includes a hard disk drive (HDD) 16 and a network interface card (NIC) 11. The network interface card (NIC) 11 is used to connect to the network 40, and the hard disk drive (HDD) 16 is a log file generated by the client printers 20 and 30 in case of printing errors. Is used to store Here, the server printer 10 is provided with unique IP information (IP) that can be identified in the network 40.

The client printers 20 and 30 print out print data transmitted from a plurality of computers 50a to 50n. In addition, the client printers 20 and 30 register the unique IP information of the server printer 10 to print the print data transmitted through the network 40 from the computer (a part of 50a to 50n), and during printing or printing. When a previous print error occurs, a log file including print error information is transmitted to the server printer 10. That is, in the printing system according to the present invention, only the server printer 10 includes a large-capacity hard disk drive (HDD) 16, and the client printers 20 and 30 store information on the printing error when a printing error occurs. The log file implemented in the form is transmitted to the server printer 10 and stored in the hard disk drive (HDD) 16 provided in the server printer 10.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed block diagram of the server printer 10 shown in FIG.

The illustrated server printer 10 includes a network interface card (NIC) 11, a ROM (ROM) 12, a main controller 13, a RAM 14, a hard disk drive 16, And a printing mechanism 15.

The network interface card (NIC) 11 is connected between the main control unit 13 and the network 40 to receive print data from a plurality of computers 50a to 50n connected to the network 40. . Here, the network interface card (NIC) 11 has unique IP information representing the server printer 10, and the IP to the network interface card 11 among the computers 50a to 50n connected to the network 40 is connected. Only the computer that has registered the information can print the print data through the server printer 10. Similarly, the client printers 20 and 30 also transmit and receive print data only with computers that have registered their IP information.

The ROM 12 includes a control program and various application programs for driving the main controller 13. The RAM 14 temporarily stores data according to a program execution result of the controller 13 and temporary data generated while the controller 13 is processing print data.

The main controller 13 converts the print data applied through the network interface card 11 into data for driving the engine mechanism 15, for example, data in a bitmap format, and controls the engine mechanism 15 based on the data. The engine mechanism 15 implements an image on a medium such as paper by performing mechanical driving such as a motor (not shown), an actuator (not shown), and a roller (not shown) under the control of the main controller 13.

The hard disk drive (HDD) 16 stores log files applied from the client printers 20 and 30 through the network 40 corresponding to each client printer. The stored log file has information on print errors which occurred during or before printing the print data to which each client printer 20 or 30 is applied from the computer (at least one of 50a to 50n). Here, of the network interface card (NIC) 11, ROM (ROM) 12, RAM (RAM) 14, engine mechanism 15, and hard disk drive (HDD) 16 shown in the figure, The rest of the configuration except for the hard disk drive (HDD) 16 is provided in the client printers 20 and 30 in the same manner.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a log file stored in the hard disk drive (HDD) 16 shown in FIG. 2.

The illustrated log file has a name for a client printer, IP information corresponding to each name, error code information of a client printer having IP information, and information on when an error occurred.

As shown, the log file contains the printer name (e.g. PRINTER_01, PRINTER_02, etc.), IP information (e.g. 192.168.0.1), and error code (for each client printer (e.g. 20, 30) connected to the server printer 10). A01), and the time at which the error occurred (e.g. 2003.7.1) are recorded in the order of occurrence. Here, the error code means a unique number corresponding to an error that may occur in the printer, for example, a paper jam error, a driver program error, a print error due to lack of ink or toner, or a print stop error due to lack of paper. As such, error information corresponding to the names and IP information of the client printers 20 and 30 are recorded in the hard disk drive (HDD) 16 provided in the server printer 10 in the order of the error. The printers 20 and 30 do not need a mass storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) 16 for recording log files, and the generated log files are transmitted to the server printer 10 for recording.

4 shows a flowchart according to an embodiment of a method of constructing a printing system according to the present invention.

First, check whether there is a printer having a mass storage medium, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) 16, among a plurality of printers (S100), and set a printer having a mass storage medium as a server printer (S200). The server printer 16 and the client printers 20 and 30 should be capable of mutual data transmission via a LAN cable. The server printer 10 should receive log files transmitted from the client printers 20 and 30 through the network 40 and from at least one of the computers 50a to 50n connected through the network 40. Receive print data and perform print job. Accordingly, the server printer 10 and the client printers 20 and 30 are provided with network interface cards 11, 20a and 30a for transmitting and receiving data through the LAN cable.

Next, a unique identifier, for example, IP information of the server printer 10 is registered in the client printers 20 and 30 connected to the server printer 10 and the network 40 (S300). The IP information is provided to each of the server printer 10 and the client printers 20 and 30 and does not overlap each other. The client printers 20 and 30 set the transmission target of the log file for the print error generated when the print job is performed on the print data through the IP information. As described above, the log files of the client printers 20 and 30 are transmitted to the server printer 10 at the same time as the IP information registered in the client printers 20 and 30. Such a transmission process is possible by adding a predetermined control program to a ROM provided in each client printer 20 and 30. Here, the control program added to the ROM (ROM) refers to the IP information (IP information of the server printer) set in each client printer (20, 30) when a log file occurs in each client printer (20, 30), What is necessary is just to provide the function to transmit to the server printer 10. FIG. Accordingly, the printing system needs only the server printer 10 to have a mass storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) 16, and the plurality of client printers 20 and 30 connected through the network 40. Does not have to have a separate mass storage medium. In addition, since all log files generated by the client printers 20 and 30 are stored in one server printer 10, it is easy to manage printing errors.

As described above, the present invention receives and manages a log file generated by a client printer at one server printer, and does not require a separate server computer to implement such a function. In addition, the present printing system replaces some of the functions of the server computer with the server printer, thereby storing and managing a large number of log files at a low cost.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Anyone of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications, as well as such changes are within the scope of the claims.

Claims (5)

A server printer capable of network communication, the server printer having a storage medium; And And at least one client printer capable of network communication and capable of transmitting a log file, which is print state information on print data, to the server printer. And the server printer stores a log file transmitted from the at least one client printer through the network to correspond to each client printer on the storage medium. The method of claim 1, The at least one client printer, And a unique identifier identifiable by the server printer, and transmitting a log file generated during a print job for the print data together with the unique identifier to the server printer. The method of claim 1, The log file, And the server printer and the client printer have information on whether the print job is performed and the type and number of errors occurring during the print job. Claims [1] A method of constructing a printing system comprising at least one printer capable of network communication and generating and transmitting and receiving a log file which is print status information of print data. Setting a printer having a storage medium as a server printer; And And registering a unique identifier of the server printer in at least one printer connected through the network. The method of claim 4, wherein The server printer, And a log file of the client printer according to the unique identifier provided in the at least one client printer.