KR20210100498A - Smart Network Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a print processing method of a network shared printer accessed and used by a plurality of user computers and networks, which comprises the following steps of: receiving a plurality of print commands from a plurality of users; assigning priority to the received print commands such that a document having the least number of pages is printed first when all users of the print commands are different, based on certain time intervals; or rating the print commands in accordance with ratings by the predetermined number of pages to assign priority to the rated print commands; generating a group of print commands by user such that the print commands from the same user are continuously executed when some of the received print commands are from the same user, based on certain time intervals; summing up the number of pages to be printed in accordance with the print command for each group of print commands generated by user to assign priority to the group of print commands by user such that execution of the print command starts off from the group of print commands by user, which has the least number of total pages; and processing the print commands to print the document in accordance with the assigned priority.

Description

Public printer for smart network {Smart Network Printer}

The present invention relates to a public printer for a network.

In order to solve the problem of mixed output of documents from multiple users, the existing network-use public printer separates the output by installing a plurality of separate physical output boxes in the printer (Prior Art Document 1), or uses a sticker attachment device. A method of classifying by attaching a sticker to each user using a sticker (Prior Art Document 2) or by adjusting the position of the printout when outputting an output for each user was used (Prior Art Document 3).

However, all of the above prior art documents have a problem in that the price of the product increases because it is expensive in that a separate physical hardware device needs to be installed in the printer.

KR102012000001550A

KR10000268350B1

KR101999000081564A

Among a plurality of print commands received by the printer, grouping is performed for each user, and the print order is rearranged so that the grouped print commands can be output continuously. In order to prevent this problem, a timer is introduced so that the print commands can be rearranged for each period by dividing a certain period of time.

A print processing method of a network public printer connected and used by a plurality of user computers and a network, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of print commands from a plurality of users; is a step of giving priority so that a print command with a small number of pages of a document can be output when all of the Step, creating a print command group for each user so that print commands of the same user can be continuously output when the same user exists among users of the print commands based on a predetermined time interval among the received print commands; Step of adding up the total number of pages to be printed among each print command group and giving priority so that the print command group for each user with the smallest total number of pages can be printed first, processing the print commands according to the assigned priority and outputting the document includes

By upgrading only the firmware inside the printer without adding a separate hardware device, it is possible to classify the printouts for each user.

The present invention relates to a network printer, and more particularly, to a network printer capable of performing print processing by receiving print data files transmitted at once from a plurality of users.

In a network image printing system having a plurality of computers and a network printer connected by a network, the network printer translates a print data file that is converted and coded into a printer language from the computer and prints the corresponding image on the fed paper. do.

When the network printer in charge of printing is an electrophotographic method, a photosensitive medium, a light scanning device for selectively scanning light corresponding to print data on the photosensitive medium to form an electrostatic latent image, and developing the electrostatic latent image with a developer and a developing device, and a transfer device for transferring an image formed with a developer on a photosensitive medium onto a sheet fed from a paper cassette.

A network printer connected to and used by a plurality of user computers, comprising: a network communication interface for controlling data transmission and reception with the user computers through the network; memory; a print engine for printing an image corresponding to the received image data on paper; When data received through the network communication interface is read, and print data transmitted from a plurality of user computers is mixed with the received data, the data received for each user computer is stored in each of a plurality of divided storage areas set in the storage device. A controller that classifies and stores print data by the same print data file, converts it into image data suitable for driving the print engine according to the print processing sequence set for the print data file for each user computer that has been received, and outputs it to the print engine roller; is provided.

Preferably, the controller is configured to first convert a print data file that has been received first among mixed and received print data into image data and output the converted print data to the print engine.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the print processing method of the network printer according to the present invention is a. if the received data is mixed with print data transmitted from a plurality of user computers, classifying the received print data for each print data file and storing the received print data in different storage areas set in the storage device; me. converting a print data file that has been stored with the highest priority into image data with a print job priority; all. and printing an image corresponding to the converted image data on paper.

Specifically, a plurality of user computers 20 are interconnected to the network printer 30 through the network 10 which is a communication interface.

In addition, each user computer 20 has a central processing unit (CPU) 21 , a ROM 22 , and a RAM 23 interconnected by a bus 28 , as shown in FIG. 2 . , a display device 24 , an input device 25 , a network interface device 26 , and a storage device 27 .

And the input device 25 includes a keyboard and a mouse.

Various application programs such as a text editor 27a and a printer driver 27b are installed in the storage device 27 .

The printer driver 15a generates a print data file converted into a printer language for a print target document file instructed to be printed through the input device 25, and transmits the print data file to the network printer 30. responsible for

The network interface device 26 is a communication device and transmits instructions through communication with the network interface device 26 of the other user computer 20 and the network interface device (see FIG. 3; 36) installed in the network printer 30. The print data output is controlled so that the received print data file can be transmitted to the network printer 30 without conflict with the print data being transmitted from the other user's computer 20 . When a situation arises in which print data files from a plurality of user computers 20 must be transmitted together to the network printer 30, the network interface device 26 divides the print data files to be transmitted into set packets. and, whenever it is determined that the print data is not loaded on the network 10 while monitoring the network 20, the print data in this packet unit is sequentially transmitted. As described above, the protocol for multi-signal transmission for transmitting print data from a plurality of user computers 20 to the network computer 30 in a packet-by-packet arbitrarily mixed state is a network interface device installed in each user computer 20 . (26) is installed.

As described above, the network printer 30 of the present invention in which print data transmitted from a plurality of user computers 20 are mixed with each other to receive and process the transmitted data includes a controller 31 and a print engine 32 . , a display device 34 , an input device 35 , a network interface device 36 , and a storage device 37 . Reference numeral 38 denotes a bus.

The network interface device 36 communicates with the network interface device 26 of each user computer 20 so that print data from each user computer 20 can be transmitted together.

The input device 35 is provided outside the main body, and a plurality of input keys are provided to select various printing functions provided by the printer 30 , and a key input signal is output to the controller 31 .

The storage device 37 has data input buffers 37a, which are a plurality of storage areas, which are divided so that the print data received under the control of the controller 31 can be stored separately for each user computer 20 . The number of data input buffers 37a and the data storage capacity of each data input buffer may be appropriately determined according to the use environment of the network image printing system. As the memory device 37, a non-volatile memory or a volatile memory capable of storing and reading may be used. Alternatively, it is preferable that a hard disk that can be stored and read by magnetism is used as the storage device 37 as it is easy to store relatively large amounts of data.

The controller 31 reads data received through the network interface device 36 and performs a print processing operation on the received print data. In particular, when print data is received from a plurality of user computers 20 in a mixed state, each of the data input data buffers 37a, which are a plurality of divided storage areas set in the storage device 37, are stored in each of the user computers. (20) classifies and stores print data in packet units belonging to the same print data file. The controller 31 having such a function has an operating engine as shown in FIG. 4 therein. The data storage management unit 31a is responsible for storing the data received by forming rows in a state in which print data is mixed with each other from a plurality of user computers 20 in different data input buffers for each same print data file. The print data reception end detection unit 31b detects whether the reception of data in units of print data files is completed for each print data file with respect to the print data stored in each data input buffer 37a by the data storage management unit 31a. Then, if there is a print data file that has been received, a reception completion signal is output to the print data conversion unit 31c. When the print job processing sequence is selected to perform a print job first on a print data file that has been received first, the print data conversion unit 31c converts the received print data file into image data suitable for driving the print engine 32 , output to the print engine 32 . According to this print processing method, when a plurality of users simultaneously transmit print data to the network printer 30 , a user with a relatively small data capacity of the print data file receives data to the network printer 30 . Due to its fast completion time, it is prioritized for print jobs.

On the other hand, with respect to the print processing method, in addition to the method of first processing the print data file that has been received first as described above, the file that is received first, that is, the print data file that starts accessing the network printer 30 first. First, the user may be able to select that the order of the print data file is determined by the method of performing the print job. To this end, an operation key (not shown) is provided in the input device 35 for selecting either a first-in, first-out method or a method for processing a print data file that has been received first, and the controller 31 performs print processing. As for the method, the received print data may be processed according to a method selected through operation of the operation key.

On the other hand, the controller 31 may limit the number of users who can transmit print data at once through the network interface device 36 to the set number of storage areas, that is, the set number of data input buffers 37a. As described above, the limitation on the number of users who can simultaneously transmit print data is appropriate in consideration of the print processing speed of the print engine 32 and the number of users using the network printer 30 and the storage capacity of the memory device 37 . you just have to decide

In the case of the wet electrophotographic method, the print engine 32 includes a light scanning device for forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the received image data on a photosensitive medium, and a liquid developer for developing the image by supplying a liquid developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive medium. It has a developing unit, a transfer device for transferring an image formed on the photosensitive medium to a fed sheet, and a discharge device for discharging the transferred paper to an indicated discharge box.

Specifically, when print data is received by being mixed with each other from a plurality of user computers 20, the same print data files are classified for each sender, that is, user computers 20, and different data input buffers ( 37a) (step 100).

In step 110, while monitoring whether the reception of one file of the classified and stored print data has been completed, a print job priority is determined so as to perform the print job on the print data files in the order in which the reception is completed first. Then, according to the determined work order, the print data file, which is received first with the highest priority, is converted into image data and output to the print engine 32 . The print engine 32 prints an image corresponding to the received image data on paper (step 120).

When the print operation of the print engine 32 for the image data of the highest priority is completed, the controller 31 adjusts the priority of the print data file having the next priority to the highest priority, and converts the print data file with the highest priority to the image data. converted and output to the print engine 32 . The print processing process of the controller 31 is converted into continuous image data for the received print data files according to the print processing priority determined according to the order in which the reception is first completed, and the converted image data is converted into the print engine 32 ) to perform the output process.

On the other hand, even if the printouts are processed in the order of the smallest document data capacity, when a print command is received for each user with a similar document data capacity, the corresponding outputs are output in the received order, so there is a problem in that the outputs are mixed.

To this end, grouping is performed for each user and output, and a timer capable of processing a print command by dividing a predetermined time is provided to solve the problem of monopolizing and using a user with a small number of pages. That is, it is a method of processing printing by giving priority to each user for a certain period of time.

Specifically, it receives a plurality of print commands from multiple users, and gives priority so that the print command with the smallest number of pages of the document can be output when the users of the print commands are all different based on a predetermined time interval among the received print commands. do. If the same user exists among users of the print commands, a print command group for each user is created so that the print commands of the same user can be continuously output.

Then, the total number of pages to be output of the print command is added up for each generated print command group for each user, and a priority is given to the print command group for each user so that the print command group for each user with the smallest total number of pages can be outputted. Then, the print commands are processed according to the given priority to output the document.

It also has a setting input and an interface that allows the user to set the timer freely. And to solve the problem of being pushed to the priority due to the slight difference in the number of pages, it is possible to create a group for each page (eg, page group A:1-10, B:10-40). Then, the priority is applied according to the group for each page and output, and for the same page group, the print command is output in the order in which it is received without processing the priority.

As described so far, according to the network printer according to the present invention, a plurality of users do not have to wait for print data to be transmitted to the printer, and a print job processing priority is given to a print data file that has been received first, and each user is printed. By separating commands, the efficiency of printer usage can be improved.

Claims (1)

In the print processing method of a network common printer connected and used by a plurality of user computers and networks,
receiving a plurality of print commands from multiple users;
Among the received print commands, if the users of the print commands are all different based on a certain time interval, the step of giving priority so that the print command with the smallest number of pages of the document can be outputted or the print commands according to the preset number of pages grading and giving priority to the graded print commands;
generating a print command group for each user so that print commands of the same user can be continuously output when the same user exists among users of the print commands based on a predetermined time interval among the received print commands;
adding up the total number of pages to be output of the print command for each generated print command group for each user, and assigning priority to the print command group for each user so that the print command group for each user can be outputted from the print command group for each user with a small total number of pages;
outputting a document by processing print commands according to the assigned priority;
A print processing method of a network public printer characterized by