TWI423116B - Teamwork printing system and method - Google Patents

Description

Cluster printing system and method

The present invention relates to a multi-device cooperative working system and method, and more particularly to a cluster printing system and method.

At present, printers have become an indispensable tool for our lives and work. The printing process of the traditional printing system mainly includes the following steps: the user transfers the printing data to the printing server; the printing server adds the printing data to the printer task queue; the printer prints the data. With the increase in printing requirements, demand units often purchase multiple printing equipment, thus forming a number of such processes, to a certain extent, to solve the problem of large print workload and slow speed, but the above process still exists. Inadequacies: First, the lack of priority mechanism, the flexibility is poor: for example, a printer is printing the salary list of thousands of employees, and at this time an important document urgently needs to be printed, but the print request is sent to the printer After that, you still need to wait for the payroll to be printed before printing. Second, the single-process operation is slow, and it is easy to cause the resources to be idle. Since each printer performs its own independent process and is irrelevant, there are often multiple printers in existence. Idle state, but a certain printer is in working condition for a long time; Third, lack of abnormal handling mechanism, can not flexibly handle some unexpected situations in the printing process: when a printer is out of paper, carbon The printer can only stop processing print jobs when there is insufficient powder or other malfunctions, and other printers that can work normally may Is in an idle state.

In view of the above, it is necessary to provide a cluster printing system and method, which can realize multiple printing devices to work together to avoid printing idle resources and improve printing efficiency.

The present invention provides a cluster printing system that includes a server that is coupled to at least one client computer and a plurality of printers. The server comprises: a printer group division module for assigning a corresponding printer group to the client computer; a print file splitting module for selecting a file splitting condition and according to the selected file The splitting condition splits each printed file sent by the client computer into multiple task blocks; the priority setting module is used to set the priority order of each printed file; and the task distribution module is printed according to the setting. The priority order is to add the task blocks obtained by splitting the printed files to the total task queue of the corresponding printer group; the monitoring module is used for monitoring whether the printers in the printer group are working normally; And printing the task distribution module, and also for distributing the task blocks to the printers in the corresponding printer group in the order of arrangement in the corresponding printer group total task queue.

The present invention also provides a cluster printing method, the method comprising the steps of: (A) assigning a corresponding printer group to a client computer; (B) receiving a print file sent by a client computer; (C) selecting Splitting the conditions and splitting the received print files into task blocks according to the selected splitting conditions; (D) setting the priority order of the printed files; (E) splitting the printed files according to the set priority order The obtained task block is added to the total task queue of the corresponding printer group; (F) monitoring whether each printer in the printer group is working normally; and (G) pressing the task block according to the corresponding print The order in the total task queue of the watch group is distributed to the printers in the corresponding printer group.

Compared with the prior art, the cluster printing system and method provided by the invention can realize the collaborative work of the printing device and improve the printing efficiency without increasing the cost of the existing equipment.

10‧‧‧Customer computer

20‧‧‧Server

30‧‧‧Printer

210‧‧‧Printer group division module

220‧‧‧Printing file splitting module

230‧‧‧Priority setting module

240‧‧‧Monitoring module

250‧‧‧Printing task distribution module

260‧‧‧ display module

1 is a hardware architecture diagram of a preferred embodiment of the cluster printing system of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the server in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the user and the corresponding printer group.

4 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the cluster printing method of the present invention.

1 is a hardware architecture diagram of a preferred embodiment of the cluster printing system of the present invention. The system includes a plurality of client computers 10 and a plurality of printers 30 coupled to a server 20. The client computer 10 sends the print file to the server 20. After receiving the print file, the server 20 splits the print file to obtain a series of task blocks, and adds the task block to the total task according to the priority order set by the user. The columns are then distributed to the respective printers 30 of the respective printer group in accordance with the order of the task blocks in the total task queue to perform the printing operation.

As shown in FIG. 2, it is a functional module diagram of the server 20. The server 20 includes a printer group division module 210, a print file splitting module 220, a priority order setting module 230, a monitoring module 240, a print task distribution module 250, and a display module 260.

The printer group division module 210 is used for an administrator to allocate a printer group that can be used by different users, and to set a preset value of each printer in the assigned printer group in a busy state. The preset value refers to the number of task blocks in the task queue when the printer is in a busy state. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer group division module 210 allocates department 1 Users can use printer group 1 (including printers A, B, C), printer group division module 210 assigns department 2 users can use printer group 2 (including printer D , E, F). The principle of distribution can take into account the proximity of the location of the printer to the location of the department.

The printer group division module 210 is also used for the user to further select a printer that shares the printing task among the assigned printer groups. When the number of printers in a printer group is large, and the print task requested by the user is not very large, the user may not need all the printers in the printer group to perform the printing task in cooperation. The user can select one or more printers in the printer group to perform the printing task as needed. For example, the user a in the department 1 selects the printers A and B in the printer group 1. User b selects printers B and C in printer group 1 to execute the print job. If the user does not make further selections, the printer group division module 210 defaults that the user selects all the printers in the corresponding printer group to execute the requested printing task, for example, if the user in department 2 is requesting to print When the task is not further selected, the printer group division module 210 defaults the user in the department 2 to select the printers D, E, and F in the printer group 2 to perform the printing task in cooperation.

The print file splitting module 220 is configured to provide file splitting conditions for the user to select, and split the received print file into multiple task blocks according to the file splitting condition selected by the user, and the file splitting condition may be a page break symbol. For units, it can also be divided into sections or other symbols. For example, a print file FILE1 sent by user a has 30 pages, and a print file FILE2 sent by user b has 40 pages. If every 10 pages is a section, when the user chooses to use the section symbol as the file split condition, FILE1 can be divided into three task blocks FILE1.1, FILE1.2, FILE1.3, and FILE2 is divided into four task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, FILE2.4.

The priority setting module 230 is used for the user to set the priority order of the printing file. For example, the user can set the printing file to the first level, the second level or the third level according to the urgency of the printing file.

The print task distribution module 250 is configured to add the task blocks obtained by splitting the print files according to the priority order set by the user to the total task queue of the corresponding printer group. The higher the print file level, the higher the position in the total task queue of the printer group. For example, the user a and the user b in the department 1 issue a print request to the printer group 1, and the user a and the user b respectively set the priority order of the print files File1 and File2 to the second level and the first level, because the user b The file level of the print is higher than the print task of the user a. Therefore, the task block FILE1.1, FILE1.2, and FILE1.3 obtained by the user A transfer the file File1 are in the printer group 1 In the total task queue, after the task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, and FILE2.4 obtained after the split file File2 transmitted by the user b is obtained.

The monitoring module 240 is configured to monitor whether the printers in the printer group are working normally, and monitor the number of task blocks in the task queue of the normal working printer.

The printing task distribution module 250 is further configured to distribute the task blocks to the corresponding printing group of the printer group according to the order of the monitoring in the total task queue of the corresponding printer group according to the monitoring result of the monitoring module 240. Table machine. For example, when the monitoring module 240 monitors that the printers A, B, and C in the printer group 1 are working normally, and the number of task blocks in the task queue of the printers A, B, and C does not exceed the servo. The device 20 determines that the printer is in a busy state, for example, 4, and the print task distribution module 250 splits the print file File2 to obtain the task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, FILE2. .4 is distributed to the printers B and C in the order of arrangement, and the task blocks FILE1.1, FILE1.2, and FILE1.3 obtained by splitting the print file File1 are distributed to the printers A and B in the order of arrangement. Such as If the printer selected by the user is in a busy state, the print task distribution module 250 preferentially distributes the task block to other non-busy printers that share the print job, and the module to be monitored 240 monitors the result. When the printer ends the busy state, the print job distribution module 250 continues to distribute the print job to the printer.

The print task distribution module 250 is further configured to timely recover the total task of the task block in the printer task queue to the corresponding printer group when the monitoring module 240 detects that a certain printer has failed. The column is re-distributed. For example, when the monitoring module 240 monitors that the printer A is out of paper or the toner is insufficient, the print task distribution module 250 recycles the task block in the task queue of the printer A, and re-creates the recovered task block. Distribute to other printers that share the printing task.

The display module 260 is configured to display task distribution information, such as FILE2.1, FILE2.3 distributed to the printer B, FILE2.2, FILE2.4 distributed to the printer C, and the like.

4 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the cluster printing method of the present invention. First, in step S101, the administrator of the server 20 distributes the printer groups that can be used by different users through the printer group division module 210, and sets the printers in the assigned printer group to be busy. The default value of the status. The preset value refers to the number of task blocks in the task queue when the printer is in a busy state. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer group division module 210 assigns the user of the department 1 to use the printer group 1 (including the printers A, B, C), and the printer group division module 210 allocates Users of department 2 can use printer group 2 (including printers D, E, F).

In step S102, the user further selects the printers that share the printing task in the printer group that can be used by the printer group division module 210. For example, user a in department 1 selects printers A and B in printer group 1, and user b selects printers B and C in printer group 1 to perform print jobs. In other embodiments, Step S102 may be omitted, that is, the user does not make further selection, and the printer group division module 210 defaults that the user selects all the printers in the corresponding printer group to execute the print job of the request, for example, the user in the department 2 When no further selection is requested at the time of requesting the print job, the printer group division module 210 defaults the user in the department 2 to select the printers D, E, and F in the printer group 2 to perform the printing task in cooperation. .

In step S103, the user sends a print file to the printer group that can be used by the server 20, and requests the printer group to execute the print job.

In step S104, the print file splitting module 220 provides the file splitting condition for the user to select, and splits the received print file into task blocks according to the file splitting condition selected by the user. The file splitting condition may be in units of pages, or may be divided into sections or other signs. For example, a print file FILE1 sent by user a has 30 pages, and a print file FILE2 sent by user b has 40 pages. If every 10 pages is a section, when the user chooses to use the section symbol as the split condition, Split FILE1 into 3 task blocks FILE1.1, FILE1.2, FILE1.3, and split FILE2 into 4 task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, FILE2.4.

In step S105, the user sets the priority order of the print file through the priority order setting module 230. For example, the user can set the print file to the first level, the second level or the third level according to the urgency of the print file. It should be noted that the order of step S104 and step S105 can be interchanged.

In step S106, the print job distribution module 250 adds the task block obtained by splitting the print file to the total task queue of the corresponding printer group according to the priority order set by the user. The higher the level of the printed file, the higher the position of the task block obtained after the split is in the total task queue of the printer group. For example, user a and user b in department 1 issue a print request to printer group 1, and user a and user b respectively set their prints. The priority order of the files File1 and File2 is Level 2 and Level 1. Since the File2 level of the printed file of the user b is higher than the file File1 of the user a, the task block obtained by the user A transfers the file File1 after splitting. FILE1.1, FILE1.2, FILE1.3 are in the total task queue of the printer group 1 in the task block FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2 obtained after the user-transfered file File2 is split. 3, after FILE2.4.

In step S107, the monitoring module 240 monitors the current status of each printer in the printer group.

In step S108, the monitoring module 240 determines whether the printers in the printer group are working normally. If the printer in the printer group does not work normally, the process proceeds to step S109 for the printer that is not working normally, and the print task distribution module 250 lists the tasks of the printer. The task block is recycled, and the process returns to step S106. The print task distribution module 250 adds the file to the corresponding position of the total task queue of the printer group according to the priority order of the printed files corresponding to the recovered task block, and continues to monitor. The printer status. For example, if the monitoring module 240 detects that the printer A in the printer group 1 is not working properly, the task queue of the printer A has the task blocks task.1 and task.2, and the priority order is three. Level, the print task distribution module 250 recycles the task blocks task.1 and task.2 in the task queue of the printer A, and adds them to the total task queue of the printer group 1 to queue for distribution. After the three-level task, the tasks.1 and task.2 are redistributed according to the settings of their corresponding users, and the status of the printer A is monitored at the same time.

In step S108, if the monitoring module 240 monitors the printer in the printer group to operate normally, for example, the printers B and C are in a normal working state. Then, for entering the printers B and C, the process proceeds to step S110, and the monitoring module 240 checks the printers for normal work. The number of task blocks currently in the task queue.

In step S111, the monitoring module 240 determines whether the current number of task blocks in the task queue of each printer that is working normally is greater than a preset value that the server 20 determines that the printer is in a busy state, for example, 4. If the number of current task blocks in the task queue of a working printer is greater than the preset value that the server 20 determines that the printer is busy, the print task distribution module 250 temporarily not distributes to the printer. The new task block returns to step S107, and the monitoring module 240 continues to monitor the printer in a busy state.

In other embodiments, step S110 and step S111 may not be included, and step S112 is directly proceeded from step S108.

In step S111, if the monitoring module 240 determines that the current task block in the task queue of the printer having normal operation is less than or equal to the preset value that the server 20 determines that the printer is in a busy state, it is normal. When the working printer is in a non-busy state, the process proceeds to step S112, and the print task distribution module 250 assigns the task block obtained by splitting the print file to the corresponding printer. For example, if the printers B and C are in a normal working state and the task blocks in the task queue are both 0, the print task distribution module 250 will move the new task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, FILE 2.4 is distributed to printer B and printer C in sequence. If the printer A still fails to work normally, the print task distribution module 250 will move the task blocks FILE1.1, FILE1 after the task blocks FILE2.1, FILE2.2, FILE2.3, and FILE2.4 are distributed. 2. FILE1.3 is distributed to printer B.

In step S113, the display module 260 displays the task distribution information, for example, FILE2.1, FILE2.3 is distributed to the printer B, and FILE2.2, FILE2.4 is distributed to the printer C.

At step S114, the printer that received the task block performs a printing operation.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are only intended to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to be limiting, and the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof The technical solutions are modified or equivalently substituted without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

20‧‧‧Server

210‧‧‧Printer group division module

220‧‧‧Printing file splitting module

230‧‧‧Priority setting module

240‧‧‧Monitoring module

250‧‧‧Printing task distribution module

260‧‧‧ display module

Claims (10)

A cluster printing system, the system comprising a server, the server is connected to at least one user computer and a plurality of printers, the server comprises: a printer group division module, configured for The client computer allocates the corresponding printer group; the print file splitting module is used to select the file splitting condition, and split the printed files sent by the client computer according to the selected file splitting condition. a task block; a priority setting module for setting a priority order of each print file; a print task distribution module for adding a task block obtained by splitting each print file according to a set priority order The total task queue of the printer group; the monitoring module is used to monitor whether the printers in the printer group are working normally; and the task distribution module is also printed, and the task block is also used to follow the task block. They are distributed to the printers in the corresponding printer group in the order in which they are arranged in the corresponding task group of the printer group. The cluster printing system of claim 1, wherein the printer group division module is further configured to select a printer that shares the printing task from the printer group. The cluster printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing task distribution module is further configured to: when the monitoring module monitors that the printer in the printer group is not working properly, the recycling is performed. The task block in the inoperative printer task queue is re-distributed to the total task queue of the printer group. The cluster printing system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a display module for displaying the printed file distribution information. The cluster printing system according to claim 1, wherein the file splitting condition is in units of page breaks or in units of section symbols. A cluster printing method, the method comprising the following steps: Assigning a corresponding printer group to the client computer; receiving the print file sent by the client computer; selecting the split condition, and splitting the received print file into task blocks according to the selected split condition; setting the column Prioritize the printed files; add the task blocks obtained by splitting the printed files to the total task queue of the corresponding printer group according to the priority order of the settings; monitor whether the printers in the printer group are normal Working; and distributing the task blocks to the printers in the corresponding printer group in the order in which they are arranged in the corresponding column of the corresponding printer group. The method of group printing according to claim 6, wherein before the step of receiving the printed file sent by the user computer, the method further comprises the steps of: selecting a printer that shares the printing task from the printer group; . The cluster printing method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of monitoring whether each printer in the printer group is working normally, the method further comprises the steps of: recycling the task of the printer that cannot work normally. The task block in the middle reaches the total task queue of the corresponding printer group and re-distributes it. The method of group printing according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step of: displaying the printed file distribution information. The cluster printing method according to claim 6, wherein the splitting condition is in units of page breaks or in units of section symbols.