WO1996039656A1 - Architecture pour systemes d'impression de reseau - Google Patents

Architecture pour systemes d'impression de reseau Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1996039656A1
WO1996039656A1 PCT/US1996/008491 US9608491W WO9639656A1 WO 1996039656 A1 WO1996039656 A1 WO 1996039656A1 US 9608491 W US9608491 W US 9608491W WO 9639656 A1 WO9639656 A1 WO 9639656A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
idp
ports
network
protocol
printer
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1996/008491
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Ted W. Walker
Paul E. Reilly
Original Assignee
Apple Computer, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US08/470,962 external-priority patent/US5787237A/en
Application filed by Apple Computer, Inc. filed Critical Apple Computer, Inc.
Priority to AU62516/96A priority Critical patent/AU6251696A/en
Publication of WO1996039656A1 publication Critical patent/WO1996039656A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
    • G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
    • G06F3/1202—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to achieve a particular effect
    • G06F3/1203—Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
    • G06F3/1204—Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
    • G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
    • G06F3/1223—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to use a particular technique
    • G06F3/1236—Connection management
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
    • G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
    • G06F3/1278—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to adopt a particular infrastructure
    • G06F3/1285—Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/327—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the session layer [OSI layer 5]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/26—Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures

Definitions

  • the present invention is related to an architecture for a network printing system.
  • the demands on the network printers also increase.
  • One of the most challenging demands in the implementation of network printers is connectivity.
  • the network printer is a stand-alone peripheral device which is desired to perform in an increasing number of network and non-network communication environments.
  • the printer is desired to provide "seamless plug and play" connectivity for the continuous expansion of network service protocol/ports.
  • known network service protocol /ports that are desired to communicate with network printers are: printer access protocol (PAP)/LocalTalk (LT); PAP/EtherTalk (ET); transmission control protocol /internet protocol (TCP/LP); TCP/IP port 9100; LPR/TCP/IP; Novell remote printer or print server modes; bidirectional or unidirectional Centronics; AppleTalk Data Stream Protocol (ADSP)/EtherTalk; ADSP/LocalTalk; and Novell sequence packet exchange (SPX).
  • PAP printer access protocol
  • LT printer access protocol
  • PAP/EtherTalk EtherTalk
  • TCP/LP Transmission control protocol /internet protocol
  • TCP/IP port 9100 LPR/TCP/IP
  • Novell remote printer or print server modes bidirectional or unidirectional Centronics
  • ADSP AppleTalk Data Stream Protocol
  • ADSP AppleTalk Data Stream Protocol
  • ADSP Novell sequence packet exchange
  • SPX Novell sequence packet exchange
  • a printer is a peripheral device that can be shared on a network connected to a print server. Also, a printer can directly connect to the network by including a network interface card or the network interface into the printer which allows the printer to run its own print server software and function as a regular node.
  • the network printer is a one-way printer. In a one-way printer, the only communication path is from the host computer to the printer. As a result, the data is sent from the host computer to the printer without any ability for the printer to notify the host computer of the job status such as whether the print job has been successfully completed.
  • PAP page description language
  • FIG. 1 illustrates the use of a conventional shared resource printer in a network.
  • a plurality of host computers lo, ll,—ln arid a printer 5 are connected in a network.
  • the printer 5 includes a disk 6 connected internally or externally to the printer 5 for storing the print jobs sent from the host computers l ⁇ ..n before being printed by the printer 5.
  • the host computer that first sends a print job to the network printer will have its job printed.
  • Other host computers attempting to have a print job printed by the network printer while another job is being printed will not be able to access the network printer. Therefore, these host computers will repeatedly try to access the network printer during a timing scheme until the network printer becomes available.
  • the speed of the network will be reduced by the network traffic due to the continuous polling of the host computers to the network printer during the time that the network printer is unavailable.
  • This polling process is undesirable since a host computer will gain access to the printer, with only limited and possibly inexact arbitration after the print job is completed if a number of host computers are attempting to gain access while the printer is busy.
  • print servers provided access to the network printers and ran the programs necessary to create and operate a print queue for jobs sent to the printers from the host computers.
  • the print queue is a directory that stores into the disk 6 the print jobs waiting to be printed.
  • the print jobs are then printed from the print queue in a FIFO sequence.
  • the print servers require storing the job request and entire job data by spooling this data to the disk 6. Depending on the job size, millions of bytes of data may be spooled to the disk and therefore a large sized disk is necessary.
  • the disk capacity for storing print jobs may be exceeded when a number of host computers send print jobs to the printer at approximately the same time.
  • a back up procedure will be implemented where the printer will be polled every two seconds until space in the disk becomes available in a similar manner as in the shared resource printer.
  • Print servers and a printer may be combined in the same machine on many networks for economical reasons.
  • the main advantage for combining the printer and print servers is that files do not need to be sent from the host computer to the print server machine and then from there to the printer in such a configuration.
  • the disadvantage of combining the printer and print servers is that the required control for the print queue and the printing activity takes away CPU time from other network activity. In either case, a disk is required to store the data for the entire print job and since the print job is sent from the host computer, spooled to a disk and then transmitted to the network printer when the printer becomes available, unnecessary network activity results.
  • the present invention provides printing systems in accordance with independent claims 1 and 19, methods in accordance with independent claims 5, 15, 23, an architecture in accordance with independent claim 9, a printer in accordance with independent claim 14, and a computer readable medium in accordance with independent claim 18. Further advantageous features, aspects and details of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims, the following description and the drawings. The claims are to be understood as a first non-limiting approach of defining the invention in general terms.
  • the architecture provides an imaging device protocol (IDP) and an IDP emulator which enable a wide variety of network services to uniformly interface with the printer.
  • IDP imaging device protocol
  • the layered architecture allows the uniform interface to the plurality of network services, which are both IDP and non-IDP services, and also permits new protocol /ports to be easily extended and integrated.
  • the layered architecture allows the network printer to achieve a "seamless plug and play" connectivity for the variety of protocol /ports.
  • the layers of the architecture are divided so that each layer provides a normalized interface to the layers above until the top layer of abstraction is reached in which all protocol/ports of network services interact in the same way.
  • a client server connection protocol facilitates the client/server connections by allowing CSCP clients to request passive or active connections for specific services on a specific node and then the negotiation of port/sockets takes place over a CSCP control stream.
  • a dynamic port negotiation of the CSCP facilitates concurrency for server applications with a hierarchal structure of routines (a CSCP stack) by off-loading the port negotiation that would otherwise have to take place by the server and its clients.
  • CSCP also provides the capability for a server to reconnect to a previously connected client.
  • a printer may call back and initiate a connection with a host computer through CSCP.
  • CSCP allows printers and the host computers to interact in a symmetrical client/server model wherein either side may act as a server or a client in contrast to conventional printer implementations where only the host could initiate connections to the printer in such a symmetrical model.
  • Figure 1 illustrates a network using a conventional printing system
  • Figure 2 illustrates the layers of a network architecture for an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed representation of the network architecture for an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 4 illustrates a process for enabling connections between clients and a printer in an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 5 illustrates a process for enabling connections between non-IDP clients and a printer for an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 6 illustrates the network configuration of a printing system for an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 7 illustrates a control connection of a host initiated client /server sequence used for a client /server dialogue in an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 8 illustrates a new control connection of a host initiated client/server sequence used for a client/server dialogue in an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 provides an illustration of the layers of a network architecture in an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Each of these layers provides a normalized interface with the lower layers and their relationship will be described from the lower layers, which interact with the clients, to the upper layers where all of the protocols/ports interact with the printer in essentially the same way.
  • the interfacing of these layers may be implemented in one or more static memory devices, such as a ROM, which is installed within the network printer.
  • non- imaging device protocol (IDP) network managers 10 control network ports that communicate with protocols other than IDP. Examples of some non-IDP protocols are: PAP/LocalTalk (LT), PAP/EtherTalk (ET), TCP/IP port 9100, LPR/TCP/LP, Novell remote printer or print server modes and bidirectional or unidirectional Centronics.
  • the non- IDP network managers 10 support these protocols to be backward compatible with existing communication protocols.
  • the non-IDP clients cannot access all of the enhanced IDP features in the upper layers, which will be described in more detail, but these non-IDP clients will be able to enter the print queue for processing and will be fairly arbitrated with other print jobs from IDP clients.
  • IDP network managers 30 provide an interface for IDP protocol/ports.
  • protocol /ports that are presently configured for IDP mode communication include ADSP/EtherTalk, ADSP/LocalTalk, SPX (Novell), TCP/IP and bi-directional Centronics. These protocol /ports are able to communicate with all of the IDP features which enhance the two-way communication between the host computers and the network printer.
  • the interface of the IDP network managers with these IDP protocol/ports is preferably accomplished with a modified version of the Berkeley socket interface.
  • the Berkeley socket interface is a socket standard implemented in
  • the conventional Berkeley socket interface has the following major calls: a socket call for creating a socket; a bind call for binding a socket to an end point of a known protocol/port; a listen call for placing a socket bound to a known port in a passive mode; an accept call for accepting incoming connections from a passive socket; a connect call for opening active connections to remote endpoints; a read call for reading data from existing connections; a write call for writing data to existing connections; and a close call for closing existing connections.
  • the Berkeley socket interface has simplified the major calls to a passive open call for combining the functionality of the conventional socket, bind, and listen commands, and an active open call for combining the functionality of the conventional socket and connect calls.
  • the conventional accept, read, write and close calls have simply been renamed for the modified version of the Berkeley socket interface in the present embodiment.
  • a parallel port manager 20 provides both a non-IDP UNIX I/O interface and an IDP capable socket interface.
  • the parallel port manager 20 is designed to support a host computer port which alternates between using IDP and non-IDP drivers /utilities to interact with the network printer.
  • An example of such a port is a bi-directional Centronics port.
  • IDP mode communication over Centronics ports should take place using a session /transport /network layer protocol.
  • One example of such a session/transport/network layer protocol is a socket simulation protocol (SSP) for allowing the Centronics port to be used in the same way as other network ports.
  • SSP socket simulation protocol
  • the parallel port manager 20 is able to automatically sense the transitions between SSP and non-SSP data over Centronics ports.
  • An IDP emulator 40 enables connections over non-IDP ports so that the upper layers may uniformly interface with both IDP and non-IDP clients.
  • the IDP emulator 40 monitors connection requests on all non-IDP protocol/ports from the non-IDP network managers 10 and the parallel port manager 20 and emulates IDP requests as the connection requests are received.
  • the IDP emulator 40 builds an IDP print job request message.
  • the IDP emulator 40 ensures that print jobs from non-IDP protocol /ports are arbitrated fairly.
  • the IDP emulator 40 allows non-IDP print jobs to be queued with IDP print jobs so that all of the print jobs may be processed in the order from which the connection attempts were received.
  • a socket services layer 50 is the interface component to all socket interface I/O managers. Sockets are general purpose interprocess communication mechanisms which are logical entities through which programs or processes communicate with the network. Sockets are typically supported in libraries by UNIX implementations for operating systems such as DOS or OS/2 and for network operating systems such as Novell's netware and AppleTalk.
  • a socket interface is a set of functions associated with a particular network node and when a client interfaces with the socket, information and network services may be requested and received.
  • the connection services layer 60 includes a client server connection protocol (CSCP) library which includes a hierarchal structure of routines (a CSCP stack).
  • CSCP is a symmetric protocol that facilitates connection between servers and clients over connection-based stream-oriented protocols such as ADSP, TCP and SPX.
  • CSCP resides in the presentation layer of the OSI seven- layer model for interfacing with one or more session level protocols.
  • CSCP facilitates client and server connections by allowing clients of CSCP stacks to request passive or active connections for specific services on a specific node and specifies the service using an alpha-numeric string.
  • Server applications, such as IDP will minimally open a passive connection through the CSCP stack which specifies the service provided with a service specifier string.
  • Clients of the server open an active connection through CSCP by specifying an identical service specifier string.
  • CSCP implementations on the client and server nodes then negotiate the ports or sockets over which the client /server connection will take place, establish the connection, and return to their clients. Once the client/server connection is achieved, CSCP functions are completed.
  • IDP uses the reconnection mechanism to implement remote queuing features, to subsequently request job data, and to send asynchronous status updates to clients which support IDP. More particularly, IDP only stores the job data request at the printer when the printer is busy printing another job, and the actual job data will remain locally at the host computer. Thereafter, the network printer will call back the host computer which corresponds to the first job data request queued in the print queue after the current print job is completed.
  • the negotiation of port/sockets takes place over a CSCP control stream.
  • the CSCP implementation on the client side opens a control connection to the CSCP control port on the server's node.
  • the control port may either be a known port of a port previously specified in a CSCP transaction. Once the control connection is established, port negotiation takes place, and the control connection is either closed or used as the client/server connection.
  • a CSCP implementation may or may not accept more than one concurrent control connection, depending on the nature of the services it enables, and expected usage of those services.
  • FIGs 7 and 8 illustrate examples of host initiated client/server sequences for embodiments of the present invention.
  • a control connection used for a client/server dialogue is illustrated.
  • a new connection for a client /server dialogue is illustrated.
  • a header of data commonly includes protocol or revision data, packet length data, request sequence number data, message data, and message class data.
  • the protocol revision data enables CSCP implementations to recognize and handle previous protocol revisions from other nodes when the protocol is revised.
  • the packet length data defines the length of the entire CSCP packet.
  • the request sequence number data is defined and incremented by a CSCP implementation when a request is made and is echoed in response to the request. Thereby, CSCP implementations are able to identify responses to multiple pending requests made to other nodes.
  • the message data contains one of a plurality of message codes and a message class data contains CSCP request, CSCP response, or CSCP unsolicited commands.
  • the CSCP request indicates that a request has been made
  • the CSCP response command indicates that the packet is a response to a request
  • the CSCP unsolicited command indicates if the packet is providing unsolicited information.
  • a CSCP request service port message is an example of message data that may be included in the CSCP packet.
  • the CSCP request service port message is in the CSCP request class and is used to initiate port negotiation when the CSCP implementation receives an active connected request from a client.
  • An option code is included within this message that specifies the action to take if the specified server is not immediately available. If the specified service is not immediately available, the server CSCP implementation will return a CSCP wait for callback command and close the control connection but will reconnect to the client CSCP control port at a later time when the service becomes available. At this time, the server CSCP implementation will send a CSCP callback message to the client CSCP implementation.
  • CSCP request service port message is another message that may be included within the message data of the CSCP packet.
  • the CSCP request service port message is in the CSCP response class and is a response to the CSCP request service port message.
  • the specific data contains the response code. If the response code is CSCP service found, the message specific data will also contain the port/socket number, to which the requesting CSCP implementation should connect for the specified service. If the response code contains CSCP current connection, the current control connection will be used for the client/server connection.
  • a response of CSCP unknown service will be returned if no matching service is found and a response of CSCP wait for callback will be returned when the CSCP callback when available option is used in the request and no matching service is immediately found.
  • the CSCP client should close the connection and wait for a callback message from the server.
  • a message that may be included within the message data of the CSCP packet is a CSCP callback message within the CSCP request class.
  • the CSCP callback message is sent by a CSCP server to a CSCP client to complete disposition of a previous service request that was pending with a CSCP wait for callback response.
  • the disposition code will either be CSCP service found or CSCP unknown service, if the CSCP server exceeds a predetermined time limit while waiting for a matching server application. If the disposition code is CSCP service found, the CSCP client should match the sequence number in the header to identify the original request and respond to the CSCP server.
  • a further example of a message contained within the message data of the CSCP packet is a CSCP callback message which is in the CSCP response class. If the disposition code in the request message is CSCP unknown service, the response code should be CSCP acknowledged. If the disposition code is CSCP service found, the response code should be either CSCP use current connection when the client/server dialogue is to take place on the concurrent connection, or CSCP use new port, when the CSCP client wants the client/ server dialogue to take place on a new connection. In the case for a new connection, the CSCP client executes a passive open and then passes the new port/socket number from that passive open to the CSCP server in the port /socket number parameter. The server subsequently connects to that port/socket for the client/server dialogue.
  • the system services layer 70 provides a uniform interface to all of the IDP and non-IDP network services.
  • the system services layer 70 is an interface which is an extension of the UNIX I/O interface. Examples of the functions performed by the system services layer 70 are: open; close; reconnect; read; write; swrite; and ioctl.
  • the swrite function is unique for the present embodiment. The swrite function enables a status description string to be passed to the I/O managers and the I/O managers may use or dispose of the status depending on the requirements of the protocol/port being managed.
  • the system services layer 70 also provides a buffered I/O layer for grouping read and write data into blocks of data which may be processed more efficiently. For example, buffers may be provided for 4K bytes of data. Thereby, the number of times that data is handed back and forth is reduced by eliminating the repeated processing of individual data and grouping the data in a larger block that may be easily processed.
  • the system services layer 70 interfaces with an IDP server 80 and a page description language (PDL) interpreter 90.
  • the IDP server 80 is an application layer network protocol for enhancing the two-way communication between a host computer and the network printer.
  • the IDP server 80 is independent of the network layers below and only requires that the transport be bidirectional.
  • the IDP server 80 allows access to shared information in the network printer and enables two-way communication between the network clients and the network printer to exist at an enhanced level.
  • Some of the enhanced two-way communication provided by the IDP server 80 includes reading and modifying system parameters, adding and removing fonts, submitting print jobs and manipulating the print queue.
  • the PDL interpreter 90 may be provided for supporting PostScript, for example. Additional PDL interpreters may be provided to support other languages as desired.
  • the presentation level data from non-IDP protocols /ports is assumed to be PDL data in the example configuration for the present embodiment.
  • the non-IDP network managers 10 and the parallel port managers 20 may be implemented with a UNIX standard I/O interface in a preferred embodiment.
  • the IDP emulator 40 then handles all of the non-IDP protocols/ports, provides a socket interface and emulates the CSCP/IDP interaction necessary to execute print job requests.
  • the structure includes protocol, command, result code, message byte length, and data fields.
  • IDP is a set of related protocols and the protocol suites are intended to map different cooperating servers that add value to a printing environment. A message can be initiated by either a host computer or the network printer.
  • IDP includes a core protocol, a print protocol, and a font protocol.
  • the core protocol contains commands that are common to all servers and are independent of their type. Printers may support the print protocol and font servers may support the font protocol. Common printers maintain fonts locally and therefore support part of the font protocol as well. As new type of servers are identified, additional protocols can be added to the suite of related protocols for IDP.
  • the protocol field indicates which protocol of the IDP suite that the message is intended for.
  • the command field indicates which command that the message corresponds to.
  • the result code is a result of the command that is ignored on request commands.
  • the message byte length field is the number of data bytes in the message.
  • the data field includes message specific data and parameters.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed example of the network services architecture for an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the non-IDP network managers 10 correspond to a PAP/ET manager 11, a PAP/LT manager 12, a Novell stream manager 13, a LPR manager 14, and a TCP port 9100 manager 15 in this example.
  • the parallel port manager 20 includes a Centronics manager 21, and the IDP network managers 30 include a TCP/IP manager 31, an ADSP manager 32, and a Novell socket manager 33 in this example.
  • the parallel port manager 20 also includes a Centronics autosense manager 22 for detecting between non-SSP and SSP data sent over the Centronics port, and a socket emulator 23 handles SSP communication.
  • the IDP emulator 40 directs the non-IDP data to the appropriate non-IDP network manager 10.
  • the connection services layer 60 is shown to include a connection manager 61 and a CSCP library 62 for providing the symmetric protocol that facilitates connection between servers and clients over connection-based stream-oriented protocols.
  • the system services layer 70 is connected to the connection manager 61.
  • the system services layer 70 provides interaction between the IDP server 80 and the PDL interpreter 90.
  • the IDP server 80 is shown in Figure 3 to include a print queue 82 and a job dispatcher 84.
  • the PDL interpreter 90 interacts with the IDP server 80 when the job dispatcher 84 dispatches a job from the print queue 82.
  • the information from the print queue 82 proceeds through the layers to connect with a client and obtain the actual print job data that will proceed from the client back up through the layers to the PDL interpreter 90 for printing at the network printer.
  • Figure 4 illustrates a process for enabling connections between IDP clients and the printer for an embodiment of the present invention.
  • an IDP host and IDP network manager opens a connection to a well known CSCP port.
  • the connection is received by the connection services layer 60 via the socket services layer 50 at step 602 and the IDP host sends a CSCP request service port request at step 604.
  • the connection services layer 60 receives the CSCP request at step 606 and a pending open from the IDP server 80 is received from the cormection services layer 60 via the system services layer 70 at step 608.
  • the IDP host issues a print job request to the IDP server 80 at step 610 and the IDP server 80 queues the print job in the print queue 82 at step 612 before closing the connection at step 614.
  • the system services layer 70 dequeues the print job request at step 616, and issues a reconnection request at step 618.
  • the connection services layer 60 issues an active open to the host via the socket services layer 50 and the I/O manager 30 at step 620.
  • the connection services layer 60 also sends a CSCP request service port to the host at step 622.
  • the connection services layer 60 returns from a reconnection request via the system services layer 70.
  • the system services layer 70 issues "a send job data" IDP request to the host at step 626 and then the systems services layer 70 sends the I/O stream to the PDL interpreter 90 at step 628.
  • the host sends and receives data to and from the PDL interpreter 90 at step 630 and the host closes the connection at 632 when the sending and receiving of data is completed.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a process for enabling connections between non-IDP clients and a printer in an embodiment of the present invention.
  • a host requests a connection and an I/O manager increments a pending connection count at step 703.
  • the IDP emulator 40 polls the I/O manager for the current pending connection at step 705 and the IDP emulator generates a CSCP request service port request at step 707.
  • the connection services layer 60 receives a CSCP request at step 709 and a pending open from the IDP server 80 is returned from the connection services 60 via the system services 70 at step 711.
  • the IDP emulator 40 then issues a print job request to the IDP server 80 at step 713 and the IDP server queues a print job at step 715.
  • the IDP emulator 40 then closes the connection to the IDP server 80 at step 717 before the system services 70 dequeues the print job request at step 719 and then issues a connection request at step 721.
  • the connection services layer 60 issues an active open call to the IDP emulator 40 via the socket services layer 50 at step 723 and sends a CSCP request service port to the IDP emulator 40 at step 725.
  • the connection services layer 60 returns from the reconnection request via the system services layer 70 at step 727 and then the system services layer 70 issues a "send job data" IDP request to the IDP emulator 40 at step 729.
  • the IDP emulator 40 opens a connection to the corresponding I/O manager at step 731 and the corresponding I/O manager accepts the open connection request from the host at step 733.
  • the system services layer 70 sends the I/O stream to the PDL interpreter 90 at step 735.
  • the host sends and receives data to and from the PDL interpreter 90 at step 737 before closing the connection to the host at step 739 when the sending and receiving of data is completed.
  • Figure 6 illustrates a network configuration of a printing system for an embodiment of the present invention.
  • a plurality of host computers 400o, 400 ⁇ , ...400 n and a printer 410 are connected in the network.
  • the printer 410 includes a ROM 412, a RAM 414, and a CPU 416.
  • the ROM 412 implements the layers of architecture for interfacing the host computers 400... n with the printer 410 in conjunction with the CPU 416. More than one ROM may be used to implement the layers of the architecture.
  • the RAM 414 is used to implement the print queue 82 in the present embodiment.
  • the print queue 82 contains job information for all of the print jobs that have an outstanding print request to the printer 410 for any of the host computers 400o..n on the network.
  • a print job request call is one example of the process for enabling communication with the print queue 82.
  • the host computer Prior to sending a print job with a print job request call, the host computer sends a print request and a job ID is returned by the printer. When the print request is accepted, the job information is placed in the print queue 82.
  • the parameters of the print job request call may include information about the print job and information for enabling the printer to notify the host computer when the job data can be accepted.
  • the printer may initiate a transmit job call which tells the host computer to start transmitting the print job to the printer.
  • the job information in the print queue 82 may include the job name, the estimated time to print, the document status, the number of pages in the document, the number of pages left to print, the image content, the user comment, the media, and the creator application.
  • the print job request call may provide this information and this information must be presented with the job in order to display the job information.
  • the print queue 82 may also be manipulated by an operator from a local or remote user interface. Examples of queue manipulation commands include interrupt, resume, delete and reorder. In addition, queue manipulation may allow a user to change the job priority and sorting algorithms. For instance, a job sorting algorithm may print all jobs requiring a particular media, such as transparencies first and then, by queue manipulation, the media may be changed and all print jobs needing the newly loaded media may be printed.
  • the print job request command comes from a host computer to request the transmission of a job to the printer.
  • a print job request command is accepted, the information for a print job is placed in the print queue and the job ID is returned.
  • the job ID is a unique numerical identifier for the print job and it could be used to reference print jobs and acquire further information and status.
  • the print job request command may involve a dialog between the host computer and the printer to negotiate the connection to send the print job data on.
  • the printer can elect to send back a result code on the response that gives the host computer an opportunity to send the print job data on the same connection that they are currently communicating over. If the host computer chooses not to use this communication channel to send the print job data, a normal transmit job command will be used to solicit the print job data by the printer.
  • a transmit job command is transmitted from the printer to inform the host computer to start transmitting the print job referred to by the job ID and an enumerate queue command is transmitted from the host computer and returns an ordered list of the jobs in the specified queue.
  • the enumerate queue command counts parameters in the print queue and count records are returned in the order that they are scheduled to be printed for the print queue in the order that they were printed for the job log.
  • a job record parameter may be included for estimating the time when the job will complete printing or the time that the job did complete.
  • a token parameter may be used to represent the state of the queue.
  • IDP provides an application layer network protocol that enhances the two way communication between a host computer and a network printer.
  • IDP operates independently of the network layers below it and only requires that the transport protocol /port be bidirectional.
  • a wide variety of heterogenous network protocols may be supported by IDP which places all of the incoming print job information in the print queue regardless of the protocol.
  • Print job information from both IDP and non-IDP protocol /ports may be placed in the print queue by emulating IDP on the non-IDP protocol /ports. By emulating IDP on the non-protocol /ports, every client will look like IDP clients to the printer and clients of non-IDP protocols will therefore be completely backward compatible.
  • non- IDP clients will not be able to use all of the enhanced features provided by IDP, a sufficient amount of information will provided from the non-IDP protocol/ports so that all of the jobs in the print queue will be able to be fairly arbitrated. For example, complete job name information will not be provided to the print queue for non-IDP clients and only information that a print job has been sent from a particular port will be entered in print queue. Thereby, print jobs from non-IDP clients may be entered in the print queue without having to store the actual print job data at the printer. Accordingly, the printing system for the embodiments of the present invention enable a wide variety of heterogenous network protocols to be fairly arbitrated at the printer.
  • the network printing system provide seamless plug and play connectivity for various IDP and non-IDP protocol/ports.
  • CSCP facilitates this connectivity by providing a symmetric protocol for connections between servers and clients over connection based-stream oriented protocol such as ADSP and TCP.
  • CSCP resides in the presentation layer of the OSI seven-layer model and interfaces with one or more session level protocols.
  • the dynamic port negotiation of CSCP facilitates concurrency for server applications by off-loading the port negotiation that would otherwise have to take place by the server and its clients.
  • CSCP also allows the printing system to be easily extended and integrated with new protocol /ports as they are developed and introduced.

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Abstract

L'invention se rapporte à un système d'impression qui permet d'améliorer les communications bidirectionnelles entre des ordinateurs centraux et des imprimantes reliés à un réseau. Le système d'impression de réseau comprend un protocole de dispositif d'imagerie (IDP) et un émulateur IDP qui permet à différents accès/protocoles de service du réseau pour les ordinateurs centraux d'entrer en communication avec l'imprimante. En outre, le système d'impression comprend un protocole de connexion client/serveur (CSCP) qui facilite la connectivité en établissant un protocole symétrique pour les connexions serveur/client, par l'intermédiaire de protocoles en mode orientés à flux basés sur les connexions tels que le protocole de flux de données AppleTalk (ADSP) et le protocole de commande de transmission (TCP). La négociation d'accès dynamique du CSCP simplifie la concurrence d'accès pour les applications de serveur en transférant la négociation d'accès qui devrait normalement être effectuée par le serveur et ses clients. Ainsi, l'IDP et l'émulateur d'IDP permettent à différents accès/protocoles de service du réseau, en accès IDP et non IDP, d'entrer en communication avec l'imprimante du réseau selon une connectivité en mode 'continu et près à l'emploi'. Les ordinateurs centraux demandent les services d'imprimante du réseau par l'intermédiaire du CSCP et de l'IDP lorsque ces protocoles sont assurés, et ils émulent des interactions CSCP/IDP lorsque les services de réseau n'assurent pas les protocoles CSCP/IDP, si bien que les demandes d'impression peuvent être traitées depuis la même file d'attente d'impression.
PCT/US1996/008491 1995-06-06 1996-06-03 Architecture pour systemes d'impression de reseau WO1996039656A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU62516/96A AU6251696A (en) 1995-06-06 1996-06-03 Architecture for network printing systems

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US47096995A 1995-06-06 1995-06-06
US47096195A 1995-06-06 1995-06-06
US08/470,969 1995-06-06
US08/470,962 1995-06-06
US08/470,961 1995-06-06
US08/470,962 US5787237A (en) 1995-06-06 1995-06-06 Uniform interface for conducting communications in a heterogeneous computing network

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Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0874306A2 (fr) * 1997-04-15 1998-10-28 Xerox Corporation Système d'impression dans un réseau
EP0917058A2 (fr) * 1997-11-07 1999-05-19 Xerox Corporation Interface plug and play dynamique pour dispositif de sortie
EP0923024A2 (fr) * 1997-12-11 1999-06-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Système d'impression et dispositif de transmission pour transmettre um programme de commande d'impression
WO2000058822A1 (fr) * 1999-03-30 2000-10-05 British Telecommunications Public Limited Company Appareil et procede d'impression dans un reseau
WO2001006345A1 (fr) * 1999-07-14 2001-01-25 Fargo Electronics, Inc. Imprimante de cartes d'identite avec client/serveur
DE10151735B4 (de) * 2000-10-24 2011-08-11 Hewlett-Packard Development Co., L.P., Tex. System und Verfahren zum Verbinden eines Webservers in einem Peripheriegerät mit einem Netzwerk durch einen Host

Citations (2)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0598511A2 (fr) * 1992-11-18 1994-05-25 Canon Information Systems, Inc. Méthode et appareil pour charger et exécuter à distance des fichiers dans une mémoire
EP0653700A1 (fr) * 1993-11-16 1995-05-17 Fujitsu Limited Dispositif d'imprimante de réseau

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0598511A2 (fr) * 1992-11-18 1994-05-25 Canon Information Systems, Inc. Méthode et appareil pour charger et exécuter à distance des fichiers dans une mémoire
EP0653700A1 (fr) * 1993-11-16 1995-05-17 Fujitsu Limited Dispositif d'imprimante de réseau

Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0874306A2 (fr) * 1997-04-15 1998-10-28 Xerox Corporation Système d'impression dans un réseau
EP0874306A3 (fr) * 1997-04-15 2001-08-16 Xerox Corporation Système d'impression dans un réseau
EP0917058A2 (fr) * 1997-11-07 1999-05-19 Xerox Corporation Interface plug and play dynamique pour dispositif de sortie
EP0917058A3 (fr) * 1997-11-07 2006-06-14 Xerox Corporation Interface plug and play dynamique pour dispositif de sortie
EP0923024A2 (fr) * 1997-12-11 1999-06-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Système d'impression et dispositif de transmission pour transmettre um programme de commande d'impression
EP0923024A3 (fr) * 1997-12-11 2000-08-09 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Système d'impression et dispositif de transmission pour transmettre um programme de commande d'impression
US6633395B1 (en) 1997-12-11 2003-10-14 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Printer, printing system, print control method, storage medium used to store print control program for controlling a printer, and transmission device for transmitting print control program for controlling a printer
US6963416B2 (en) 1997-12-11 2005-11-08 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Printer, printing system, print control method, storage medium used to store print control program for controlling a printer, and transmission device for transmitting print control program for controlling a printer
US7145683B2 (en) 1997-12-11 2006-12-05 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Printer, printing system, print control method, storage medium used to store print control program for controlling a printer, and transmission device for transmitting print control program for controlling a printer
WO2000058822A1 (fr) * 1999-03-30 2000-10-05 British Telecommunications Public Limited Company Appareil et procede d'impression dans un reseau
WO2001006345A1 (fr) * 1999-07-14 2001-01-25 Fargo Electronics, Inc. Imprimante de cartes d'identite avec client/serveur
DE10151735B4 (de) * 2000-10-24 2011-08-11 Hewlett-Packard Development Co., L.P., Tex. System und Verfahren zum Verbinden eines Webservers in einem Peripheriegerät mit einem Netzwerk durch einen Host

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