JP2000318268A - Printer system, parallel printing method for printer system, and storage medium storing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform parallel printing efficiently using a plurality of printers by utilizing the performance of each printer to the maximum. SOLUTION: A user selects printers A, B, C for use in parallel printing from a PC 5 and then requests to print 30 copies of a 50 page document, for example. A parallel print processing section 6 acquires continuous print speed information (sheets/min) of each printer and calculates an optimal allocation of the number of copies to be printed by each printer. When the number of copies to be printed is increased for a printer having a higher print speed, the time required for printing a requested document can be minimized. Subsequently, the parallel print processing section 6 transmits the print data to each printer according to the optimized allocation of the number of copies to be printed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer system for performing parallel printing using a plurality of printers, a parallel printing method for the printer system, and a storage medium storing a program for executing the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In many cases, network printers that are now commonplace are installed in a plurality of office printers. Parallel printing makes the most of the capabilities of these multiple printers. For example, in an office having three network printers, if a user wants to print 30 copies of a 100-page document, conventionally, one printer would print all copies, or each printer would print 10 copies. At best, the user will manually give instructions such as printing. In such a case, parallel printing is a very convenient function.

[0003]

However, when performing parallel printing in a conventional printer system, there is a problem that parallel printing cannot be performed efficiently by making the most of the performance of each printer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has the capability of the environment of a printer system, that is, efficient parallel printing by simply and maximizing the performance of each printer. The purpose is to be able to do.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising a plurality of printers,
In a printer system having a parallel printing function, an optimizing means for acquiring continuous printing speed information of each printer used for parallel printing and optimizing distribution of the number of copies to each printer based on the acquired information is provided. It is characterized by having been provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the optimizing means excludes an unusable printer among the printers used for the parallel printing from the object of the parallel printing, and removes the other printers. It is characterized in that the distribution of the number of copies is optimized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a storage unit for storing the obtained continuous printing speed information is provided, and the optimizing unit obtains the information from the storage unit from the next parallel printing. It is characterized by doing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the optimizing means increases the ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies for a printer having a higher print speed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the case where parallel printing is performed by a printer system including a plurality of printers, continuous printing speed information of each printer used for the parallel printing is acquired, and the acquired information is acquired. The distribution of the number of copies to each printer is optimized based on

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the fifth aspect, among the printers used for the parallel printing, the unavailable printers are excluded from the parallel printing, and the number of print copies is excluded except for this. Is characterized by optimizing the distribution.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the parallel printing method according to the fifth aspect, the obtained continuous printing speed information is stored, and the stored information is obtained from the next parallel printing. It is characterized by.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is the parallel printing method according to the fifth aspect, wherein a printer having a higher printing speed has a larger ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies.

[0013] According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium storing a program for acquiring continuous printing speed information of a plurality of printers used for parallel printing, and the number of print copies to each printer based on the acquired information. And an optimization process for optimizing the distribution of the data.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium storing the program according to the ninth aspect, the optimizing process excludes an unavailable printer among the printers used for the parallel printing from the object of the parallel printing. Except for this, the distribution of the number of print copies is optimized.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium storing the program according to the ninth aspect, a program for executing a storing process for storing the obtained continuous printing speed information is stored, and the optimization process is performed. Is characterized in that the stored information is obtained from the next parallel printing.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium storing the program according to the ninth aspect, in the optimizing process, the ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies increases as the printing speed of the printer increases. It is characterized by the following.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printer system having a parallel printing function according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1 to 4 denote printers A to D constituting a printer system. Reference numeral 5 denotes a PC (personal computer) that controls the printer system.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a parallel print processing unit that executes a parallel print function provided in the PC 5 according to a program. Reference numeral 7 denotes a database for storing continuous printing speed information described later.

Here, the parallel printing function refers to a function of distributing one document to a plurality of printers and printing it. For example, “When printing 50 copies of document A, 30
And printer B, and distributes to 20 printers and two printers for parallel printing. "

First, the operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. (1) The user selects a printer A, a printer B, and a printer C from the PC 5 as printers used for parallel printing. (2) The user uses the parallel printing function from the PC 5,
Request printing of 30 copies of document A (50 pages).

(3) The parallel print processing unit 6 includes a printer A,
The continuous printing speed information of the printers B and C is obtained. The continuous printing speed is the number of sheets that can be printed within a certain time. In the illustrated example, the printer A = 10 sheets / minute,
Printer B = 20 sheets / min., Printer C = 30 sheets / min.

(4) The parallel print processing unit 6 calculates an optimal distribution of the number of print copies to each printer from the information obtained in (3). For example, printer A = 5 copies, printer B
= 10 copies and Printer C = 15 copies. The logic of the distribution of the number of copies is "basically, the higher the printing speed, the larger the ratio of the number of copies of the printer to the total number of copies". As a result, the time required for printing the requested document can be minimized.

(5) The parallel print processing unit 6 transmits print data to each printer in accordance with the distribution of the number of print copies optimized in (4).

According to the present embodiment, the continuous printing speed information of each printer is obtained, and the present system optimizes the distribution of the number of copies to each printer by calculation. It can be used for In other words, the optimization of the copy distribution logic is based on the fact that the higher the printing speed, the larger the ratio of the number of copies. can do.

Further, since there is no need for the user to make special settings for the distribution of the number of copies, the present system automatically calculates the number of copies, which is excellent in that an unskilled user can easily use it.

Next, the operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. (1) The user selects a printer A, a printer B, and a printer C from the PC 5 as printers used for parallel printing. (2) The user uses the parallel printing function from the PC 5,
Request printing of 30 copies of Document A (50 pages).

(3) The parallel print processing unit checks whether the printers A, B and C can be used immediately. For example, printer A, printer B = immediately available, printer C
= Assume that it is not immediately available (because of jam).

(4) The parallel print processing unit 6 excludes the printer C, which cannot be used immediately,
To obtain continuous printing speed information. For example, printer A =
It is assumed that 10 sheets / minute and printer B = 20 sheets / minute.

(5) The parallel print processing unit 6 calculates the optimal distribution of the number of print copies from the information obtained in (4). For example, assume that printer A = 10, printer B = 20, and printer C = 0 (because they cannot be used immediately). The logic of the distribution of the number of copies is "basically, the higher the printing speed, the larger the ratio of the number of copies." As a result, the time required for printing the requested document can be minimized.

(6) The parallel print processing unit 6 transmits print data to each printer in accordance with the distribution of the number of prints optimized in (5).

According to the present embodiment, the printer status is acquired in real time when the parallel printing function is used, and printers that cannot be used immediately are excluded from parallel printing and the number of copies is distributed. It can be used more efficiently than the first embodiment,
It is also practical.

Next, an operation according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. (1) The user selects a printer A, a printer B, and a printer C from the PC 5 as printers used for parallel printing. (2) The user uses the parallel printing function from the PC 5,
Request printing of 30 copies of Document A (50 pages).

(3) The parallel print processing unit 5 includes a printer A,
It is checked whether the continuous printing speed information of the printers B and C exists in the database 7. For example, it is assumed that the printer A and the printer C are in the database 7 and the printer B is in the database 7.

(4) The parallel print processing unit 6 includes a printer A,
The continuous printing speed information of the printer C is obtained from the database 7, and the printer B is obtained directly from the printer B. For example, printer A = 10 sheets / minute, printer B =
It is assumed that 20 sheets / minute and the printer C = 30 sheets / minute.

(5) The parallel print processing unit 6 calculates an optimal distribution of the number of print copies from the information obtained in (4). For example, assume that printer A = 5, printer B = 10, and printer C = 15. The logic of the distribution of the number of copies is "basically, the higher the printing speed, the larger the ratio of the number of copies." As a result, the time required for printing the requested document can be minimized.

(6) The parallel print processing unit 6 transmits print data to each printer in accordance with the distribution of the number of prints optimized in (5). The continuous printing speed information is stored in the database 7 when it is first acquired from each printer, and the information is used from the next time.

According to the present embodiment, since the continuous printing speed information of each printer is generally static, it is not necessary to acquire information twice or more from the same printer. In the present embodiment, the acquired information is stored in a database,
From the second time onward, by using this database, the actual communication volume can be reduced.

Note that C which controls the printer system of FIG.
In a computer system including a storage device such as a PU and a ROM, the storage device constitutes a storage medium according to the present invention. In this storage medium, a program for executing each process described in each of the above-described embodiments, which is executed by the parallel print processing unit 6, is stored. Further, as the storage medium, a semiconductor storage device, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic recording medium, or the like can be used.

[0039]

As described above, the first, fifth and ninth aspects of the present invention are described below.
According to the invention, the continuous printing speed information of each printer is acquired, and the distribution of the number of copies to each printer is optimized by calculation, so that the capability in the environment can be fully utilized.

The user does not need to make any special settings for the distribution of the number of copies, and the calculation is automatically performed.
Even inexperienced users can easily use it.

According to the second, sixth and tenth aspects of the present invention, the status of the printer is acquired in real time at the time of using the parallel printing function, and printers that cannot be used immediately are excluded from the target of the parallel printing. In order to distribute the number of copies,
It can be used more efficiently and is practical.

According to the third, seventh and eleventh aspects of the present invention, the continuous printing speed information is stored, and the stored information is used for the second and subsequent times. There is no need to acquire information, and the actual traffic can be reduced.

According to the fourth, eighth, and twelfth aspects of the present invention, the ratio of the number of copies is increased for a printer having a higher printing speed, so that the performance of each printer can be maximized. The time required for printing a document can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printer system according to the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1-4 Printers A-D 5 PC 6 Parallel Printing Processing Unit 7 Database

Claims (12)

[Claims] In a printer system comprising a plurality of printers and having a function of parallel printing, continuous printing speed information of each printer used for the parallel printing is acquired, and based on the acquired information, a continuous printing speed information is sent to each printer. A printer system comprising an optimizing means for optimizing the distribution of the number of print copies. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the optimizing unit excludes unusable printers among the printers used for the parallel printing from being subjected to the parallel printing, and optimizes the distribution of the number of print copies excluding the printers. The printer system according to claim 1. 3. A storage device for storing the obtained continuous printing speed information, wherein the optimizing device obtains the information from the storage device from the next parallel printing. Printer system. 4. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein said optimizing means increases the ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies for a printer having a higher print speed. 5. When parallel printing is performed by a printer system including a plurality of printers, continuous printing speed information of each printer used for the parallel printing is acquired, and the number of print copies to each printer is obtained based on the acquired information. Parallel printing method for a printer system, characterized by optimizing the distribution of images. 6. The printer according to claim 5, wherein an unavailable printer among the printers used for the parallel printing is excluded from the parallel printing, and the distribution of the number of copies is optimized by excluding the printer. The parallel printing method of the system. 7. The parallel printing method for a printer system according to claim 5, wherein the obtained continuous printing speed information is stored, and the stored information is obtained from the next parallel printing. 8. The parallel printing method for a printer system according to claim 5, wherein a printer having a higher printing speed increases a ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies. 9. When parallel printing is performed by a printer system including a plurality of printers, an acquisition process for acquiring continuous printing speed information of a plurality of printers used for the parallel printing, and a process to each printer based on the acquired information. And an optimization process for optimizing the distribution of the number of print copies. 10. The optimizing process is characterized in that, among the printers used for the parallel printing, unusable printers are excluded from the target of the parallel printing, and the distribution of the number of prints is optimized excluding this. A storage medium storing the program according to claim 9. 11. A program for executing a storing process for storing the obtained continuous printing speed information, wherein the optimizing process obtains the stored information from the next parallel printing. A storage medium storing the program according to claim 9. 12. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the optimization process increases the ratio of the number of print copies of the printer to the total number of print copies for a printer with a higher print speed.