JP2006168175A - Printing apparatus control method, program, and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid the wasteful power consumption of a printing device and minimize latency during printing process. <P>SOLUTION: The printing device 14 acquires user status information, at each user terminal device 12, which is served from a server device 13 and decides the power supply making/breaking and operation mode for printer equipment, based on the acquired user status information. Further, the printing device 14 controls the power supply making/breaking and operation mode, according to an instruction signal which controls the power supply making/breaking and operation mode. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus control method for controlling a power supply and an operation mode of a printing apparatus, a program, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the program.

  Regarding network-compatible printing apparatuses, a plurality of terminal apparatuses are often configured to share one or more printing apparatuses. In such an environment, how to achieve efficient operation for the user while minimizing the power consumption of the printing apparatus and reducing the warm-up time until the printing apparatus can be operated is a problem. It has become.

  As for the power control of the printing apparatus, the power is turned on by the first user who wants to use the printing apparatus and the power is finally turned off by the user who uses the printing apparatus. When the device is not used for a certain period of time, the power is turned off.

  In this way, when there are a plurality of terminal devices and their users for one printing device, the user of each terminal device does not know whether other users will use the printing device in the future. It is not desirable to manage the power supply of the device at the discretion of one person. For this reason, the control of the power supply and operation mode of the printing apparatus can only be performed depending on, for example, a preset transition time to the power saving mode or a power-off timer, and power is wasted. In addition, even when there is clearly only one user, there is an annoyance that it is necessary to go to the printing apparatus and operate the power supply, and if this is not done, the transition to the power saving mode set in the printing apparatus is performed. Alternatively, extra power is consumed for the time until the power-off timer is activated.

  In addition, when the printing apparatus is turned off or in the power saving mode, it takes time to return to the normal mode in which printing can be performed immediately. Therefore, the user has to wait until the printing apparatus can be operated. There was annoyance that it was not. If the power supply is always turned on, the problem is eliminated, but this is not desirable from the viewpoint of power consumption.

  In order to solve these problems, the following Patent Document 1 is disclosed. In this system, the power of the printing apparatus is controlled by the number of computers that are turned on by grasping the power on and off of the computers constituting the network printing system by the printing apparatus. This realizes a network printing system that can be operated with low power consumption even if the user does not turn it on / off.

JP 2001-109603 A

  However, in the power management of the conventional printing apparatus described above, control is performed only depending on the power state of the terminal device connected to the printing apparatus, so even if there is actually no person using the printing apparatus. In some cases, the power management of the printing apparatus is not properly performed because the power of the terminal apparatus is on. For example, if even one user leaves the terminal device while turning on the power of the terminal device, the printing device remains on and consumes unnecessary power. there were.

  In addition, the above-described control that depends only on the power supply of the terminal device is not applicable in that the power supply of the printing device is turned on if even one of the terminal devices is turned on, and many terminal devices are connected. In such a case, there is a problem that the power control method is not very efficient. In addition, when the power of the printing apparatus is turned off or in the power saving mode, for example, the user can perform printing in order to reduce power consumption while minimizing the waiting time until returning to the normal mode in which printing can be performed immediately. When it is highly possible to use the apparatus, it is necessary to control the printing apparatus so that it can be operated immediately. Therefore, it is not sufficient to simply control the power supply of the printing apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and can avoid wasting power in the printing apparatus and can minimize the waiting time when performing the printing process. The purpose is to.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control method for controlling a printing apparatus in which a plurality of terminal apparatuses, a server apparatus, and a printing apparatus are connected via a network to form a printing control system. An information sharing step for mutually sharing status information of each user in the plurality of terminal devices with other terminal devices connected to the network and the printing device, and information for displaying the status information of the users to be shared A display step, an information notification step of notifying the printing device of the status information of each user of the plurality of terminal devices, an information acquisition step of acquiring the status information of the user notified from the server device, and the information An information holding step for holding user status information acquired by the acquisition step, and the mark based on the user status information held by the information holding step. A determination step for determining power on / off of the device and an operation mode, a signal generation step for generating a command signal for controlling the power on / off and operation mode determined by the determination step, and a power supply according to the command signal And a control process for controlling the operation mode, and a control method for the printing apparatus.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid wasting power in the printing apparatus and to minimize the waiting time when performing the printing process.

  Next, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
According to the first embodiment of the present invention, in a printing apparatus shared by a plurality of users in an office, the power supply of the printing apparatus and the operation mode are controlled by the presence information of the user, and the power saving effect and the print processing operation are performed. It is intended to improve the efficiency.

  Note that presence information and situation information in the following embodiment are synonymous. In addition, as user presence information, there are generally online and offline information indicating whether or not the user is logged in to the information sharing service. In addition to the presence information indicating simply the login state, more specific user status information is known. As described above, presence information such as “working”, “meeting”, “resting” or “lunch” is prepared as presence information after login. In the present embodiment, “online” is a state where the user is logged in to the information sharing service, and “offline” is a state where the user is not logged in to the situation sharing service.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing control system for executing a printing apparatus control method according to the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the print control system 11 includes a plurality of user terminal devices 12, a server device 13, and a printing device 14 connected via a network 15.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the user terminal device 12.
The user terminal device 12 includes a CPU 21, a RAM 22, a ROM 23, an HDD 24, a network I / F 25,. An input device I / F 26, a display I / F 27, a keyboard 261, a mouse 262, a display 271, and a bus 28 are provided.

  In addition to the overall control of the user terminal device 12, the CPU 21 performs processing instructed by program data that realizes sharing of status information of each user. The RAM 22 is a RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a work memory necessary for the operation of the CPU 21. The ROM 23 is a ROM (Read Only Memory) and stores instructions and data necessary for the CPU 21. The HDD 24 is an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and stores program data itself that realizes sharing of status information of each user, and data necessary for operation of program data that realizes sharing of status information of each user. Shall also be stored.

  In addition, a driver for using the printing device 14 is installed in the user terminal device 12. Here, the program that realizes sharing of status information of each user refers to an information sharing communication tool such as a so-called instant messenger.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface.
Reference numeral 31 denotes a display of the user of the terminal device, and 32 denotes the status information. Reference numeral 33 denotes a display of the printing apparatus, and 34 denotes the status information. As shown in FIG. 3, in the information sharing tool, a list of users is displayed as a buddy list, status information about each corresponding user is displayed, and communication such as message exchange between users is possible.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the printing apparatus is also registered as a member of the buddy list, and the user can visually confirm the current state of the printing apparatus. In addition, real-time user status information is registered in the server device 13 that manages the status information of each user, and each terminal device 12 and the printing device 14 are registered (distributed) data in the server device 13. It is possible to share real-time status information by referring to. Sharing of the status information of each user can be realized by applying SIP (SESSION INITIONATION PROTOCOL) technology.

  Each user can share real-time presence information by sending and receiving the SUBSCRIBE method and the NOTIFY method via the server device 13 after logging in to the information sharing tool service. The SUBSCRIBE method is a method in which the presence information receiving side requests the calling side to be notified of the presence information of the calling side whenever it changes, and the NOTIFY method includes actual presence information, and SUBSCRIBE method. It will be sent to all users who have already completed.

  The network I / F 28 processes communication control for connecting to the network 15, and various communication interfaces are applied depending on the environment. When connecting directly to the access network, it is composed of various modems and terminal adapters, and when connecting to an ADSL modem and cable modem of an external device, it is composed of an Ethernet interface.

  The server device 13 has the same configuration as the user terminal device 12. In the server device 13, the keyboard 261, the mouse 262, and the display 271 in FIG. The server device 13 further has program data for realizing sharing of status information between each user terminal device 12 and the printing device 14 on the network, and data necessary for the operation of the program data, database information, and terminal device 12 and the status information of the printing device 14 and message information transmitted from the terminal device 12 and the printing device 14 are stored. The program data for realizing the sharing of the status information includes the status information of the terminal device 12 and the printing device 14 stored in the HDD 24 and the message information transmitted from the terminal device 12 and the printing device 14. Distribution to the terminal device 12 is realized.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the printing apparatus 14.
The power supply unit 41 in FIG. 4 is a part to which power is supplied. The CPU 43, the RAM 44, the ROM 45, the HDD 46, and the time measuring unit 47 connected to the 53 power supply line A and the system bus 50 through the power supply control unit 42. Power is being supplied to In addition to controlling the entire printing apparatus, the CPU 43 performs processing instructed by program data for realizing status information sharing.

  It is used as a work memory necessary for the operation of the RAM 44 and the CPU 43. The ROM 45 stores instructions and data necessary for the CPU 43. The HDD 46 stores data necessary for the operation of program data for realizing situation information sharing in addition to storing program data for realizing situation information sharing.

  Further, the conditions set in the power control setting unit 48 are stored. The network I / F 51 receives a print request transmitted from the user terminal device 12 and status information transmitted from the user terminal device 12 via the server device 13, and transmits status information of the printing device itself. The user I / F unit 52 includes buttons for performing various settings and operations of the printing apparatus and a display medium such as a liquid crystal panel for displaying the operation state of the printing apparatus.

  The power control condition setting unit 48 receives the conditions set in the user I / F unit 52 and holds the contents in the HDD. The printing mechanism 49 is a mechanism that actually executes printing connected to the power control unit 42 via the power supply line B (54).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the control method of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. This flowchart shows the processing from when the power supply from the outlet to the printing apparatus is started until the status information of each user terminal device 12 is acquired and the power is controlled.

  Necessary for the printing apparatus 14 to share user situation information from the power supply unit 31 when the printing apparatus 14 realizes sharing of user situation information via the user terminal apparatus 12 and the server apparatus 13 on the network 15. The power supply line B (54) is started to be supplied with power, and the server device 13 is registered (step S501).

  Thereby, the printing apparatus 14 can acquire the status information of each user of the user terminal apparatus 12 (step S502). Thereafter, whenever there is a change in the status information of each user terminal device 12, the printing device 14 immediately acquires new user status information, and the data is stored in the HDD 46. The stored data is always monitored, and when the conditions for controlling the power supply and operation mode of the printing apparatus 14 are satisfied, the power supply control of the printing apparatus 14 corresponding to the current situation, or a command to shift to the operation mode Is programmed to be transmitted to the power supply control unit 32.

  Then, it is determined whether or not there is at least one user who has online or equivalent situation information as the situation information of the plurality of user terminal devices 12 (step S503). If it is determined that there is an online user and a user whose presence is set to be used by the printing apparatus 14 (step S504 / YES), the CPU 43 sends a power-on command to the power control unit. The power supply control unit 32 that has received the power-on command supplies power to the printing mechanism 43 via the power supply line B (54) (step S505). At this time, when it is determined that there is no user whose status information is online (step S503 / NO), or even when online, there is one user who is a presence using the printing device 14. If it is determined that there is no power, no power is supplied to operate the printing mechanism 49, and no power is supplied to the power supply line B (54) (step S506).

  After detecting a user who is online and setting presence information using the printing device 14, the data of each status information of at least one user terminal device 12 is tabulated (step S507), and the printing device 14 uses at that time. The operation mode of the printing apparatus 14 is determined based on the level of the possibility of being performed (step S508). For example, when the status information indicating that the printing apparatus 14 is used in the power control condition setting unit 48 is set to “working” and “attended”, “on-work” and “ The operation mode is switched according to the ratio of users who are “seats” (steps S509 to S511).

  In general, the operation mode of the printing apparatus 14 includes a normal mode in which printing can be performed immediately, a power saving mode for power saving by lowering the temperature of the fixing device, and a sleep mode in which the power of the fixing device is turned off. If the normal mode setting condition is satisfied, the process shifts to the normal mode. If the power saving mode setting condition is satisfied, or if the sleep mode setting condition is satisfied, the power saving mode and the sleep mode are performed.

  Specific types of user status information, the presence / absence of use of the printing device 14 corresponding to the type of user information, the user ratio conditions, and the like can be set from the user interface unit 52 as necessary, and the contents thereof include power control conditions. This is immediately reflected in the setting unit 48.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating user status information and operation modes for setting the printing apparatus 14. FIG. 6A shows user status information, and FIG. 6B shows an operation mode. Note that a timer operates in the printing apparatus 14 to maintain the operation mode for a fixed time after the operation mode is switched (step S512). Also, after the printing apparatus 14 becomes controllable, when there is no change in the user's situation information (step S513), or when there is no printing instruction (step S514) and a certain time has passed (step S515). Turn off the power.

  Subsequently, when the printing device 14 detects that the user of all the user terminal devices 12 on the network 15 is offline or online, it is not set to the presence that uses the printing device 14. Is sent to the power control unit 42 to stop the power supply to the power supply line B (54).

  Even when the power of the printing apparatus 14 is off, power is supplied to the power supply line A (53) necessary for realizing sharing of user status information. Therefore, the power saving effect can be obtained comprehensively.

  According to this embodiment, based on the user status information of all the user terminal devices 12 that use the printing device 14, it is most convenient at that time in consideration of both power consumption and operation efficiency for the user. It is possible to shift to a better operation mode. In addition, according to the present embodiment, each of a plurality of users can realize control of the power supply and the operation mode without being conscious of the printing apparatus 14 and when the printing apparatus 14 is highly likely to be used, printing is performed. Since the apparatus 14 shifts to an operation mode in which the apparatus 14 can be operated immediately, an efficient operation can be expected for the user.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the number of online users who are setting presence information using the printing apparatus 14 is smaller than a certain condition in order to obtain a further power saving effect as compared with the first embodiment. In this case, the printer 14 inquires whether or not the power-off control can be performed by transmitting a message to the user.

  Since the printing apparatus control method according to the second embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, the operation of the second embodiment will be described below using the reference numerals used in the description of the first embodiment. Will be explained.

  The print control system according to the second embodiment includes a plurality of terminal devices 12, a server device 13, and a print device 14 as in the print control system according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1. Configured. In order to further reduce power consumption, the printing apparatus 14 makes an inquiry about power-off to the user according to conditions.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the control method of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. Note that the contents related to the switching of the operation mode described in the first embodiment are not directly related to the contents of the present embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the power-off inquiry condition setting.

  From the user interface of the printing apparatus 14, as shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to set the time zone for enabling the power-off inquiry and the inquiry interval, and the number of users currently set in the presence using the printing apparatus 14 online. is there. In the example of FIG. 8, an inquiry is set when the number of users set for presence using the printing apparatus 14 becomes three or less. In FIG. 7, the setting of the power-off inquiry condition is registered in advance.

  In FIG. 7, the processing from step S701 to step S707 is the same as the processing from step S501 to step S507 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. When the time of the power-off inquiry setting condition in step S708 and the power-off inquiry setting condition in step S709 are satisfied, the printing apparatus 14 transmits a power-off inquiry message to the online user (step S710). .

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface in step S710 of FIG. In FIG. 9, 91 is a message transmitted from the printing apparatus 14 to the user terminal apparatus 12. Each user instructs the printing apparatus 14 whether to turn off the power depending on whether or not to reply to this message.

  Here, the message in step S710 indicates an instant message, which can be realized by the MESSAGE method in the SIP (SESSION INITIAL PROTOCOL) technology. Instant messaging realizes real-time text information exchange. At this time, the timer is simultaneously activated (S711). However, when a message as a reply is transmitted from the user of the terminal device 12 that has received the message from the printing device 14 to the printing device 14 within a predetermined time (step S712). The printing apparatus 12 receives the message and holds that the message has been transmitted from the user terminal apparatus 12. Here, when a message is transmitted from at least one user, the printing apparatus 14 does not determine whether the power is off (disconnected), and maintains the power on (on) state and activates the timer. And waits for the time to make an inquiry to turn off the power again (step S713).

  If the reply to the message transmitted from all the user terminal devices 12 by the printing device 14 has not elapsed for a predetermined time (step S714 / YES), the process proceeds to step S706 to perform the power-off process. Specifically, power supply to the power supply line B (54) shown in FIG. 4 is stopped. On the other hand, when the power-off inquiry condition is not satisfied (step S709 / NO), the process proceeds to the determination of the operation mode (step S715), and thereafter, the processing after step S509 in FIG. 5 is performed.

  In this way, by making an inquiry about the power-off from the printing device 14 to the user terminal device 12, for example, in a state where there are few online users, the possibility that the printing device 14 is used may be reduced. In addition, it is possible to effectively cope with saving power consumption. At the same time, even if only one user is online, if the user may use the printing device 14 in the near future, the user can control the power supply of the printing device 14 only by sending or receiving a message. Therefore, it is effective in terms of work efficiency for the user.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, a mechanism and a power control mechanism for the printing apparatus 14 to share user status information of the user terminal apparatus 12 and transmit / receive character information are not necessarily provided. For example, it may be mounted not in the printing apparatus 14 but in another apparatus in the server apparatus 13 or the network 15.

  The embodiment of the present invention can be realized, for example, by causing a computer to execute a program for executing the processing of each step in FIG. 5 and each step in FIG. Examples of means for supplying the program to the computer include a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM on which the program is recorded and a transmission medium such as the Internet for transmitting the program. The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. .

It is a schematic block diagram of the printing control system for performing the control method of the printing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram of a user terminal device. It is the figure which showed an example of the user interface. It is a schematic block diagram of a printing apparatus. 4 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a control method for the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating user status information and operation modes for setting a printing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a control method for a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment. It is the figure which showed power-off inquiry condition setting. It is the figure which showed an example of the user interface in step S710 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

11 Print Control System 12 User Terminal Device 13 Server Device 14 Printing Device 15 Network 21 CPU
22 RAM
23 ROM
24 HDD
25 Network interface 26 Input device interface 261 Keyboard 262 Mouse 27 Display interface 271 Display 28 System bus 31 User display of terminal device 32 User status information 33 Printing device display 34 Printing device status information 41 Power supply unit 42 Power supply control unit 43 CPU
44 RAM
45 ROM
46 HDD
47 Timing unit 48 Power control condition setting unit 49 Printing mechanism 50 System bus 51 Network interface unit 52 User interface unit 53 Power supply line A
54 Power supply line B
91 Power-off inquiry message

Claims (18)

A plurality of terminal devices, a server device, and a printing device are connected via a network to form a printing control system, and a control method for controlling the printing device,
In each of the terminal devices, an information sharing step of mutually sharing the status information of each user with other terminal devices connected to the network and the printing device, and an information display step of displaying the shared status information of the user Have
The server device includes an information notification step of notifying the printing device of status information of each user of the plurality of terminal devices,
In the printing apparatus, based on the information acquisition step of acquiring the user status information notified from the server device, the information holding step of holding the acquired user status information, and the held user status information A determination step for determining power on / off and operation mode, a signal generation step for generating a command signal for controlling the determined power on / off and operation mode, and power on / off according to the command signal And a control step for controlling an operation mode.   The user status information includes an online state indicating that the user of the terminal device is logged in to the service in the information sharing step and an offline state indicating that the user is not logged in to the service in the information sharing step. The printing apparatus control method according to claim 1, further comprising:   The user status information represents the status of the user of the terminal device including at least one of being present, leaving, working, meeting, resting, lunch break, and going out. Item 8. A printing apparatus control method according to Item 1.   The determining step determines that the power is turned on when the status information of the users in the terminal devices of a certain number or more among the status information of the users of the plurality of terminal devices is online, The power supply is determined to be turned off when the user's status information in a certain number of terminal devices among the status information of each user of the terminal device is offline. A method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 1.   5. The control of a printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the case where the user status information in the certain number of terminal devices is online means that the user status information in one or more terminal devices is online. Method.   5. The method of controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the case where the user status information in the predetermined number of terminal devices is offline means that the user status information in all the terminal devices is offline.   The printing apparatus control according to claim 1, further comprising a setting step of setting whether or not the printing apparatus is likely to be used as additional information of the user status information. Method.   In the determination step, the operation mode is determined according to a ratio of the status information of each user of the plurality of terminal devices that there is a user who is set to be likely to be used in the setting step. The method according to claim 7, wherein the control method is performed.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the operation mode is distinguished by power consumption of the printing apparatus.   The information acquisition process, the information holding process, the determination process, the signal generation process, and the control process performed by the printing apparatus are always processed by power supply other than the printing mechanism of the printing apparatus. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: In the printing apparatus, a character information transmitting step for transmitting character information to the terminal device, a character information receiving step for receiving character information transmitted from the terminal device, and the character information received by the character information receiving step. And a recognition step for recognizing
The control of the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination step determines whether to turn on / off the power according to recognition of reception of the character information by the recognition step. Method.   The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein in the character information transmission step, a message for an inquiry regarding the control of the power source is transmitted.   The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a character information return step of returning character information to the printing apparatus in the terminal device.   The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the determination step determines whether to turn on the power when character information is returned from the terminal apparatus.   The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein, in the determination step, the power supply is turned off when character information is not returned from the terminal device. A plurality of terminal devices, a server device, and a printing device are connected via a network to form a printing control system, and a control method for controlling the printing device,
An information sharing step of mutually sharing status information of each user in the plurality of terminal devices with other terminal devices connected to the network and the printing device;
An information display step for displaying status information of the user to be shared;
An information notification step of notifying the printing apparatus of the status information of each user of the plurality of terminal devices;
An information acquisition step of acquiring the user status information notified from the server device;
An information holding step for holding user status information acquired by the information acquisition step;
A determination step of determining power on / off of the printing apparatus and an operation mode based on the user status information held by the information holding step;
A signal generation step of generating a command signal for controlling power on / off and operation mode determined in the determination step;
And a control step of controlling power on / off and operation mode according to the command signal. A print control system is configured by connecting a plurality of terminal devices, a server device, and a printing device via a network, and is a program for causing a computer to execute a control method for controlling the printing device,
Information sharing processing for mutually sharing status information of each user in the plurality of terminal devices with other terminal devices connected to the network and the printing device;
An information display process for displaying the status information of the user to be shared;
An information notification process for notifying the printing device of status information of each user of the plurality of terminal devices;
Information acquisition processing for acquiring the user status information notified from the server device;
An information holding process for holding user status information acquired by the information acquiring process;
A determination process for determining power on / off and operation mode of the printing apparatus based on the user status information held by the information holding process;
A signal generation process for generating a command signal for controlling power on / off and operation mode determined by the determination process;
A program for causing a computer to execute control processing for controlling power on / off and operation mode in accordance with the command signal.   A computer-readable storage medium in which the program according to claim 17 is stored in a computer-readable manner.

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