JPH11203068A - Color printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Corrected) [PROBLEMS] To allow a user to know an error in a printer device used on a client side, to reliably remove the error, and to stop printing in a desired state even when printing is stopped. Provide a printing system. A print job is created by a printer driver according to print data created by a client. The print job is supplied to the printer device 10-2 via the spool directory 13 and the spool directory 15 of the print server 9. Printer device 10-
In 2, when an error occurs in the print job by the execution processing unit 20, the print job is saved in a save area (work area) 16 in the print server 9 and a print job from another client is executed. After that, the error of the printer 10-2 is recovered, the print job saved in the save area (work area) 16 is returned to the printer 10-2, and the printing process is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing system including a printing device connected to a computer network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, computer networks such as LANs (local area networks) have been widely used.
The printer device used for the network is shared by a plurality of clients. FIG. 25 shows the system configuration of such a network.

[0003] In the figure, a network 1 has a plurality of clients (however, the client 2 is a representative example in the figure).
), A server 3, a print server 4, various network printers (hereinafter simply referred to as printer devices) 5.
-1 to 5-4 are connected. Client 2
Is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and outputs print data created by a built-in application program to the server 3, the print server 4, or the printer device 5-3. For example, when the print data is supplied to the print server 4, the flow of the print data is as shown in FIG. That is, the client 2 outputs print data to the print server 4 via the network 1, and the print server 4 stores the print data supplied from the client 2 in a spool directory, and
-4.

FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining the above processing in more detail. The print data created by the application 2a of the client 2 creates a print job by the printer driver 2b, and the spool directory 2
c. Thereafter, when the print job is completed, the print job is transferred to the spool directory 4a of the print server 4, and is controlled by the print server 4 under the control of the print server 4.
4 to the system memory 5-4a. The printer device 5-4 creates an image according to the print data on recording paper.

[0005]

In the conventional printing system as described above, the following problems occur. (A) First, in the conventional system, print data (print job) is sent via a route from the client 2 to the print server 4 to, for example, the printer device 5-4, and the process is performed as a passive series of print operations without reversibility. Done.

For this reason, for example, when a paper size not set in the printer is specified, a printer error occurs, and the printer cannot be used unless this error state is cleared. Therefore, a print request other than the print job is involved, and the printer cannot be used.

Although many clients use the same printer on the network, the client for the print job having an error is specified and notified, and the operator of the client is expected to remove the error. It is difficult. For example, replenishment of paper and replacement of consumables can be dealt with by the administrator of the printer device or a person who knows the state, but cannot cope with the above-described difference in paper size.

(B) On the other hand, depending on the operator, there is a case where the print processing is to be stopped after the transmission of the print job. However, at present, it is not known at what point in time the printing process should be stopped.

That is, the information in the printer cannot be obtained by the client 2 and the print server 4. Therefore, after the print job is passed to the printer, the client 2 or the print server 4
Is out of range for monitoring.

Therefore, there is a problem that the printing is performed even though the operator wants to cancel the printing process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and it has been found that an error in a printer device used on a client side can be reliably removed by an operator or a user, and printing can be stopped in a desired state even when printing is stopped. It is intended to provide a printing system that can perform the printing.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which a client computer, a print server, and a printer are connected on a network. A print job creating unit for creating a print job of information, a print processing unit provided in the printer device, for performing an analysis process of the print job, and performing a print process on recording paper, and when an error occurs during the print process. This can be attained by providing a color printing system having a save unit for saving the print job to the print server and a return unit for returning the print job to the printer device when the error is resolved.

Here, the client computer is constituted by, for example, a personal computer or the like, and the print server is constituted by, for example, a server computer. The printer device includes a print processing unit that analyzes a print job supplied from a client computer and performs a print process. When the print processing unit analyzes the print job while checking a difference in paper size or a difference in print format, the save unit determines that an error has occurred, and saves the print job to the print server. Then, when the error state is resolved, the print job saved by the return unit is returned to the printer, and normal print processing is performed.

With this configuration, even if an error occurs during the processing of the print job, the print processing can be performed later, and the print processing can be performed without stopping the printer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the print job is saved in a save memory of the print server, for example. Here, the save memory may be a memory managed by a file server in the print server, or may be a memory existing in the print server.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, while the saving of the print job is performed by the saving means, the print job supplied from the other client computer to the printer is transmitted. The printer device is configured to perform a printing process.

With this configuration, even if an error occurs during the processing of a print job, if a new print job is input from another client computer,
The print job can be processed, and efficient print processing can be performed without stopping the printer device. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which a client computer, a print server, and a printer are connected on a network. Print information creating means for creating the additional control information of the print job; print processing means provided in the printer device for performing analysis processing of the print job and performing print processing on recording paper; provided in the printer device An additional control information analyzing means for analyzing a state of the print job at the time when the print stop instruction is output according to the additional control information included in the additional control information; Notifying means for notifying the client of the status of the print job It can be achieved by providing a color printing system having a.

That is, if the client outputs a print stop command after the print job has been delivered to the printer device, the additional control information analysis means analyzes the state of the print job at the time when the print stop command is output, and By outputting the analysis result to the client, the client can perform more appropriate processing.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the additional control information is a job header and a job footer of the print job. According to a sixth aspect, in the fifth aspect, the additional control information is a page header and a page footer of each page of the print job.

With the above configuration, the additional control information analysis means analyzes the state of the print job at the time when the print stop command is output, and outputs the analysis result to the client so that the client can obtain a more appropriate status. This enables processing. For example, it is possible to carry out appropriate processing such that only pages for which printing has been completed are taken out of the printer device, or pages for which printing has not been performed are corrected, and then printing processing is performed again.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the client sets whether or not to receive notification of the status of the print job in the printer device analyzed by the additional control information analyzing means. It is a configuration that can be done.

With this configuration, the client can set in advance whether or not to receive the analysis information based on the positional relationship with the printer device and the like, and a color printing system extremely suited to the needs of the operator or user can be provided.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 2 is an example of a network used for describing the printing system of the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, a network 6 includes a plurality of clients (however, the client 7 is representatively shown in the figure), a server 8, a print server 9, and various network printers (hereinafter simply referred to as printer devices) 10-1 to 10. -4
Is connected. The client 7 is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and sends print data created by a built-in application program to the server 8, the print server 9, or the printer device 10-3.
Output to The printer devices 10-1 to 10-4 are, for example, versatile printing devices, and can perform print processing in accordance with the specifications of each client 7.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the connection configuration of the client 7, the print server 9, and the printer device 10-2, and the internal configuration of each device in the network 6 having the above-described configuration. As described above, the client 7 is constituted by, for example, a personal computer, and incorporates an application 11, a printer driver 12, and a spool directory 13. Programs such as word processing software and spreadsheet software are registered as the application 11, and a driver corresponding to, for example, the printer device 10-2 is registered as the printer driver 12. For example, print data created by an application of word processing software is output to the printer driver 12, and a corresponding print job is created by the printer driver 12. This print job is supplied to the spool directory 13, and when all the print jobs are created, it is output to the print server 9 via the network 6.

The print server 9 includes not only the print server but also a file server 14, a spool directory 15, and a save area (work area) 16. The print job (print job) output from the client 7 is stored in the spool directory 15. Data). On the other hand, the file server 14 manages various files,
It is a server that performs control when print data described later is saved in the save area (work area) 16 described above.

The printer device 10-2 receives the print job (print data) output from the spool directory 15 of the print server 9, and stores it in the system memory. At this time, the print job (print data)
Input via an interface (I / F) board 18. The printer device 10-2 is connected to the system memory 1 described above.
9, a controller 21 including an execution processing unit 20, and a printer engine 22.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the detailed configuration of the printer 10-2. The system memory 19 includes a reception buffer 19a, a work area 19b, a stack area 19
c, an image memory (frame memory) 19d. The print job (print data) supplied from the print server 9 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 19a in the system memory 19. Here, the work area 19b temporarily stores data generated at the time of print processing by the execution processing unit 20, or is used as a register. The image memory (frame memory) 19d is a memory for storing print data converted into bitmap data.

On the other hand, the execution processing unit 20 is constituted by, for example, a CPU and plays a central role of the controller 21. For example, the print data stored in the reception buffer 19a is read out to the command analysis unit 23, and the command analysis unit 23 analyzes the command of the print data. The drawing processing unit 24
Is performed. Further, when, for example, bitmap data for one page is stored in the image memory (frame memory) 19d, the bitmap data is output to the printer engine 22 via the video processing unit 25. In the above configuration, a print processing operation according to this example will be described below. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the processing of this example.

First, the client 7 uses the application 11 to create a document, for example. Thereafter, when there is a print instruction from the operator, the created document data is sent to the printer driver 12, and a corresponding print job is created by the printer driver 12. This print job is stored in the spool directory 13 and supplied to the spool directory 15 of the print server 9 via the network 6.

The print job stored in the spool directory 15 is further supplied to the printer 10-2 under the control of the print server 9. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating control of the printer device 10-2.

First, it is determined whether a print job has been input (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1). If no print job has been input (S1 is N (No)), it is determined whether or not there is a save history. (S2). Here, assuming that there is no evacuation history in the first process (N in S2), the above-described print job input determination is performed again (S1).

If a new print job is input from the client 7 via the print server 9 as described above (S1 is Y (yes)), the print job stored in the reception buffer 19a is stored as described above. The (print data) is read by the command analysis unit 23, and the print job is analyzed (S3). For example, a character code included in a print job (print data) is converted into corresponding pattern data, and corresponding processing is executed for various commands (S4).

Here, if no error occurs (S
5 is N), the image data (bitmap data) is stored in the image memory (frame memory) 19d according to the normal printing process.
When the image data for one page is developed, the image data (bitmap data) is output to the printer engine 22, and the image data is printed on the recording paper (S6). Then, the output of the completion of the processing of all print jobs is completed (Y in S7), and the processing ends. On the other hand, an error may occur during the above-described execution processing. For example, there is a case where paper of the size specified by the client 7 is not set in the printer device 10-2 or a case where the print format is different. In such a case, the client 7 is notified that the error has occurred (S8).

Next, it is determined whether or not the print job in which the error has occurred is saved (S9). In this determination, the occurrence of an error is notified to the display of the client 7 and a determination as to whether or not to evacuate is obtained on the screen.

If the print job is not saved (N in S9), the print job input to the printer 10-2 is canceled (S10). On the other hand, when the evacuation is performed (Y in S9), the evacuation process is instructed to the print server 9 (S11). Thereafter, the printer 10-2 waits for a response from the print server 9 (S12).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the print server 9 that has received the instruction for the save processing output from the print server 9 described above. First, the file server 14 in the print server 9 determines whether or not there is a standby request from the printer device 10-2 (step (hereinafter referred to as ST).
1). The file server 14 determines whether or not there is a standby request at a predetermined cycle. If there is no standby request, the process ends (ST1 is N), but if there is a standby request (ST1).
(Y), an evacuation area is secured in the evacuation area (work area) 16 (ST2). When a save area is secured in the save area (work area) 16 (ST2), the print server 9 notifies the client 7 of a save process (ST3).

Next, the print server 9 is the printer 1
A wait permission is output to 0-2 (ST4), and transfer of save data (print job) is waited (ST4). The printer 10-2 waits for the transfer permission response as described above (ST12), and when the transfer permission response is input (ST12).
12 is Y), a standby transfer process is started (ST13). That is, the print job stored in the reception buffer 19a is transmitted to the network 6 under the control of the execution processing unit 20.
And writes it in the save area (work area) 16 of the print server 9. The above transfer processing is performed until all print jobs are supplied to the save area (work area) 16 of the print server 9.

In the print server 9, the printer 10-
When the print job is transferred from 2, the job is stored in the save area (work area) 16 (Y in ST4, ST5). This process is repeated, and when the data of all print jobs is stored in the save area (work area) 16, the process ends (Y in ST6).

After the print job is stored in the save area (work area) 16 as described above, for example, when a print job is supplied from another client, the printer 10-2 saves the previous print job. Therefore, a new print process can be performed. Therefore, the print processing of another print job is performed while the previous print job is kept in the standby state.

On the other hand, since the client 7 saves its own print job, in order to eliminate the reason, for example, when a sheet of a designated size is set in the printer device 10-2, the client 7 is ready for printing. Printer device 1
When the printer 0-2 is ready to print a print job from the client 7, the printer 10-2 issues a return request to the print server 9.

The return request output from the printer 10-2 determines whether return printing is possible (S15).
When return printing is possible (Y in S15), when a new print job is not input (N in S1), it is determined whether there is a save history (Y in S2). If so, an instruction for a return process is issued to the print server 9 (S16).

Upon receiving the return request (Y in ST7), the file server 14 searches the save area (work area) 16 (ST8), and returns and transfers the print job saved in the save area (work area) 16. The process starts (ST9). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the return transfer processing has been completed. If the return transfer processing has been completed (Y in ST10), a completion notification of the return processing is sent to the client 7 (ST1).
1).

On the other hand, in the printer device 10-2, after instructing the above-described restoration process (after issuing the restoration request), the printer 10-2 waits for reception of a re-transfer of the print job (S17). When supplied, a re-reception process is performed (S18).

The print job received as described above is stored in the reception buffer 19a (S1), and the print job stored in the reception buffer 19a is read out by the command analysis unit 23 as described above, and An analysis process is performed (S3). For example, a character code included in a print job (print data) is converted into corresponding pattern data, and corresponding processing is executed for various commands (S4). Then, after it is determined that an error has occurred (N in S5), the image data (bitmap data) is developed in the image memory (frame memory) 19d according to the normal print processing, and the image data for one page is developed. Image data (bitmap data) stored in the printer engine 22
Is output, and image data is printed on recording paper (S6).

By performing the above-described processing, even if an error occurs during execution of the print job, the print job is saved in the save area (work area) 16,
The printing process can be performed by performing the printing process later. When an error occurs, the print job is saved, so that a print process from another client can be executed without stopping the printer device.

In the description of the above embodiment, the example of the printer 10-2 has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly executed using another printer. <Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a printing system for explaining the second embodiment. The configuration shown in the figure is similar to that of FIG. 1 described above, and the same portions will be described with the same numbers.
The configuration of the network 6 is the same as that of FIG. 2, and a plurality of clients 7, a server 8, a print server 9, and printers 10-1 to 10-4 are connected to the network 6. The client 7 is configured by, for example, a personal computer, and is configured to output print data created by a built-in application program to the server 8, the print server 9, or the printer device 10-3.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the connection configuration of the client 7, the print server 9, and the printer device 10-2, and the internal configuration of each device in the network 6 having the above configuration. The client 7 includes an application 11, a printer driver 12, and a spool directory 13 as described above. Further, in this example, the print manager 28 includes a print manager 28, and the print manager 28 includes a monitoring unit 29 as a job monitoring tool. The monitoring unit 29 functions to monitor the printing state of the printer device 10-2, which will be described later, and to cancel the printing process, for example.

The print server 9 includes a printer 10-
The print job supplied from the client 7 is stored in the spool directory 15. Further, the print job stored in the spool directory 15 is output to, for example, the printer device 10-2.

The printer device 10-2 receives the print job output from the spool directory 15 of the print server 9, and stores the print job in the system memory. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the printer device 10-2.
This is the same as the configuration of FIG. 3 described above. However, in this example, there is a feature in the data stored in the stack area 19c, and additional information of print data described later is written in the stack area 19c. The other configuration is the same as that of FIG. 3 described above, and the reception buffer 19a includes the reception buffer 19a, the work area 19b, and the stack area 19a.
c, composed of an image memory (frame memory) 19d,
ing. The print job (print data) supplied from the print server 9 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 19a in the system memory 19. The execution processing unit 2
0, the command analysis unit 23, the drawing processing unit 24, the video processing unit 25, and the functions of the printer engine 22 are the same as those in FIG.

On the other hand, additional control information is stored in the stack area 19c as described above. The additional information is added to the print job (print data) in the client 7, and the additional control information analyzed as a result of the command analysis by the command analysis unit 23 is written in the stack area 19c under the control of the execution processing unit 20.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the additional control information described above. First, the additional control information JH (job header) shown in the drawing is additional control information added to the head of a print job (unit job), and includes a job name, a total number of pages,
An application name, an owner name, and driver information are added. Further, the additional control information PH (page header) is additional control information indicating the head of each page in the print job, and a job name and a corresponding page number are added. Also,
The additional control information PF (page footer) is additional control information indicating the end of each page, and includes a job name, a corresponding page number,
A page end code is added. Further, additional control information J
F (job footer) is the print job (unit job)
Is the additional control information indicating the end of the job, and a job name and a job end code are added.

The additional control information having the above configuration is added to the print job (print data) and supplied from the client 7 to the printer 10-2 via the print server 9. In the above configuration, the processing operation of the second embodiment will be described below.

First, the client 7 uses the application 11 to create a document, for example. Thereafter, when there is a print instruction from the operator, the created document data is sent to the printer driver 12, and a corresponding print job is created by the printer driver 12. At this time, the above-mentioned various additional control information (additional control information JF, PH, P
F, JF) are also added. The print job created in this way is stored in the spool directory 13,
The data is supplied to the spool directory 15 of the print server 9 via the network 6.

Further, the print job stored in the spool directory 15 is supplied to the printer 10-2 under the control of the print server 9. The print job supplied to the printer device 10-2 is stored in the reception buffer 19a as shown in FIG.
When a predetermined amount of print job is stored in 9a, it is sent to the command analysis unit 23, and the print job (print data) is analyzed. That is, the printer job (print data) stored in the reception buffer 19a is sequentially read out by the command analysis unit 23, the character code is converted into the corresponding pattern data, and the corresponding processing is performed on the command command. . Further, the additional control information included in the print job is sequentially read out, and the stack area 19c is read.
Is stored. For example, first, the additional control information of the additional control information JF is read, and the stack job, that is, the print job (print data) stored in the reception buffer 19a is read.
Are sequentially read by the command analysis unit 23, the character code is converted into corresponding pattern data, and the corresponding processing is performed on the command command. Further, additional control information included in the print job is sequentially read out and stored in the stack area 19c. For example, first, the additional control information of the additional control information JF is read, and the stack area 19 is read.
c. As described above, the additional control information JF is a job header, and includes a print job (unit job).
, A job name, a total number of pages, an application name, an owner name, and driver information are added. Accordingly, the printer device 10-2 transmits the client 7 (owner name) that sent the print job,
The application information and the driver name are known, and the job name and the total number of pages are also recognized.

Next, the additional control information PH is analyzed, the first page (first page) is recognized, and this information is written to the stack area 19c. Thereafter, the print data of the first page is analyzed and sequentially developed in the image memory (frame memory) 19d according to the processing of the drawing processing unit 24. Thereafter, the additional control information PF is analyzed, the end of the first page (first page) is recognized, and this information is written to the stack area 19c.

Thereafter, the additional control information PH and the additional control information PF are sequentially written in the stack area 19c in the order of the second page, the third page, and so on. The data is converted into data and developed in an image memory (frame memory) 19d.

During this time, if a stop command is output from the client 7, the printer 10-2 executes a stop process. This stop instruction is output from the print manager 28 of the client 7 directly to the printer 10-2 via the network 6, as shown in FIG. FIG.
Is a line indicated by a, and is performed via the network 6. The printer device 10-2 to which the stop command is supplied executes a stop process described below.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining this processing. When the stop command is supplied via the network 6, the execution processing unit 20 recognizes the owner who has issued the print stop command (step (hereinafter, referred to as STP) 1). This recognition processing is determined by a code or the like added to the command of the stop instruction. When the owner is known, the execution processing unit 20 searches for a print job issued by the owner (S
TP2).

If there is no corresponding print job (no STP2), the client 7 is notified that there is no corresponding print job (STP3).
On the other hand, if a corresponding print job exists (STP
2), and the state of the corresponding print job at this time is determined (STP4).

In this determination, if the print job has not been executed (STP4 has not been executed), the corresponding print job is cleared (STP5). For example, there is a case where the print job is only input to the reception buffer 19a and the analysis processing by the command analysis unit 23 is not performed. If the print processing has been completed (S
(TP4 completed), and notifies the owner PC (client 7) that the print processing has been completed (ST).
6). For example, this is a case where bitmap data for print data is developed in an image memory (frame memory) 19d, all of which is output to the printer engine 22, and the print processing has already been completed.

On the other hand, during execution of the print job (ST
(P4 is being executed), and a corresponding process is performed depending on the process of the print job. First, command analysis processing is performed by the command analysis unit 23, and if image formation processing is being performed by the drawing processing unit 24 (STP7: Y), completion processing is performed until page ejection (STP8). On the other hand, if there is unoutput data in the image memory (frame memory) 19d, the unoutput data is cleared (ST
P9 is Y, ST10). If there is unprocessed data in the stack area 19c, the page data is cleared (Y in STP11, ST12).

As described above, in this example, the reception buffer 19
When a stop command is input to a and the command analysis unit 23 analyzes the stop command, the execution processing unit 20 performs a stop process, and cancels the print job in time. That is, as well as the data written in the stack area 19c, the data being developed in the image memory (frame memory) 19d is also cleared as described above.

Since the additional control information is also written in the stack area 19c as described above, the printer device 10-2 knows which print job from which client 7 has been canceled and on what page. This information is output to the monitoring means 29 of the client 7 via the a line (network 6) shown in FIG. Therefore, after outputting the stop command from this information (Y in STP13), the client 7 can easily understand the state of the print job in the printer.

Therefore, the client 7 knows the status of the print job in the printer device 10-2. For example, when the printing has already been completed, the client 7 can determine that the printed matter has been output, and the printing process is still performed. If not, for example, after the document data is corrected, the printing process can be performed again. Further, when a plurality of printing processes are being performed, it is possible to know how many pages have been printed, and perform the corresponding processes.

According to this embodiment, even when a plurality of print jobs transferred from different clients are mixed in the stack area 19c, the execution processing unit 20 selects only print jobs from the designated client. Clear processing can be performed accurately.

FIG. 14 shows an example in which the above-described additional control information is set in the print server 9. Even with such a configuration, the present invention can be implemented similarly. <Third Embodiment> Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

Also in the third embodiment, the network 6 is used, and the network 6 includes a plurality of clients 7, a server 8, a print server 9, and a printer 10-.
1 to 10-4 are connected. Client 7
Is configured to output print data created by a built-in application program to the server 8, the print server 9, or the printer device 10-3, for example.

This embodiment has a configuration in which whether or not the occurrence of an error is notified to the client 7 is set in advance by the client 7. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the processing of this example, and is a flowchart illustrating the processing of the client 7.

First, the client 7 creates print data by using the application 11 (step (hereinafter referred to as W) 1). Next, as in the above-described second embodiment,
The additional control information is added to the print job (print data) (W2). After that, when there is a print instruction from the operator,
Send the created print job (print data) (W
3).

After outputting the print job (print data) as described above, the setting for the event notification is made.
This event notification is set beforehand by the client 7 as to whether or not to notify the client 7 of the occurrence of an error. If the event notification is not set, the process ends (W4 is N). On the other hand, if the event notification is set, the process waits for the arrival of the event data (W5).

FIG. 16 shows processing on the side of the printer device 10-2. When the above-described print job (print data) is received (step (hereinafter denoted by V) 1), the additional control information is analyzed and the second embodiment is performed. The printing process is performed as in the example (V3).
Thereafter, if a failure (error) does not occur (N in V4), after completion of the printing process (V5), it is determined whether or not there is a printing completion notification (V6). Here, if a print completion notification is required (V6 is required), print event data is created,
Event data is sent (V7, V8).

On the other hand, if a failure (error) has occurred (V4 is Y), it is determined whether or not a failure occurrence notification has been received (V9).
When it is necessary to perform a failure occurrence notification (error notification), failure information event data is created (V10), and the event data is output to the client 7 (V11).

With the above configuration, the client 7 can set whether or not to receive the error information. For example, when the client is located near the printer, no event notification is set. The client 7 located away from the apparatus can perform a flexible response such as setting an event notification. <Fourth Embodiment> Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a printing system for explaining the fourth embodiment. This example is particularly applied to a color printing system, and the network 6 is the same as the above-described embodiment.

In this embodiment, an intermediate application for processing print data output from a client or an input terminal is provided in a print server, and the print data processed in the print server is output to a color printer.

Conventionally, when document data is created and printed by a client 7 or an input terminal on a network, a printer driver, which acts as an intermediary between an application and a color printer, analyzes the document data and specifies a control rule specified in advance. A technology for adding attribute data according to the above has been developed. For example, there is a case where a red print attribute is added to the text "red" of the document data.

In such a conventional system, document data is analyzed by a printer driver installed in each client. For this reason, it is necessary that each client or input terminal has definition data describing a control law that defines the operation of the printer driver. Further, this method cannot be used with a data terminal device such as an input terminal for POS (point of sales). further,
Even a client that can store definition data requires a considerable burden to maintain the definition data.

Therefore, even in a network to which a POS (point of sales) input terminal or the like is connected, an intermediate application for processing print data is provided in the print server, and the print data processed in the print server is converted to color data. This is a system that enables processing corresponding to definition data by outputting to a printer device.

In FIG. 17, a plurality of clients 7, a print server 32, a color printer 30, and a POS input terminal 31 are connected to a network 6. The client 7 is formed of, for example, a personal computer, and outputs print data created by a built-in application program to the print server 9 or the color printer 30. Further, from the POS input terminal 31, for example, data such as the stock status of the product and the unit price of the product are input, and these data are supplied to the network 6 as print data. The print server 32 is a core server of the printing system of the present example, and has attribute definition data described later.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the network 6 having the above configuration. The POS input terminal 31 is a hard disk 3 that stores data such as the above-mentioned inventory of products and unit prices of the products.
1a, and the client 7 has a hard disk 7a for storing document data. On the other hand, the print server 32
Is a hard disk 32 that stores the above-described attribute definition data.
a, and adds the designated attribute to the print data (document data) supplied from the client 7 or the POS input terminal 31. That is, the print server 32 has a data processing unit 32b of the input terminal and a data processing unit 32c of the client PC, and processes the corresponding data.

FIG. 19 shows, for example, the hard disk 3 of this example.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of attribute definition data stored in 2a.
The attribute definition data includes an “attribute” included in the print data and an “additional processing control command” for the attribute. The relationship between "attribute" and "additional processing control instruction"
When the “attribute” is a specific character string, for example, a specific character string such as red or blue, it is an instruction to draw a corresponding color on the character string as an “additional processing control instruction”. "Attributes"
Is a specific character pattern, for example, {month / day} hour, etc., is an instruction to print the specific character pattern in Gothic font as an “additional processing control instruction”. Further, when the “attribute” is a specific symbol or code, for example, Δ, Δ, *, etc., this is a command for emphasizing and printing the specific symbol or specific code as an “additional processing control command”. The correspondence between other "attributes" and "additional processing control commands" is as shown in FIG. Note that the “additional processing control command” may be an additional processing command such as inversion or underlining.

On the other hand, the color printer device 30 performs a printing process according to the print data supplied from the print server 32. The configuration of the color printer device 30 is the same as that of FIG.
And the system memory 19 stores the reception buffer 19
a, a work area 19b, a stack area 19c, and an image memory (frame memory) 19d. Print data supplied from the print server 32 is stored in a reception buffer 19a in the system memory 19. The execution processing unit 20 reads the print data stored in the reception buffer 19a to the command analysis unit 23, and the command analysis unit 23 analyzes the command of the print data. In this example,
The image memory (frame memory) 19d is composed of four memories, for example, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (BK). The printer engine 22 shown in FIG. Is output. For example, if the print image is blue, the magenta (M) toner is transferred to paper based on the principle of subtractive color mixture, and then the cyan (C) toner is transferred to paper to realize a blue image. Further, for example, if the print image is red, the yellow (Y) toner is transferred to the paper, and then the magenta (M) toner is transferred to the paper to realize a red image.
In the above configuration, a print processing operation according to this example will be described below.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation of this example. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation of the print server 32.
The attribute definition data is read in advance (step (hereinafter, referred to as U) 1). Next, for example, PO
When print data is output from the S input terminal 31 and supplied to the print server 32, the print server 32 reads the supplied print data (U2). Print server 3
The data processing unit 32b of the second input terminal processes the supplied data.

That is, the following processing is repeated for all the character strings in the attribute definition data (U3). More specifically, an “attribute” is searched for the input print data, and a corresponding “additional processing control command” is added (U4). For example, if “attribute” data such as “red” or “blue” exists in the print data, the corresponding red or blue is added to the corresponding character string. If there is an "attribute" such as @, @, * in the print data, a command for emphasizing and printing the specific symbol or code is added as an "additional processing control command".

As described above, the print data includes the “additional processing control command” and outputs the print data to the color printer 30 (U5). The color printer device 30 performs a print process according to the print data including the “additional process control command”. For example, FIG. 22 shows an example in which specific character strings “Accounting Department”, “Human Resources Department”, and “General Affairs Department” are printed in a designated color by the above “additional processing control command”. . For example, in FIG. 9A, the letters of the accounting department are red, the letters of the personnel department are blue, and the letters of the general affairs department are yellow. FIG. 2B is for adding an index of a color corresponding to the side of the sheet, and FIG. 2C is for printing the entire sheet in the above-described color.

In FIG. 22, characters or symbols are not emphasized or underlines are not printed, but a corresponding “additional processing control command” can be executed. Also,
FIG. 23 illustrates another configuration of the attribute definition data in the print server 32. The attribute definition data registered in the hard disk 32a and used as “attribute” data and “additional processing control command” is stored in another memory. The attribute definition data to be registered in 32d to 32f is selected and used. For example, if the attribute definition data A is registered in the memory 32d, the attribute definition data B is registered in the memory 32e, and the attribute definition data C is registered in the memory 32f, the printing is performed. The server 32 selects one of the attribute definition data A to C according to the control information 32g and registers it in the hard disk 32a. Then, an attribute adding process is performed on the print data supplied in accordance with the registered attribute definition data.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining this processing.
4. That is, first, attribute definition data is selected and read (step (hereinafter, referred to as M) 1), and the following processing is repeated at regular intervals (M2). That is, when there is newly valid attribute definition data among the attribute definition data A to C, the valid attribute definition data is read into the hard disk 32a (M3).

As described above, by selecting and using a plurality of attribute definition data, more attribute definition data can be used, and more flexible printing processing can be performed.

[0089]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when an error occurs in a print job, the print server saves the print job, so that the printing process can be performed without stopping the printer.

When printing is stopped during execution of the printing process, the printing state in the printer can be known, and the client can perform extremely appropriate processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system illustrating a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a connection configuration of a client, a print server, and a printer device, and an internal configuration of each device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a printer device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a print processing operation according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating control of the printer device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the print server that has received an instruction for a save process output from the print server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a return process.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a printing system illustrating a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a printer device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating additional control information.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the flow of a print job.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining an instruction system of a stop instruction.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a stop process.

FIG. 14 is an example of a case where additional control information is supplied to a print server.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram of a printing system illustrating a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a network explaining a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of attribute definition data stored in a hard disk for explaining a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a configuration diagram of a printer engine according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation according to the fourth embodiment.

FIGS. 22A to 22C are diagrams illustrating a print example of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration when a part of the print server is modified.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation of a modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a configuration diagram of a conventional printing system.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a transfer path of a print job in a conventional example.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a conventional printing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Network 7 Client 8 Server 9 Print Server 10-1 to 10-4 Printer 11 Application 12 Printer Driver 13 Spool Directory 14 File Server 15 Spool Directory 16 Evacuation Area (Work Area) 18 LAN Interface (I / F) Board 19 System Memory 19a Receive buffer 19b Work area 19c Stack area 19d Image memory (frame memory) 20 Execution processing unit 21 Controller 22 Printer engine 23 Command analysis unit 24 Drawing processing unit 25 Video processing unit 28 Print manager 29 Monitoring means 30 Color printer device 31 POS Input terminal 32 Print server 32a Hard disk 32b Input terminal data processing unit 32c Client PC data processing unit 32d to 32f Memory 32g Control information

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shuichi Arai 2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo Inside Casio Electronics Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoichi Kobayashi 2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo Casio Electronics Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsuneharu Tamura 2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato City, Tokyo Inside Casio Electronics Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A print system in which a client computer, a print server, and a printer device are connected on a network, a print job creating means provided in the client computer, for creating a print job of print information, A print processing unit that analyzes the print job and performs a print process on recording paper; a save unit that saves the print job to the print server when an error occurs during the print process; And a return unit that returns the print job to the printer device when the print job is canceled. 2. The color printing system according to claim 1, wherein the save of the print job is performed in a save memory of the print server. 3. A print job from another client computer which is supplied to the printer device while the print job is being saved by the save unit.
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printer device performs a printing process. 4. In a printing system in which a client computer, a print server, and a printer are connected on a network, the print system is provided in the client computer and creates a print job of print information and creates additional control information of the print job. Print information generating means, provided in the printer device, for performing analysis processing of the print job, and performing print processing on recording paper; and additional information, provided in the printer device, included in the additional control information. Additional control information analyzing means for analyzing the status of the print job at the time when the print stop command is output according to the control information; and notifying the client of the status of the print job in the printer apparatus analyzed by the additional control information analyzing means. Notification means for performing Color printing system. 5. The color printing system according to claim 4, wherein the additional control information is a job header and a job footer of the print job. 6. The color printing system according to claim 5, wherein the additional control information is a page header and a page footer of each page of the print job. 7. The color printing system according to claim 4, wherein the client can set whether or not to receive notification of the status of the print job in the printer analyzed by the additional control information analyzing means.