JPH11203077A - Printing system and printer selection method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To automatically select an optimum printer for printing from a plurality of printers based on printing conditions input by a user to a printer driver. SOLUTION: An output destination printer selecting section 11 has a resolution,
The printing conditions input by the user during printing for various condition items such as printing speed and paper size, and the printers 2a to 2c
Basic information indicating the performance and specifications of the printer, printer selection conditions indicating the importance of individual condition items for the user, current status information of the printers 2a to 2c, the number of pages of the document to be printed, and the An optimal printer that can best satisfy the user's printing conditions is automatically selected based on features such as complexity. Print data creation unit 18
Creates print data with a control command that can be interpreted by the selected optimum printer, and the data transfer unit 17 sends the print data to the optimum printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing system and a printer selection method capable of automatically selecting an optimum printer for printing from a plurality of printers connected to a host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printing system in which a plurality of printers are connected to one host computer can be constructed by using a communication network such as a LAN.
In such a system, as a method of determining an output destination printer from the plurality of printers on the host computer side, conventionally, a user selects one which is deemed optimal from a plurality of printers displayed on a GUI of the host. The method of doing it is exclusively performed.

[0003]

According to the conventional printer selection method, a user cannot select an appropriate printer unless the user has previously recognized the types, performances, and installation locations of a plurality of printers. However, on a company LAN,
Individual users can access all printer types, capabilities,
It is difficult to recognize the installation location. As a result, there are many users who use only one specific printer that happens to know, although various printers can be used. Also, when a print command is sent to the specific printer, if the printer is busy, the printer keeps waiting for a long time until the busy printer becomes printable, despite the presence of other printable printers. That situation also occurs. Further, when it becomes necessary to perform printing that cannot be performed by the specific printer, the user must search for another printer, which is troublesome.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to automatically select an optimum printer for printing from a plurality of printers connected to a host computer, so that a user does not need to know the performance and specifications of those printers. However, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to use those printers advantageously and efficiently.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A printing system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of printers, a host computer capable of selectively driving the plurality of printers, and user information holding user information relating to printing input or set by a user. A holding unit, a printer information holding unit for holding printer information about a plurality of printers, and printing based on the user information held in the user information holding unit and the printer information of the plurality of printers held in the printer information holding unit. And an output printer selection unit for controlling a host computer to drive the selected optimum printer and to select the optimum printer for executing the selected printer.

The user information holding unit includes, for example, (1) a user print condition input unit for inputting and holding a user print condition from a user, and (2) a printer selection condition setting unit for setting and holding a printer selection condition from a user. , And (3) a document feature extraction unit that extracts and retains document features from data of a document to be printed, and the like. However, another element may be added, or some of the above elements may be added. Can also be omitted. The printer information holding unit is, for example, (4) a basic information setting unit that holds basic information indicating performance or specifications of a plurality of printers, and
(5) It can be composed of a status monitoring unit or the like that holds status information indicating the current status of a plurality of printers. However, another element may be added, or some of the above elements may be omitted. You can also.

[0007] The output printer selection section selects an optimum printer based on the above various information. Various selection methods are conceivable. For example, based on the user printing conditions and the basic information of a plurality of printers, an optimum printer can be selected from printers having basic information that can satisfy the user printing conditions. Alternatively, an optimal printer can be selected from printers having basic information that can satisfy the printer selection condition, based on the printer selection condition and the basic information of a plurality of printers. Alternatively, based on the document characteristics and the basic information of a plurality of printers, an optimum printer can be selected from printers having basic information capable of printing a document having the document characteristics. Or,
Based on the status information of a plurality of printers, an optimum printer can be selected from printers having printable status information. Further, the optimum printer may be determined by combining the above various methods.

[0008] All of the above-mentioned user information holding unit, printer information holding unit, and output printer selecting unit may be mounted on an individual host computer, or in a system using a communication network, etc. It is also possible to disperse and arrange them in a plurality of nodes (for example, a server and individual host computers).

When the above-mentioned user information holding unit, printer information holding unit, and output printer selecting unit are implemented by software on a computer, the computer program is a card-type storage device, a disk-type storage device, a semiconductor memory, or a communication network. And can be installed or loaded into the computer through various information media such as.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of the printing system of the present invention. On a communication network 4 such as a LAN, one or more host computers 1 (only one is shown), a plurality of printers 2a, 2b, 2c,
2d and one communication server 3 (not necessarily required). A local printer 5 is also connected to the illustrated host computer 1 via a predetermined interface cable.

FIG. 2 shows the host computer 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration for controlling a printer mounted on the printer.

The host computer 1 includes an output destination printer selecting unit 11, a basic information setting unit 12, and a status monitoring unit 1.
3, user print condition input unit 14, printer selection condition setting unit 15, document feature extraction unit 16, data transfer unit 1
7 and the print data creation unit 18. These blocks can typically be provided by software. For example, the user print condition input unit 14, print data creation unit 18 and data transfer unit 17 can be provided by software generally called a printer driver. The other blocks 11 to 12 and 16 may be incorporated in a printer driver, or may be provided by another software, for example, a program called a printer utility. At least one of these blocks, for example, status monitor 1
3 may be a resident program.

The output destination printer selecting section 11 is for automatically selecting an output destination of print data from the plurality of printers 2a, 2b, 2c and the local printer 5 on the network 4. When selecting an output destination printer, the output destination printer selecting unit 11 selects a basic information setting unit 12, a status monitoring unit 13, a user print condition input unit 14, a printer selection condition setting unit 15, and a document feature extraction unit 16
Refer to the following information held by.

The basic information setting unit 12 includes the printers 2a, 2b, 2c and the local printer 55 on the network 4.
The basic information such as performance and specification of each of the above is acquired, and the basic information is held. Basic information does not change frequently. For example, model name, performance (print speed, color / monochrome, resolution,
AM capacity, built-in font, control command level, amount of installed hard disk, etc.) Additional functions (double-sided printing function, sorter, stapler,
Puncher etc.) Items such as installation location (location name, distance to location, etc.) are included. The contents of these items can be manually input and set by the user (or a system administrator or the like) in the basic information setting unit 12, or the printer itself knows, for example, the model name, performance, and additional functions. The information that is present can be automatically acquired from each printer by the basic information setting unit 12 inquiring each printer.

The status monitoring unit 13 includes a printer 2a,
Monitor the status of each of 2b, 2c, 2d, 5
Keep the latest status information. Status information includes, for example, operating status (during printing, power saving status, error status, amount of data waiting to be printed, etc.) Status of consumables (paper size, paper type, remaining paper, remaining toner and ink, etc.) ) Is included. Since the status information changes frequently, the status monitoring unit 13 may be of a resident type as described above so that the latest status information can be obtained at any time.

The user printing condition input unit 14 receives printing conditions from a user during printing and holds the printing conditions. Print conditions include items such as image quality (color / monochrome, resolution, number of gradations, color correction, etc.) paper (paper size, paper type, etc.) additional functions (duplex printing, scaling, sorting, staples, punching, etc.) Is included.

The printer selection condition setting section 15 holds printer selection conditions set by the user in advance. The printer selection conditions include, for example, printer condition items (color / monochrome, paper size, resolution, installation location, printing speed, etc.) to be included in the selection range.

The document characteristic extracting unit 16 extracts and holds document information indicating the characteristics of the document to be printed from the data of the document to be printed which is passed from the application (not shown) to the print data creating unit 18 via the OS at the time of printing. The document information includes, for example, items such as the number of pages or the number of pages, the complexity of images, the presence or absence of photographs and graphics.

The print data creation unit 18 creates print data of a document passed from an application (not shown) at the time of printing using a printer control command that can be interpreted by the printer selected by the output destination printer selection unit 11. The data transfer unit 17 transmits the print data created by the print data creation unit 18 to the O
S (not shown), and the output destination printer selecting unit 11 sends the selected printer to the selected printer.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the basic information of the printer held in the basic information setting section 12. In FIG.
For each of the four printers identified by the name of PRN4, the installation location, color / monochrome,
The print speed, resolution, paper type, and whether or not double-sided printing is performed are set.

FIG. 4 shows an example of status information held by the status monitoring unit 13. In FIG. 4, PRN1 to PRN1
For each of the four printers identified by the name of RN4, the operating status, the paper size and the remaining amount of paper, and the remaining amount of ink / toner are held as status information.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the printer selection conditions set in the printer selection condition setting section 15. In FIG.
For each of the two users, User 1 and User 2, the printer selection conditions include color / monochrome, paper size, resolution, double-sided printing, printing location, printing speed, and remaining consumables. On the other hand, the priority (A, B, C) specified by the user is set. Here, the priority A means a condition item that must be satisfied.
If the condition items cannot be completely satisfied, the host computer 1 issues a warning to the user as described later. The priority B means that it is a desirable condition item to be satisfied, and for each B condition item, the user can also set an alternative condition when the condition cannot be satisfied. The alternative conditions set by the user are shown in parentheses in FIG. The priority C is an item not specified by the user, and may or may not be satisfied. The user 1 shown in FIG. 5 is, for example, a user who wants to properly print a text document used for work, and specifies a priority A with respect to print quality, so that high-quality printing can be reliably performed on paper of a specified size. It is carried out. On the other hand, the user 2 is, for example, a user who frequently prints and wants to check the contents of the document immediately, and makes use of the priority B to make settings so that printing can be performed on a printer with desirable conditions as much as possible without waiting. I have.

Next, the operation of the host computer 1 during printing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When performing printing, the user calls a printer driver and sets desired printing conditions on the GUI (step 101). The set print conditions are held by the user print condition input unit 14. When the setting is completed, the user instructs to execute printing (step 102). Then, the output destination printer selection unit 11 outputs the basic information of each printer as illustrated in FIG. 3 held in the basic information setting unit 12 and the printer selection condition setting unit 1.
5 and the user print conditions set in the user print condition input unit 14 as illustrated in FIG. 5 as illustrated in FIG. 5 (step 103).
Then, according to the priority indicated in the printer selection condition,
The user printing conditions and the basic information of each printer are compared as follows.

The output destination printer selection unit 11 first determines in step 104 whether or not there is a condition item of priority A in the printer selection conditions.
Jump to step 105, and if there is, go to step 105. Step 1
05, the output destination printer selection unit 11
For each of the condition items, check whether the basic information of the individual printer can satisfy the user printing conditions,
Printers for which the result is NO are excluded from selection targets in step 106. For example, if “color / monochrome” has the priority A and the user printing condition is “color”, the monochrome-only printer is excluded from the selection targets. This operation is repeated for all the priority A condition items (step 107). Next, the output destination printer selection unit 11
In step 108, it is checked whether or not there is at least one printer remaining without being removed from the selection target (that is, a printer that can satisfy the user printing conditions in all items of the priority A). If there is no printer, a message to that effect is issued to the user in step 109, and the process returns to step 101 to wait for re-input of the user printing conditions.

If there is one or more printers to be selected, after holding this information, the output destination printer selection unit 11 proceeds to step 110 and sets the priority B in the printer selection conditions.
It is checked whether or not there is an item. If there is no B item, the process jumps to step 116. If there is a B item, the process proceeds to step 111. In step 111, the output destination printer selecting unit 11 checks whether or not the basic information of each printer to be selected can satisfy the user print request for each of the B items. The process further proceeds to step 112, and if an alternative condition is set for the item B, it is checked whether the basic condition of the printer satisfies the alternative condition. For example,
If the “paper size” is the priority B, the user print condition is “B4”, and the alternative condition is “select reduced printing up to A4”, the printer corresponding to the paper of A4 or smaller In step 111, the answer is NO, but in step 11
2 is YES. A high score is counted in Step 113 for a printer in which the result of Step 111 is YES, and a low score is counted in Step 114 for a printer in which the result of Step 112 is YES. And keep the score of each printer. The above operation is repeated for all B items (step 115). As a result, each printer to be selected is given a total score indicating the extent to which item B can be satisfied.

Next, the output destination printer selecting unit 11 proceeds to step 116, and corrects the total score of each printer to be selected from the characteristics of the document held by the document characteristic extracting unit 16. For example, a high-speed printer is given priority when the number of pages in a document is large. A higher additional score is given to a printer with a higher printing speed in basic information, or a higher score is given when a document contains a complicated image. For example, a printer having a higher command level in the basic information is given a higher additional score so as to give priority to a printer having a command processing function of a higher level.

Next, the output destination printer selecting section 11 proceeds to step 117, and refers to the status information of each of the printers to be selected, whereby each printer can actually perform printing in accordance with the user printing conditions (or alternative conditions). It is checked whether the printer is in the state or not, and the printer in the print disabled state is excluded from the selection. For example, a printer in a state where paper of a size to be printed is not set, out of ink, or stopped due to an error is excluded from selection targets. In addition, the printer that is currently printing is immediately returned to the printable state, so it is not excluded from the selection.However, for example, by lowering the total score, the state that printing cannot be performed is changed to the optimal printer later. Reflect it in the decision material at the time of selection.

Next, at step 118, the output destination printer selecting section 11 checks whether or not one or more printers to be selected remain.
Fly to 9. If there is at least one printer to be selected,
In step 119, one printer having the highest final total score is selected as the optimum printer from the selected printers. If there are multiple printers that have obtained the same highest total score, the printers are sorted by an appropriate standard (for example, in the order of printer name, in the order of the number of times of operation of the printer, in the order of the identification number, in the order of the preset priority). One of them is selected as the optimum printer.

When the optimum printer is selected in this way, next, in step 120, the print data creation unit 18 creates print data from the document data using a control command that can be interpreted by the selected optimum printer. Subsequently, in step 121, the data transfer unit 17 transfers the print data to the OS and causes the print data to be transferred to the selected optimum printer. At the same time, in step 122, the data transfer unit 17 notifies the user of the optimum printer to which the print data is to be sent by displaying a GUI of the printer driver.

According to the present embodiment, a printer which can best satisfy the user's needs by simply setting the printing conditions on the GUI of the printer driver without the user having to know the performance and specifications of the individual printer is automatically set. Is selected.
For example, the four printers PRN1 to PRN shown in FIG.
5, the user 1 shown in FIG. 5 sets print conditions of “monochrome”, “A4”, “600 dpi”, and “do not print on both sides”, and issues a print instruction for a 20-page document. Suppose you fired. Then 4
Among the printers PRN1 to PRN4, the printer PRN4 that cannot satisfy all the printing conditions of the priority A, that is, “monochrome”, “A4”, and “600 dpi” in the basic conditions shown in FIG. Removed. Further, in the status information shown in FIG. 4, printers PRN1 and PRN2 which cannot print 20 pages, which is a document feature, because the remaining amount of A4 paper is small, are excluded. Eventually, the printer PRN3 is selected as the optimum printer. In this case, since the printer PRN3 is printing, the printing of the user 1 is kept waiting until the printing is completed. If the remaining amount of A4 paper of the printer PRN2 is equal to or greater than 20 in the status information shown in FIG. 4, the printer PRN2, not the printer PRN4, would have been selected as the optimum printer (the printer PRN4).
Is printing, the total score is lower than that of the printer PRN2). In any case, the printing of the user 1 is performed by the user 1
Will be printed properly under the printing conditions specified by
The needs of the user 1 can be satisfied. On the other hand, assume that the user 2 shown in FIG. 5 issues a print instruction for the same document under the same print conditions. In this case, a printer that well satisfies the item of priority B in the basic information obtains a high score, but the printer PRN
2. Higher score will be obtained in the order of the printer PRN1, and the printing speed is determined by the printer PRN3, the printer P
Since the highest score will be obtained in the order of RN1, the printers PRN1 to PRN3 will end up with almost the same highest score. Further, regarding the status information shown in FIG. 4, the printer PRN2 having the insufficient amount of paper is excluded, and the printer PRN3 during printing lowers the score, so that the printer PRN1 will be finally selected. If the printer PRN3 is not printing, a printer PRN3 faster than the printer PRN1 may be selected.
In any case, a printer that most closely meets the condition of a high-speed printer whose installation location desired by the user 2 is close is automatically selected. In this way, a plurality of printers can be used advantageously and efficiently for the user.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is merely an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Can be implemented. For example, the flow and method of determination for selecting an optimum printer in the processing shown in FIG. 6 include user printing conditions, printer selection conditions, basic information,
This is merely an example for comprehensively considering various information such as status information and document characteristics, and other than this example, those skilled in the art can check the order of various information, how to check, evaluation and correction of check results. How to handle,
Various modifications can be easily made in consideration of additional information not taken into consideration in the above embodiment, judgment with less types of information than in the above embodiment, and a method of determining an optimum printer based on a check result. Can be implemented. In addition, all of the processing modules in the host computer 1 shown in FIG. 1 do not necessarily have to be mounted on individual host computers 1, and can be distributed and arranged on several host computers. Alternatively, at least a part of the processing modules may be arranged in the server 3 shown in FIG. For example, the server 3 has a basic information setting unit 12 and a status monitoring unit 13, and in response to a request from each host computer 1, the server 3 transmits the basic information and status information of the printer on the network to the host computer. 1 may be notified. Alternatively, not only the basic information setting unit 12 and the status monitoring unit 13 but also the output destination printer selecting unit 11 may be provided in the server 3, and upon request from each host computer 1, the server 3 The optimal printer may be selected by taking in the printer selection conditions, user printing conditions, and document characteristics notified from the printer, and the selected optimal printer may be notified to the host computer 1. Further, the server 3 may have more processing modules. In short, in the present invention, it does not matter which machine in the system is equipped with various processing modules for selecting a printer, whether it is software or hardware, and it is in a form that each host can use the entire system. What is necessary is that the printer selection function is realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration for controlling a printer mounted on the host computer shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying basic information of a printer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating status information of a printer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating printer selection conditions.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of printing by the host computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 2a-2d, 5 Printer 3 Server 4 Communication network 11 Output destination printer selection part 12 Basic information setting part 13 Status monitoring part 14 User printing condition input part 15 Printer selection condition setting part 16 Document feature extraction part 17 Data transfer part 18 Print data creation unit

Claims (16)

[Claims] A plurality of printers; a host computer capable of selectively driving the plurality of printers; a user information holding unit for holding user information relating to printing input or set by a user; and a printer relating to the plurality of printers. A printer information holding unit for holding information, the user information held in the user information holding unit,
An output printer that selects an optimum printer for performing printing based on the printer information of the plurality of printers held in the printer information holding unit and controls the host computer to drive the selected optimum printer Printing system with selection unit. 2. The user information holding unit includes: (1) a user print condition input unit that receives and holds a user print condition from the user; and (2) a printer that sets and holds a printer selection condition from the user. A selection condition setting unit, and (3) at least one of a document feature extraction unit that extracts and holds a document feature from data of a document to be printed, and wherein the printer information holding unit includes: (4) the plurality of printers 2. A device according to claim 1, further comprising: a basic information setting unit for storing basic information indicating the performance or specifications of the plurality of printers; and (5) a status monitoring unit for storing status information indicating the current status of the plurality of printers. Printing system. 3. The output printer selecting section, based on the user print conditions and basic information of the plurality of printers,
3. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the optimum printer is selected from printers having basic information that can satisfy the user printing conditions. 4. The output printer selecting section selects the optimum printer from printers having basic information that can satisfy the printer selection condition, based on the printer selection condition and basic information of the plurality of printers. The printing system according to claim 2. 5. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the output printer selection unit is configured to select the optimum printer from among printers having basic information capable of printing a document having the document characteristics based on the document characteristics and the basic information of the plurality of printers. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein a printer is selected. 6. The output printer selecting unit according to claim 2, wherein the output printer selecting unit selects the optimum printer from printers having printable status information based on the status information of the plurality of printers. The printing system as described. 7. A communication network having a plurality of nodes including the plurality of printers and the host computer, wherein the user information holding unit, the printer information holding unit, and the output printer selecting unit are connected to the communication network. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing system is arranged in a centralized manner or in a distributed manner among a plurality of nodes. 8. A printer control unit capable of selectively driving a plurality of printers, a user information holding unit holding user information relating to printing input or set by a user, and a printer holding printer information relating to the plurality of printers An information holding unit; and the user information held in the user information holding unit;
An output printer selection unit that selects an optimal printer for executing printing based on the printer information of the plurality of printers held in the printer information holding unit, wherein the printer control unit A computer that drives the optimal printer selected by the selection unit. 9. The user information holding unit includes: (1) a user print condition input unit that receives and holds user print conditions from the user; and (2) a printer that sets and holds printer selection conditions from the user. A selection condition setting unit, and (3) at least one of a document feature extraction unit that extracts and holds a document feature from data of a document to be printed, and wherein the printer information holding unit includes: (4) the plurality of printers 9. A basic information setting unit for holding basic information indicating performance or specifications of the plurality of printers, and (5) a status monitoring unit for holding status information indicating current status of the plurality of printers. Computer. 10. The output printer selection unit selects the optimum printer from printers having basic information that can satisfy the user printing conditions, based on the user printing conditions and the basic information of the plurality of printers. Claim 9
Computer as described. 11. The output printer selection unit selects the optimum printer from printers having basic information that can satisfy the printer selection condition, based on the printer selection condition and basic information of the plurality of printers. The computer according to claim 9. 12. The printer according to claim 1, wherein said output printer selecting unit selects the optimum printer from among printers having basic information capable of printing a document having the document characteristics based on the document characteristics and the basic information of the plurality of printers. The computer according to claim 9, wherein the computer is selected. 13. The output printer selection unit according to claim 2, wherein the output printer selection unit selects the optimum printer from printers having printable status information based on the status information of the plurality of printers. Computer as described. 14. A printer control unit capable of selectively driving a plurality of printers, a user information holding unit holding user information related to printing input or set by a user, and a printer holding printer information related to the plurality of printers An information holding unit; and the user information held in the user information holding unit;
An output printer selection unit that selects an optimal printer for executing printing based on the printer information of the plurality of printers held in the printer information holding unit, wherein the printer control unit A computer-readable recording medium that carries a program for causing a computer to function as the one that drives the optimum printer selected by the selection unit. 15. A step of acquiring user information relating to printing input or set by a user; a step of acquiring printer information relating to a plurality of printers; and performing printing based on the user information and the printer information of the plurality of printers. Selecting the most suitable printer to be executed. 16. Acquiring user information on printing input or set by a user and printer information on a plurality of printers, and executing printing based on the user information and printer information on the plurality of printers. A computer-readable recording medium carrying a program for operating a computer so as to select an optimal printer.