JPH11327845A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printing system capable of performing print processing without being aware of the functions of a plurality of printers connected to the printing system. A printing system according to the present invention includes printers 1 to 4, a plurality of computers 5 and 6 having different specifications,
A print server 7 is provided. When a user receives a desired print request via the computers 5 and 6, the print request is temporarily stored in the print server 7. The plurality of printers 1 to 4 connected to the printing system send information on page description language (PDL) used by each printer to the print server 7 at the same time as information on each function and performance. The print server 7 compares the print request with the function information of the plurality of printers 1 to 4, selects an arbitrary printer that satisfies the desired print request, and uses a page description language (PDL) used in the selected printer. When a plurality of printers having different specifications are connected, the user can perform print processing without being aware of the respective printer functions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printing system in which a plurality of printers having different specifications are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing system, when a printing request accompanied by designation of a document printing specification for a document is issued, the printing system automatically selects a printer conforming to the document printing specification. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-72993 discloses a printing system that eliminates the trouble of grasping printer specifications and selecting a printer based on the printer specifications.

A printing system which converts a different page description language transmitted via a network into a raster image by a conversion device and transmits the raster image to a printer which is a printing device via the network is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 9-163702. It is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-40039.

[0004]

However, in a network environment in which a plurality of printers having different specifications coexist, as shown in the above-mentioned conventional example, a driver is installed for each printer in each computer, and a document to be printed by a user is desired. However, there is a problem that an output operation must be performed by selecting a printer conforming to the above.

[0005] Another problem is that when a printer for which print processing is desired is in use, it is necessary to wait until the print job currently being processed is completed.

Further, since printer information such as a paper feedable size, whether or not double-sided printing is possible or not, and a resolution is different for each printer, the user selects a printer after fully understanding all the information and outputs the information. There is a problem that must be done.

Further, since printer information such as a paper feedable size, double-sided printing, and resolution differs for each printer, it is impossible to use one existing driver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system capable of unifying a page description language (PDL) and unifying a single driver.

[0009]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: a plurality of printers having different specifications; a plurality of computers; and a printer server having a page description language routing information protocol. Is a network-connected printing system, the print server is based on a page description language unifying means for unifying each page description language used by a plurality of printers, and a page description language unified by the page description language unifying means. A driver creating means for creating a driver, the computer having driver data acquiring means for acquiring data of the driver created by the driver creating means from a print server, and the printing system receives print data from the computer. And multiple printers based on driver data Printer selecting means for selecting a printer capable of processing print data from the printer, converting means for converting the page description language used by the printer selected by the printer selecting means, and print data in the page description language converted by the converting means. And print data transmitting means for transmitting the print data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which a plurality of printers having different specifications, a plurality of computers, and a printer server having a routing information protocol of a page description language are network-connected. Printer information storing means for storing information on the function and performance of each of a plurality of printers connected to the printer as printer information, and driver creating means for creating a driver based on the printer information stored by the printer information storing means. The plurality of computers include driver data acquisition means for acquiring driver data created by the driver creation means, and driver data update means for updating driver data acquired by the driver data acquisition means. the system,
When print data is input to a plurality of computers, printer selection means for selecting a printer capable of processing print data from among a plurality of printers based on driver data updated by the driver data update means, and printer selection means And a print data transmitting means for transmitting print data using the page description language converted by the converting means.

[0011] The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the described invention, the print server, when storing the printer information in the printer information storage means, transmits the different page description languages used by a plurality of printers to a common page description language and stores them. It is characterized by.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the plurality of computers output to the plurality of printers by the driver updated by the driver updating means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the printer information is constituted by information of a feedable size, double-sided printable / non-printable, and resolution.

[0014]

Next, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes printers 1 to 3 which are output devices for printed matter.
4. Computers 5 and 6 for inputting operation instructions and the like from a user, storing printer information of each printer connected to the printing system in the present embodiment, and using a software driver (hereinafter simply referred to as a driver) based on the printer information. ), And a network 8 connecting the above-described units.

The updating of the driver will be described with reference to FIG. The print server 7 acquires printer information such as a paper feedable size, double-sided printing, and resolution from each of the printers 1, 2, and 3 connected to the network 8, and executes software based on the printer information. A wear driver is created (11 in FIG. 1).

The created driver is obtained from the print server 7 by the client computer 1 and the client computer 2 and updates the data of the previous driver (12 in FIG. 1). Description will be made by taking as an example a case where the printer information of each of the printers 1 to 3 is a table shown below.

[0018]

[Table 1]

Referring to Table 1, the printer 1 can feed paper of A3, A4, A5, B4, and B5 sizes, but cannot perform double-sided printing.
Printer information such as having a resolution of i is shown.

In the printer 2, A4, A4
5, B5 size paper can be fed, and double-sided printing is also possible. However, compared to the printer 1, the resolution is 400 dpi.
And it is somewhat inferior.

In the printer 3, A4, A4
Printer information indicating that papers of 5, B4, and B5 sizes can be supplied and double-sided printing cannot be performed, but have resolutions of 600 dpi and 400 dpi.

The print server 7 creates a driver with reference to Table 1 above, and selects a printable printer based on Table 2 shown below as an example.

[0023]

[Table 2]

Explaining based on the driver data shown in Table 2, when the designation by the driver is A4 paper,
Referring to Table 1 above, any one of the printers 1 to 3 can be selected. When the resolution is set to 600 dpi, the printer 1 and the printer 3 can be selected. Further, when the paper size is designated as B4, the printer 1 and the printer 2 can be selected, and the resolution is 600 dp.
If i designates double-sided printing, it can be seen that printing by any printer is impossible.

A description will be given of a normal printing process of the printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. When printing is specified by the driver from the client computer 1 and the print command is executed to the print server 7, the print command is sent to the print server 7 in PDL0 which is a common page description language (PDL) (FIG. 1 of 13). The print server 7 searches for a printer 1 waiting for processing from printers that can be selected by the driver.

The print server 7 converts PDL0, which is a common page description language (PDL), into a raster image, converts the converted raster image into PDL1, which is the page description language (PDL) of the printer 1, and prints it. The job is sent and output (15 in FIG. 1).

Next, a case where the printer 1 is in the process of processing will be described. When a print command is executed from the client computer 2 to the print server 7 during output to the printer 1, a printer waiting for processing is selected from printers that can be selected by designating a driver in the same manner as in normal print processing. Search for. In this case, a print job is transmitted to the printer 2 or the printer 3 because the printer 1 is processing. At this time, the print server 7 executes PDL0, which is a common page description language (PDL).
Is converted into a raster image, and the raster image is converted into a page description language suitable for each printer and transmitted.

Next, a case where a printer capable of outputting data is being processed will be described. During the output to the printer 1, if a print job (printing in A3 size) for which only the printer 1 can be selected from the client computer 2 by the driver designation is transmitted from the client computer 2, the print server 7
PDL0, which is a common page description language (PDL), is developed into a raster image, and the created raster image is converted into PDL1, which is a page description language of the printer 1,
It waits for the processing of the printer 1 to end, and upon completion, sends a print job and prints out.

Next, a unified page description language (PD
The case where there is a printer having the routing information protocol (RIP) of L) will be described. When there is a printer (PDL 4 shown in FIG. 1) having a RIP of PDL0, which is a common page description language (PDL) transmitted from the client computers 5, 6 to the print server 7, on the network 8, the print server 7 Then, the PDL0 print job received from the client computer 1 or 2 is sent to the printer 4 as it is, without being developed into a raster image, and is printed out (14 in FIG. 1).

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the printing system of the present invention, the user does not need to know all the specifications of the printers on the network, and performs the output processing for one printer. A plurality of printers on the network can be used effectively in the work to be performed.

According to the printing system of the present invention, the print server automatically selects a suitable printer from the printers on the network for the print processing desired by the user. It is not necessary to switch the printer in accordance with the requirement, and it is not necessary to know the specifications of the printer.

Further, according to the printing system of the present invention, the method of outputting to the print server with one driver is such that the print processing desired by the user for a plurality of printers on the network is adjusted to the specifications of the printer. This eliminates the need for selection, and also eliminates unnecessary burdens on the client computer, making printing work more efficient.

Further, according to the printing system of the present invention,
Since the print server itself creates the driver, the user only needs to perform printing work using the driver.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Description of Signs] 1-4 Printer 5, 6 Client Computer 7 Print Server 8 Network

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing system in which a plurality of printers having different specifications, a plurality of computers, and a printer server having a page description language routing information protocol are network-connected, wherein the print server is used by the plurality of printers. Page description language unifying means for unifying each page description language to be performed, and driver creating means for creating a driver based on the page description language unified by the page description language unifying means. Driver data acquisition means for acquiring the driver data created by the driver creation means from the print server, wherein the print system receives print data from the computer and prints the data based on the driver data. The print data is output from a plurality of printers. Selection means for selecting a printer capable of processing the image data, conversion means for converting the page description language used by the printer selected by the printer selection means, and printing in the page description language converted by the conversion means A print data transmission unit for transmitting data. 2. A printing system in which a plurality of printers having different specifications, a plurality of computers, and a printer server having a routing information protocol of a page description language are connected to a network, wherein the printer server is connected to the network. Printer information storing means for storing information on the function and performance of each of the plurality of printers as printer information; and driver creating means for creating a driver based on the printer information stored by the printer information storing means. The plurality of computers includes: a driver data acquisition unit that acquires the driver data created by the driver creation unit; and a driver data update unit that updates the driver data acquired by the driver data acquisition unit. The printing system And selecting a printer capable of processing the print data from the plurality of printers based on the driver data updated by the driver data updating means when print data is input to the plurality of computers. Means, conversion means for converting to a page description language used by the printer selected by the printer selection means, and print data transmission for transmitting the print data using the page description language converted by the conversion means And a printing system. 3. The print server, when storing the printer information in the printer information storage means,
3. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein different page description languages used by the plurality of printers are unified into a common page description language, transmitted, and stored. 4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of computers output to the plurality of printers by the driver updated by the driver updating unit. 5. The printer information includes a feedable size,
5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the printing system is configured by information on whether or not double-sided printing is possible and resolution.