JPH11345099A - Printing order managing device and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize unitary printing order management by providing the printing order managing device with a printing job list preparing means for preparing printing order as a shared printer side printing job list and a management means for managing the printing order of the shared printer based on the printing job list. SOLUTION: A printing order management part 5 is provided with a readable/ writable memory for storing the information on each printing queuqe job in a printing order management table. The management part 5 generates a data port transmission switching signal 12 in each reception of job information. in printer printing processing, a host for processing jobs is released from reception stop based on the printing order management table at first, and then reception is restarted. A data port control means 4 receiving data from the host sends the received data to the management part 5, which transfers the data to a receiving buffer part 6 as it is and then the received data are transferred from the buffer part 6 to a printer printing part 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a technique for managing the printing order of a printer, and more particularly to a technique for controlling reception and managing the printing order of a shared printer arranged on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to manage the print order in a shared printer, a print server capable of buffering print jobs is arranged on a network, and all print data is spooled to this print server to control the print order. And the buffer information can be viewed from the OS used by the user.

[0003]

When a plurality of different OSs are used for one printer, a plurality of print servers are used. Then, since the management information of the print order is not exchanged between the servers, the print server executes the print order of the different spooling data in the order of the earlier data arrival timing to the printer device.

For this reason, when a plurality of different OSs are used for one printer, it is impossible for the user to know the information on the printing order. Further, the storage device used for the spool needs to buffer the entire amount of the print data, so that a large capacity is required.
For this reason, the cost is high if only the memory is used. Therefore, an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk must be used, and the control of these auxiliary devices has to complicate the configuration.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to determine the printing order of a shared printer connected to a plurality of terminals based on a print job list on the printer side.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique of a printing order management device capable of managing a printing order. It is another object of the present invention to provide a technique of a printing order management apparatus that can publish printing order information on a network.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a print order managing apparatus for managing a print order of a shared printer device connected to a terminal, wherein the print order managing apparatus manages the print order based on a print request from the terminal. Print job list creating means for creating a print order in a print wait state in the printer device as a print job list on the shared printer device side; andmanagement means for managing the print order of the shared printer device based on the print job list. It is characterized by having.

The print job list creating means has means for creating a print job list based on print management information of print data. By these means, the printing order can be managed at the receiving end of the print data. Therefore, the printing order can be centrally managed even with spooling data from different print servers.

The management means receives only the print management information of the print data when receiving the print request from the terminal, and temporarily stops the reception of the print data of the terminal. The apparatus further comprises means for resuming reception of print data of a terminal to be printed next, and means for holding a paused state for reception of print data other than resumption of print data reception. .

According to these means, since the printing order can be managed without receiving all the print data, a large buffer memory for data spool is not required. Further, the printing order management apparatus has means for publishing printing order information on a network based on the print job list. By these means, even when a plurality of different OSs are used for one printer, the user can know the information of the printing order.

[0010] The present invention to achieve the above object is a print order management method for managing the print order of a shared printer device connected to a terminal.
A print job list creation step of creating a print order in a print waiting state in the shared printer device as a print job list on the shared printer device side, and management for managing the print order of the shared printer device based on the print job list. And a process.

The print job list creating step is characterized in that it has a step of creating a print job list based on print management information of print data. Through these steps, the printing order can be managed at the receiving end of the print data. Therefore, even if the print server uses different spooling data, the print order can be managed in a unified manner. Further, when the print request is received from the terminal, only the print management information of the print data is received, Suspending the reception of the print data, the step of restarting the reception of the print data of the next printing terminal based on the print job list, and the pause of the reception of the print data other than the restart of the reception of the print data. And a step of maintaining the state.

According to these steps, since the printing order can be managed without receiving all the print data, a large buffer memory for data spool is not required. Further, the printing order management method includes a step of publishing printing order information on a network based on the print job list. With these steps, even when a plurality of different OSs are used for one printer, the user can know the information of the printing order.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, 100
Is a printing order management device. This printing order management device 10
Numeral 0 is disposed between an input port unit 3 described later of the printer device 200 and a reception buffer unit 6 described later for acquiring print management information from print data and controlling print data.

1 and 2 are hosts. The host 1 transmits a print job to an input port unit 3 described later. The host 2 receives the management information. All hosts on the network are the host 1 at the time of transmission operation.
In the receiving operation, it corresponds to the host 2.
Incidentally, one host can also serve as the host 1 and the host 2. Also, a dedicated printer driver is provided to a host that creates a print job.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an input port of the printer.
The input port unit 3 is a port used for communication with the host. 4 is a data port control unit. The data port control unit 4 manages transmission and reception with a host on the network, and sends received data to a printing order management unit 5 described later.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a data port unit. The data port unit 11 is a data port used for communication between the data port control unit 4 and the input port unit 3. Reference numeral 5 denotes a print order management unit. The print order management unit 5 has a readable and writable memory for storing information for each print waiting job on a print order management table 21 described later. Further, the print order management section 5 generates a data port transmission switching signal 12 each time job information is received.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a reception buffer unit. The reception buffer unit 6 receives print data from the print order management unit 5 and stores the print data. Reference numeral 7 denotes a management information reading unit. The management information reading unit 7 reads out all data on the print order management unit 5 by using the data port transmission switching signal 12 as a trigger, and transmits this data to the data port control unit 4.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer printing unit. The printer printing unit 8 receives print data from the reception buffer unit 6 and performs a printing process. Further, the printer printing unit 8
Each time one sheet is discharged, a print discharge notification signal 13 is output. 9
Denotes a printer print processing monitoring unit. The printer print processing monitoring unit 9 performs a process of subtracting one from the number of prints by using the above-described print discharge notification signal 13 from the printer printing unit 8 as a trigger. The printer print processing monitoring unit 9
Outputs the data port reception switching signal 14 to the data port control unit 4 when the number of printed sheets becomes zero.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the print order management table 21. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a printing order management table. The print order management table 21 is stored in the print order management unit 5 and serves as a print job list of the shared printer. 22 is a host information sequence. The host information column 22 indicates the name of the host that created the print data.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a print number information sequence. The print number information column 23 indicates the number of print jobs. 24
Is a memory row. The storage row 24 is a row for storing information of one print job. Reference numeral 25 denotes a print processing execution line.
The print processing execution line 25 indicates a line where printing is currently being executed.

FIG. 3 is a format diagram of print data. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes print data. Print data 31
Is provided by a dedicated printer driver provided to the host.
Print management information field 3 described later when a print job is created
2 is added to the head of the transmission data. Reference numeral 32 denotes a print management information field. The print management information field 32 is information of a print job stored in the print order management table 21.

Reference numeral 33 denotes a print data body field.
The print data body field 33 is conventional print data. Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. still,
FIG. 4 is a main flowchart of the present embodiment. FIG.
5 is a flowchart of a new print request process in FIG.

First, a new print request transmitted from the host 1 is detected by the data port control unit 4 (step 401). When a new print request is detected, the print data is transferred to the print order management unit 5 (step 40).
3). Next, the process moves to the flowchart of FIG. 5, and the print order management unit 5 receives the print data 31 (step 50).
1). Then, the print order management unit 5 starts a process of writing the received print data 31 into the next empty storage row 24 (step 502), and generates a data port transmission switching signal 12 when the storage row 24 is filled with the received data (step 502). Step 50
3). The data port control unit 4, upon detecting the data port transmission switching signal 12, suspends the reception (step 5).
04). Since the print order management unit 5 does not receive the subsequent print data 31 according to the data port transmission switching signal 12, the storage row 24 stores only the print management information field 32 of the print data 31 (step 505). ).

Subsequently, the data port control unit 4 stores the host name that created the print data 31 in the currently stored storage row 2
The data port unit 11 is read out from the host information sequence 22 out of 4, and the data port unit 11 is switched so that it can be transmitted to the read host 2 (step 506). At the same time, the management information reading unit 7 that has detected the data port transmission switching signal 12 reads out all the data in the printing order management unit 5 (step 50).
7) The read data is transmitted to the data port control unit 4. All the data in the print order management unit 5 is transmitted to the currently connected host 2 through the data port control unit 4 (step 508). Thereby, the user can use the management information of the printing order.

Next, the printer printing process will be described. Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 4, the presence or absence of a print waiting job is checked based on the print order management table 21 (step 402). If there is a print waiting job, a printer print process is performed (step 404). Then, it moves to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printer printing process in FIG.

First, in the printer printing process, the reception stop is released to the host which handles the job based on the print order management table 21, and the reception is restarted (step 601). As a result, the data port control unit 4 receiving the received data from the host sends the received data to the print order management unit 5, which transfers the data to the reception buffer unit 6 as it is, and The data is transferred to the printer printing unit 8 (step 602).

The printer printing section 8 outputs a print discharge notification signal 13 every time one sheet is discharged (step 603). The printer print process monitoring unit 9 detects the print discharge notification signal 13 and subtracts 1 from the content of the number-of-prints information column 23 of the print process execution line 25 indicating the currently printed job in the print order management table 21. (Step 604) is performed. When this value becomes zero, printing ends (step 605).

Next, another embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another embodiment. In the description of the other embodiments, the description of the same parts as those in the above embodiment will be omitted, and only different parts will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, the print discharge notification signal from the printer printing unit 8 to the printer print processing monitoring unit 9 is changed to a signal indicating that the reception buffer 6 can be used for data bus communication.

By this change, the process of subtracting the number of printed sheets is omitted, and the wiring for extracting and detecting the print discharge notification signal from the printer printing unit 8 is not required. This method has the effect of simplifying the wiring and processing.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, a unified management of the printing order can be realized. Further, according to the present invention, a large buffer memory for data spool is not required for print job management.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing order management apparatus which does not need the content analysis processing of the print job and has a short management processing time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print order management table 21 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a format of print data according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a new print request process shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printer printing process shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 host 2 host 3 input port unit 4 data port control unit 5 print order management unit 6 reception buffer unit 7 management information reading unit 8 printer printing unit 9 printer print processing monitoring unit 11 data port unit 12 data port transmission switching signal 13 print discharge Notification signal 14 Data port reception switching signal 21 Print order management table 22 Host information column 23 Number of print information column 24 Storage line 25 Print processing execution line 31 Print data 32 Print management information field 33 Print data body field 100 Print order management device 200 Printer apparatus

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A print order management device for managing a print order of a shared printer device connected to a terminal, the print order being in a print waiting state in the shared printer device based on a print request of the terminal. A print order management device, comprising: a print job list creation unit that creates a print job list on the device side; and a management unit that manages a print order of the shared printer device based on the print job list. 2. The print order management device according to claim 1, wherein the print job list creation unit has a unit that creates a print job list based on print management information of print data. And a management unit configured to receive only print management information of print data when a print request is received from the terminal, to temporarily suspend reception of print data of the terminal, and based on a print job list. The apparatus further comprises means for restarting reception of print data of a terminal to be printed next, and means for holding a paused state for reception of print data other than restart of reception of print data. The print order management device according to claim 1. 4. The print order management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print order management device includes a unit that publishes print order information on a network based on the print job list. Print order management device. 5. A print order management method for managing a print order of a shared printer connected to a terminal, the print order being in a print waiting state in the shared printer based on a print request of the terminal. A print order management method, comprising: a print job list creation step of creating a print job list on the device side; and a management step of managing a print order of the shared printer device based on the print job list. 6. The print order management method according to claim 5, wherein said print job list creation step includes a step of creating a print job list based on print management information of print data. 7. The management step includes: receiving a print request from a terminal, receiving only print management information of print data, suspending reception of print data by the terminal, and based on a print job list. Restarting the reception of the print data of the next printing terminal; and holding the paused state for the reception of the print data other than the restart of the reception of the print data. The printing order management method according to claim 5. 8. The printing method according to claim 5, wherein the printing order management method includes a step of publishing printing order information on a network based on the print job list. Print order management method.