JP2000155664A - Print server and network print system and print control method in network print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To process the generation of the abnormality of a printer without requiring any unnecessary labor to a user by transferring data to a printer other than a designated printer when the continuing time of abnormality passes a prescribed time-out time. SOLUTION: When a print server receives the communication of the generation of abnormality from a printer side (S21), a transfer timer having a time-out time different for each kind of abnormality is started in response to this (S22). When a printer is restored until the timer reaches time-out (S23, 24), the timer is stopped (S25), and the print is continued. On the other hand, when the printer is not restored, job data are extracted from the abnormal printer (S26), and another printer equivalent to the designation of output is selected (S27). When another printer can be selected, data are transferred to the newly selected printer (S29), and the print processing is continued. When the selection of another printer fails, an error is communicated to a user (S31).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network print system in which a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network.
The present invention relates to a network print system for suitably transferring a job.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a network print system capable of performing processing without any unnecessary work by a user even when an abnormality occurs in a printer for which printing is requested.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, the term "network computing" has been used in various media such as newspapers and magazines. “Network computing”, as the name implies, refers to an environment in which peripheral devices such as a plurality of computers and printers are connected by a communication medium (whether wired or wireless). The main purposes of network computing are to share computer resources and to share and distribute information.

One form of network computing is a network print system.
This is configured by connecting a plurality of computer systems and one or more printers on a network. At least one of the computer systems on the network functions as a print server, receives a print request from another computer system (client), and causes a printer to execute a print job. I have.

[0005] Further, the network is a LAN (Local Area Network) laid in a single premises.
k), and is not limited to an external network (for example, a public switched telephone network (PSTN: Public Switch)
ed Telephone Network) and ISD
N (Integrated Service Digi)
tal Network)). In such a case, the printer
It may also have an X function and receive a FAX via an external network.

In a modern society in which documentation is regarded as important, a printing device such as a printer for outputting an electronic document edited on a computer system onto a recording sheet is indispensable. On the other hand, users
The opportunity for the printer to operate and the operation time are very small as compared with the case where the input / output operation is constantly performed toward the system. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for a network print system in which an expensive printer is not owned by each user and the printer can be shared among a plurality of computer systems.

[0007] By the way, printers and FAX transceivers are
It is well known that a printing operation is stopped due to an occurrence of an abnormality such as a jam or running out of toner. While a user is resident in front of the screen of the computer system, a printing device such as a printer or a facsimile transceiver is often installed at a location away from each user's seat. For this reason, even if an abnormality such as a jam occurs, it is often left for a while. However, when the abnormality is left, the printer remains unusable and cannot respond to the print request.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-311767 discloses a network print system which solves such a problem. In other words, the print server described in the publication automatically selects a printer to which the print server can output and transfers the print data when an error occurs in the printer that has requested printing. I have.

[0009] However, the print server disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-311767 is also capable of resolving the error that occurred in the first printer immediately.
The next printer is automatically selected.

A plurality of printers scattered on a network are generally installed in units of local places such as offices or departments. In other words, the user designates the printer closest to the user and issues a print request, while the print server automatically transfers to a printer in another office or department. Therefore, even if the abnormality of the printer can be immediately cleared, the print server immediately transfers the print image to a remote printer. If any abnormality occurs and the data is transferred to another printer, the user has to go to a distant printer, which is inconvenient. Further, if the abnormality can be immediately canceled, there is no need to transfer the print image to another printer.

A user normally issues a print request by designating a printer closest to the user, but when the print request is made, an abnormality may have already occurred. If the operator issues a print request without knowing that an abnormality has occurred, the non-printed state is left for a long time, and as a result, the print output may be delayed.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-30411 attempts to solve the above problem by selecting another printer when the designated printer is not ready for immediate printing. However, if there is no vacant (ie, operable) printer, the printer waits forever for a vacant printer to be created forever, resulting in a problem that a print output cannot be obtained forever. . In this publication, there is no operation for displaying a message or the like to the user, and the user cannot grasp the status of the printer. Further, if a vacant printer is found immediately, the print data is transferred to another printer even if the first designated printer can immediately recover from the error. 9-3117
This is the same as in Japanese Patent No. 67.

Incidentally, in the art, there is a conventional means for always displaying the status of the printer on the user screen.
However, such a situation display screen when the printer is not used hinders other interactive input operations and is only annoying to the user.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an excellent print server capable of suitably transferring a print job on a network in which a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected. An object of the present invention is to provide a network printing system.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an excellent network print system capable of processing a print request without any unnecessary work by a user even if an error occurs in the printer for which print is requested. Is to provide.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and a first aspect of the present invention is a network system in which a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network. A print server for processing a print request from another computer system in the print system, comprising: (a) means for receiving a print request specifying a printer from the other computer system via the network;
(B) means for detecting the occurrence and cancellation of an abnormality of each printer on the network; and (c) measuring the duration of the abnormality when the occurrence of the abnormality is detected for the designated printer, and Means for determining whether the duration has exceeded a predetermined timeout period; and (d) a printer other than the designated printer in response to the abnormal duration exceeding the predetermined timeout period. Means for transferring print data to a computer system, and means for issuing a warning to the computer system requesting the print in response to the duration of the abnormality exceeding a predetermined time-out time. A print server.

In the print server according to the first aspect of the present invention, the means (c) may use a different time-out time depending on the type of the detected abnormality. This is because the time required for the operator to release the generated abnormality is not uniform, and differs depending on the type of abnormality. For example, simple jam processing requires only a short time, but toner supply and replacement of the process cartridge require a relatively long time.

Further, the means (d) may allow designation of a transfer destination printer on the computer system of the print request source. Alternatively, the means (d) may automatically select a transfer destination printer. In the latter case, it is preferable to automatically select the printer that can output the earliest among the printers that do not cause any abnormality.

Further, the print server according to the first aspect of the present invention further comprises: (f) when the designated printer has already failed when the print request is received,
Means may be included for alerting the requesting computer system immediately without waiting for a timeout.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network, and one of the computer systems prints from another computer system. A network print system that operates as a print server that processes a request, wherein each of said printers has means for notifying said print server of a change in its normal / abnormal state via a network, The print server has means for withholding transfer processing to another printer until a predetermined time-out time has elapsed even if the printer requested to print from another computer system is in an abnormal state. Is a network print system.

The print server may use a different timeout time depending on the type of abnormality in the designated printer.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network, and one of the computer systems prints from another computer system. A print control method in a network print system that operates as a print server that processes a request, wherein (a) each printer on a network sends a change in its normal / abnormal state to the print server via the network. Notifying; (b) the print server receiving a print request specifying a printer from another computer system via the network; and (c) the printer specified in the step (b). Is in an abnormal state, the specified timeout time Until passage is print control method in a network printing system which comprises the steps of: withhold transfer processing to another printer.

The print server may use a different timeout time depending on the type of abnormality in the designated printer.

[0024]

The network print system for realizing the present invention is based on the premise that the print server always knows the normal or abnormal state of each printer on the network.

The print server may periodically poll each printer. Alternatively, each printer transmits a message to that effect to the print server via the network when its own status changes (for example, when the printer enters an abnormal state or returns to a normal state). Is also good. According to the latter, it is more preferable because the communication for grasping the state is performed in one direction and the load on the network is reduced.

The print server according to the present invention does not immediately transfer print data to another printer even if an abnormality has occurred in a designated printer, and a predetermined time-out time elapses. Up to this point, the transfer operation was suppressed. Therefore, even if an abnormality occurs, if the operator immediately cancels the abnormality, the image is not transferred to another printer located at a remote place, but can be printed out to the first specified nearby printer.

The setting of the time-out time may be changed according to the type of abnormality that has occurred. For example, for an abnormality such as a jam that can be easily released by the user himself, a time-out time required for the abnormal release operation may be set. On the other hand, it is more efficient to set an extremely short time-out time because it is not necessary to wait for an abnormality such as a system down that is unlikely to be recovered.

Also, a necessary message is displayed to the print requesting user only when necessary, such as when the abnormality of the designated printer cannot be immediately canceled. Thereby, the user can avoid issuing a useless print request to the printer. Further, the user can proceed to clear the abnormality of the printer in response to the warning of the occurrence of the abnormality, and as a result, the print output can be obtained quickly.
The warning operation is realized by displaying a predetermined message on the user screen.

When a printer specified at the time of a print request has already failed, a warning is immediately issued to the requesting user without waiting for a timeout. Therefore, the user can immediately confirm the abnormality and cancel it. As a result, a print output can be obtained quickly, and unnecessary print requests can be prevented.

Still other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are:
It will become apparent from the following more detailed description based on the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of a network print system 100 provided for implementing the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the network print system 100 includes a plurality of computer systems 10-a...
.. Are connected and configured.

.. Connected to the network 1 may be so-called general-purpose systems called workstations or personal computers.

At least one of the computer systems 10-a on the network 1 functions as a print server 10-d, and receives a print request from another computer system 10-a (ie, a client). , And causes the printers 50a to execute the print job.

The network 1 is not limited to a LAN laid in a single premises, but may be an external network (for example, a general public network (PSTN: Public S
switched Telephone Network
k) and ISDN (Integrated Service)
e Digital Network). In such a case, the printer 50-a may also have a FAX function and receive FAX via an external network.

In order to realize the operation characteristics of the present invention, which will be described later, it does not depend on the topology or protocol of the network 1. The network 1 may be, for example, any of a bus type, a ring type, and a star type.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a hardware configuration of a computer system 10 connected to the network 1. Hereinafter, each unit will be described.

CPU (Central Process)
(ing Unit) 11 is a main controller for controlling the operation of the entire system 10. CPU1
1 executes the program code loaded in the RAM 12 and uses the RAM 12 as a work area. The CPU 11 is interconnected with each unit in the system 10 via a bus 18.

The ROM 13 stores data and predetermined micro data.
This is a read-only memory for storing codes in a nonvolatile manner. For example, a self-diagnosis test program (POST: Power) executed when the system 10 is powered on
On Self Test) or basic software (BIOS: Ba) for performing hardware input / output operations.
sic Input / Output System) is stored in the ROM 13.

The communication interface 14 is a device for realizing data exchange via the network 1.

The input device 15 is used by the operator's system 1
This is a device that allows input to 0, for example, a keyboard and a mouse.

The display device 16 is a device for displaying processing results on the system 10 and the like, and is a CRT (Cathode).
(Ray Tube) display and liquid crystal display correspond to this.

The external storage device 17 is a device for storing program files and data files, and corresponds to a hard disk drive (HDD) or a floppy disk drive (FDD).

The clock unit 19 is a device for measuring the current time. For example, to implement the function of a “transfer timer” to be described later, clock information by the clock unit 19 is used.

The basic hardware components of the computer system 10 are substantially the same regardless of whether it is a personal computer, a workstation, or a print server. However, workstations are generally faster CPUs than personal computers,
It has a large-capacity memory and a high-resolution display device, and can execute more sophisticated application programs. In the case of a print server, the external storage device 17 preferably has a huge capacity in order to temporarily store image information requested to be printed from each computer system.

Further, in order to configure the computer system 10, many electric circuits and the like other than those shown in FIG. 2 are required. However, these are well known to those skilled in the art,
Also, since they do not constitute the gist of the present invention, they are omitted in this specification.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the hardware configuration of the printer 50 connected to the network 1.
The printer 50 includes a communication interface 51, a printer control unit 52, and a printer engine 53. Hereinafter, each unit will be described.

The communication interface 51 is a device for receiving print image data from the print server 10-d via the network 1 and for notifying a normal / abnormal state of the printer 50.

The printer control unit 52 is a unit for controlling the operation of the printer engine 53.
CPU (not shown) that controls the internal operation of the system
And a page memory (not shown) for holding print image data in page units.

The printer engine 53 is a unit for printing on recording paper based on the received print image data. For example, when printing is performed by an electrophotographic process, the process is performed by repeating charging, developing, and cleaning processes on the electrophotographic photosensitive member. That is, the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive member (not shown) is uniformly charged by a primary charger (not shown), and then the drum surface is exposed according to image information of a document to form an electrostatic latent image. After the electrostatic latent image is converted into a toner image by a developing device (not shown), the toner image is transferred onto a conveyed sheet (not shown). After that, the toner image is fixed on the sheet by the action of heat melting and pressure bonding, and the sheet on which the fixed image is formed is discharged out of the printer 50.

In this embodiment, the print server 1
It is assumed that 0-d always knows the normal or abnormal state of each of the printers 50-a on the network 1. The print server 10-d may periodically poll each printer 50-a. .., The printer 50-a... Sends a message to that effect to the print server 10 via the network 1 when its own state changes (for example, when it enters an abnormal state or returns to a normal state). -D. According to the latter, the communication for grasping the state may be performed in one direction, and the load on the network 1 is reduced, which is more preferable.

Next, a printing operation on the network printing system 100 will be described, focusing on a case where an abnormality occurs in a printer designated by a client.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the most general processing routine in the print server 10-d. As shown in FIG.
0-d are waiting for a print request from another computer system 10-a...
A predetermined print request process is executed in response to the reception of the print request.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a print request processing routine executed by the print server 10-d. The processing routine executes the print server application program installed on the print server 10-d by the CPU 11 of the server 10-d.
Is realized by executing. Hereinafter, each step will be described.

A print request from a client is usually accompanied by designation of an output destination printer. Therefore, first, the status of the designated printer is checked (step S
11). The present invention is not limited to the means for checking the status of the printer. For example, each of the printers 50-a... May notify the print server 10-d of a message to that effect when its own state has changed (described above).
The print server 10-d holds the state of each of the printers 50-a, and refers to the state when executing step S11.

If the output destination printer is in an unusable state such as an error, the print server 10-
d issues a warning to the client user (step S12). The warning is performed by displaying a predetermined message on a display screen of the client. For example, a message such as “A problem has occurred in the printer. Do you want to cancel the print request?” May be displayed, and the user may be prompted to input a response (step S1).
3).

If the response from the user is "print stop", the print server 10-d cancels the print request and returns to the print request waiting state again. If the response from the user is "force print", the process proceeds to the main routine.

When the user selects print forced printing even when the output destination printer is in a printable state or in a print disabled state, the process proceeds to the next step S14, where printing is performed.
The server 10-d measures the print completion time in the output destination printer. Here, the “print completion time” is a time until all print jobs currently queued are completed, in other words, it is required until the print processing of the currently requested print job starts. Time.

In the next step S15, the measured print completion time is compared with a predetermined time T set in advance.

If the print completion time is longer than the predetermined time T, a warning is issued to the user (step S1).
6). The warning mentioned here is performed, for example, by displaying a predetermined message on a display screen on the client side. For example, a message such as "It takes about xx minutes to start printing. Do you want to print as it is?" Is displayed, and the user is prompted for a response.

If the user wants to cancel printing,
The print server 10-d cancels the print request and returns to the print request waiting state again. If the response from the user is "force print", the process proceeds to the main routine.

When the print completion time is shorter than the predetermined time T, or when the user wants to perform a forced print, the print request is accepted and the print job data is transmitted to the designated printer (step S1).
8).

Thereafter, the printing process is executed in the output destination printer. However, the print processing itself is not directly related to the gist of the present invention, and will not be further described in this specification.

As described above, necessary messages are displayed on the display screen of the client only when necessary. As a result, the user can avoid issuing unnecessary print requests to the printer. Further, the user who has received the notification of the occurrence of the abnormality can quickly obtain a print output as a result of the user immediately performing the operation for canceling the abnormality.

Next, a description will be given of a process performed by the print server 10-d when an error occurs in the printer during the printing process. FIG. 6 illustrates the processing routine in the form of a flowchart. The processing routine is realized by the CPU 11 of the server 10-d executing a print server application program installed on the print server 10-d. Hereinafter, each step will be described.

When an error occurs in the printer during the printing process, the print server 10-d receives a notification from the printer that the status has changed to an abnormal state (step S2).
1).

In response to the occurrence of the abnormality, the print server 10-d starts a transfer timer having a different time-out time according to the type of the abnormality (step S2).
2). The reason why a plurality of time-out times are properly used is that the time required for the operator to clear the abnormality is not uniform and differs depending on the type of the abnormality. For example,
In the case of an abnormality that can be easily cleared by the user's own hand, such as a simple jam process, the time required for the abnormality recovery work may be set as the time-out time. In the case of an abnormal state in which recovery is unlikely, such as a system down, there is no need to wait, so an extremely short time-out time is sufficient.

When the printer recovers before the transfer timer times out (steps S23 and S2).
4) Stop the transfer timer (step S2)
5) The printing process is continued.

On the other hand, if the printer has not been recovered before the time-out, the process proceeds to step S26, where the print job data is extracted from the printer in which the abnormality has occurred.

Next, another suitable printer is selected as an output destination (step S27). The selection is made from among printers designated by the client user. The designation method will be described later.

When another printer has been correctly selected (step S28), the print job data is transferred to the newly selected printer (step S29).
Continue the printing process.

If the selection of another printer fails (step S28), the print job data extracted in step S26 is discarded (step S30).
For example, when all the printers specified by the user are in an unusable state due to an abnormality or the like, the determination block S28 ends in failure.

Next, an error is notified to the user (step S31), and the process returns to the print request waiting state. The notification of the error is realized by, for example, displaying a message such as “Could not print. Check the printer.” On the display screen of the client.

In this embodiment, each of the client users can individually specify the output destination printer and the printer to be transferred when the first designated printer is unavailable. Hereinafter, this printer designation method will be described.

The designation of the printer is performed on, for example, a setting screen of a print driver (printer device driver) operating on the client machine. FIG.
Illustrates the setting screen.

The setting screen may be composed of a plurality of worksheets as shown in FIG. In order to specify the operation at the time of a printer failure, a tab “Operation at the time of a printer failure” may be clicked.

The “Printer failure operation” worksheet has three input fields for writing transfer conditions at the time of failure and three designation fields for designating a transfer destination printer.

The transfer condition at the time of failure is the time out time of the transfer timer. In this example, the transfer timer value can be set individually for each type of failure. For a failure such as a system down that has little chance of recovery, the user does not need to wait for printing to start, so the transfer timer is set to zero seconds. If the trouble can be cleared by a simple operation such as a paper jam (JAM) or a paper out (No paper), the time required for the trouble clearing work (120 seconds in this example) is set as the transfer timer value. Good.

Further, three transfer destination printer specification fields are prepared, and up to three transfer destination printers can be specified. The priority is given in the order of the printer designated at the time of the print request (not shown), the printer 1, the printer 2, and the printer 3. In this example, "PannyRain" is set as the printer 1, "automatic" is set as the printer 2 (that is, the print server can freely select the printer 1), and the printer 3 is not set. When "automatic" is set, the print server 10-d automatically selects the printer that can obtain the output the fastest among the printable printers.

The printer specification field is as shown in the figure.
It may be a combo box format. In this case, by clicking the ▼ button at the right end of each field, a list box listing printer names is displayed in a pull-down display.

The contents input by the user on the setting screen shown in FIG. 7 are sent to the print server 10-d together with, for example, image data requested to be printed. The print server 10-d may process the image data according to this setting.

[Supplement] The present invention has been described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments. However, it is obvious that those skilled in the art can modify or substitute the embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention. That is, the present invention has been disclosed by way of example, and should not be construed as limiting. In order to determine the gist of the present invention, the claims described at the beginning should be considered.

[0083]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
An excellent network printing system in which a print server preferably transfers a print job to a printer on a network in which a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, even if an error occurs in a printer for which printing has been requested, an excellent network print system capable of processing the user without unnecessary unnecessary work. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a network print system 100 provided for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a computer connected to a network 1
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a hardware configuration of a system 10.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a hardware configuration of a printer connected to a network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the most general processing routine in the print server 10-d.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart detailing a print request processing routine executed by a print server 10-d.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating in detail a processing routine when an abnormality occurs, which is executed by the print server 10-d when an abnormality occurs in the printer during the printing process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplifying a user input screen for designating printing conditions on a client side.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network, 10 ... Computer system (including print server) 11 ... CPU, 12 ... RAM, 13 ... ROM 14 ... Communication interface, 15 ... Input device, 16 ...
Display device, 17: external storage device, 18: bus, 19: clock unit, 50: printer, 51: communication interface, 52: printer control unit, 53: printer engine, 100: network print system.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A print server for processing a print request from another computer system in a network print system in which a plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network, wherein (a) Means for receiving a print request designating a printer from another computer system via the network; (b) means for detecting the occurrence of an abnormality in each printer on the network; Means for measuring the duration of the abnormality when detecting the occurrence of an abnormality with respect to the printer, and determining whether the duration of the abnormality has exceeded a predetermined time-out time;
(D) means for transferring print data to another printer in response to the abnormality duration exceeding a predetermined time-out time; and (e) duration of the abnormality having a predetermined time-out time. Means for issuing a warning to the computer system of the print request in response to the exceeding of the print server. 2. The print server according to claim 1, wherein said means (c) uses a different time-out time according to the type of the detected abnormality. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means (d) allows the computer system requesting the printing to designate a destination printer.
server. 4. The printing / printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means (d) automatically selects a transfer destination printer.
server. 5. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: (f) at the time of receiving the print request, when the designated printer has already failed.
2. The method of claim 1 including means for immediately alerting the requesting computer system.
server. 6. A plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network, and one of the computer systems operates as a print server for processing a print request from another computer system. A network printing system, wherein each of the printers has means for notifying the print server of a change in its normal / abnormal state via a network, wherein the print server is connected to another computer. A network print system having means for withholding transfer processing to another printer until a predetermined time-out time elapses even if the printer requested to be printed by the system is in an abnormal state. . 7. The network print system according to claim 6, wherein a different time-out time is used depending on the type of abnormality in the designated printer. 8. A plurality of computer systems and a plurality of printers are connected on a network, and one of the computer systems operates as a print server for processing a print request from another computer system. (A) each printer on the network notifies the print server of a change in its normal / abnormal state to the print server via the network; A print server receiving a print request specifying a printer from another computer system via the network; and (c) determining whether the printer specified in the step (b) is in an abnormal state. Other printers until the timeout Network print to the steps to withhold the transfer process, characterized in that it comprises
Print control method in the system. 9. A print control method in a network print system according to claim 8, wherein a different time-out time is used depending on the type of abnormality in the designated printer.