JP3514348B2 - Network print system and printer control method for the network printer system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a LAN (Local Ar
ea Network) etc., relating to printer control technology in a network print system in which a plurality of page printers (hereinafter simply referred to as “printers”) are connected,
It relates printer control method of the preferred network printing system and its to high efficiency of the output at a given printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a network print system using a LAN or the like, a print server spools print data sent from terminals (clients) including a plurality of personal computers and workstations. That is, when print data is sent from each terminal, it is connected and registered as a spool file in the queue of the queue, and is sent to a designated printer (page printer equipped with a LAN interface) at any time.
Spool files are sent in the order they were closed. As a result, when the printer to be printed is printing, it is necessary to wait until the print output of the previous spool file is completed.

In each printer, the printer description language transmitted from a workstation or the like is image-developed (conversion of print data into image data) and printed out. It takes time, the network speed cannot be fully utilized, and the print output waiting time of the user is delayed.

As a conventional technique for solving such a problem, for example, there are those described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-158639 and 6-4239. According to this technology, when the printer corresponding to the designated queue in the print server is currently printing or cannot print due to a failure or the like, printing can be performed by another printer preset in the print server. it can. However, when printing is performed on another printer in this manner, if the other printer is located far from the printer that the user expects to output, a heavy load is placed on the user.

[0005]

The problem to be solved is that the prior art cannot efficiently control the output of the spool file to the printer designated by the user. An object of the present invention is to provide a to solve the problems of these prior art, the network printing system and its printer control method enabling a reduction in enhancement and user load using the printer efficiency that is connected to the network Is.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer control method for a network print system according to the present invention comprises (1) a plurality of terminals (workstations 1 and 2) and a plurality of printers (A7 to F12). ,and,
To transfer print data from the terminal to each of the printer
In the network print system and a print server 5 formed by at least connection that, the print server 5
When new print data is input from the terminals 1 and 2 to the printer A7 which is printing other print data, the new print data is accessed to the printer A.
There is a means to attach information and transfer it to another printer B8.
Then , the other printer B8 converts the print data into image data and the converted image data.
The printer A7 has means for transmitting to the printer A7.
After printing other print data, another printer B
Characterized <br/> that it has means for printing the image data received from the 8. Also, (2) the network described in (1) above.
In the network print system, the above access information
The information is the printer name of the printer A7.
And Further, (3) Oite the network print system according to (1) or (2), the other printer B
8 further compresses the converted image data.
Means, the printer A7 is further transmitted
It is characterized by having means for decompressing the received image data . Further, (4) the Oite the network printing system according to any of (1) to (3), until the printing of the printer A7 is completed, means for temporarily storing the converted image data in the printer B8 (storage device 4,
6) is included . Also, (5) multiple edges
End, multiple printers, and print data from each terminal.
Data transfer to each of the above printers
Network print system that can be connected without
In the printer control method, the print server is
Printer A is printing other print data from the terminal
When new print data is input to the
Add the print data with the access information to printer A above.
Attached to the other printer B, and the other printer B
Convert print data into image data and convert
Send the image data to the printer A, and
After printing the other print data,
The image data received from other printer B can be printed.
And are characterized.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when a printer designated as a print destination is printing, spool data for which new printing is requested is transmitted to another printer which is currently in an idle (standby) state. , In addition, the image is developed in the printer. Then, when the designated printer completes printing and becomes in an idle state, the image developed data in the other printer is transmitted from the other printer to the designated printer, and the designated printer prints. As described above, in the present invention, when the printer specified by the user is printing,
Perform image development on behalf of another printer. As a result, it is not necessary to expand the image of the spool data on the designated printer, and it is possible to print out that much faster.

[0008] Further, in the print server, each printer is
Group by resolution and register. As a result, a printer having an appropriate resolution can be easily selected, and an image can be developed by the printer having an appropriate resolution. Further, in the print server, each printer is grouped and registered according to the printer description language that each printer can process. As a result, the image of the printer description language specified by the user can be expanded by an appropriate printer.

Further, when the image data developed by another printer is transmitted to the printer designated by the user,
The status is transmitted from another printer to the user-specified printer directly, that is, without passing through the print server. This eliminates the need to check the status of the print server and reduces the load on the print server. Further, when transmitting the image data expanded by another printer to the printer designated by the user, the image data is compressed and transmitted. This makes it possible to reduce the load on the network and speed up data transfer.

Further, the image developed by another printer 1
When sending page image data to a user-specified printer, this user-specified printer is still "printing"
If so, the image data for one page that has been image-developed is stored in a storage device on the network that can be managed by the print server (via a file server, etc.), and 2
The image development after the page is performed. Then, when the printer designated by the user becomes idle, each stored image data is transmitted to the printer designated by the user. As a result, the printing speed can be further increased.

Further, each printer converts the image data, which has been image-developed at the resolution of its own printer, into the resolution designated by the print server and sends it to the printer designated by the user. This makes it possible to perform image expansion on behalf of printers with different resolutions, widen the range for the printer to search for idle printers, and make each printer on the network more effective. Can be used for.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 are flow charts showing an embodiment of a processing procedure according to the present invention of a printer control method for a network print system according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of a network print system for performing the processing. It is a block diagram. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote workstations (for example, WS1 and WS2 in the drawing) as clients that make print requests, and 3 are file servers that control the storage device 4 to perform database management and the like, and 5 is storage. Print server with device 6 7-1
Reference numeral 2 is printers A to F. Each printer (A-F) 7-
12 and the workstations 1 and 2, the file server 3, and the print server 5 are connected to each other via a LAN interface provided.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of the print server in FIG. Print server 5
Is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 5a, a ROM (Re
ad Only Memory) 5b, RAM (Random Access Memory)
5c, printer I / O 5d, disk I / O 5e, LAN I / O
Based on the print queue structure shown in FIG. 6, the printers (A to F) 7 to 12 in FIG. 4 connected via the LAN I / O 5f are controlled.

The operation of the network print system having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Virtual lines are established in advance between the workstations 1 and 2, the print server 5, and the printer A7 in which the respective print devices are preset in the print server 5 (step 1).

The workstation 1 receives the printer A from the application or the like running on the workstation 1.
When a print request is issued to 7, print data (1) is transmitted from the workstation 1 to the print server 5 via the network (step 2). Upon receiving this print data (1), the print server 5 opens the spool file (1), connects to the printer A queue, and registers it (step 3). In this case, the printer A queue exists in the print server 5, but the spool file itself does not need to exist in the print server and may exist in the file server 3 or the like in FIG. 4 on the network. Further, the spool file does not have to be in the hard disk (storage device 4, 6) connected to the print server 5 or the file server 3 in FIG. 4, and may be a data storage device such as a memory or a magneto-optical disk.

After this, the print server 5 determines that the printer A
The spool file (1) connected to the head of the queue of the queue is transmitted to the printer A (step 5),
The status of the queue for spool file (1) shown in FIG. 5 is changed to "printing" (step 4).

Next, when the workstation 2 issues a print request to the printer A7 from an application or the like operating on the workstation 2, print data (2)
Is transmitted from the workstation 2 to the print server 5 via the network (step 6). When the print server 5 receives this print data (2), it opens the spool file (2), and the printer A
Connect to the queue and register (step 7). At this time, the status of the spool file already registered in the queue of the printer A queue is checked (step 8). When the status is "printing", the printer whose queue status is "idle" among the registered queues is checked (step 9).

If the printer status of the printer B8 is "idle", the spool file (2) is registered in the printer B queue (step 10). At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the printer A queue name is assigned to the request source printer of the registered queue, and the request source queue number is assigned to the queue number “2” of the spool file (2) in the printer A queue. To register. After that, the print server 5 attaches a command to the effect that only the image is developed to the spool file (2) connected to the head of the queue of the printer B queue, and sends it to the printer B8 (step Along with 12), the status of this queue is changed to "printing" (step 11).

The printer B8 receives this command and the spool file (2), processes the printer description language, and expands it in the page memory of the printer B8 (step 13). After the expansion of the page memory is completed, a command indicating the completion is transmitted to the print server 5 (step 14). The print server 5 is the printer B8.
When the end command is received from the printer B, the requesting printer in the printer B queue and the requesting queue number
Check the printer status of (step 15).

If the status is "idle", a command to instruct the printer A7 to receive the image data from the printer B8 is transmitted (step 16), and the printer B8 transmits the command to the printer A7 in the page memory. A command for instructing the transmission of the image data is transmitted (step 17). Upon receiving the reception instruction command from the print server 5, the printer A7 waits for the image data from the printer B8, and when the transmission instruction command from the print server 5 is received, the printer B8 changes the image data in the page memory. Printer A
7 (step 18).

The printer A7 receives the image data from the printer B8, copies it into the page memory, and then
Printing is performed (step 19). And after printing
The print server 5 is notified of the end of printing (step 2).
2). After transmitting the image data to the printer A7, the printer B8 notifies the print server 5 of the end of transmission (step 20). When the printer server 5 receives the print end notification from the printer A 7, the printer A 5
The queue for the spool file (2) in the queue is deleted (step 23), and when the transmission completion notification is received from the printer B8, the queue for the spool file (2) in the printer B queue is deleted (step). 21).

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the printer A7 designated by the user is printing, the image development is performed on behalf of the other printer B8. As a result, the image development of the spool data by the designated printer A7 becomes unnecessary, and the print output can be performed correspondingly. Next, with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a technique for investigating a printer that substitutes image development will be described.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the printer / resolution correspondence table according to the present invention provided in the print server in FIG. The printer / resolution correspondence table 51 of this example is registered in the storage device 6 or the like in FIG. 4, and each printer (A to F) 7 to 12 in FIG.
Are classified based on their respective resolutions. That is, the printers A7, B8, D10, and F12 are each a printer having a resolution of 400 dpi (dots per inch), and the printers C9 and E11 are each a printer having a resolution of 600 dpi (dots per inch). Is classified as. The registration contents are registered in advance by the administrator of the print server in FIG.

When investigating the printer whose printer status is "idle" in step 9 of FIG. 2, the print server 5 of FIG. 4 finds the same resolution as the printer A from the printer / resolution correspondence table 51 of this example. Check for printers with the printer status "idle". That is, the printers B8, D10, F1 having the same resolution as the printer A7 and 400 dpi
Find the "Idle" state of 2. In this way, by registering each printer by grouping the resolutions in the print server, it is possible to easily select a printer with an appropriate resolution and to develop an image with a printer with an appropriate resolution.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the printer / description language correspondence table according to the present invention provided in the print server in FIG. The printer / description language correspondence table 61 of this example is registered in the storage device 6 or the like in FIG. 4, and each printer (A to F) 7-1 in FIG.
2 are classified based on their description languages. That is, the printers A7, B8, E11 and F12 respectively perform the processing of the description language A, and the printers C9 and
Each of D10 is classified as a printer that performs processing of the description language B. This registration content is registered in advance by the administrator of the print server shown in FIG. 4, similarly to the printer / resolution correspondence table 51 shown in FIG.

When investigating the printer whose printer status is "idle" in step 9 of FIG. 2, the print server 5 of FIG. 4 finds the spool file (2) from the printer / description language correspondence table 61 of this example. Investigate printers that can process the same description language as the printer description language specified by and the printer status is "idle". For example, if the printer description language designated by the spool file (2) is the description language A, the printer B8, E11, F12 in the "idle" state is searched for.

As described above, by registering each printer by grouping the description languages in the print server, a printer having an appropriate description language can be easily selected, and an image can be displayed by a printer having an appropriate description language. Can be deployed. When the printer description language is not specified by the spool file (2), the printer description language of the current printer A or the printer description language of the current printer A is automatically determined and used.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, in the printer control method of the network print system according to the present embodiment, the print data received from the workstations 1 and 2 is spooled in the printer server 5 as a spool file. When storing and connecting to the queue queue and registering, if the status of spool data registered before the queue queue is "Printing", the status of the printer in other queues will be " Find the "idle" printer, say printer B, copy the spool data to the queue in the idle queue, and
Spool data to printer B, process printer description language in printer B, store as image data in memory in printer B, and spool before queue in queue for printer to print (eg printer A) When the printing of the file is completed, the image data is transmitted to the designated printer A.

As described above, when the printer to which the new print data is requested to print is printing, spool data obtained by spooling the print data is image-developed by another printer that is not printing (idle state). As soon as the printing of the printer of the processing request destination is completed, the data (image data) developed by the other printer is printed by the printer of the processing request destination. As a result, the user can always obtain a print result from the designated printer more quickly than in the conventional case.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 and can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in step 12 in FIG. 2, the print server 5 can add the request source printer name together with the image expansion command and send the spool file (2) to the printer B8.

As a result, step 1 in FIG.
After 4, the printer B8 establishes a virtual line with the printer A7, and the printer B8 periodically checks the printer status of the printer A, and when the printer status becomes "idle", the image data is transferred to the printer A7. Can be sent to. In this way, when the image data expanded by the other printer is transmitted to the printer designated by the user, the status can be directly transmitted from the other printer to the printer designated by the user, that is, without passing through the print server, It is not necessary to check the status of the print server, and the load on the print server can be reduced.

Further, each of the printers A7 to F1 in FIG.
2 can be provided with a function of compressing and expanding image data. In this case, in step 16 of FIG. 3, the print server 5 sends to the printer A7 the image data compressed from the printer B8 and an instruction command to decompress the image data and copy it to the page memory. In addition, the printer B8 is sent an instruction command to the printer A7 to compress and send the image data in the page memory.

Upon receiving this command, the printer A7 waits for the image data from the printer B8, and the printer B8 compresses the image data in the page memory and sends it to the printer A7. Printer A7
Receives this compressed image data, decompresses it,
After copying to page memory, print out. In this way, when the image data expanded by another printer is sent to the printer specified by the user, by compressing the image data and sending it, the network load can be reduced and the data transfer speed can be increased. Can be converted.

Further, when the printer status of the printer A7 is checked in step 15 in FIG. 3, if the printer status is still "printing", a storage device such as a hard disk managed by the print server 5 (the print server 5). 4 is also connected to the storage device 6 of FIG.
The image data storage file in the storage device 4 described in the file server 3) is designated, and a command to transfer the image data of the first page to this file is transmitted to the printer B8.

The printer B8 receiving this command,
The image data of the first page is transferred to the designated file, and after the transfer is completed, the image expansion of the second and subsequent pages is started. During this period, the print server 5 is
The printer status of the specified image data storage file is sent to the printer A7 after sending an instruction command to the printer A7 to receive the image data when it becomes "idle". Send. Hereinafter, the same processing is performed on the image data of the second and subsequent pages. By doing so, the printing speed can be further increased.

Further, by providing each printer with a function capable of expanding image data in the page memory even when a resolution different from the current resolution is designated, for example,
In step 9 in FIG. 2, when the printer server 5 investigates the printers having the same resolution as the printer A7 and the printer status is “idle” from the table shown in FIG. Even if there is no printer whose printer status is "idle", it can be effectively dealt with.

That is, in such a case, the printer status is "idle" from the groups of different resolutions.
, Find the printer, connect it to the queue of the printer queue, register it, and when sending the spool file to the printer, convert the resolution to the specified value and issue an instruction command to expand it to image data. Add and send. When the specified printer receives this command and the spool file, it expands the image at the specified resolution and creates image data.

As described above, by expanding the image at the resolution specified by the print server in each printer, the image expansion can be performed on behalf of printers having different resolutions, and the printer in the idle state can be set by the print server. The range for searching can be widened, and each printer on the network can be used more effectively.

[0039]

According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently control the output of a spool file to a printer designated by a user, improve the usage efficiency of a printer connected to a network, and reduce the load on the user. Becomes

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a third portion of a flow chart showing an embodiment of a processing procedure according to the present invention of a printer control method for a network print system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a part ⅔ of a flow chart showing an embodiment of a processing procedure according to the present invention of a printer control method for a network print system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a third part of the flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing procedure according to the present invention of the printer control method for the network print system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network print system that performs the processing in FIGS.

5 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of a print server in FIG.

6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a print queue managed by the print server in FIG.

7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a printer / resolution correspondence table according to the present invention, which is provided in the print server in FIG.

8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a printer / description language correspondence table according to the present invention which is provided in the print server in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2: workstation, 3: file server,
4, 6: storage device, 5: print server, 7 to 12: printers A to F, 5a: CPU, 5b: ROM, 5c: R
AM, 5d: printer I / O, 5e: disk I / O, 5f:
LAN I / O, 51: printer / resolution correspondence table, 61: printer / description language correspondence table.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of terminals, a plurality of printers, and
To transfer print data from the terminal to each of the printer
In the network print system in which at least a print server that is connected to the print server is connected to the print server, new print data is input from the terminal to the printer A that is printing other print data. Data above the pudding
Attach the access information to data A and transfer to other printer B
The other printer B has means for converting the print data into image data , and the converted image data.
The network print system further comprises means for transmitting to the printer A, and the printer A has means for printing the image data received from the other printer B after printing of the other print data is completed . 2. The network print sheet according to claim 1.
In the stem, The access information is the printer name of the printer A.
A network printing system characterized in that 3. Oite the network printing system according to claim 1 or 2, the other printer B is further
Has a means to compress the converted image data.
Then, the printer A further sends the image sent.
A network printing system having means for expanding data . 4. Oite the network printing system according to any of claims 1 to 3, until the printing of the printer A is complete, in that it comprises means for temporarily storing the image data converted by the printer B A characteristic network printing system. 5. A plurality of terminals, a plurality of printers, and
To transfer print data from the terminal to each of the printer
In the printer control method of the network print system , which is configured to at least connect to a print server, the print server is configured such that when new print data is input from the terminal to the printer A that is printing other print data, The new print data is added to the above print
The access information to the printer A is attached and transferred to the other printer B. The other printer B converts the print data into image data, and the converted image data is transferred to the printer A.
And the printer A prints the image data received from the other printer B after the other print data has been printed.