JP2000172464A - Print system, printer, and print server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a printer to autonomously send a print instruction to a host computer and obtain and print object data to be printed. SOLUTION: When a print job is generated, hosts 27 and 29 store its job data 35 and 37 on their disks and send job location data 31 and 33 showing the location of the job data to a print server 25. The print server 25 temporarily stores the job location data 31 and 33 and sends them to a printer 23 when the printer is in a printable state. The printer 23 once receiving the job location data 31 and 33 inputs and print job data 35 and 37 from hosts 27 and 29 that the data indicate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer that receives a print job from a host and performs printing, and to such a printing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional printer is unilaterally sent a print job from a host or a print server, and passively receives and processes the print job. FIG. 1 shows a connection example when a conventional printer is used in a network environment such as a LAN. A printer 3, a print server 5, and some host computers 7, 9 are connected on a network 1. The hosts 7 and 9 send the respective print job data 11 and 13 to the print server (step S).
1, S2). The print server 5 stores the job data 11 and 13 in the auxiliary storage device 5A such as a disk, queues the job data 11, and sends the job data to the printer 3 sequentially (S3). The printer 3 passively accepts the job data from the print server 5 into the reception buffer memory 3A and processes it.

[0003]

The print server 5 includes:
A very large capacity auxiliary storage device is required to store job data. In a network environment, the print server 5 is required, so that the cost is high. Printers,
A large receiving buffer memory is required to receive job data. The printer always performs printing only at the initiative of the host or the printer server, and cannot perform printing spontaneously (for example, executing a print job set at a time set in the printer).

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate the need for a print server to have a large-capacity auxiliary storage device.

[0005]

According to the printing system of the present invention, when a print job is generated, the host does not immediately generate the job data and send the job data unilaterally to the printer or print server. Either keep it in a storage device or postpone the generation of job data. Then, when executing the print job, the printer requests the host for the job data. The host sends the stored job data to the printer in response to the job request, or creates the job data at that time and sends it to the printer.

In a preferred embodiment, the host device notifies the print server of the location of the job data, and the print server temporarily stores the notified job location and sends it to the printer at an appropriate time. When trying to execute the job, the printer requests transmission of job data to the host indicated by the job location.

When requesting job data from the host, the printer may request all of the job data, or may request transmission of only the portion of the job data to be processed.

[0008] The print server and the host can be typically implemented by a computer, and a computer program for this can be installed or loaded on the computer through various media such as a disk storage, a semiconductor memory, and a communication network. Can be.

Further, in the print system of the present invention, after the printer receives document data (file) to be printed from the host computer in accordance with the location data, the printer generates job data and prints the job data. That is, in the above embodiment, the printer transmits the job data generated by the host computer,
Although it is configured to receive and print from the host computer according to the job location data, in the present embodiment,
The printer generates job data from document data received by the printer and prints the job data.

In a further preferred embodiment, the printer comprises:
After getting the document data according to the location data,
The format of the document data (application data or job data before job data generation) is determined. If the data is application data, the printer itself generates job data. Perform processing.

[0011]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration and an operation outline of an embodiment of the present invention.

In a communication network 11 such as a LAN,
A printer 23, a print server 25, and some host computers 27 and 29 are connected. The printer driver in each of the hosts 27 and 29 generates print job data 35 and 37 upon receiving a print command from the user, and stores the job data 35 and 37 in auxiliary storage devices 27A and 29A such as fixed disks of the respective hosts. 37, and data indicating the locations of the job data 35 and 37 (for example, the addresses of the hosts 27 and 29 on the network 11 and the local directories of the job data 35 and 37 in the hosts 27 and 29). Or, sets with identification names) 31 and 33 are transmitted to the print server 25 (steps S11 and S12).

The print server 25 includes hosts 27 and 29
, And temporarily stores them in an auxiliary storage device 25A such as a fixed disk, places them in a queue, and sequentially stores the job location data 31,3.
3 is sent to the printer 23 (S13). Printer 23
Saves the job location data 31 and 33 sent from the print server 25 and uses the job location data 31 or 33 of the print job to execute the job data 33 or 33 when executing each print job. A job request is sent to the host 27 or 29 storing 35. The host 27 or 29 receiving the job request
The job data 33 or 35 indicated by the job location data 31 or 33 is read from its own auxiliary storage device 27A or 29A and sent to the printer 23 (S15 or S16). The printer 23 stores the job data 33
Alternatively, 35 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer memory 23A, and is read out from the reception buffer memory 23A to perform printing processing.

The printer 23 is connected to each of the hosts 27 and 2
9 can be requested not to send all of the job data 33 and 35 all at once, but to send only a designated portion of the job data 33 and 35. Can be emitted at the time. Thereby, the printer 34 can process the print job on an appropriate schedule according to the status of its own print engine and the status of the reception buffer memory 23A.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams showing the operation of the printer driver of each of the hosts 27 and 29.

As shown in FIG. 3, when a print job is generated by a user command or the like (S21), the printer driver of each of the hosts 27 and 29 prints a command string for causing the printer 23 to execute the print job. The job data is generated and stored in a local directory of each of the hosts 27 and 29 (S22). Subsequently, the location of the print job data is notified to the print server 25 (S23).

When the printer driver of each of the hosts 27 and 29 receives a job request from the printer 23 as shown in FIG. 4 (S24), the specified portion of the print job data specified by the job request is received. Is retrieved from the storage directory and sent to the printer 23 (S
25). If the job request specifies all of the job data, the entire job data is sent continuously. If the job request requires only a part of the job, only a part of the job data is sent. When all the print job data has been sent to the printer 23 (S26), the printer driver deletes the stored print job data (S27).

As a modification, step S2 in FIG.
The process 2 may be performed at the timing of step S25 in FIG. That is, when a print job occurs, only print job data is sent to the print server 25 without creating print job data at that time, and then the printer 23 sends the print job data to the print server 25. When a job request is received, job data may be created and sent to the printer 23. Further, the deletion of the print job data in step S27 is not performed immediately when all the print jobs have been sent.
3 may be performed after the deletion permission is received.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing the operation of the print server 25. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the print server 25
When the print job is notified from each of the hosts 27 and 29 (S28), the data of the notified job location is stored in a queue (S29). Also, the print server 25
6, when the status of the printer 23 is monitored and the printer 23 is ready to perform printing (S3), as shown in FIG.
0), job location data in the queue is sequentially extracted and sent to the printer 23 (S31).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation of the printer 23.

When the printing process of the previous job is completed (S41), the printer 23 fetches the job location data of the next job from the print server 25 (S42), and sends it to the host 27 or 29 of the address indicated by the job location data. On the other hand, a job request is sent by designating a part (or all) of the job data to be processed from now on (S43). Then, the receiving buffer memory 23A having a capacity necessary to receive the requested job data portion is secured (S44), and the job data portion sent from the host is stored in the receiving buffer memory 23A.
(S45). Steps S43 to S45 are repeated until all pages of the print job have been printed. When printing of all pages m is completed, permission to delete the job data may be sent to the host.

According to the above embodiment, since the print server 25 only needs to store the location of the job data, the required capacity of the auxiliary storage device is greatly reduced. The printer 23 can adjust the amount of job data to be received according to the status of the print engine, the capacity of the job reception buffer that can be secured, and the like, so that the required memory capacity is reduced. Some examples of the case where the printer 23 requests only a part of a job instead of the entire job will be described below.

(1) For example, in the first job request, only the header part of the job data is requested, and after analyzing the header part, only the part necessary for the next processing, for example, only the first page part is requested. , And then request only the next part of the data, for example, the second page. As a result, the required capacity of the reception buffer is greatly reduced (of course, if there is sufficient memory capacity, a plurality of pages may be requested collectively in each job request).

(2) For example, when printing a plurality of copies,
After printing the first copy of all pages, the same job data is again requested from the host to print the second copy, and this is repeated for each copy. After the printing of the last copy is completed, the host deletes the job data. Allow This eliminates the need to store all page data in the printer,
The required memory capacity is reduced.

(3) For example, in the case of double-sided printing, printing may be performed in the order of second page, fourth page, first page, third page,... Second in first job request according to order
Only the page to be printed is requested, such as the page, the next page, the fourth page, then the first page, then the third page, and so on. This eliminates the need for the printer 23 to receive and store the data of the page in the later printing order first.

(4) For example, when printing a large document such as an encyclopedia having a format of PDF (trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated), one job data is very large, and the internal link is used. (For example, in PDF, text fonts and insertion image data are linked to text data, and, for example,
Since the data making up each page often exists in dispersed locations in the file, such as the font data linked to the first page being present on the last page in the file), the printer 23 may not be able to collectively receive all of the job data.
In such a case, for example, when printing the first page, the printer 3 requests only the text data of the first page and the data of the fonts and images linked to the first page from the file on the host. , The required part is requested and received for a required length. This allows
A print image can be created with a small reception buffer.

(5) For example, a WWW home page often has an image file or the like linked to an HTML file describing the home page, and the linked image file is different from an HTML file in the same host. It exists at the URL. When printing such a homepage, for example, when printing the first page of the homepage, the printer 23 uses the HTML
Only the data of the necessary file is requested from the host, such as requesting the file and the image file linked to the first page from each URL.
As a result, a print image can be created with a small number of reception buffers.

In consideration of the case where the printer requests only a part of the job, but not the entire job, to the host, the host uses the job location data shown in step S23 in FIG. To the print server (or another suitable occasion), the location of each part that makes up the job (eg, where each page of data is in the file, what directory in the host, , Or which URL is present, etc.) to the print server or printer, and the printer can be configured to request a desired part from the host based on the location information of each part.

In the above embodiment, the hosts 27, 2
In step 9, job data may be created and stored immediately after a print job is generated. Alternatively, as another method, job data may be created only when a job request is received from a printer. This can save the waste of storing job data in the storage device for a long time.

The printer 23 may be configured to be able to control the printing time by itself, such that the specified printing job is fetched from the host after the specified time and processed.

As shown in FIG. 8, the host 27 for notifying the print server 25 of the location of the print job and the host 29 for storing the job data 35 of the print job and supplying it to the printer 23 are different machines. May be.

Since the storage capacity required for storing the job location data is extremely small, as shown in FIG.
Directly receive the job location data 31, 33 from 7, 29,
It may be stored in its own auxiliary storage device 23B.

The printer according to the present embodiment stores the file location data and can obtain and print the file indicated by the location data in accordance with the print start instruction from the printer. It works.

First, if the user gives a print instruction from the host device first and gives an actual print start instruction from the printer, the user can select a confidential print or a back paper. .

Further, printout by own print job and printout by another person's print job are not mixed.

Further, when the user wants to print out the desired information, the user can print out the information only by the printer, so that the operation of the host device becomes unnecessary.

[Second Embodiment] This embodiment is characterized in that after a printer receives document data to be printed according to location data from a host computer, the printer generates and prints job data. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the printer is configured to receive the job data generated by the host computer from the host computer according to the job location data and to print the job data. The job data is generated and printed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a print system according to the second embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a printer 23, a print server 25, and one or more host computers 27 are connected to a network 21 such as a LAN.
The print server 25 sends location data (for example, UR) indicating the location of the document on the network from the host 27.
L) is stored in an auxiliary storage device 25A such as a fixed disk.

Upon receiving a print instruction from the user, the printer refers to the location data stored in the auxiliary storage device 25A of the print server 25 and stores the document data (A in the figure) in the host 27 indicated by the location data. Data or B data). Upon receiving the acquisition request, the host 27 reads out the document data from its own auxiliary storage device, and
Send to The printer that has received the document data from the host 27 generates print job data from the document data according to a printer driver (not shown) incorporated therein, and performs print processing.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the printer can generate job data by itself even if the host computer does not have a function of generating job data.

[Third Embodiment] In this embodiment, the format of data sent from the host device in response to a job request sent from a printer is determined, and the format of the data is determined to be document data. In this case, printing is performed after converting the document data into job data.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of the print system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, an operation unit 1101 is for the user to input location data of a document to be printed or to select the input location data and to give an instruction to execute the printing.
The operation unit 1101 is configured as, for example, an operation panel of a printer. The location data storage unit 1102 stores data (location data) indicating the location where the document (file) to be printed is stored. The location data is indicated by, for example, an address (host (server) / domain name) on the network and a directory path name. The file to be printed is held in the host device H as data in a file format interpreted by a specific application program (hereinafter referred to as “application data”) or job data for controlling the printer.

The data requesting unit 1103 generates a request message for data acquisition based on the location data in accordance with a print execution instruction from the user. Data request unit 1
103 sends the generated request message to the communication unit 1104.

The communication unit 1104 is for communicating with the host device H via the network N.
The communication unit 1104 sends a request message to the host device H, and the host device H reads a file (application data or job data) indicated by the location data from a storage device such as a hard disk (not shown) based on the request message, Send it back to communication unit 1104. The communication unit 1104 stores the file received from the host device H in the reception buffer 1105.

The file format determining unit 1106 determines (determines) the format of the file (data) received from the host device H based on the request message. More specifically, the file format determination unit 1106 determines whether the format of the file stored in the reception buffer 1105 is application data or job data for printing. Sends this to the job data generation unit 1107. On the other hand, if the file format determination unit 1106 determines that the file format is job data, the job data generation unit 110
7 is sent to the image data generation unit 1108 without going through.

The job data generating unit 1107 generates job data based on the application data determined to be not job data by the file format determining unit 1106. The job data includes commands and data necessary for the printer to perform printing.

The image data generation unit 1108 develops a print image on an image memory (not shown) according to the job data. The print control unit 1109 controls the print engine 1110 to print the print image developed in the image memory on a print recording medium such as paper.

FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the print system according to the present embodiment. Specifically, FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the printer, and FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the host device. First, as shown in FIG. 12, when location data of a file to be printed is input (selected) and a print execution instruction is given (S1201), the printer transmits a file transfer request to the host device indicated by the location data. Request message is sent (S1202).

As shown in FIG. 13, upon receiving the request message, the host device reads the file indicated by the location data (directory path) included in the request message (S1301), and uses this as a response message as the request source. (S1302).

The printer sends data (file) as a response message corresponding to the request message from the host device.
Is received (S1203 in FIG. 12), the format is determined (S1204). If the printer determines that the data received from the host device is not job data, the printer generates job data based on the data (S
1205). On the other hand, if it is determined in S1204 that the data is job data, or if job data is generated in S1205, the printer generates image data according to the job data (S1206) and performs printing (S1207).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the printer determines the format of the file received from the host device according to the location data of the file to be printed,
If it is determined that the job data is not the job data, the job data is generated and printed. Therefore, the user can operate the file without being aware of whether the format of the file indicated by the location data is application data or job data.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the present embodiment, according to the layout information on the arrangement of the print area in the page,
One or a plurality of files received from the host device are laid out based on one or a plurality of location data to generate job data of one document, and printing is performed.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of the print system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, an operation unit 1401 is for a user to select a document set to be printed and to give an instruction to execute the printing. The operation unit 1101 is configured as an operation panel of a printer, for example, as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 13A, an operation panel 1501 includes a display area 1502 for displaying a document set name and a display area 1.
An operation dial 1503 operated to display a document set name to be printed on 502 and a print execution button 1504 for giving a print execution instruction to print the document set displayed on the display area 1502
Consists of The document set is a set of one or a plurality of files (location data) as shown in FIG. 2B, and a plurality of such document sets are prepared.

Returning to FIG. 14, the location data storage section 1402
Constitutes the document set to be printed 1
Or store location data for multiple files. The location data is indicated by, for example, an address (host (server) / domain name) on the network and a directory path name.

The data requesting unit 1403 generates a request message for data acquisition based on the location data in accordance with a print execution instruction from the user. When the document set includes a plurality of files, that is, a plurality of location data, a request message based on each location data is generated. Data request unit 140
3 sends the generated request message to the communication unit 1404.

The communication unit 1404 communicates with the host device H via the network N.
The communication unit 1404 sends a request message to the host device H, and the host device H reads a file indicated by the location data from a storage device such as a hard disk (not shown) based on the request message, and
Send it back to 404. The communication unit 1404 stores the file received from the host device H in the reception data storage unit 1405.

The job data generation unit 1406 generates job data for printing based on the files stored in the reception data storage unit 1405 and the layout information stored in the layout information storage unit 1407. The layout information is information on the layout of a print area where the contents of the file are to be printed.

The image data generator 1408 develops a print image on an image memory (not shown) according to the job data. The print control unit 1409 controls the print engine 1410 to print the print image developed in the image memory on a print recording medium such as paper.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the printer according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, when location data of a file to be printed is input (selected) and a print execution instruction is given (S1601), the printer transmits the file to the host device indicated by the location data for file transfer. A request message is sent (S1602).

The printer sends data (file) as a response message corresponding to the request message from the host device.
Are received (S1603), job data is generated according to the layout information (S1604). The printer generates image data according to the generated job data (S1605), and performs printing (S1606).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, one or a plurality of files to be printed are pre-configured as a document set. Instructions for execution will suffice.

[Fifth Embodiment] This embodiment relates to the setting of the layout information in the fourth embodiment. That is, it is hard to say that the user interface provided in the printer is sufficient for setting layout information as shown in FIG. Therefore, the present embodiment is characterized in that the layout information set on the host device side is sent to the printer, and the printer that has received the layout information holds the layout information.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the print system according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a printer P sends a program for setting layout information to a host device H, and the host device executes the program. The host device H that has executed the program returns the result of the execution, that is, the set layout information to the printer P. For example, the user operates the operation dial 1503 shown in FIG. 15A, displays “layout information setting” in the display area 1504, and presses the execute button 1
When the user presses 504, the printer sends a program for setting layout information to a predetermined host device via a network, and the host device executes the program. When the user sets the layout information using the user interface of the host device and instructs termination, the host device sends the set layout information back to the printer.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the layout information setting program. Upon receiving the program from the printer and executing the program, the host device first displays a layout setting window as shown in FIG. 19 (S1801), and displays the current layout information of the document set (S1802). The setting program detects an input event from the user and performs a predetermined process based on the input event (S1803 to S1803).
S1806). That is, when the user inputs a new creation button of the document set (Yes in S1803)
s) A dialog box as shown in FIG. 20A is displayed, and an input of a new set name from the user is received (S1807). In the case of creating a new set name, the setting program displays a dialog box as shown in FIG. 3B assuming that the new URL is the reference of the location data, and inputs the new location data (for example, URL). Acceptance (S1809), and subsequently accepts an input for setting a print area (S1809). The input for setting the print area is performed, for example, by the user dragging the mouse cursor in the right part of the window shown in FIG. After the setting is completed, when the user clicks the operation end button, the setting program returns the layout information including the document set name, one or more location data, and its print area to the printer (S1).
810).

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are merely examples for describing the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention only to these embodiments. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various modes other than the above-described embodiment.

[0069]

According to the present invention, a printer can acquire a file in accordance with location data indicating the location of the file, such as job data and document data, and print the file.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a connection example when a conventional printer is used in a network environment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer driver of the hosts 27 and 29;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer driver of the hosts 27 and 29;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server.

FIG. 7 is a follow chart showing the operation of the printer.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing another modification.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a print system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a print system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printer according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the host device according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of a print system according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates an operation panel of the printer.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the printer according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a print system according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the host device according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a screen according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen according to the fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21, 41, 51 communication network 23, 61 printer 25 print server 27, 29, 43, 45, 53 host computer

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising: a host device that generates job data; and a printer that receives the job data from the host device and prints the job data, the printer comprising: location data indicating a location of the job data A job request based on the job request, and the host device sends job data indicated by location data based on the job request to the printer. 2. A print system comprising a host device and a printer, wherein the printer sends a job request based on location data indicating a location of data to the host device, and the host device transmits a job request based on the job request. The data indicated by the data is sent to the printer.The printer determines whether or not the format of the data sent from the host device is job data. A print system for generating job data based on data. 3. The printing system according to claim 32, wherein the printer receives the location data from the host device. A request unit for requesting the data to a host device that holds the file based on location data indicating a location of the data; and a request unit for transmitting the data sent from the host device in response to the request. A determining unit that determines whether the format is job data; and a generating unit that generates job data based on data sent from the host device when the determining unit determines that the data is not job data. A printer comprising: a printing unit that performs printing based on job data. 5. A request for the data from a host device that holds the file based on location data indicating a location of data, and the format of the data sent from the host device in response to the request is a job. Determining whether the data is data, and if determining that the format of the data is not job data, generating job data based on data sent from the host device and performing printing based on the job data A method for controlling a printer, comprising: 6. A printing system comprising a host device and a printer, wherein the printer sends a job request based on location data indicating a location of data to the host device, and the host device transmits a job request based on the job request. A print system that sends data indicated by the data to the printer, the printer generates job data based on layout information and data sent from the host device, and performs printing based on the job data. 7. The print system according to claim 7, wherein the host device composes the layout information according to a predetermined program, and sends the constructed layout information to the printer. 8. The print system according to claim 8, wherein the printer sends the predetermined program for configuring the layout information to the host. 9. A request unit for requesting the data from the host device that holds the data based on location data indicating a location of the data; and layout information and the request sent from the host device in response to the request. A printer comprising: a generating unit that generates job data based on incoming data; and a printing unit that performs printing based on the job data. 10. A request for the data from the host device that holds the data based on location data indicating a location of the data, and the layout information and the data sent from the host device in response to the request. A method for controlling a printer, comprising: generating job data based on the job data; and performing printing based on the job data. 11. A recording medium recording a program for realizing a predetermined function in a computer, the program comprising: means for displaying a window having a page layout area in which a data print area is to be set; Means for inputting location data indicating a location; means for setting the print area in the page layout area; and data acquired based on the input location data is printed in the print area. Means for generating layout information in which the location data and the print area are associated with each other.