JP2013063579A - Image forming apparatus and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably perform a restart of an image forming job at interruption caused by the occurrence of a failure in the execution of the image forming job in the other image forming apparatus by simple processing without bothering a user.SOLUTION: In an image processing apparatus 10a, a job information security unit 102 accesses a web storage service server 30 via a web storage control unit 104 at the occurrence of the failure in the execution of the image forming job, and sends job information showing contents of the inexecutable image forming job to make the server store it. In addition, the apparatus sends access information used for the access to the web storage service server 30 and job identification information for specifying the stored job information to an image processing apparatus 10b, and requires the image processing apparatus 10b to execute the image forming job in accordance with the access information and the job identification information.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information, and an image forming system including a plurality of such image forming apparatuses.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus such as a printer including an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information is widely known. In such an image forming apparatus, even when an abnormality occurs during execution of an image forming job and the job is interrupted, the interrupted job is executed by causing the other image forming apparatus to execute the job instead. The following are known as methods for obtaining a printed matter or the like according to the above.

First, in Patent Document 1, an unprocessed job to be processed and a job being processed that have already been received when an abnormality occurs in the image input / output device are stored in a removable storage medium, and the storage medium is attached by the user. It is described that another image input / output device reads and executes a job stored in the storage medium.
In Patent Literature 2, when a printing error occurs during execution of printing in the first printing apparatus, printing interruption information is transmitted and registered to the print service server, and the user registers the second printing apparatus. It is described that when the print service server is operated and authenticated, the print interruption information is referred to and the second printing apparatus can continue the printing in which the printing error has occurred. .

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 describes that when printing fails, a print job is transmitted to an alternative printing apparatus.
In Patent Document 4, when the printer 100-1 receives a print request from the PC 300, the storage device 200 transmits and stores job instruction information including information related to print parameters and event notification of print processing. Describes that an auxiliary print request is transmitted to an auxiliary printer designated by the user. The printer that has received this auxiliary print request can acquire all or part of the job instruction information and the document data by transmitting a job acquisition request to the storage 200, and can execute print processing relating to the job. it can.

However, the method described in Patent Document 1 uses a removable storage medium to move jobs, so it can be applied only to models that can be equipped with a storage medium. There is a problem that the work load is large.
The technique described in Patent Document 2 also has a problem that the user's workload is heavy because the user needs to operate the second printing apparatus. Further, it is necessary to provide a function for managing print interruption information in association with the user on the print service server side, which causes a problem that a dedicated server is required.

Further, in the method described in Patent Document 3, since the print job itself is transmitted to the alternative printing apparatus, when a job with a large size is being executed in the alternative printing apparatus, a separate job is transmitted. There is a problem that a print job may not be received correctly due to insufficient memory capacity.
In the method described in Patent Document 4, when the printer 100-1 receives a print request, the job instruction information is stored in the storage 200 and the auxiliary print request is issued to the auxiliary printer. There is a problem that a relatively complicated control is required to prevent the job from being executed, and the load of system development is large.

  The present invention solves such a problem, and restarts the image forming job in another image forming apparatus when an abnormality occurs in the execution of the image forming job and is interrupted, without bothering the user. The purpose is to ensure that it can be executed with simple processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information, and an abnormality has occurred in the execution of the image forming job by the image forming unit. In this case, an abnormal job processing unit that accesses a predetermined access destination and transmits and stores job information indicating the contents of an image forming job that cannot be executed due to the abnormality, and the abnormal job processing unit sends the job information to the access destination. When job information is stored, other image formation includes access information used to access the predetermined access destination and job identification information for specifying the stored job information at the predetermined access destination The image forming job is transmitted to the apparatus according to the access information and the job identification information. Is provided with a a request means for requesting the image forming apparatus.

  According to the above configuration, when the execution of the image forming job is interrupted due to an abnormality, the image forming job can be restarted in another image forming apparatus without a user's trouble. Can be executed reliably.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image processing system including an image processing apparatus that is an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the image processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the function structure of a web storage service system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format example of job information handled by the image processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. 6 is a flowchart of processing executed by a CPU of an image processing apparatus when an occurrence of an abnormality that hinders execution of an image forming job is detected. 6 is a flowchart of processing executed by the CPU of the restoration destination image processing apparatus that has received the job restoration request or the like transmitted in step S22 of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an image processing system including an image processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  This image processing system includes a plurality of image processing apparatuses 10a to 10c shown in FIG. These image processing apparatuses 10a to 10c may be the same model or different models as long as they have a function for restoring a job when an abnormality occurs, which will be described later. However, since the hardware in the range shown in FIG. 1 is provided in all the image processing apparatuses 10a to 10c, the image processing apparatus 10a will be described as a representative here.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 10a includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a communication I / F (interface) 14, a scanner engine 15, a printer engine 16, and an operation panel 17, which are connected by a system bus. Yes.

  Among these, the CPU 11 is a control unit that performs overall control of the image processing apparatus 10a. Then, by executing a required program recorded in the ROM 12 and controlling each unit shown in FIG. 1, various functions including a function relating to job restoration described later are realized. Further, the image processing apparatus 10 can function as a digital multi-function peripheral (MFP) having various functions such as copying, scanning, printing, facsimile communication, and document box.

The ROM 12 is a non-volatile storage unit that stores programs executed by the CPU 11, data that does not need to be rewritten, and the like.
The RAM 13 is a storage means for the CPU 11 to use as a work area or to store data that should be temporarily stored.

  The communication I / F 14 is an interface for the image processing apparatus 10a to communicate with an external device via a network such as a LAN (local area network) or the Internet 40. Any communication standard can be used regardless of wired or wireless.

The scanner engine 15 is an image reading unit that reads an image of a document and obtains image data.
The printer engine 16 is an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording sheet such as paper based on image data.
The operation panel 17 includes various displays such as an LCD (liquid crystal display) and a touch panel, buttons, and the like. The operation panel 17 accepts operations from the user, and informs the user of the operation state and setting contents of the image processing apparatus 10. It is a means for displaying information.

  The image processing apparatus 10 a described above is an image forming job based on job information generated based on a setting operation input by the user from the operation panel 17 or job information passed from a host apparatus 20 such as a RIP (Raster Image Processor) server or PC. By executing the above, it is possible to control the printer engine 16 to form an image on a sheet.

In addition, when an image formation job is executed and an abnormality such as a paper jam or out of paper occurs and the job cannot be executed, the job is executed on behalf of another image processing apparatus (this will be referred to as a job after this). Therefore, the following processing can be performed. That is, a general-purpose web storage service (online storage service) provided online via the Internet 40 is accessed to store job data, and the job data is read and executed by another image processing apparatus. You can ask to do it. Conversely, when it is requested to read job data from the web storage service and execute a job related to the data, the job can be executed in response to the request.
Next, the configuration related to this point will be described in more detail.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 10a shown in FIG. FIG. 2 mainly shows functions related to the job restoration described above.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the image processing apparatus 10a, the image processing controller 100 including the CPU 11, the ROM 12, the RAM 13, the communication I / F 14 and the like shown in FIG. 1 includes a main control unit 101, a job information guarantee unit 102, a job. An information restoration unit 103, a web storage control unit 104, an input control unit 105, an output control unit 106, and a software configuration management unit 107 are provided.

  Of these, the main control unit 101 plays a central role in the control of the image processing controller 100. Processing related to operation detection and display control on the operation panel 17 and communication with the host device 20 is also performed.

  The job information guarantee unit 102 has a function of transferring data necessary for causing a job to be executed instead of another image processing apparatus when an abnormality occurs in the execution of the job. As information used for this data transfer, the address (IP (Internet Protocol) address, URL (Uniform Resource Locator), etc.) of the image processing device (restoration destination image processing device) that executes the job instead of when an abnormality occurs, and the occurrence of the abnormality The user sets in advance information such as the type of web storage service used to store job information, the address of the web storage service access point (web storage service server), and authentication information for authenticating to the web storage service server. Keep it. This setting can be performed by operating the operation panel 17 or can be performed from an external PC or the like.

  The job information restoration unit 103 has a function of acquiring information necessary for executing instead of a job interrupted due to an abnormality in the image forming apparatus in response to a request from another image processing apparatus.

  The web storage control unit 104 has a function of using a web storage service provided by the web storage service server 30. Here, the web storage service includes a function for storing data transmitted to the web storage service server 30 via the Internet 40 in any storage with an arbitrary file name, and the web storage service server 30 using the Internet. And a function for causing the request source to download the accumulated data in response to the request received via the request 40. In addition, it is preferable that the web storage service server 30 has a function of authenticating an access source using authentication information such as a user name and a password, and managing stored data in association with the user name. At this time, downloading of the accumulated data is permitted only to the user who accumulated the data or the user permitted by the user.

  The input control unit 105 controls reading of an image by the scanner engine 15 and input of read image data from the scanner engine 15. For example, upon receiving an image information (image attribute, image data) acquisition request from the main control unit 101, the scanner engine 15 is controlled to perform image information input processing, and the image data and image attributes input from the scanner engine 15 are mainly processed. Transmit to the control unit 101.

  The output control unit 106 controls image formation by the printer engine 16 and output of image data to the printer engine 16. For example, in response to a print instruction from the main control unit 101, a print start request and image data of an image to be printed are transmitted to the printer engine 16 to execute printing. The printer engine 16 notifies the output control unit 106 of an abnormality when an event that interferes with the printing process occurs, such as a jam or no paper, during printing. When receiving the abnormality notification, the output control unit 106 transmits the abnormality notification to the main control unit 101. When the abnormality is canceled, the printer engine 16 similarly notifies the output control unit 106 to that effect, and the output control unit 106 transmits an abnormality cancellation notification to the main control unit 101 accordingly.

  The software configuration management unit 107 manages all types of software installed in the image processing apparatus 10a and information on the versions of each software. The software configuration management unit 107 also manages software necessary for realizing the function of the web storage control unit 104 that accesses the web storage service server 30.

Next, the operation of each unit when the image processing apparatus 10a executes an image forming job will be described in more detail.
First, when the user issues a print instruction (such as Scan to Print) from the operation panel 17, the main control unit 101 uses the setting information such as a paper feed tray and a paper discharge tray set by the user at the time of the print instruction. Job information indicating the contents of the image forming job to be executed is generated. In the case of Scan to Print, image information (image data and image attributes) necessary for generating job information is obtained from the scanner engine 15 via the input control unit 105 by instructing the input control unit 105. When the main control unit 101 receives job information from the host device 20, the main control unit 101 does not generate job information again and starts a job according to the received job information.

  In either case, the main control unit 101 requests the output control unit 106 to form an image according to the job information. The output control unit 106 controls the printer engine 16 in accordance with the request to execute image formation. The output control unit 106 detects the occurrence of an obstacle to the printing process such as a jam or no paper at the time of image formation, based on the output of the sensor of the printer engine 16 and the like, and sends it to the main control unit 101. Notify abnormalities.

  When the main control unit 101 receives the abnormality notification, the main control unit 101 notifies the job information guarantee unit 102 of the job information of the incomplete image forming job in order to restore the job interrupted due to the abnormality to another image processing apparatus. Further, job information generated or received before receiving an error cancellation notification is also notified to the job information guarantee unit 102. Note that the job whose job information is notified to the job information guarantee unit 102 is executed on behalf of another image processing apparatus. Therefore, in order to avoid duplicate execution, even if the abnormality is resolved, the image processing apparatus 10a Does not resume execution. For this reason, when it is desired to cause the image processing apparatus 10a to execute the job as much as possible, the job information guarantee unit 102 is not immediately notified of the job information when an abnormality occurs, but the job information is not resolved even after a short time. May be notified.

  When job information is notified from the main control unit 101 as described above, the job information guarantee unit 102 generates a job identifier that can uniquely identify the job information. Then, the job information and the job identifier are transferred to the web storage control unit 104, the web storage service server 30 is accessed, and the job information is stored in the web storage service provided by the web storage service server 30.

  In addition, the job information guarantee unit 102 sets the type of the web storage service used for storing job information, the address of the access point (here, the web storage service server 30) corresponding to the type, which is set in advance by the user. The web storage service server 30 holds authentication information for receiving authentication. When the web storage control unit 104 accesses the web storage service server 30, the information is passed to the web storage control unit 104.

  Any web storage service may be used as long as an automatic access program can be used. Services that are widely available to the public can also be used. For example, it is conceivable to use quanp (trademark) provided by Ricoh, Amazon S3 (trademark) provided by Amazon, and Flicker (trademark) provided by Yahoo Japan. However, it is not impeded that the operator of the image processing apparatus uses a web storage service provided independently.

  The web storage control unit 104 activates a program for automatic access for using the designated web storage service in response to a request from the job information guarantee unit 102, and a web storage service server as a designated access point 30 is accessed and authenticated using the passed authentication information. Then, the job information passed from the job information guarantee unit 102 is transmitted to the web storage service server 30 and stored in the web storage service. At this time, the job identifier passed together with the job information is used as the file name of the job information to be stored, and when accessing the web storage service server 30 later, the desired job information can be searched using the job identifier as a key. Like that.

When the main control unit 101 finishes notifying all the incomplete image forming jobs to the job information guarantee unit 102 after the occurrence of an abnormality, the main control unit 101 notifies the job information guarantee unit 102 to that effect.
The job information guarantee unit 102 transmits a connection release request to the web storage control unit 104 when notified by the main control unit 101 that all the job information has been notified. When this request is made, the web storage control unit 104 logs out from the web storage service server 30 and releases the connection.

  Also, when the job information guarantee unit 102 completes the saving of the job information in the web storage service, the job information guarantee unit 102 restores the restoration destination according to the address information of the restoration destination image processing apparatus (here, the image processing apparatus 10b) preset by the user. Notifying the image processing apparatus of access information for accessing the web storage service storing the job information and job identification information for specifying the stored one or more job information, and according to them, A job restoration request is made to request that restoration should be performed.

The access information is the type of web storage service, the address of the access point corresponding to the type, and authentication information for authenticating to the web storage service server 30. Further, when a plurality of job information is stored, all of them may be restored by the same image processing apparatus, or may be appropriately distributed and restored by the plurality of image processing apparatuses. Further, even if one job restoration request requests restoration of an image forming job related to a plurality of job information, one job restoration request may be made for each piece of job information.
Thus, the operation relating to job restoration in the image processing apparatus on which the abnormality has occurred is completed.

On the other hand, the image processing apparatus 10a also functions as an image processing apparatus that is requested to restore a job.
In this case, the image processing apparatus 10a receives a job restoration request, access information, and job identification information transmitted from the job information guarantee unit 102 of another image processing apparatus. When the communication control unit (not shown) detects that the information has been received, the communication control unit passes the information to the job information restoration unit 103.

When the job information restoration unit 103 receives the job restoration request, the access information, and the job identification information, the job information restoration unit 103 inquires of the main control unit 101 whether the job is being executed. When the job is being executed, a job end notification request for notifying that when the execution is completed is transmitted to the main control unit 101.
When the job information restoration unit 103 receives a job end notification from the main control unit 101 or a response indicating that the job is not being executed, the job information restoration unit 103 passes the received access information and job identification information to the web storage control unit 104. According to them, the web storage service server 30 is accessed to acquire job information.

  In response to a request from the job information restoration unit 103, the web storage control unit 104 starts an automatic access program for using the web storage service specified by the access information, and accesses the access point specified by the access information. The web storage service server 30 is accessed, and authentication is performed using the authentication information included in the access information. Then, the web storage service server 30 is requested to download the job information specified by the job identification information, and the job information stored in the web storage service is transmitted. At this time, the job information may be deleted on the side of the web storage service, or may be deleted later by a separate request or automatically.

  In any case, when the download of necessary job information is completed, the web storage control unit 104 logs out from the web storage service server 30 and releases the connection. Further, the web storage control unit 104 passes the downloaded job information to the job information restoration unit 103.

  Then, the job information restoration unit 103 passes the received job information to the main control unit 101 and executes an image forming job according to the job information. The main control unit 101 generates an image information according to the job information passed from the job information restoration unit 103 in the same manner as when generating job information according to user support or receiving job information from the host device 20. Execute.

  As described above, an image forming job whose execution has been interrupted in a certain image processing apparatus can be executed by another image processing apparatus. If the job information stored in the web storage service includes information on the progress of the image forming job up to the point of interruption (how many pages have been printed, etc.) It is also possible to execute an image forming job from the continuation.

Next, a configuration example of a web storage service system that provides a web storage service function will be described.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the web storage service system.
As described above, the web storage service used by the image processing apparatus 10a for storing job information may be any one such as those widely used for public use. However, the web storage service that provides this function may be used. The service system 200 can be configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example.

The web storage service system 200 shown in FIG. 3 includes a web storage service server 30 and an arbitrary number of web storages 50 (here, three of 50a to 50c are shown).
Among these, the web storage service server 30 functions as an access point that accepts access from an external client system C that uses the web storage service. Here, the client system C may be any device that can communicate with the web storage service server 30 via a network such as the Internet 40. Of course, the image processing apparatus 10a shown in FIG.

The web storage service server 30 includes a network control unit 31 and a web storage service management unit 32.
Among these, the network control unit 31 has a function of communicating with the client system C and the plurality of web storages 50. It also has a function of authenticating the client system C or its user with predetermined authentication information. The communication between the web storage service server 30 and the web storage 50 is shown as communication not via the Internet 40 in FIG. 3, but may be communicated via the Internet 40. However, even in this case, the web storage 50 does not accept access from the client system C, and accepts only access via the web storage service server 30.

  Further, the web storage service management unit 32 has a function of controlling the plurality of web storages 50 and managing the state of the HDD 54 (free capacity, usage status, etc.). When the network control unit 31 receives a request for storing or reading data from the client system C, each web storage 50 is sent from the network control unit 31 based on the stored disk information of each web storage 50. The web storage use request for realizing the request from the client system C is transmitted to the server. At this time, if data accumulation is requested, the data to be accumulated is transmitted to the web storage 50. If reading is requested, the data read by the web storage 50 is received from the web storage 50.

Each web storage 50 includes a network control unit 51, a main control unit 52, a disk control unit 53, and an HDD (hard disk drive) 54.
Among these, the network control unit 51 controls communication via the network, and in particular controls communication with the web storage service server 30. In addition, when receiving the web storage use request from the web storage service server 30, the network control unit 51 passes it to the main control unit 52.

  The main control unit 52 is a control unit that controls the entire web storage 50. Upon receiving a web storage use request from the network control unit 51, the main control unit 52 causes the disk control unit 53 to perform an operation related to the request (reading data from the HDD 54 or HDD 54). To write data to). The result is returned to the web storage service server 30 through the network control unit 51.

The disk control unit 53 has a function of controlling reading / writing of data to / from the HDD 54, and reads / writes data from / to the HDD 54 in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 52.
The HDD 54 is a rewritable large-capacity nonvolatile storage means for storing data.
The above web storage service system 200 can store data in the HDD 54 of the web storage 50 and provide the stored data to the client system C in response to a request from the client system C.

Next, the format of job information handled by the image processing apparatus 10a will be described.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format example of the job information.
As shown in FIG. 4, the job information includes a job attribute, an image attribute, and image data. Of these, image attributes and image data are provided for each image.

  The job attributes include data on print settings and the number of images. Among these, the print settings are settings to be made to the image processing apparatus 10a when executing a job, such as settings for a paper feed tray and a paper discharge tray, duplex / single side settings, aggregation, bookbinding printing, and post-processing settings. It is data which shows. The number of images indicates the number of pages of an image to be printed, that is, the number of sets of image attributes and image data included in job information.

The image attribute is data that is paired with image data and indicates the format of the image data. For example, information on the size of the image data, the size in the X direction and the Y direction of the image indicated by the image data, and the compression format of the image data are included.
The image data is data indicating the content of an image to be printed by a monochrome or color (YMCK) bitmap. It may be compressed as necessary. Further, when the image processing apparatus 10a has a drawing function, intermediate language data before the drawing process may be used.

Next, processing related to job recovery executed by the image processing apparatus 10a will be described.
First, FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of processing executed by the CPU 11 of the image processing apparatus 10a when the occurrence of an abnormality that hinders execution of the image forming job, such as jamming or out of paper, is detected. This process corresponds to the functions of the main control unit 101, the job information guarantee unit 102, and the web storage control unit 104 shown in FIG.
When the occurrence of the abnormality is detected by a notification from the output control unit 106 or the like, the CPU 11 starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 by executing a required program.

  In this process, the CPU 11 first determines whether there is an image forming job that is suspended or waiting for execution (S11). If there is not, no processing related to job restoration is required, and the processing is terminated as it is. If there is, one of the image forming jobs in the queue that are suspended or waiting to be executed is not yet processed. (S12), the process proceeds to step S13 and subsequent steps.

  In step S13, it is determined whether or not the user has already logged in to the web storage service server 30 (S13). If the user has not logged in, a predetermined access program is started, the web storage service server 30 is accessed using the program, and the web storage service server is used using the predetermined authentication information. 30 is authenticated and logged in (S14). Of the processes in steps S15 to S21 below, the part relating to communication with the web storage service server 30 is a process performed by executing the access program started in step S14. If the login has been completed in step S13, the process directly proceeds to step S15.

  In the next step S15, the CPU 11 generates a job identifier as identification information for uniquely specifying job information to be processed (S15). This job identifier is data in a format that can be used as information for specifying data to be stored in the web storage service to be used.

  Thereafter, data of job attributes (see FIG. 4) related to the image forming job to be processed is transmitted to the web storage service server 30, and the data is stored in a state specified by the job identifier generated in step S16 (see FIG. 4). S16). Thereafter, the image attribute data and image data for one page related to the image forming job to be processed are further transmitted to the web storage service server 30 and stored as a continuation of the data transmitted so far (S17). It is the web storage 50 that actually stores these on the web storage service system 200 side.

Thereafter, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed page in the image forming job to be processed (S18). This determination can be made by comparing the information on the number of images in the job attribute with the number of transmitted pages.
If there is still an unprocessed page in step S18, the process returns to step S17 until the transmission of data for all pages is completed, and the process is repeated. When there are no more unprocessed pages, the web storage service server 30 is notified that transmission of one job information has been completed (S19). In response to this notification, the web storage service server 30 closes the job information file to which the sequentially transmitted data is added.

Next, the CPU 11 determines whether there is an interrupted or waiting image forming job in the queue (S20). If there is, the CPU 11 returns to step S12 and repeats the process. If not, the connection with the web storage service server 30 is released (S21).
Thereafter, a job restoration request is transmitted to the restoration destination image processing apparatus in which an address or the like is set in advance, and the address of the web storage service server 30 to be accessed for downloading the job information is sent to the web storage service server 30. Authentication information used for login and a job identifier for specifying job information stored in the web storage service are transmitted (S22). The address and authentication information are access information for accessing the web storage service server 30, and the job identifier is job identification information for specifying the job information. Hereinafter, the job restoration request, the access information, and the job identification information are collectively referred to as “job restoration request or the like”.
Thereafter, the job information relating to the job whose information has been transmitted in step S22 is deleted from the queue of the image processing apparatus 10a (S23), and the process is terminated.

In the above processing, the CPU 11 functions as an abnormal job processing unit in steps S11 to S21 and as a request unit in step S22.
Then, in order to cause the restoration destination image processing apparatus to execute the image forming job that cannot be executed due to the occurrence of an abnormality in the image processing apparatus 10a through the above processing, the web storage service stores job information related to the job, Information necessary for acquiring job information from the web storage service can be transmitted to the other image processing apparatus.

In this case, the job information is stored by the image processing apparatus 10a having detected an abnormality by actively accessing the web storage service server 30, and therefore, the function of monitoring the image processing apparatus 10a is provided on the web storage service side. There is no need to provide a general-purpose service. In the restoration destination image processing apparatus, it is not necessary to monitor the occurrence of abnormality in other image processing apparatuses, and an operation relating to job restoration may be performed after receiving a job restoration request. However, it is required that the restoration destination image processing apparatus also has a program for using a web storage service shared with the image processing apparatus 10a installed, or that the program can be quickly acquired from an appropriate library. .
In addition, when it is detected that an abnormality that prevents execution of a job has occurred in the image processing apparatus 10a, job information is stored and a job restoration request is transmitted. Therefore, the image processing apparatus 10a and the restoration destination image processing apparatus Do not run the job twice.

When the job to be newly executed occurs in the image processing apparatus 10a after the processing of FIG. 5 is finished and before the abnormality is resolved, the processing of FIG. 5 may be executed again at that time.
Further, in the processing of FIG. 5, the job restoration request is transmitted after all the storage of the job information in the web storage service is completed. Also good. As described above, when a plurality of pieces of job information are stored, they may be appropriately distributed and restored in a plurality of image processing apparatuses. In this case, a job restoration request or the like is transmitted at least for each image processing apparatus used for restoration.

  Next, FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of processing executed by the CPU 11 of the restoration destination image processing apparatus (referred to as image processing apparatus 10b) that has received the job restoration request or the like transmitted by the image processing apparatus 10a in step S23 of FIG. . Of course, the image processing apparatus 10a can also function as a restoration destination image processing apparatus when viewed from other image processing apparatuses, and performs the same processing when receiving a job restoration request or the like.

When the CPU 11 of the image processing apparatus 10b detects that a job restoration request or the like has been received from another image processing apparatus, the CPU 11 starts the process shown in the flowchart of FIG.
First, it is determined whether or not an image forming job is currently being executed. If it is being executed, the process waits until the image forming job is completed (S32). If there are a plurality of image forming jobs in the queue, the process waits until all of them are completed.

  Thereafter, the web storage service server 30 is accessed using the address and the authentication information received together with the job restoration request, and the user is authenticated and logged in (S33). Then, the job information specified by the job identifier received together with the job restoration request is downloaded from the web storage service server 30 (S34). This job information is stored in the web storage service by the image processing apparatus 10a.

Thereafter, an image forming job is executed according to the downloaded job information (S35), the connection with the web storage service server 30 is released (S36), and the process is terminated.
If a plurality of job identifiers are received together with the job restoration request, a plurality of job information is downloaded in step S34, and a plurality of image forming jobs are executed in step S35. Further, the processing order of steps S35 and S36 may be reversed.

In the above processing, the CPU 11 functions as a job information acquisition unit in steps S33 and S34 and as a control unit in step S35.
With the above processing, the image processing apparatus 10b can execute an image forming job based on the job information that the image processing apparatus 10a is trying to use. Therefore, the image forming job that cannot be executed in the image processing apparatus 10a is executed. Can be run instead. In this case, if the user performs necessary settings for the image processing apparatus 10a that first executes a job and the image processing apparatus 10b is ready to execute a program for using the web storage service, an abnormality occurs. Sometimes no special operation is required. Accordingly, the restoration of the image forming job can be surely executed by simple processing without bothering the user.

The acquisition of job information is performed by the image processing apparatus 10b actively accessing the web storage service server 30 (in response to a job restoration request), so the image processing apparatus 10b is monitored on the web storage service side. It is not necessary to provide a function to perform this, and a general service can be used.
This type of active access is available because the image processing apparatus 10a provides the image processing apparatus 10b with access information, authentication information, and job identification information necessary for downloading job information in advance. Because it is.

In addition, since the amount of data transmitted from the image processing apparatus 10a to the image processing apparatus 10b is small, the image processing apparatus 10b does not impose a memory capacity. Further, the image processing apparatus 10b only needs to access the web storage service server 30 at any timing to obtain job information, so that when the memory capacity is under pressure, such as when another job is being executed. Job information can be acquired by avoiding it. Therefore, the risk that a print job cannot be received correctly due to insufficient memory capacity can be minimized.
When the image processing apparatus 10a is not provided with a large-capacity storage unit such as an HDD, the memory capacity is relatively limited. Therefore, it is particularly useful not to press the memory capacity in this way.

  In particular, in the case of downloading a plurality of job information, it is preferable to obtain data size information of each job information from the web storage service server 30 before downloading. If the memory capacity is insufficient, after downloading and executing a part of job information, it is possible to delete the job information and then download the remaining job information. In this way, the risk of insufficient memory capacity can be reduced more effectively.

This is the end of the description of the embodiment. However, in the present invention, the specific configuration of the system or each device constituting the system, the content of the processing to be executed, the data format, etc. are limited to those described in the embodiment. It is not a thing.
For example, the restoration destination image processing apparatus may be designated in advance, and the image processing apparatus 10a may search automatically. It is conceivable that the search is performed in the same manner when the restoration destination image processing apparatus to be designated is not determined or when communication with the designated restoration destination image processing apparatus is not possible.

  In this search, in the image processing apparatus 10a, the job information guarantee unit 102 uses the type of web storage service to be used by the web storage control unit 104 to the main control unit 101 and the web storage service. Request acquisition of program version information. When the main control unit 101 receives the acquisition request from the job information guarantee unit 102, the main control unit 101 obtains information on the type of web storage service and the program version from the software configuration management unit 107, and sends the information to the job information guarantee unit 102. Send.

  Then, the job information guarantee unit 102 notifies all image processing apparatuses on the same network of the web storage service type and program version information received from the main control unit 101. Upon receiving the notification, each image processing apparatus refers to its own software configuration management unit and uses the notified version (or a compatible version) to use the notified type of web storage service. ) Is available. Then, if it can be used, a message to that effect is sent to the image processing apparatus 10a.

The job information guarantee unit 102 can select, as a restoration destination image processing device, a device that can use the same web storage service as the image processing device 10a using the same version of the program with reference to this answer.
If each image forming device also answers whether or not it is executing an image forming job, it can restore an image processing device that is not currently executing the job and can immediately start restoring the job. It can be selected as a previous image processing apparatus.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which job information is stored in a web storage service accessed from the image processing apparatus via the Internet has been described. However, the job information storage destination is not limited to this. Job information may be stored in any device as long as it can be accessed in common by the image processing device that first executes the job and the restoration destination image processing device. A device for storing job information may be provided in the same LAN as these image processing devices. It is not impeded that the apparatus for storing job information is integrated with any one of the image processing apparatuses.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the address of the web storage service server 30 to be accessed and the authentication information used for login are also notified to the restoration destination image processing apparatus together with the job restoration request. However, if the devices are managed by the same administrator, these pieces of information can also be set in advance in the restoration destination image processing device. In such a case, it is not necessary to notify the restoration destination image processing apparatus of the address and the authentication information.

  In the web storage service, if the access authority is appropriately set so that the restoration destination image processing apparatus can download the job information, the image processing apparatus that executes the job first logs into the web storage service server 30. And the authentication information for the restoration destination image processing apparatus to log in to the web storage service server 30 may be different. That is, these devices are not prevented from accessing the web storage service server 30 using different accounts.

In addition, when a failure occurs in the execution of the image forming job requested to be restored in the restoration destination image processing apparatus, the restoration of the job is performed in another image processing apparatus by the process described with reference to FIG. It can be requested.
Further, it is not necessary for all image processing apparatuses to be able to execute both the processing in FIG. 5 (processing related to job information storage and restoration requests) and the processing in FIG. 6 (processing related to job restoration execution). An image processing apparatus that can execute only the processing of FIG. 5 can also perform job recovery similar to the above-described embodiment by making a job recovery request to an image processing apparatus that can execute only the processing of FIG. Such a system composed of two image processing apparatuses is also an embodiment of the image forming system of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to restoration of an image forming job has been described. For this reason, the apparatus has been described by taking the image processing apparatus as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to the management of an arbitrary job as long as the execution of the job is not necessarily performed by the initially designated apparatus but may be performed by another apparatus. However, it is not preferable to apply it to job management that does not make sense unless it is executed by the apparatus on which the document is set, such as scanning a document.

  The present invention can also be implemented as a program for causing a computer to control various devices and realizing the functions of the image processing apparatuses 10a and 10b described above. Such a program is stored in advance in a memory of an image processing apparatus or the like, or is recorded in a non-volatile recording medium (memory) such as a CD-ROM or flexible disk, SRAM, EEPROM, or memory card as a recording medium. It can also be made available for download via a network. Each function described above can be realized by installing the program and causing the CPU to execute the program, or causing the CPU to acquire and execute the program from a memory or a download server.

  Further, it goes without saying that the configurations of the embodiments described above can be implemented in any combination as long as they do not contradict each other.

10a to 10c: Image processing apparatus 11: CPU 12: ROM 13: RAM
14: Communication I / F 15: Scanner engine 16: Printer engine 17: Operation panel 18: System bus 20: Host device 30: Web storage service server 31: Network control unit 32: Web storage management unit 40: Internet 50a to 50c: Web storage 51: Network control unit 52: Main control unit 53: Disk control unit 54: HDD 100: Image processing controller 101: Main control unit 102: Job information guarantee unit 103: Job information restoration unit 104: Web storage control unit 105: Input control unit 106: Output control unit 200: Web storage service system

JP 2001-47700 A JP 2006-99725 A JP 2000-35867 A JP 2004-265092 A

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information,
When an abnormality occurs in the execution of the image forming job by the image forming means, an abnormality that accesses a predetermined access destination and transmits and stores job information indicating the contents of the image forming job that cannot be executed due to the abnormality Job processing means;
When the abnormal job processing means stores job information at the access destination, the access information used for accessing the predetermined access destination and the job information stored at the predetermined access destination are specified. And a request means for requesting the other image forming apparatus to execute the image forming job according to the access information and the job identification information. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
When the access information and the job identification information are received and an execution of an image forming job according to the access information and the job identification information is requested, the access destination is accessed using the access information, and the job Job information acquisition means for acquiring job information specified by the identification information from the access destination;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that causes the image forming unit to execute an image forming job in accordance with job information acquired by the job information acquiring unit. An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information,
An image in accordance with the access information and the job identification information is received from another image forming apparatus, the access information used for accessing the specific access destination and the job identification information for specifying the job information at the access destination. When the execution of the forming job is requested, the access destination is accessed using the access information, and job information indicating the content of the image forming job to be executed, which is specified by the job identification information, is received from the access destination. Job information acquisition means to acquire;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that causes the image forming unit to execute an image forming job in accordance with job information acquired by the job information acquiring unit. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the access destination is a system that provides a web storage service that is accessed from the image forming apparatus via the Internet. An image forming system including first and second image forming apparatuses each including an image forming unit that executes an image forming job according to job information,
In the first image forming apparatus,
Job information indicating the content of an image forming job that cannot be executed due to an access to a predetermined access destination when an abnormality occurs in the execution of the image forming job by the image forming unit of the first image forming apparatus An abnormal job processing means for sending and storing
When the abnormal job processing means stores job information at the access destination, the access information used for accessing the predetermined access destination and the job information stored at the predetermined access destination are specified. And requesting means for requesting the second image forming apparatus to execute an image forming job in accordance with the access information and the job identification information.
In the second image forming apparatus,
An image in accordance with the access information and the job identification information is received from another image forming apparatus, the access information used for accessing the specific access destination and the job identification information for specifying the job information at the access destination. Job information acquisition means for accessing the access destination using the access information and acquiring job information specified by the job identification information from the access destination when execution of a formation job is requested;
An image forming system comprising: a control unit that causes the image forming unit of the second image forming apparatus to execute an image forming job in accordance with job information acquired by the job information acquiring unit.

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