JP2013077129A - Distributed printing system and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve distributed print processing printing without the necessity of any server for managing a print job nor necessity of consideration of the order of printing on a client computer side.SOLUTION: In a distributed printing system, a client PC divides print data into a plurality of division data pieces, and adds division information and job identification information to the division data pieces to generate and distribute distributed entrustment data pieces to a plurality of other client PCs. The other client PCs rasterize the division data pieces included in the received distributed entrustment data pieces to generate and transmit division print jobs including the rasterized division data pieces, division information and job information to a printer. The printer registers division print job records in a spool in association with the received division print jobs, and prints the division print jobs in which all the division print jobs corresponding to the print data are put together among the division print jobs registered in the spool in the order in the print data shown by the division information.

Description

  Some embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a distributed printing system that performs distributed printing and a control method thereof.

  In an office environment, a situation where a plurality of client computers share one printing apparatus is often seen. Such a client computer has a small processing load during the time when the user is browsing the material on the Web or performing simple character input, and the processing power of the PC is always maintained even if it is in operation. Not all of them are used.

  However, when printing is performed, a considerable load is applied to the client computer. In particular, in recent printing apparatuses, rasterization processing for converting vector format data composed of coordinates + drawing functions into raster format data represented by dots (dots) regularly arranged like bitmap data on the client computer side. Is executed, the load on the client computer is high.

  In this regard, there is provided a print data processing apparatus and method with high processing efficiency, which can perform synthesis processing and conversion processing in a distributed manner, and can perform processing in a short time without increasing the amount of data in each processing. Are known. (For example, Patent Document 1)

  In addition, a technique for realizing a low-cost, high-speed printer server using only software by diverting existing hardware resources of a plurality of computers connected on a network is known. (For example, Patent Document 2)

  Furthermore, a technique for providing an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of efficiently converting page data is known. (For example, Patent Document 3)

  Furthermore, a technique is known in which print pixel information rasterized by a plurality of arithmetic processing devices on a network is efficiently collected to improve the processing speed of the entire system. (For example, Patent Document 4)

  Furthermore, a technique for providing an image processing system that performs efficient image dispersion processing under optimum processing conditions is known. (For example, Patent Document 5)

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-240473 JP 11-259258 A JP 2006-254312 A JP-A-9-218762 JP-A-10-276323

  However, even in these technologies, a server for managing print jobs is necessary, or it is necessary to consider the order of printing on the distributed processing side, and distributed printing processing can be realized with a simple configuration. There wasn't.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a distributed printing system including a printing apparatus and a plurality of client computers using the printing apparatus, each of the plurality of client computers receives a print data print instruction from a user. An accepting unit that accepts input, and an address information obtaining unit that obtains and inquires address information of a plurality of client computers from a printing apparatus when a print instruction is input, and a division that divides print data into a plurality of divided data A distribution unit that distributes the plurality of divided data to a destination specified by address information of the plurality of client computers, and receives the divided data from another client computer of the plurality of client computers Rasterizing the received divided data and the received divided data A generation unit that generates a split print job; and a transmission unit that transmits the generated divided print job to the printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus responds to an inquiry from the address information acquisition unit. An address information notifying unit for notifying address information of the client computer to the address information acquiring unit, a receiving unit for receiving the divided print job, and the divided print job received by the receiving unit as the divided data. And a printing unit that prints in the order in the print data shown.

  According to the above-described aspect, it is possible to realize distributed printing processing printing without requiring a server for managing print jobs and without considering the printing order on the client computer side.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a distributed print processing system according to an embodiment. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the client computer based on one Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the printing apparatus controller of a printing apparatus based on one Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the transition of the data of the distributed commission process in a client computer based on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating print data and a print job in a conventional print process generated by a control unit of a client computer, and distributed consignment data and a divided print job according to the first embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating a connection client PC table stored in a storage unit of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the transmission processing of the distribution commission data performed by the control part of the client computer which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is an operation | movement flowchart which illustrates the distributed rasterization process performed by the control part of the other client computer which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart of a registration process of a divided print job to a spool executed by the control unit of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating a spool of divided data included in the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of a printing process for a divided print job executed by a control unit of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the connection client PC table stored in the memory | storage part of the printing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the transmission processing of the distribution commission data performed by the control part of the client computer which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure showing the transition of the data in the conventional print processing with a client computer.

  Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol was attached | subjected to the corresponding element in several drawing. In the following description of some embodiments, a printing apparatus will be described as an example. However, the embodiments according to the present invention are not limited to this, and for example, a so-called composite including a copying machine, a scanner, and the like. It can also be applied to machines.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a distributed printing system 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of client computers (PCs) 102 and 104 according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the printing apparatus controller 300 of the printing apparatus 106 according to an embodiment.

  In the distributed printing system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, a printing apparatus 106 and a plurality of client PCs 102 and 104 using the printing apparatus 106 are connected via a network 110. The network 110 includes various connection forms such as wired connection and wireless connection (for example, LAN: Local Area Network). The client PCs 102 and 104 are personal computers, for example, and have a printer driver 212 necessary for using the printing apparatus 106 installed. In the following description, the client PC 102 is a computer that starts execution of distributed printing processing of the document data 216, and is a computer that entrusts distributed commission data 520 (details will be described later) to other client PCs. is there. On the other hand, the client PC 104 handles as a computer that accepts the entrustment of the distributed entrustment data 520 from the client PC 102 during the distributed printing process. Accordingly, the relationship between the client PC 102 and the client PC 104 is switched depending on which computer has started the execution of distributed printing, the computer that has started the execution of the distributed printing process becomes the client PC 102, and the other computers become the client PC 104.

  With reference to FIG. 2, an exemplary configuration of the client PCs 102 and 104 according to an embodiment will be described. The client PCs 102 and 104 include a control unit 200, a clock 203, a reading unit 204, a communication interface (I / F) 207, and an input / output (I / O) unit 208. Further, the client PCs 102 and 104 include an auxiliary storage device 210 and a RAM 220 as the storage unit 202, and a removable storage medium 205 can be connected to the reading unit 204. The control unit 200, the clock 203, the reading unit 204, the communication interface 207, the input / output (I / O) unit 208, the auxiliary storage device 210, and the RAM 220 are connected to each other via a bus 206, for example.

  The reading unit 204 accesses the removable storage medium 205 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 200. The removable storage medium 205 is, for example, a semiconductor device (USB memory, etc.), a medium (information such as a magnetic disk) to which information is input / output by magnetic action, a medium (CD-ROM, etc.) to which information is input / output by optical action For example, a DVD).

  The control unit 200 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processor Unit) and has a control function and a calculation function. The storage unit 202 (for example, the auxiliary storage device 210) stores data such as document data 216 created by the application software 211, for example. The document data 216 includes data such as a document file and image data. The storage unit 202 also stores programs such as application software 211, a printer driver 212, and a distributed printing processing module 213 configured according to the embodiment of the present invention. The application software 211 is software for editing documents and images, for example. The printer driver 212 includes, for example, a program that executes processing for generating a print job 500 that can be printed by the printing apparatus 106 from the document data 216. The distributed printing processing module 213 will be described later. The control unit 200 reads out data stored in the storage unit 202 and executes a program to execute control of each unit of the client PC 102 or 104 and various processes.

  The input / output (I / O) unit 208 is used, for example, to receive input from the user and to present information to the user, and includes, for example, a keyboard and a display. From the clock 203, the control unit 200 acquires time information such as the current time, for example. The communication interface 207 is connected to the network 110 and transmits / receives data via the network 110 in accordance with instructions from the control unit 200. For example, in FIG. 1, the communication interface 207 is used as an interface when communicating with the other client PCs 102 and 104 and the printing apparatus 106.

  Next, an exemplary configuration of the printing apparatus controller 300 of the printing apparatus 106 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The printing apparatus controller 300 includes a control unit 302, a video interface (I / F) 303, an engine interface (I / F) 304, an operation panel interface (I / F) 305, and a communication interface (I / F) 306. Yes. Further, the printing apparatus controller 300 includes a ROM 310, a non-volatile memory (such as an HDD) 320, a RAM 325, and the like as the storage unit 307. The control unit 302, the video interface 303, the engine interface 304, the operation panel interface 305, the communication interface 306, the ROM 310, the nonvolatile memory 320, and the RAM 325 are connected to each other via a bus 308, for example.

  The operation panel interface 305 is connected to the operation panel 330. The operation panel 330 includes a display unit 331 and a key unit 332. In one embodiment, an image of a key may be displayed on the display unit 331 and the image may function as the key unit 332. The key unit 332 of the operation panel 330 receives input from the user. The control unit 302 acquires information input on the operation panel 330 via the operation panel interface 305. The display unit 331 is used to present information such as the status of the printing apparatus 106 and print processing setting information to the user.

  The communication interface 306 is connected to the network 110 and transmits / receives data via the network 110 in accordance with instructions from the control unit 302. The communication interface 306 is used as an interface when communicating with, for example, the client PCs 102 and 104 in FIG.

  The control unit 302 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processor Unit) and has a control function and a calculation function. The storage unit 307 (for example, the ROM 310 or the non-volatile memory 320) stores a program related to print processing and a program such as the distributed print processing module 213 configured according to the embodiment of the present invention. The storage unit 307 stores data such as the connected client PC tables 600 and 1200 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The control unit 302 reads out data stored in the storage unit 307 and executes a program to execute various processes such as control of each unit such as the operation panel 330 and the distributed printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. To do.

  The video interface 303 includes a video controller (not shown) that controls a printer engine (not shown) based on the print job received from the client PCs 102 and 104 and the drawing data 503 included in the divided print job 560 according to the embodiment. It is connected and mediates communication between the control unit 302 and the video controller. The engine interface 304 is connected to an engine unit (not shown) that outputs an image to a recording medium such as paper based on a control signal supplied from the video controller, and mediates communication between the control unit 302 and the engine unit. To do.

<First Embodiment>
A distributed printing system 100 according to the first embodiment using the exemplary system configuration described in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described below. First, with reference to FIG. 14, data transition in the client PC 102 in the conventional print processing will be described.

  FIG. 14 shows an exemplary software configuration of the client PC 102. The client PC 102 includes an operating system (OS) such as Windows (registered trademark) and Linux, receives application software 211 that outputs a print instruction for the print data 502 in response to an input from the user, and receives the print instruction. A printer driver 212 that processes print data and outputs it to the printing apparatus 106 is installed. FIG. 14 shows an example of data transition during normal printing when the OS of the client PC 102 is Windows (registered trademark).

  In normal printing in Windows (registered trademark), document data 216 written in the WIN32 API format (vector format) created by the application software 211 is used as GDI (graphic device. Interface) 215 (<1> in FIG. 14). Subsequently, in the GDI, the print data 502 is converted into a DDI (device driver interface) format (vector format) and passed to the printer driver 212 (<2> in FIG. 14). The printer driver rasterizes the data in DDI format into image data (in this case, PRN format) that can be printed at high speed by the printing apparatus 106, and print data 502 generated after rasterization includes information necessary for printing processing. Adding (<3> in FIG. 14), the print job 500 is generated. Subsequently, the generated print job 500 is output to the printing apparatus 106 via the Windows (registered trademark) spooler 214 (<4> in FIG. 14).

  As described above, in normal print processing, the printer driver of the client PC 102 rasterizes the entire print data 502 to generate the print job 500, and the print job 500 is transmitted to the printing apparatus 106. For this reason, the client PC 102 has to execute rasterization of the entire print data 502 to be printed, and the load on the client PC 102 in the printing process is large.

  On the other hand, in the first embodiment, the print data 502 is divided for each page before rasterization in the client PC 102, and rasterization processing is executed in a distributed manner in the plurality of client PCs 102 and 104. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating data transition of print processing in the client PC 102 according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 4 shows an exemplary software configuration of the client PC 102 according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 4, similarly to the example of FIG. 14, the client PC 102 includes an operating system (OS) such as Windows (registered trademark) and Linux, and outputs a print instruction in response to an input from the user. Application software 211 and a printer driver 212 that receives print instructions, processes print data 502, and outputs them to the printing apparatus 106 are installed. Further, in FIG. 4, the distributed print processing module 213 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is also installed in the client PC 102.

  In the first embodiment, document data 216 created by the application software 211 and written in the WIN32 API format (vector format) is transferred as print data 502 to a GDI (graphic device interface) 215 in Windows (registered trademark). (<1> in FIG. 4). Subsequently, in the GDI, the print data 502 is converted into a DDI (device driver interface) format (vector format) and passed to the printer driver 212 (<2> in FIG. 4). Up to this point, the processing is the same as that in the normal printing described with reference to FIG. Subsequently, the printer driver 212 converts the data in the DDI format into an EMF format that is a vector format on Windows (registered trademark) (in this case, the printer driver 212 itself does not convert but defines the printer driver 212). 4 (<3> in FIG. 4), the EMF format data is passed to the distributed print processing module 213 via the Windows (registered trademark) spooler 214 (FIG. 4). <4>).

  As will be described later with reference to FIG. 5, the distributed print processing module 213 divides the EMF format print data 502 into divided data 510 that is data for each page of the print data 502, and includes job information in the divided data 510. The distributed entrustment data 520 is created by adding 501 and the division information 530. Subsequently, the distributed printing processing module 213 transmits the distributed entrustment data 520 to one or more other client PCs 104 and entrusts the rasterization process to other client PCs 104 (<5b> to <5d> in FIG. 4). . The printer drivers 212 of the other client PCs 102 and 104 that have received the distributed consignment data 520 rasterize the divided data 510 included in the distributed consignment data 520 to convert it into the PRN format divided data 510, and the rasterized PRN format The divided print job 560 including the divided data 510, the job information 501, and the divided information 530 is output to the printing apparatus 106 via the spooler 214.

  Note that some distributed consignment data 520 may be rasterized by the own device without being consigned to another client PC 104. In this case, the distributed printing processing module 213 sends a part of the distributed commission data 520 to the printer driver 212 of the own apparatus (<5a> in FIG. 4). When the printer driver 212 receives the distributed consignment data 520, the printer driver 212 rasterizes the divided data 510 included in the distributed consignment data 520 and converts the divided data 510 into the divided data 510 in the PRN format, and the rasterized divided data 510 in the PRN format and the job information 501 and the division information 530 including the division information 530 are generated (<6> in FIG. 4), and the division print job 560 is output to the spool 1000 of the printing apparatus 106 via the spooler 214 (< 7>).

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the client PC 102 includes the distributed printing processing module 213, and the distributed printing processing module 213 divides the print data 502 in the printing processing, and performs the rasterization processing on other processing. Since it is entrusted to the client PC 104, the load on the client PC 102 in the printing process can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, the distributed printing process in the client PC 102 will be described in more detail. FIG. 5 shows print data 502 (FIG. 5A) which is document data 216 instructed to be printed by the application software 211, and a print job 500 (FIG. 5 (FIG. 5) in the normal print processing described in FIG. b)) and the data configuration of the distributed commission data 520 (FIG. 5C) and the divided print job 560 (FIG. 5D) according to the first embodiment described in the description of FIG. Illustrate.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the print data 502 includes drawing data 503a (503-1a, 503-2a,... 503-Na) before rasterization arranged in the page order. Here, the subscript “a” indicates that the drawing data 503 is data before rasterization.

  Subsequently, the print job 500 generated by the normal print processing includes job information 501 in the header of the print job 500 as shown in FIG. The drawing data 503b (503-1b, 503-2b,... 503-Nb) after rasterization of each page is included in the page order. Here, the subscript “b” indicates that the drawing data 503 is data after rasterization. The job information 501 includes information such as print settings necessary for printing the print job 500 on the printing apparatus 106. For example, the job information 501 corresponds to the computer name 540 of the client PC 102 and the individual print data 502 instructed to be printed. Stored are information such as job identification information (for example, a print job name) 541 for specifying a print job, a paper size 542 for designating the size of paper used for printing, the number of copies 543, and other formats.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5C, the print data 502 (FIG. 5A) is included in the distributed consignment data 520 according to the first embodiment. The divided data 510 generated by dividing the data 503a (503-1a, 502-2a, 503-3a,..., 503-Na) is included, and the job information 501 is included in the header of each divided data 510. And division information 530 are added. The job information 501 is the same as that described in FIG. The division information 530 is information indicating which part of the original print data 502 corresponds to each piece of divided data 510. In the present embodiment, since the print data 502 is divided into pages and the divided data 510 is created, the division information 530 included in the divided data 510 indicates the page number of the divided data 510 in the original print data 502. Page information 531 indicating whether the drawing data 503 is present, and total page number information 532 which is information on the total number of pages of the print data.

  FIG. 5D illustrates the divided print job 560. In the first embodiment, the data structure of the divided print job 560 is similar to the distributed consignment data 520 in FIG. However, in the distributed consignment data 520, drawing data 503a before rasterization is stored in the distributed consignment data 520 as drawing data 503 included in the divided data 510, whereas in the divided print job 560, drawing data 503b after rasterization is stored. Is stored.

  Next, the connection client PC table 600 stored in the storage unit 307 of the printing apparatus 106 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the printer driver 212 of the printing apparatus 106 is installed in the connection client PC table 600, and the client PC 102 that can cause the printing apparatus 106 to execute print processing using the printer driver 212. And 104 are registered. In the connected client PC table 600, for each client PC 102 and 104, a client PC name 601, address information 603, and distributed printing process availability information 602 are associated and registered. The client PC name 601 is PC name information for identifying the client PCs 102 and 104. The address information 603 is information serving as a transmission destination when data is transmitted to the client PCs 102 and 104, and is, for example, the IP addresses of the client PCs 102 and 104. The distributed printing process availability information 602 is information indicating whether or not the client PCs 102 and 104 are in a state where they can be entrusted with the distributed printing process.

  Here, the state where the distributed printing processing cannot be entrusted is, for example, that the control unit 200 of the client PCs 102 and 104 is executing some processing, and the load due to the processing is high, and the client PCs 102 and 104 are distributed printing. It means that it is not suitable for entrusting processing. On the other hand, the state in which the delegation of the distributed printing process can be entrusted is, for example, that the control unit 200 of the client PCs 102 and 104 is not executing other processes, or the processing load is increased even when other processes are being executed. Since it is small, there is a margin in processing capacity, and it means that the processing capacity can be allocated to other processes. In the connected client PC table 600 of FIG. 6, “×” is stored as the distributed printing process permission / inhibition information 602 when the client PCs 102 and 104 are in a state where the distributed printing process cannot be entrusted. On the other hand, when the client PC 102 is in a state where it can be entrusted with distributed printing processing, “◯” is stored. The setting of the distributed printing process availability information 602 of each client PC 102 and 104 is in a state in which a threshold is set for the CPU usage rate of the client PCs 102 and 104, for example, and the distributed printing process cannot be entrusted if the threshold is exceeded. If it is less than or equal to the threshold value, it can be set by determining that it is in a state where it can be entrusted with distributed printing processing. The printing apparatus 106 receives the busy notifications from the client PCs 102 and 104, or periodically acquires the states of the client PCs 102 and 104 by polling, thereby acquiring the states of the client PCs 102 and 104. 6, distributed distribution processing availability information 602 is updated.

  A distributed entrustment process executed on the client PC 102 according to the first embodiment using the connection client PC table 600 described above with reference to FIG. 6 will be described below.

  FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart illustrating the transmission processing of the distributed consignment data 520 executed by the control unit of the client PC 102 according to the first embodiment. The operation flow in FIG. 7 starts when the spooler 214 delivers the print data 502 before rasterization to the distributed print processing module 213 in the client PC 102 (for example, <4> in FIG. 4).

  In step S <b> 701, the distributed printing processing module 213 inquires the printing apparatus 106 about the client PC 104 in a state where it is possible to entrust distributed commissioning data 520 in the distributed printing process. When the printing apparatus 106 receives an inquiry from the client PC 104 in a state where the distributed commission data 520 can be commissioned from the distributed printing processing module 213 of the client PC 102, the printing apparatus 106 refers to the connected client PC table 600 shown in FIG. The address information 603 of the client PC 104 that is in a state in which the print processing availability information 602 is “◯” and can accept the distributed commission processing is notified to the distributed print processing module 213 of the client PC 102. When the distributed print processing module 213 of the client PC 102 acquires the address information 603 of another client PC 104 to which the distributed print processing can be entrusted from the printing apparatus 106, the flow proceeds to step S702.

  Subsequently, in step S <b> 702, the distributed print processing module 213 divides the print data 502 to generate divided data 510. In the first embodiment, since the print data 502 is divided into pages, the print data 502 is divided into data for each page. In step S703, the distributed print processing module 213 adds the job information 501 and the division information 530 to, for example, the header portion of each of the generated divided data 510, and distributes the delegation data 520 ((c) in FIG. 5). Is generated. In step S704, the distributed printing processing module 213 transmits the distributed consignment data 520 to the transmission destination indicated by the address information 603 of the client PC 104 that can execute the distributed consignment processing acquired in step S701, and this flow ends.

  Through the processing described above with reference to FIG. 7, the print data 502 for which a print instruction is input by the user in the client PC 102 is divided into a plurality of divided data 510, and job information 501 and divided information 530 are included in each divided data. In addition, the distributed commission data 520 is generated, and the generated distributed commission data 520 is distributed to other client PCs 104.

  In the process of transmitting the distributed consignment data 520 in FIG. 7, the distribution of the distributed consignment data 520 to the client PC 104 in step S704 is the client indicated by the address information 603 acquired in step S701 in the first embodiment. This is done by distributing the distributed consignment data 520 one by one to the PC 104 in order. Therefore, in the first embodiment, a substantially equal number of distributed commission data 520 is distributed to each client PC 104 that accepts commission.

  As described above, the distributed printing processing module 213 may send a part of the distributed consignment data 520 to the printer driver 212 of the own apparatus, and the rasterization of a part of the distributed consignment data 520 is executed by the own apparatus. May be. In this case, the distribution of the distributed consignment data 520 is distributed to the client PCs 102 and 104 in order, in addition to the other client PC 104 indicated by the address information 603 acquired in step S701, and the own apparatus (client PC 102) is also consigned. The distribution may be determined by transmitting the commission data 520.

  The distribution of the distributed consignment data 520 to the client PC 104 is not limited to the above example, and can be arbitrarily set. For example, in another embodiment, the distribution of the distributed consignment data 520 to the client PCs 104 is such that a large amount of the distributed consignment data 520 is distributed to the client PCs 104 with high processing performance according to the processing performance of the individual client PCs 104. May be determined.

  Next, the distributed rasterization process executed by the control unit 302 of another client PC 104 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The operation flow of FIG. 8 starts when the printer driver 212 of another client PC 104 receives the distributed commission data 520 transmitted by the client PC 102. In step S <b> 801, the printer driver 212 of the other client PC 104 rasterizes the divided data 510 included in the received distributed consignment data 520, and includes the divided data 510 after the rasterization, job information 501, and divided information 530. A print job 560 (FIG. 5D) is generated. In step S802, the printer driver 212 transmits the generated divided print job 560 to the printing apparatus 106 via the spooler 214, and this flow ends.

  As described above, when the client PC 102 sends a part of the distributed consignment data 520 to the printer driver 212 of the own apparatus, the printer driver 212 of the own apparatus receives the distributed consignment data 520 as described in FIG. The process is executed, and a divided print job 560 including divided data 510 after rasterization, job information 501, and division information 530 is transmitted to the printing apparatus 106.

  FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the registration process of the divided print job 560 executed by the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 according to the first embodiment. The operation flow in FIG. 9 starts when the printing apparatus 106 receives the divided print job 560 from the client PCs 102 and 104.

  In step S901, the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 generates a divided print job record 1010 from the received divided print job 560, registers it in the spool 1000 stored in the storage unit 307, and this flow ends. FIG. 10 illustrates a spool 1000 and a divided print job record 1010 according to the first embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 10, a divided print job record 1010 corresponding to the divided print job 560 received by the printing apparatus 106 from the client PC 102 is registered in the spool 1000. In the first embodiment, each divided print job record 1010 includes the computer name 1011 of the client PC 102 to which the print instruction of the print data 502 that is the basis of the divided print job 560 is input, job identification information (for example, print job). Name) 541 and division information 530. In addition, as described above, in the first embodiment, the division information 530 includes page information 531 and total page number information 532.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 11, a printing process of the divided print job 560 executed by the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 according to the first embodiment will be described. The operation flow of the print processing of the divided print job shown in FIG. 11 starts when the divided print job record 1010 is registered in the spool 1000 in a state where the divided print job record 1010 is not registered in the spool 1000.

  In step S <b> 1101, the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 confirms the division information 530 of the divided print job record 1010 that matches the job identification information 541 among the divided print job records 1010 registered in the spool 1000. It is determined whether there is a divided print job record 1010 in which all the divided print jobs 560 necessary for printing the print data 502 identified by the identification information 541 are available. In the first embodiment, this determination is based on the page indicated by the page information 531 included in the divided print job 560 having the same job identification information 541 in the divided print job record 1010 registered in the spool 1000. This is performed by checking whether the divided print job 560 having the total number of pages indicated in the total page number information 532 is registered in the spool 1000.

  If there is no divided print job record 1010 in which all divided print jobs 560 necessary for printing the print data 502 are present, step S1101 is determined No, and the flow returns to step S1101. On the other hand, if there is a divided print job record 1010 in which all the divided print jobs 560 necessary for printing the print job are present, step S1101 is determined as Yes, and the flow proceeds to step S1102.

  In step S1102, the control unit 302 determines that the divided print job 560 of the divided print job record 1010 determined to have all the divided print jobs 560 necessary in step S1101 is included in the job information 501 included in the divided print job 560. And printing based on the division information 530. In the first embodiment, in this printing process, the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 reads the page information 531 included in the divided print job 560 and starts from the divided print job 560 having the smaller page number of the page information 531. The print processing is performed in order (that is, in order from the first page) with print settings indicated in the job information 501.

  When the printing of the divided print job 560 for all pages of the original print data 502 indicated in the total page number information 532 of the divided print job 560 is completed, the flow proceeds to step S1103, and the control unit 302 completes the divided printing. The divided print job record 1010 of the print job 560 is deleted from the spool 1000.

  Subsequently, in step S <b> 1104, the control unit 302 determines whether another divided print job record 1010 is registered in the spool 1000. If registered, it is determined Yes and the flow returns to step S1101. On the other hand, if there is no other registration of the divided print job record 1010, it is determined No and this flow ends.

  As described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11, in the distributed printing process according to the first embodiment, the client PC 102 divides the print data 502 to generate divided data 510. The client PC 102 adds, to the generated divided data 510, division information 530 indicating which part of the original print data 502 corresponds to each piece of divided data 510, and job information 501 including print settings. Then, the distributed consignment data 520 is generated and transmitted to another client PC 104. The other client PC 104 that has received the distributed consignment data 520 rasterizes the divided data 510 included in the distributed consignment data 520, and the divided print job 560 including the divided data 510 after the rasterization, the division information 530, and the job information 501. Is transmitted to the printing apparatus 106. The printing apparatus 106 registers the divided print job record 1010 in the spool 1000 in association with the received divided print job 560. Subsequently, the printing apparatus 106 determines whether or not all the divided print jobs 560 corresponding to the original print data 502 before the division are received based on the division information 530 included in the divided print job record 1010. When all the divided print jobs 560 have been received, print processing is executed with the print settings indicated in the job information 501 in order from the first page according to the order indicated in the division information 530.

  For this reason, in the first embodiment, the rasterization process of the print data 502 is executed in a distributed manner by the plurality of client PCs 102 and 104, so the load on the client PC 102 in the print process is reduced. In the first embodiment, the printing apparatus 106 can print the divided print job 560 in the same order as the original print data 502 based on the division information 530 included in the divided print job 560. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a server for managing print jobs in order to execute distributed printing processing. Furthermore, the timing of executing the printing of the divided print job 560 is also executed at the timing when all the divided print jobs 560 corresponding to the original print data are prepared based on the division information 530 as described above. In order to start printing at the timing when the rasterization processing of the plurality of divided print jobs 560 corresponding to the print data 502 is completed, it is not necessary to add an apparatus such as a server.

  In the first embodiment, the example in which the processing for generating the division consignment data from the print data 502 and transmitting it to the client PC 104 is executed by the client PC 102 has been described, but the embodiment according to the present invention is not limited thereto. It is not limited. For example, the client PC 102 transmits the print data 502 before rasterization to the printing apparatus 106 without dividing it, and executes the processing shown in FIG. 7 in the distributed printing processing module 213 provided in the printing apparatus 106. It may be configured.

  In this case, the distributed print processing module 213 of the printing apparatus 106 refers to the connection client PC table 600 provided in the storage unit 307 of the own apparatus, acquires address information, and receives the print data 502 received from the client PC 102. Is distributed to generate the distributed consignment data 520 and transmit the distributed consignment data 520 to the client PCs 102 and 104 indicated by the acquired address information 603.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the distributed printing process availability information 602 is used so that the distributed commission data 520 is not commissioned when the processing load of the client PCs 102 and 104 is high. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent a delay in the rasterizing process caused by entrusting rasterization of the distributed commissioned data 520 to the client PCs 102 and 104 having a high processing load state. However, the embodiment according to the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the printer driver 212 of the printing apparatus 106 is installed without considering the processing load of the client PCs 102 and 104, and the printing apparatus 106 is installed. All of the client PCs 102 and 104 that are in a state in which printing can be executed may be used as the outsourcing destination of the distributed outsourcing data 520. Even in such a case, since the load of the rasterizing process in the client PC 102 is distributed, the load due to the printing process of the client PC 102 can be reduced.

<Second Embodiment>
In the first embodiment, the distributed print processing is executed by designating the client PC 104 registered in the connected client PC table 600 as being capable of distributed print processing as a consignee of the distributed consignment data 520 without particularly distinguishing. However, there are often situations where there is a difference in processing capability between the client PCs 102 and 104. In the second embodiment, performance information 1204 regarding the processing capabilities of the client PCs 102 and 104 is further registered in the connection client PC table 600 described in FIG. 6 of the first embodiment, and based on the performance information 1204. Next, an embodiment for adjusting the number to which the distributed commission data 520 is allocated will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a connection client PC table 1200 stored in the storage unit 307 of the printing apparatus 106 according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the connection client PC table 1200 is registered with the client PCs 102 and 104 in which the printer driver 212 of the printing apparatus 106 is installed and in which the printing apparatus 106 can execute printing processing. ing. Also, for each registered client PC 102 and 104, a client PC name 601, distributed printing processing availability information 602 indicating whether or not distributed printing processing can be executed, address information 603 as a transmission destination, and The performance information 1204 of the client PCs 102 and 104 is registered in the connection client PC table 1200.

  In the connected client PC table 1200, the client PC name 601, distributed printing process availability information 602, and address information 603 are the same as those in FIG. 6 of the first embodiment. On the other hand, the performance information 1204 is a value indicating the processing performance of the client PCs 102 and 104 associated in the connected client PC table 1200 of FIG. For example, in FIG. 11, the value “3” is stored in the performance information 1204 for the client PC identified by the client PC name 601 “PC-B”. This is because the performance information 1204 of “PC-C” is stored. This indicates that “PC-B” can expect three times the processing performance of the client PC 104 having the value “1”. That is, for example, even if three times more distributed delegation data 520 is sent to the “PC-B” client PC 104 than the “PC-C” client PC 104, the decentralized entrusted to “PC-B” The completion timing of the rasterization process of the commission data 520 is not significantly different from the completion timing of the rasterization of the distributed commission data 520 commissioned to “PC-C”.

  Note that various known methods can be used to acquire the performance information 1204 by the printing apparatus 106. In one embodiment, when the printer driver 212 of the printing apparatus 106 is installed in the client PCs 102 and 104, the performance information 1204 may be determined based on the memory capacity of the client PCs 102 and 104, the CPU clock frequency, and the like. The determined performance information 1204 may be notified to the printing apparatus 106 together with the address information 603 of the client PCs 102 and 104 and registered in the connection client PC table 1200 in the printing apparatus 106.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 13, the distributed commission data transmission process executed by the control unit 200 of the client PC 102 according to the second embodiment will be described.

  In step S <b> 1301, the distributed printing processing module 213 inquires the address information 603 and performance information 1204 of the client PC 104 that is in a state capable of distributed printing processing. For example, a connection client PC table 1200 as shown in FIG. 12 is stored in the storage unit 307 of the printing apparatus 106. When an inquiry about the address information 603 from the distributed printing processing module 213 is received, the printing apparatus 106 displays By referring to the connected client PC table 1200 shown in FIG. 12, the client PC 104 that can accept the distributed commission process is specified, and its address information 603 and performance information 1204 are sent to the distributed print processing module 213 of the client PC 102. To notify. With this notification, the distributed printing processing module 213 of the client PC 102 acquires the address information 603 and performance information 1204 of the other client PC 104 from the printing apparatus 106 using the distributed printing processing as a consignee.

  Subsequently, in step S1302, the distributed print processing module 213 divides the print data 502 to generate divided data 510. In step S <b> 1303, the distributed printing processing module 213 adds job information 501 and division information 530 to, for example, the header portion of each of the plurality of generated divided data 510 to generate distributed commission data 520. In step S <b> 1304, the distributed printing processing module 213 determines the distribution of the generated distributed commission data 520 based on the performance information 1204 acquired from the printing apparatus 106. The determination of the distribution of the distributed consignment data 520 is, for example, for the client PC 104 indicated by the address information 603 acquired in step S1301 and the performance information 1204 having a value of 3, The distributed consignment data 520 is allocated in order, and if the performance information 1204 is a value 1, the distributed consignment data 520 is sequentially allocated at the same ratio as the value of the performance information 1204, such as one distributed consignment data 520 is allocated for each round of distribution. You may decide in this way.

  In this way, by distributing the distributed consignment data 520 according to the performance information 1204, more distributed consignment data 520 can be distributed to the high-performance client PCs 102 and 104. As a result, the distributed printing system 100 can be distributed. It is possible to efficiently use the computational resources of the existing client PCs 102 and 104.

  Subsequently, in step S1305, the control unit 200 transmits the distributed entrustment data 520 to the transmission destination indicated by the address information 603 acquired from the printing apparatus 106 with the distribution determined based on the performance information 1204. Ends.

  In the second embodiment, the processing after executing the division consignment processing in the client PC 102 may be the same as the processing described in the first embodiment. For example, the processing in the other client PC 104 is The rasterization is executed according to the process described in FIG. 8, and the printing process in the printing apparatus 106 may be executed according to the process described in FIGS.

  In the second embodiment, the calculation of the client PCs 102 and 104 existing in the distributed printing system 100 is performed in order to determine the distribution of the distributed commission data 520 to the client PCs 102 and 104 in consideration of the performance information 1204 of the client PCs 102 and 104. Resources can be used efficiently.

  In the above example, allocation is determined based on the number of delegations of the distributed consignment data 520. For example, the distributed consignment data 520 including a large number of image data areas with a large rasterization load is assigned to the client PCs 102 with high processing performance and Depending on the type of drawing data included in the distributed consignment data 520, the distributed consignment data 520 having a large raster data load, which includes a large number of text data areas, is transmitted to the client PCs 102 and 104 having low processing performance. Thus, the assignment to the client PCs 102 and 104 may be determined.

  By the distributed printing system 100 according to the first embodiment or the second embodiment described above, the processing capability of the other client PC 104 that is redundant in the distributed printing system 100 can be used for rasterizing the print data 502. Since it can be used effectively, high-speed printing can be realized and the load during the printing process can be reduced. Also, since the load caused by the printing process is reduced, the client PCs 102 and 104 can smoothly perform other processes. Can be executed.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the example in which the divided data 510 is generated by dividing the print data 502 in units of pages has been described. However, the embodiment according to the present invention is not limited to this. For example, one page is divided into four, and rasterization is commissioned to another client PC 104 by 1/4 page, or one page. The drawing data 503 may be divided into units other than the page unit, such as dividing the image data into the image region and the text region, and these modified examples are also related to the present invention. It is within the scope of the disclosure of the embodiment.

  When the divided data 510 is generated by dividing into units other than the page unit, the coordinates of the delimiter position indicating which area of the page the divided data 510 divided in the page is. The position information such as the data and the coordinate data indicating the position of the image data area and the position of the text data area may be added to the header area of the divided data 510 as the divided information 530 to generate the distributed commission data 520.

  For example, the client PCs 102 and 104 described in the above-described embodiment describe the program describing the procedure of the operation flow shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. Stored in the storage unit 202 or the storage unit 307 of the printing apparatus 106 as a distributed printing processing module 213. The control unit 200 of the client PCs 102 and 104 or the control unit 302 of the printing apparatus 106 reads out and executes the distributed printing processing module 213 from the storage unit 202 or the storage unit 307, and thus FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 11 and the processing shown in FIG. 13 are realized.

  In some embodiments, the storage unit 202 of the client PCs 102 and 104 stores a distributed print processing module 213 that describes the procedure of the operation flow shown in FIGS. 7, 8, and 13. Further, the storage unit 307 of the printing apparatus 106 stores a distributed printing processing module 213 that describes the procedure of the operation flow shown in FIGS. 9 and 11.

These distributed printing processing modules 213 are provided to the client PCs 102 and 104 and the printing apparatus 106 of the distributed printing system 100 in the following form, for example.
(1) Installed in advance in the storage unit 202 and the storage unit 307.
(2) Provided by the removable storage medium 205.
(3) Provided from the program server.

  Several embodiments have been described above. However, the embodiments according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, but should be understood as including various modifications and alternative forms of the above-described embodiments. For example, it will be understood that various embodiments can be embodied by modifying the components without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Further, it will be understood that various embodiments according to the present invention can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. Alternatively, various implementations according to the present invention may be made by deleting or replacing some components from all the components shown in the embodiment, or adding some components to the components shown in the embodiment. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the form may be implemented.

The following additional notes are disclosed with respect to several embodiments according to the present invention, including the first to second embodiments described above.
(Appendix 1)
A distributed printing system including a printing apparatus and a plurality of client computers using the printing apparatus,
Each of the plurality of client computers is
A reception unit that receives an input of a print instruction for print data from a user;
An address information acquisition unit configured to inquire and acquire the address information of the plurality of client computers from the printing apparatus when the print instruction is input;
A division unit that divides the print data into a plurality of pieces of divided data;
A distribution unit that distributes the plurality of divided data to a destination specified by address information of the plurality of client computers;
A receiving unit that receives the divided data from another client computer of the plurality of client computers;
A generating unit that rasterizes the received divided data and generates a divided print job;
A transmission unit that transmits the generated divided print job to the printing apparatus;
Including
The printing apparatus includes:
In response to an inquiry from the address information acquisition unit, an address information notification unit that notifies the address information acquisition unit of address information of the plurality of client computers;
A receiving unit for receiving the divided print job;
A printing unit that prints the divided print jobs received by the receiving unit in order within the print data indicated in the divided data;
Including distributed printing system.
(Appendix 2)
The division data includes distributed consignment data including division information indicating which part of the print data the division data corresponds to, and job information including job identification information for identifying the print data. The distributed printing system according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein the system is a distributed printing system.
(Appendix 3)
The distributed printing according to claim 2, wherein the generation unit rasterizes the distributed consignment data, and generates a divided print job including the distributed consignment data after rasterization, the division information, and the job information. system.
(Appendix 4)
The printing apparatus includes:
A registration unit that associates the division information included in the received divided print job with the job identification information and registers it in the spool as a divided print job record;
Check the divided information of the divided print job records with the same job identification information among the divided print job records registered in the spool, and check whether all the divided print jobs corresponding to the print data are collected. A determination unit for determining
The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the printing unit executes a printing process when the determination unit determines that all the divided print jobs are collected.
(Appendix 5)
The division information added to the divided data includes page information indicating the page number of the divided data to which the divided information is added in the print data, and the total number of pages of the print data. The distributed printing system according to appendix 2, including:
(Appendix 6)
The printing apparatus obtains distributed printing processing availability information indicating whether or not the client computer is in a state in which distributed commissioned data can be rasterized from the plurality of client computers and stores it in the connected client PC table. , Further comprising a distributed printing process availability information registration unit,
The address information notifying unit obtains address information of a client computer indicating a state in which distributed print processing availability information can be rasterized among a plurality of client computers registered in the connected client PC table. The distributed printing system according to appendix 3 or 4 is notified to the section.
(Appendix 7)
The connection client PC table further stores performance information representing the processing performance of the plurality of client computers using the printing device,
The address information acquisition unit acquires the performance information together with the address information,
The distributed printing system according to appendix 6, wherein the distribution unit determines the distribution of the plurality of distributed commissioned data to the plurality of client computers based on the performance information.
(Appendix 8)
A method for controlling a printing apparatus,
In response to an inquiry from the client computer, obtaining address information of the plurality of client computers using the printing apparatus from the connected client PC table stored in the storage unit, and notifying the client computer;
A registration step of receiving a divided print job from the plurality of client computers and registering the divided information included in the received divided print job and the job identification information in the spool as a divided print job record;
Among the divided print job records registered in the spool, the divided information of the divided print job records having the same job identification information is confirmed, and whether or not all the divided print jobs corresponding to the print data are collected. A determination step for determining,
A printing step of printing the divided print jobs in the order in the print data indicated by the division information when it is determined that all the divided print jobs are collected;
Including
In the client computer, the print data is divided into a plurality of pieces of divided data, and the divided data indicates to which divided data the portion of the print data corresponds to the divided data and the print data. The distributed consignment data generated by adding job information including job identification information is transmitted to the plurality of client computers, and the divided data included in the distributed consignment data is rasterized in the plurality of client computers. A method for controlling a printing apparatus, wherein the divided print job is generated.

100 distributed printing system 102 client PC
104 client PC
106 Printing Device 110 Network 200 Control Unit 202 Storage Unit 203 Clock 204 Reading Unit 205 Removable Storage Medium 206 Bus 207 Communication Interface 208 Input / Output Unit 210 Auxiliary Storage Device 211 Application Software 212 Printer Driver 213 Distributed Print Processing Module 214 Spooler 215 GDI
216 Document data 220 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 300 Printing apparatus controller 302 Control part 303 Video interface 304 Engine interface 305 Operation panel interface 306 Communication interface 307 Storage part 308 Bus 310 ROM
320 Non-volatile memory 322 Spool 325 RAM
330 Operation Panel 331 Display Unit 332 Key Unit 500 Print Job 501 Job Information 502 Print Data 503 Drawing Data 510 Division Data 520 Distributed Consignment Data 530 Division Information 531 Page Information 532 Total Page Information 540 Computer Name 541 Job Identification Information 542 Paper Size 543 Number of copies 560 Divided print job 600 Connected client PC table 601 Client PC name 602 Distributed printing process availability information 603 Address information 1000 Spool 1010 Divided print job record 1011 Computer name 1200 Connected client PC table 1204 Performance information

Claims (8)

A distributed printing system including a printing apparatus and a plurality of client computers using the printing apparatus,
Each of the plurality of client computers is
A reception unit that receives an input of a print instruction for print data from a user;
An address information acquisition unit configured to inquire and acquire the address information of the plurality of client computers from the printing apparatus when the print instruction is input;
A division unit that divides the print data into a plurality of pieces of divided data;
A distribution unit that distributes the plurality of divided data to a destination specified by address information of the plurality of client computers;
A receiving unit that receives the divided data from another client computer of the plurality of client computers;
A generating unit that rasterizes the received divided data and generates a divided print job;
A transmission unit that transmits the generated divided print job to the printing apparatus;
Including
The printing apparatus includes:
In response to an inquiry from the address information acquisition unit, an address information notification unit that notifies the address information acquisition unit of address information of the plurality of client computers;
A receiving unit for receiving the divided print job;
A printing unit that prints the divided print jobs received by the receiving unit in order within the print data indicated in the divided data;
Including distributed printing system.   The division data includes distributed consignment data including division information indicating which part of the print data the division data corresponds to, and job information including job identification information for identifying the print data. The distributed printing system according to claim 1, wherein:   The distribution unit according to claim 2, wherein the generation unit rasterizes the distributed consignment data, and generates a divided print job including the distributed consignment data after rasterization, the division information, and the job information. Printing system. The printing apparatus includes:
A registration unit that associates the division information included in the received divided print job with the job identification information and registers it in the spool as a divided print job record;
Check the divided information of the divided print job records with the same job identification information among the divided print job records registered in the spool, and check whether all the divided print jobs corresponding to the print data are collected. A determination unit for determining
The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the printing unit executes a printing process when the determination unit determines that all the divided print jobs are collected.   The division information includes page information indicating what page data the division data to which the division information is added is in the print data, and information on the total number of pages of the print data. Item 3. The distributed printing system according to Item 2. The printing apparatus obtains distributed printing processing availability information indicating whether or not the client computer is in a state in which distributed commissioned data can be rasterized from the plurality of client computers and stores it in the connected client PC table. , Further comprising a distributed printing process availability information registration unit,
The address information notifying unit obtains address information of a client computer indicating a state in which distributed print processing availability information can be rasterized among a plurality of client computers registered in the connected client PC table. The distributed printing system according to claim 3, wherein the distributed printing system is notified to a part. The connection client PC table further stores performance information representing the processing performance of the plurality of client computers using the printing device,
The address information acquisition unit acquires the performance information together with the address information,
The distributed printing system according to claim 6, wherein the distribution unit determines distribution of the plurality of distributed consignment data to the plurality of client computers based on the performance information. A method for controlling a printing apparatus,
In response to an inquiry from the client computer, obtaining address information of the plurality of client computers using the printing apparatus from the connected client PC table stored in the storage unit, and notifying the client computer;
A registration step of receiving a divided print job from the plurality of client computers and registering the divided information included in the received divided print job and the job identification information in the spool as a divided print job record;
Among the divided print job records registered in the spool, the divided information of the divided print job records having the same job identification information is confirmed, and whether or not all the divided print jobs corresponding to the print data are collected. A determination step for determining,
A printing step of printing the divided print jobs in the order in the print data indicated by the division information when it is determined that all the divided print jobs are collected;
Including
In the client computer, the print data is divided into a plurality of pieces of divided data, and the divided data indicates to which divided data the portion of the print data corresponds to the divided data and the print data. The distributed consignment data generated by adding job information including job identification information is transmitted to the plurality of client computers, and the divided data included in the distributed consignment data is rasterized in the plurality of client computers. A method for controlling a printing apparatus, wherein the divided print job is generated.