Patent Document

[0001]    This application is based on application No. 9-300181 filed in Japan on Oct. 31, 1997, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to a network type print system in which a plurality of data processing devices are connected with printers via a print server.  
           [0004]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0005]    In a general office automation (OA) network, a plurality of computers share printers. Multiple apparatus capable of copying or facsimile communication may be used as a printer. A print server for collectively administrating print jobs is provided, especially in a large scale network. As to printer selection in a network to which two or more printers are connected, the following types may be used: the type that each computer is fixedly allotted a printer, the type that a user designates a printer to be used at every print job, and the type that the print server automatically adapts each printer by a print job unit in accordance with the use condition of the printers.  
           [0006]    Japanese laid-open patent application No. HEI6-247013 discloses a print server providing the expected print start time in response to an inquiry by a computer.  
           [0007]    Conventionally, in spite of the concentration of print jobs to a specific printer, a computer operator may send a print job to that printer, which requires the operator to wait for print start for a long time. The operator who sees the print condition displayed on a computer in response to a print request, may then require the print job be sent again to another printer instead of the previously requested printer. As a result, printing is duplicated in some cases which wastes paper and toner.  
         OBJECTS AND SUMMARY  
         [0008]    Considering the aforesaid circumstances, the present invention aims to provide an improved print system.  
           [0009]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a print system capable of executing efficient print operation.  
           [0010]    Still another object of the present invention is to provide a print system convenient for use, by which a user is able to select a printer or postpone printing confirming the use condition of printers.  
           [0011]    To accomplish the aforesaid and other objects, the print system of the present invention includes a plurality of printers, a plurality of clients which are data processing devices using these printers, and a print server which collectively administrates the use of said printers. The aforesaid print server notifies the use condition of said printers simultaneously to all clients in a log-in state. Each of said clients displays the use condition notified by said print server. Accordingly, each client always displays, for example, the use condition of all printers permitted to use, irrespective of the presence of print request. The use condition includes operation condition, trouble condition and waiting time for new printing. A user of the print system who operates a client is able to take an appropriate process, such as designating the printer of the shortest waiting time to request printing or postponing printing, thereby excessive concentration of print requests is prevented.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    These and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a view of a print system,  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an example of a printer condition screen,  
         [0015]    FIGS.  3 (A),  3 (B) and  3 (C) show the summary of a waiting time display procedure  
         [0016]    FIGS.  4 (A),  4 (B) and  4 (C) show a client registration procedure,  
         [0017]    FIGS.  5 (A),  5 (B) and  5 (C) show a server registration procedure,  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation control procedure of a client, and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation control procedure of a server. 
     
    
       [0020]    In the following description, like parts are designated by like reference numbers throughout the several drawings.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 is an illustration of a print system  1 . FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an example of a printer condition screen Q 1 .  
         [0022]    The print system  1  is a part of an OFFICIAL ACTION network which intercommunicatably connects a plurality of data processing devices including computers  11 ,  12  and  13 , and provides four printers  31 ,  32 ,  33  and  34  and a print server  20  for collectively administrating the printers  31  to  34 . All the printers  31  to  34  are connected with a network cable  40  via the print server  20 . The printers  31  to  34  may incorporate a network interface card (NIC) therein to be directly connected with the network cable  40 . The print server  20  may be either a device for exclusive use thereof or a multi-function device having both the server function and the client function. The printer server  20  may be incorporated in the printer  31 .  
         [0023]    A print spooler U 21  for administrating the schedule of the printers  31  to  34  as well as a job observation stationary module U 22  for grasping the use condition of the printers  31  to  34  are incorporated in the print server  20 . A status monitor U 10  for displaying the printer condition screen Q 1  is incorporated in all the computers  11  to  13  as clients using the printers  31  to  34 . The job observation stationary module U 22  and the status monitor U 10  are characteristic utilities of the present invention, and link with each other to display the use condition of the printers  31  to  34  on real time.  
         [0024]    The printer condition screen Q 1  in FIG. 2 displays the operational condition (status) and the time required to complete a print job during printing or waiting for printing (waiting time) concerning all the printers  31  to  34  as a list. Operators of the computers  11  to  13  are able to optionally change the display position of the printer condition screen Q 1  on the display, and to close the window of the printer condition screen Q 1  if unnecessary or desired.  
         [0025]    FIGS.  3 (A),  3 (B) and  3 (C) show the summary of the waiting time display. The case described hereinafter has two computers  11  and  12  as clients and only one printer is used.  
         [0026]    Two print jobs are inputted to the print server  20  in the step of FIG. 3(A). For example, if the first print job during printing is expected to be completed after five minutes and the second print job waiting for printing is expected to require one minute, the waiting time is “six minutes”. Use condition data Dst including this waiting time is sent to the computers (clients)  11  and  12  from the print server  20  simultaneously, and the status monitor U 10  of each computer  11  and  12  displays “six minutes” as the waiting time. If the third print job is inputted by one computer  11  in the aforesaid state as shown in FIG. 3(B), the job observation stationary module U 22  of the print server  20  calculates the required time. If the calculated value is “3 minutes”, the waiting time is “nine minutes”. The latest waiting time is simultaneously notified to the computers (clients)  11  and  12 , and the waiting time display of the printer condition screen Q 1  is updated from “six minutes” to “nine minutes”. When the printing of the first print job is completed thereafter, the new waiting time (“four minutes”), obtained by deducing the time required for the first print job, is simultaneously used to update the contents of the printer condition screen Q 1  as shown in FIG. 3(C).  
         [0027]    The waiting time does not need to be calculated by print job units. For example, the advancing condition of printing may be minutely observed by a predetermined page numbers unit to update the waiting time display one after another during the printing of one print job. With such a control, even in the condition that the great part of the print jobs are the ones of a large number of pages, the gap between the displayed waiting time and the actual waiting time is able to be minimized. However, it is to be noted that minute display update may cause overcrowding of the network.  
         [0028]    FIGS.  4 (A),  4 (B) and  4 (C) show client registration.  
         [0029]    In the print system  1 , the print server  20  sends the use condition data Dst to the clients that are physically and logically connected therewith. Thus, when a computer is newly connected with the network, or when power is turned on, the corresponding computer must register with the print server  20 .  
         [0030]    The computers  11  and  13  are operating and the computer  12  is not operating in the step of FIG. 4(A). A client administration file F 1  is provided in the print server  20 , and the computers  11  and  13  during operation are registered thereto as clients. When the power of the computer  12  is turned on, the computer  12 , which newly starts operation, outputs a registration request signal RQ 1  to the print server  20  as shown in FIG. 4(B). In response thereto, the print server  20  accepts the computer  12  as a client and updates the client administration file F 1 . Thereafter, the use condition data Dst is sent to the three computers  11 ,  12  and  13  to display the printer condition screen Q 1  of the same contents on all computers  11  to  13 .  
         [0031]    FIGS.  5 (A),  5 (B) and  5 (C) show server registration.  
         [0032]    Even in an OA network operating all day, the use of the printers  31  to  34  is mostly limited to a certain time slot during the day according to the convenience of a paper supplier and the like. Namely, the power of the printers  31  to  34  are off during the night in general. Accordingly, in some cases, not only the printers  31  to  34  but also the print server  20  do not operate. FIG. 5(A) shows the condition that the computers  11  to  13  are operating, but the printers  31  to  34  and the print server  20  are not operating.  
         [0033]    When the power of the print server  20  is turned on, the print server  20  outputs server registration request signals RQ 2  to the network as shown in FIG. 5(B). In response thereto, each computer  11  to  13  outputs a registration request signal RQ 1  to the print server  20  at an appropriate timing. The print server  20  accepts the computers  11  to  13  which output the registration request signal RQ 1 , as described above, as clients, and writes client discrimination information to the client administration file F 1 . Then, the use condition data Dst is sent to the three computers  11 ,  12  and  13  to display the printer condition screen Q 1  of the same contents on all computers  11  to  13 . On this occasion, if the power of the printers are not turned on, the display showing that the printers are unavailable is displayed.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the client computer.  
         [0035]    When the status monitor U 10  is started by the operating system (OS), the status monitor U 10  requests the client to register with the job observation stationary module U 22  of the print server  20  at first in step # 101 . Then, the status of the network is observed in step # 102 , and the following procedure corresponding to the status is executed.  
         [0036]    If an acceptance response to the client registration request is outputted, the registration condition of the print server  20  is updated and the printer condition screen Q 1  is displayed as a monitor screen in steps # 103  and # 104 . In the case that the server starts to operate later than the clients and the server registration request is outputted as described above, the client registration request signal is outputted in response to that request in steps # 105  and # 106 . When the use condition data Dst is received by the clients, the contents of the printer condition screen Q 1  are updated in steps # 107  and # 108 . If a request is sent from a client to remove the client from the system, the registration in the print server  20  is deleted in steps # 109  and # 110 . When a completion operation for designating shutdown of the power source is performed, client registration delete request is outputted to complete the process in steps # 111  and # 112 .  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the operation of the server.  
         [0038]    When the job observation stationary module U 22  is started by OS, it outputs the server registration request RQ 2  at first in step # 201 . Then, the status of the network is observed in step # 202 , and the following process corresponding to the event is executed.  
         [0039]    If client registration request RQ 2  is outputted, the client administration file F 1  is updated to notify the effect of the acceptance to the status monitor U 10  in steps # 203  and # 204 . When a print job is received, the time required for printing is calculated and the print job is transferred to the print spooler U 21  to simultaneously notify the use condition in steps # 205  to # 208 . In calculating the time required for printing, a data base is used which is prepared in advance and which specifies processing time for every page description. As to image data such as text data or bit map data, the required times for every data size unit are added up. When the notification of the completion of one print job is received from the print spooler U 21  in step # 209 , the completed print job is excluded from the required time calculation to calculate the required time again in step # 210 , and the calculation result is simultaneously notified to the clients which are physically and logically connected and in the log-in state in step # 211 . If the client registration delete request is outputted, the registration of the corresponding client is deleted in steps # 212  and # 213 . If the completion operation for designating the shutdown of the power source is executed, the server registration delete request is outputted to complete the process in steps # 214  and # 215 .  
         [0040]    In the aforesaid embodiment, a plurality of print servers  20  may be provided to divide the administration of the printers  31  to  34 . In this case, only the servers  20  which output the server registration request accept the client registration request of the computers  11  to  13  which responds to the server registration request, and the other printer servers  20  ignore the client registration request. The number of clients and the number of printers are not limited to those of the embodiment.  
         [0041]    Although the present invention has been fully described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being included therein.

Technology Category: g