JP2000353060A - Network printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To allow a network printer system to preferentially print a document that does not require printing time. SOLUTION: A print job management means 7 for holding print jobs 2 and 4 uploaded from clients 1 and 3, a print time estimation means 10 for calculating a print time required for the print jobs 2 and 4 and estimating the print time, and A printer server 5 including a print time notifying unit 11 for notifying the clients 1 and 3 of the estimated print times of the print jobs 2 and 4
And a printer 8 that executes printing of print jobs 2 and 4, and is a network printer system in which the clients 1 and 3, the printer server 5 and the printer 8 are interconnected via a network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a network printer system connected to a plurality of computers such as personal computers and workstations via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, networking of printers and peripheral devices has progressed, and it has become possible to print from a plurality of computers with a printing device on the network.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional network printer system.

As shown in FIG. 5, a first client 1, a second client 3, a printer server 5 and a printer 8 are interconnected via a network.

[0005] The first client 1 and the second client 3 are provided with a print job transfer means 6 for uploading the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 to the printer server 5, respectively. , 4 are provided with print job control means 9. In FIG. 5, a print job transfer unit and a print job control unit in the first client 1 are not shown.

Further, the print server 5 is provided with a print job management means 7, and the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 uploaded from the first client 1 and the second client 3 are The print job management unit 7 holds the print job.

Next, the operation of the network printer system having such a configuration will be described.

Here, the first print job 2 from the first client 1 and the second print job 4 from the second client 3 are sequentially uploaded to the printer server 5 using the print job transfer means 6. It shall have been done.

Then, the print server 5 holds the two print jobs 2 and 4 by the print job management means 7. Then, the printer 8 executes printing in the order of upload, that is, in the order of the first print job 2 and the second print job 4.

Each print job 2, which has been uploaded once,
4 can be suspended only by the clients 1 and 3 of the upload source. That is, the first client 1 for the first print job 2 and the second client 3 for the second print job 4 are controlled by the print job control means 9 to execute (execute printing) the job. Stop, restart, etc.).

[0011]

However, in such a conventional network printer system, if a time-consuming print job is executed first, the print job of another user ends printing of the print job. Until it is executed.

[0012] Here, it is not convenient for a user who wants to print a document that takes relatively little time.

On the other hand, if interrupt printing can be freely performed to solve such a problem, the execution efficiency of a print job for some users will be significantly deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a network printer system capable of printing a document requiring a long printing time preferentially when a document requiring a long printing time is being printed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a network printer system capable of preventing free interrupt printing.

[0016]

In order to solve this problem, a network printer system according to the present invention includes a print job transfer unit for uploading a print job, a print job control unit for controlling execution of a print job, and a print job control unit. A plurality of clients each having print time display means for displaying the required print time of all print jobs, a print job management means for holding print jobs uploaded from the client, and calculating and calculating print time required for print jobs. A print server that includes a print time estimating unit that estimates the print time, a print time notifying unit that notifies the client of the print time of all print jobs estimated by the print time estimator, and a printer that executes printing of the print job. Client, printer server, and printer Those that are connected to one another via a click.

As a result, the print time required for all print jobs is displayed on the client, so that the user who has viewed the print job can print his or her own print job before other print jobs with a long print time. Can be performed, and even when a document that requires a long printing time is being printed, it is possible to preferentially print a document that does not require a long printing time.

Further, in the network printer system of the present invention, in the above-mentioned invention, the printer server includes:
Priority setting means for allocating the printing order based on the value calculated by the printing time estimation means so that printing is performed from a print job having a short printing time, and printing for controlling the printing order so that printing is performed according to the settings of the priority setting means A job priority control means is provided.

Thus, the order of printing is set by the priority setting means so that printing of a print job having a shorter print time is preferentially executed. Therefore, even when a document requiring a long print time is being printed, It is possible to preferentially print a document that does not require printing time.

Further, in the network printer system according to the present invention, in the above-described invention, the print server has a print job control restricting means for prohibiting control of a print order of a print job which is not transmitted to a predetermined client. Is provided.

[0021] Thus, by preventing the operation of the print job in some clients, it is possible to prevent an unspecified number of users from freely performing interrupt printing and improve the printing efficiency.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print job transfer unit for uploading a print job, a print job control unit for controlling execution of the print job,
A plurality of clients each having a print time display unit for displaying the required print time of all the uploaded print jobs, a print job management unit for holding the print jobs uploaded from the client, and calculating a print time required for the print jobs A print time estimating means for estimating the print time, a print time notifying means for notifying a client of a print time of all print jobs estimated by the print time estimating means, and printing of the print job. It is a network printer system having a printer, a client, a print server and a printer interconnected via a network, and the time required for printing all print jobs is displayed on the client. The user who sees this prints another print job with a long print time. Job can be printed before the print job, and even if a document that takes a long time to print is being printed, it is possible to preferentially print a document that does not take a long time to print. Have.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the print server executes printing from a print job having a short printing time based on a value calculated by the printing time estimating means. The network printer system is provided with a priority setting unit for allocating a printing order, and a print job priority control unit for controlling a printing order so that printing is performed in accordance with the setting of the priority setting unit. The printing order is set so that the shorter print job is printed first, so even if a document that requires a long printing time is being printed, it is possible to print a document that does not take a long time to print. It has the effect that it becomes possible.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the print server prohibits the print server from controlling the print order of a print job which has not been transmitted to a predetermined client. This is a network printer system provided with print job control restricting means. By preventing print jobs from being operated on some clients, uninterrupted printing from an unspecified number of users is prevented, and printing efficiency is reduced. It has the effect that improvement can be achieved.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second or third aspect, the print time estimating means holds a plurality of page description languages included in the print job for each print job. Page description language holding means, page description language execution time estimating means for estimating the time required to execute the page description language held in the page description language holding means, and time from reception of a predetermined print job to completion of printing This is a network printer system comprising print estimated time calculation means for estimating job execution time, and has an effect that a job execution time corresponding to each print job can be estimated.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the print time estimating means includes a character number holding means for holding the number of characters in the text portion of the print job;
A character printing time holding unit that holds a printing time per character; and a character printing estimated time calculating unit that calculates an estimated time required for printing a text portion of a print job from the character number holding unit and the character printing time holding unit. This is a network printer system, and has an effect that it is possible to estimate a time required for printing a text portion in a print job.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth or fifth aspect, the printing time estimating means comprises:
A photograph information holding unit that holds the number of prints, the number of pixels, and the resolution of a photographic image of a print job; a printing machine information holding unit that holds an output resolution of a printing machine and a time required for one pixel of a rasterizing process on the photographic image; A network printer system comprising: a photo information holding unit and a photo printing estimated time calculating unit for calculating an estimated time required for printing a photo image from the printing machine information holding unit. This has the effect that estimation can be performed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fourth or fifth aspect, the printing time estimating means comprises:
Photographic information holding means for holding the number of prints and area of photographic images of a print job, printing machine information holding means for holding the output resolution of a printing machine and the time required for one pixel of rasterizing processing for a photographic image, and photographic information holding Means for calculating an estimated time required for printing a photographic image from the printing apparatus information holding means and a printing apparatus estimated time calculating means for estimating a time required for printing a photographic image in a print job. Has the effect that it becomes possible.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the fourth to seventh aspects, the print time estimating means holds the number of colors used for printing the print job. Color number holding means, page number holding means for holding the number of prints of a print job, printing time holding means for holding time per color plate of a print job, color number holding means, page number holding means, and printing time A print time estimating means for calculating an estimated time required for printing a print job from the holding means, and estimating a time required for printing a portion related to the designation of the number of color plates in the print job. Has the effect that it becomes possible.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the fourth to eighth aspects, the printing time estimating means comprises an object information holding means for holding information of an object of a print job. A network comprising: an object area holding unit for holding an area of a rectangular part circumscribing the object; and an estimated printing time calculating unit for calculating an estimated time required for printing the object from the object information holding unit and the object area holding unit. This is a printer system and has an effect that it is possible to estimate a time required for printing an object portion in a print job.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In these drawings, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description is omitted.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the network printer system of the present embodiment, the first client 1
The second client 3, the printer server 5, and the printer 8 are mutually connected via a network. In the present invention, as many clients, printer servers 5 and printers 8 as necessary
Can be installed, and the number is not limited to the number including the other embodiments described below.

The first client 1 and the second client 3 are provided with a print job transfer means 6 for uploading the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 to the printer server 5, respectively. And print job control means 9 for controlling the execution of print jobs 4, 4 and the print time for displaying the print status such as the required print time of all the uploaded print jobs 2 and 4 and the job status (printing, spooling, waiting). Display means 12 is provided.
In FIG. 1, a print job transfer unit, a print job control unit, and a print time display unit in the first client 1 are not shown.

The printer server 5 has a print job management means 7 for holding the uploaded print jobs 2 and 4, a print time estimation for calculating and estimating the print time required for each print job 2 and 4. A printing time notifying means 11 is provided for notifying the first and second clients 1 and 3 of the printing times of all the print jobs 2 and 4 estimated by the means 10 and the printing time estimating means 10, respectively.

Next, the operation of the network printer system having such a configuration will be described.

First, a first print job 2 is uploaded from the first client 1 and a second print job 4 is uploaded from the second client 3 to the printer server 5, respectively.

Then, the print time estimating means 10 in the printer server 5 calculates the estimated print time required for each print job 2, 4. Then, the printing time notification unit 11 notifies the clients 1 and 3 of the printing time.

As a result, the print time display means 12 displays the print job name, the calculation result of the estimated print time, and the job status (printing, spooling, waiting) on all the clients 1 and 3. . Then, by viewing the result by the user of each of the clients 1 and 3, a print job of another client having a long estimated print time is selected and put into a waiting state, and the print job of the client itself is being printed. State.

For example, the estimated print times of the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 are displayed, the estimated print time of the second print job 4 is longer than that of the first print job 2, and It is assumed that printing is in progress.

Then, the user of the first client 1 who has watched the estimated print time of the second print job 4 puts the second print job 4 into a standby state, and puts the first print job 2 in the print state. To As a result, the second print job 4
, The printing of the second print job 4 is temporarily stopped, and the printing of the first print job 2 is started.

As described above, according to the network printer system of the present embodiment, the required printing times of all the print jobs 2 and 4 are displayed on the clients 1 and 3. Allows the user to print his or her own print job before other print jobs with longer print times, and prints documents that take less time to print, even when documents that take longer to print are being printed. It becomes possible to do.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the network printer system of the present embodiment, the first client 1
The second client 3, the printer server 5, and the printer 8 are mutually connected via a network.

The first client 1 and the second client 3 are provided with a print job transfer means 6 for uploading the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 to the printer server 5, respectively. , 4 and a print time display 12 for displaying the required print time of all the uploaded print jobs 2, 4. In FIG. 2, a print job transfer unit, a print job control unit, and a print time display unit in the first client 1 are not shown.

The printer server 5 has a print job management means 7 for holding the uploaded print jobs 2 and 4, a print time estimation for calculating and estimating the print time required for each print job 2 and 4. Means 10, print time notifying means 11 for notifying the print times of all print jobs 2, 4 estimated by print time estimating means 10 to first and second clients 1, 3, respectively, and printing time estimating means 1
The priority setting means 13 and the setting of the priority setting means 13 for allocating the order of printing so that printing is executed from the print jobs 2 and 4 having a short print time from the print times of all the print jobs 2 and 4 estimated by 0. Print job priority control means 14 for controlling the printing order so that printing is performed in accordance with the following.

Next, the operation of the network printer system having such a configuration will be described.

First, the first client 1 uploads the first print job 2, and the second client 3 uploads the second print job 4.

Then, the priority setting unit 13 provided in the printer server 5 calculates the estimated print time from the calculation result of the estimated print time of the first print job 2 and the estimated print time of the second print job 4 by the print time estimation unit 10. Set the priority for each print job 2 so that the shorter one is executed first.
Assign to 4. Here, assuming that the estimated print time of the first print job 2 exceeds the estimated print time of the second print job 4, the priority level of the second print job 4 becomes 1, and the first print job 2 becomes Is set to 2.

Each time a new print job is uploaded, the estimated print time for the print job is calculated, and the priority level is allocated so that the print job with the shorter estimated print time has a higher priority level. Will be redone.

Then, the print job priority control means 14 preferentially executes a job having a higher priority level, that is, a job having a shorter estimated print time.

Then, the printing of the first print job 2 is temporarily stopped at the break of the print page of the first print job 2,
Printing of the second print job 4 is started.

As described above, according to the network printer system of the present embodiment, the priority setting means 1
3, the printing order is set so that printing of a print job with a shorter print time is preferentially executed. Therefore, even when a document requiring a long print time is being printed, a document which does not take a long time is given priority. Can be printed.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the network printer system of the present embodiment, the first client 1
The second client 3, the printer server 5, and the printer 8 are mutually connected via a network.

The first client 1 and the second client 3 are provided with a print job transfer unit 6 for uploading the first print job 2 and the second print job 4 to the printer server 5, respectively. , 4 and a print time display 12 for displaying the required print time of all the uploaded print jobs 2, 4. In FIG. 3, a print job transfer unit, a print job control unit, and a print time display unit in the first client 1 are not shown.

The printer server 5 has a print job management means 7 for holding the uploaded print jobs 2 and 4, a print time estimation for calculating and estimating the print time required for each print job 2 and 4. Means 10, a printing time notifying means 11 for notifying the printing times of all the print jobs 2, 4 estimated by the printing time estimating means 10 to the first and second clients 1 and 3, respectively, Print job control restricting means 15 for inhibiting the control of the print order of print jobs that have not been transmitted.

Next, the operation of the network printer system having such a configuration will be described.

The first client 1 is a client capable of controlling a print job which has not been transmitted by itself, and the second client 3 is a client that cannot control the print job.
And

This distinction is made to the print job control restricting means 15 provided in the printer server 5 in advance. Then, the operation described in the first embodiment can be performed only by the first client 1 that can control the state of the processing of each of the print jobs 2 and 4 such as stop and start.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by preventing the operation of the print job in some clients, free interruption printing from an unspecified number of users is prevented, and the printing efficiency is improved. Can be achieved.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, a printer server 5 and a printer 8 are mutually connected via a network. In the network printer system of the present embodiment, a plurality of clients connected to these via a network are not shown. The client not shown in the drawing is provided with the print job transfer unit, the print job control unit, and the print time display unit described in the first to third embodiments.

The printer server 5 is provided with a print job management unit 7 for holding uploaded print jobs, and a print time estimation unit 10 for calculating and estimating the print time required for each print job.

Here, the print time estimating means 10 includes a page description language holding means 16 for holding a plurality of page description languages included in the print job for each print job, and a page held in the page description language holding means 16. Page description language execution time estimation means 1 for estimating the time required to execute the description language
7. An estimated print time calculating unit 18 for estimating the time from the reception of a predetermined print job to the end of printing is provided.

According to such a network printer system, it is possible to estimate a job execution time corresponding to each print job.

Here, the print job includes a plurality of page description languages such as commands for drawing objects such as texts, photographic images, straight lines, circles, ellipses, and curves. These page description languages are held by the page description language holding unit 16 for each print job. Further, since the number of colors used for printing, that is, the number of color plates, is specified by the user, the information is also included in the page description language.

Then, texts, photographic images, straight lines, circles,
The time required for the ellipse / curve drawing command refers to the time required to convert from the state of the page description language to data that can be output to a printer, and is the same as the time required to convert to raster data. The printing time determined by the number of color plates refers to the time from rasterizing the raster data by, for example, an electrophotographic process, transferring the visualized image to paper, and outputting the paper.

Here, the time required for the text drawing command is Tp1, the time for the photographic image is Tp2, the time for the object is Tp4, and the time dependent on the number of color plates is Tp3. The times Tp1 to Tp4 are estimated by the page description language execution time estimating means 17.

Incidentally, Tp3 differs depending on the image forming process of the printer. That is, when the same image forming process is repeated four times to form a color image, for example, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) (hereinafter, referred to as “CMYK”). Color printing (4
If the color plate 4 pass) is specified, black (K) (hereinafter,
It is called "K". ) Takes four times as long as one-color printing (one-color plate, one pass). On the other hand, if the four-color plate one-pass structure that operates completely in parallel from rasterizing the raster data in the CMYK plate to transferring it to paper and outputting it is the same time as printing K1 color Can be printed.

Based on the above, the estimated time T from the reception of one print job to the end of printing is represented by the following equation. This operation is performed by the estimated print time calculating unit 18.

T = ΣTpi (i = 1 to 4) (1) Here, the text portion in the print job will be described.

A text description command of a page description language, which is a part of a print job, is transmitted from the client.
Then, the number of characters in the text drawing command is checked by the character number holding unit, and the number of characters (N) in each print job is counted. Then, the time (T1) required from the reception of the text description command of the page description language to the rasterization processing is set as an average time per character, and this is stored in advance in the character printing time storage unit of the printer server 5. It is also conceivable that the line area of a character to be drawn for each character is separately obtained and held, but since the processing takes an enormous amount of time, an average time per character is used as in this embodiment. It is desirable.

As a result, the character printing estimated time calculating means calculates the time required for text drawing in each print job (Tp1) by the following equation.

Tp1 = T1 × N (2) This makes it possible to estimate the time required to print the text portion in the print job.

Next, the photographic image portion in the print job will be described. In this part, there are a case where the printing time is estimated from the number of pixels and the resolution in the photo image drawing command to be printed, and a case where the printing time is estimated from the area of the photo in the same drawing command.

First, the former case will be described.

The number of prints of the photographic images of the print job, the number of pixels (Pn) and the resolution (An) in the drawing command are determined by the photographic information holding means, and the output resolution (B) of the printing press.
The time required for one pixel to perform the rasterizing process on the photographic image (T1) is held by the printing press information holding unit.

Thus, the estimated printing time (Tn) per photographic image is expressed by the following equation.

Tn = T1 × Pn × B / An (3 ′) Then, the estimated print time (Tp2) of all N photographic images included in the print job is obtained from the following equation.
This operation is performed by the estimated photo print time calculation unit.

Tp2 = ΣTi (i = 1 to N) (3) Next, the latter case will be described.

The number of prints of the photographic images of the print job and the area (Sn) in the drawing command are determined by the photographic information holding means, and the output resolution (B) of the printing press and the time required for one pixel for rasterizing the photographic images ( T
1) is held by the printing press information holding unit.

Thus, the estimated printing time (Tn) per photographic image is expressed by the following equation.

T = T1 × Sn × (B squared) (4 ′) Therefore, the estimated printing time (Tp2) of all N photographic images included in the print job is calculated from the following equation. Can be
This operation is performed by the estimated photo print time calculation unit.

Tp2 = ΣTi (i = 1 to N) (4) According to these, it is possible to estimate the time required for printing a photographic image in a print job.

Next, a case in which the estimated printing time is calculated from the number of colors used in a print job will be described.

Here, the number of color plates to be used is checked from the print job transferred from the client in the printer server 5 and is stored in the color number storage unit. Further, the number of pages to be printed (N) is checked from the print job, and is stored in the page number storage unit. Furthermore, the time (Tm: CMY) per color plate from rasterizing to printing
M = 4 in the case of 4 passes for the K plate, and M = 1 and m = 1 to M in the case of the 1 pass for the CMYK plate and in the case of the K plate, are held in the print time holding means in advance.

Thus, the time required for drawing in each print job (Tp3) is calculated by the following equation. In addition,
The operation of this equation is performed by the estimated print time calculating means.

Tp3 = N × ΣTm (m = 1 to M) (5) According to this, it is possible to estimate the time required for printing the portion related to the designation of the number of color plates in the print job. Become.

Next, drawing of an object portion in a print job will be described.

Here, from among the drawing commands (r: R) such as circles, ellipses, and curves in the print job, the object information (Sr: R) and the object area (S) of each drawing command are obtained. Will be retained.

Here, the object area is, for example,
In the case of a circle, the area of a square circumscribing the circle is used. In the case of a curve, the area of a rectangle circumscribing both ends of the curve is used. The object information is stored in the object information holding unit. The object area is stored in the object area holding means.

Then, the drawing area S executed by all commands is expressed by the following equation.

S = ΣSr (r = 1, 2, 3,..., R) (6 ′) Thus, processing for converting a curve with a length into pixel data, that is, rasterization in a narrow sense The time (Tp4) is represented by the following equation, where K is the time required for rasterizing per unit area. This operation is executed by the estimated print time calculating unit.

Tp4 = K × S (6) This makes it possible to estimate the time required for printing the object portion in the print job.

[0096]

As described above, according to the present invention, the print time required for all print jobs is displayed on the client. You can print your own print job before the print job, and even if a document that takes a long time to print, it is possible to print a document that does not take a long time. The effect is obtained.

According to the present invention, the order of printing is set by the priority setting means so that printing of a print job having a shorter print time is preferentially executed.
Even when a document requiring a long printing time is being printed, an advantageous effect is obtained that a document requiring no printing time can be preferentially printed.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to disable the operation of a print job in some clients,
An advantageous effect is obtained in that free interrupt printing from an unspecified number of users is prevented and printing efficiency can be improved.

If the printing time estimating means is constituted by the page description language holding means, the page description language execution time estimating means and the estimated printing time calculating means, it is possible to estimate the job execution time corresponding to each print job. Is obtained.

If the printing time estimating means includes the number of characters holding means, the character printing time holding means, and the estimated character printing time calculating means, it is possible to estimate the time required for printing the text portion in the print job. That is, an effective effect is obtained.

If the printing time estimating means includes the photograph information holding means, the printing press information holding means, and the estimated printing time calculating means, it is possible to estimate the time required for printing the photographic image in the print job. Is obtained.

If the printing time estimating means is provided with the number-of-colors holding means, the number-of-pages holding means, the printing time holding means, and the estimated printing time calculating means, it is possible to print a portion related to the designation of the number of color plates in the print job. An effective effect is obtained that the required time can be estimated.

If the printing time estimating means includes the object information holding means, the object area holding means, and the estimated printing time calculating means, it is possible to estimate the time required for printing the object portion in the print job. That is, an effective effect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a network printer system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network printer system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional network printer system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st client 2 1st print job 3 2nd client 4 2nd print job 5 printer server 6 print job transfer means 7 print job management means 8 printer 9 print job control means 10 printing time estimation means 11 printing time Notification means 12 Printing time display means 13 Priority setting means 14 Print job priority control means 15 Print job control restriction means 16 Page description language holding means 17 Page description language execution time estimation means 18 Print estimation time calculation means

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shoji Ozono 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AR01 HK15 HK18 HK23 HQ06 HQ17 HR01 HS01 5B021 BB10 CC04 CC07 EE01

Claims (9)

[Claims] A print job transfer unit configured to upload a print job; a print job control unit configured to control execution of the print job; and a print time display unit configured to display a required print time of all of the uploaded print jobs. A plurality of clients, a print job management unit that holds the print job uploaded from the client, a print time estimation unit that calculates and estimates a print time required for the print job, and the print time estimation unit. A print server that includes a print time notifying unit that notifies the client of the estimated print time of all the print jobs; and a printer that executes printing of the print job. The client, the printer server, and the printer Printers are interconnected via a network Network printer system according to claim and. 2. The printer server according to claim 1, further comprising: a priority setting unit that allocates a printing order based on a value calculated by the printing time estimation unit so that printing is performed from the print job having a short printing time. 2. The network printer system according to claim 1, further comprising print job priority control means for controlling a printing order so that printing is performed according to the setting. 3. The print server according to claim 1, wherein said printer server is provided with print job control restricting means for prohibiting control of a print order of said print job which is not transmitted to said predetermined client. The network printer system according to claim 1. 4. The printing time estimating means includes: a page description language holding means for holding a plurality of page description languages included in a print job for each print job; and a page description language held by the page description language holding means. A page description language execution time estimating means for estimating a time required for executing the print job, and a print estimation time calculating means for estimating a time from reception of the predetermined print job to completion of printing. 4. The network printer system according to 2, 3 or 4. 5. The printing time estimating means, a character number holding means for holding the number of characters in a text portion of the print job, a character printing time holding means for holding a printing time per character, the character number holding means, 5. The network printer system according to claim 4, further comprising: a character printing estimated time calculating unit configured to calculate an estimated time required for printing a text portion of the print job from a character printing time holding unit. 6. The printing time estimating means includes: a photographic information holding means for holding the number of prints, the number of pixels, and the resolution of the photographic image of the print job; and an output resolution of a printing machine and one pixel for rasterizing the photographic image. A printing press information holding unit for holding a time required for hitting, and a photo printing estimated time calculating unit for calculating an estimated time required for printing the photographic image from the photo information holding unit and the printing press information holding unit. 6. The network printer system according to claim 4, wherein: 7. A printing time estimating means, a photographic information holding means for holding the number of prints and an area of a photographic image of the print job, and an output resolution of a printing machine and a pixel per pixel of a rasterizing process for the photographic image. A printing press information holding unit for holding time; and a photo printing estimated time calculating unit for calculating an estimated time required for printing the photographic image from the photo information holding unit and the printing press information holding unit. The network printer system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein 8. The print time estimating means includes: a color number holding means for holding the number of colors used for printing the print job; a page number holding means for holding the number of prints of the print job; A print time holding unit for holding a time per one color plate, and an estimated print time calculation for calculating an estimated time required for printing the print job from the color number hold unit, the page number hold unit, and the print time hold unit. The network printer system according to any one of claims 4 to 7, further comprising means. 9. An object information holding means for holding information of an object of the print job, an object area holding means for holding an area of a rectangular part circumscribing the object, and the object information. 9. The network printer system according to claim 4, further comprising: an estimated printing time calculating unit configured to calculate an estimated time required for printing the object from the holding unit and the object area holding unit. 10. .