JPH04314122A - Parallel printing processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten printing waiting time, and to improve the service for a printing processing by executing the printing processing simultaneously for plural documents while considering the data quantity of a printing document without concentrating the printing processing to one document. CONSTITUTION:This parallel printing processor is constituted as follows. A printing control part 2 enables the parallel printing of two documents by reading out the document by prescribed quantity from a document data file 4 and delivering it to a printing processing part 3 together with stacker information, and every time the printing processing part 3 completes the printing of the prescribed quantity, it checks so that a printing mode can be switched, and the printing processing is executed at the printing mode set by a printing mode setting part 21 based on the printing quantity of the document.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parallel printing device. Parallel printing processing devices that accept print requests for document data from a plurality of workstations and print the documents generally print the documents in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) manner. If there are multiple documents waiting to be printed and a document with a large amount of print data starts printing, the printing process will be occupied by the document being printed for a long time, resulting in a huge amount of waiting time for the multiple documents waiting to be printed. Problems such as becoming It is necessary to reduce print waiting time by simultaneously performing print processing on multiple documents while taking into consideration the amount of data of the print documents, without having the print processing monopolized by one document.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 9 shows a conventional system configuration diagram. The processing device 60 that performs print processing stores the document data of the document in a document data file 66 when the print reception processing section 65 receives a request to print a document from a workstation 61 connected via a network such as a LAN. , the document identification information is registered in the print waiting table 67.

[0003] The print processing unit 68 has the print waiting table 67
is searched, and the document data of the first document is read out from the document data file 66 in the order in which print requests are received and printed. When the printing of the document is completed, the document is stored in the print waiting table 67.
, and start printing the next document waiting to be printed.

FIG. 10 shows the conventional printing processing time. In this figure, the print reception processing unit 65 receives print requests for documents A, B, and C in order, and the amount of print data for each document at that time is shown. The time required to print one document is proportional to the number of pages, and the average printing time per page is assumed to be 1 minute. Since the processing device 60 performs print processing using FIFO, when printing of document A starts, documents B and C are in a print waiting state, and including the print waiting time, the print processing time of documents B and C is longer than the document printing time. The length of the document is much longer (108 minutes compared to 8 minutes for document B, and 128 minutes compared to 20 minutes for document C).

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As shown in FIG. 10, when there is a document (document A) that exceeds the average amount of data among the documents requested to be printed, multiple documents that are waiting to be printed may be This has caused problems such as extremely long print waiting times for workstation users.

An object of the present invention is to reduce and equalize printing waiting time by printing two documents in parallel.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention. A print reception processing section 1, a print control section 2,
The print processing unit 3, the document data file 4, and the print queue table 5 are printed in parallel, in which two documents are printed alternately, or when one document is being printed, the other documents are printed until the printing of the other document is completed. The print reception processing unit 1 includes a print mode setting unit 21 that sets a print mode such as single printing that does not allow printing of a document, and the print reception processing unit 1 sends document data to a document data file 4 when there is a request to print a document. The print control section 2 searches the print queue table 5 and registers print control information consisting of document identification information and print data amount of the document in the print queue table 5 in the order of print reception. If so, the first document waiting to be printed is set as a pre-print document, a predetermined amount of document data of the pre-print document is read from the document data file 4, stacker information used for ejecting printed paper is added, and the document is requested to be printed. When the print processing section 3 receives a notification of completion of printing, it checks whether all the document data being printed has been printed,
If all pages of the document have been printed, the print queue table 5 is updated by deleting the document information of the document from the print queue table 5, and it is determined whether or not to start printing the print queue document. If the printing process of the document is performed on the print processing unit 3, and all pages of the document being printed are not finished,
In the case of parallel printing, the print document is switched to the document data of another document and the print processing is performed on the print processing section 3, in the case of single printing, the print processing of the document being printed is continued, and if neither of these is the case, The print mode is set in the print mode setting unit 21, and the print processing unit 3 prints a predetermined amount of document data when receiving a print request from the print control unit 2, and loads the print medium into the stacker corresponding to the stacker information. The print mode setting document 21 sets the print mode of the document to parallel printing or single print based on the print data amount of the document.

[0008]

[Operation] The print control section 2 reads a predetermined amount of document print data from the document data file 4 and passes it along with stacker information to the print processing section 3, thereby enabling parallel printing of two documents. Each time printing of a predetermined amount of document data is completed, it is possible to check and switch the print mode, and the print mode setting unit 21 performs print processing in the print mode set based on the print amount of the document. It is possible to reduce and average the printing waiting time.

[0009]

Embodiment FIG. 2 shows a system configuration diagram of an embodiment. Print requests are issued from a plurality of workstations 12 via a network 11 to a processing device 10 that performs print processing.

FIG. 3 shows the processing procedure for document printing according to the embodiment. In processing step 71, when the print reception processing unit 1 of the processing device 10 receives a request to print a document from the workstation 12, it registers the document data of the document in the document data file 4, and in processing step 72, the print reception processing unit 1 of the processing device 10 registers the document data of the document in the document data file 4. Document identification information and print amount data (In this example, the print amount is proportional to the number of printed pages of the document and corresponds relatively to the print processing time. For convenience, the print amount required for a P page document is The document information consisting of time) is registered in the print waiting table 5 in the order of print reception and is notified to the print control unit 2.

FIG. 4 shows an explanatory diagram of the print waiting table. Documents requested to be printed are registered in the print waiting table 5 in the order of request. In the print waiting table, information on the stacker used for printing and, when printing of a document is started, the number of printed pages are recorded in the table and used to determine the end of printing. Printing of a document is performed by the print processing unit 3 receiving document data page by page from the print control unit 2. Further, when printing of one page of the document is completed, the print processing section 3 issues a notification of completion of printing to the print control section 2.

Notifications are sent to the print processing unit 2 from the print reception processing unit 1 and the print processing unit 3, but in processing step 73, the print control unit 2 determines whether the notification from the print reception processing unit 1 or the print Check whether the notification is from the processing unit 3. The case of notification from the print processing section 3 will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the case of a notification from the print reception processing section 1, the print waiting table 5 is checked in processing step 74, and if there is no document currently being printed and a document waiting to be printed is registered, the first document is One document is taken out and that document is determined to be the preceding print document.

In processing step 75, the print processing section 2 allocates the output stacker of the stacker section 31 for the print document and records it in the print waiting table 5. In processing step 76, the print control section 2 reads the stacker information and the document data of the document from the document data file 4 for one page, passes it to the print processing section 3, and instructs it to start printing.

In processing step 77, the print processing unit 3 prints one page of document data, discharges it to the stacker, and issues a notification to the print control unit 2 that page data printing is complete. FIG. 5 shows the notification processing procedure of the print processing unit.

In processing step 81 in the figure, when the print control unit 2 receives a notification from the print processing unit 3 that printing of one page is completed,
Check whether all pages of the print document have been printed. If all pages have not been printed yet, in processing step 82, the print mode currently being printed (parallel printing and single printing) is selected.
Check. The case where two documents are printed one page at a time alternately is called parallel printing, and the case where one document is printed without allowing interruption by another document is called single print, and the print mode is determined by the print mode setting section 21 described later. determined by If the print mode is parallel printing, in processing step 83 the print control unit 2 switches the print document and displays the print queue table 5.
The stacker information of the document recorded in the print processing unit 3 and the page data of the document read from the document data file 4 are
pass it on to

As a result of the check in processing step 82, in the case of single printing, in processing step 84, the print control section 2 passes the next page data of the document being printed to the print processing section 3 without switching the document. If there is neither parallel printing nor single printing (this corresponds to the case of advance printing in which no print mode has been determined), in processing step 85, the print queue table 5 is searched, and if there is a document waiting to be printed, the print mode is selected. Request the setting unit 21 to set the print mode (when the print mode is set from the print mode setting unit 21, process step 8
(Go back to 2). If there is no document waiting to be printed, print processing of the document currently being printed is continued.

The print mode determination processing procedure shown in FIG. 6 is shown. The print mode determination process is performed by the print mode setting unit 21. In processing step 91 in FIG. 6, the print mode setting unit 21 takes out the first document waiting to be printed (document A2) from the print waiting table 5. FIG. 4 shows that the document currently being printed is A1, and the first document waiting to be printed is A2.

In process step 92, the document currently being printed (
The number of unprinted pages (P1 (document A1)) is
=p1-f1)) and the number of pages (P2) of document A2. In step 93, a predetermined calculation is performed based on the page data P1 and P2, and a waiting value (Ws) in the case of single printing and a waiting evaluation value (Wc) in the case of parallel printing are calculated.

FIG. 7 shows an explanatory diagram of evaluation values for single printing and parallel printing. In this figure, when document A2 is printed after printing of document A1 is completed (single printing), the waiting time for each print process is P1 for document A1, and P1 for document A2.
is the value P1+P2, which is the sum of the waiting time P1 of document A1 and the printing time of document A2. Further, when document A1 and document A2 are printed alternately page by page (parallel printing), the printing waiting time for document A1 is P1+P2, and the waiting time for document A2 is P1×2. A waiting evaluation value is defined from the waiting times of these two documents as a value with printing time as the numerator and waiting time as the denominator. Waiting evaluation values for single printing and parallel printing (Ws, W
c) are shown in FIGS. 7(a) and (b), respectively.

In processing step 94, the average of the waiting evaluation values of the two documents is calculated as a comprehensive evaluation value for the cases of single printing and parallel printing (S, C) (FIG. 7(c)). If the value S exceeds C in processing step 95, documents A1 and A2 are printed in parallel, a parallel printing flag is set, and processing step 96
If the value S does not exceed C, single printing is performed and a single printing flag is set. In processing step 97, print mode setting section 2
1 notifies the print control unit 2 of the print mode (parallel printing or single printing).

FIG. 8 shows the processing procedure for completing document printing. When all pages of the document have been printed, the print processing unit 2 updates the print queue table 5 by deleting information related to the printed document from the print queue table 5 in step 100. In processing step 101, the print processing unit 2 checks the printing mode up to this point, and in processing step 102, if the parallel printing flag has been set, it clears the flag and moves to processing step 83 in FIG. 5 (parallel printing mode). In process step 103, if the single print flag is set, the flag is cleared and the process moves to process step 74 in FIG. (preliminary printing document).

If neither parallel printing nor single printing is performed, processing proceeds to processing step 74 in FIG. 3 at processing step 104 .

[0024]

FIG. 11 shows the printing processing time in parallel printing. In other words, by enabling parallel printing, the print processing time including the waiting time for printing documents B and C shown in FIG.
document B from 108 minutes to 16 minutes, and document C to 1 minute.
The total print processing time for each document A, B, and C is 336 minutes in the case of FIFO processing, but it is reduced to 200 minutes in the case of parallel printing. service can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1] Block diagram of the principle of the present invention

[Figure 2] System configuration diagram of the embodiment

[Figure 3] Processing procedure for document printing in the example

[Figure 4]
Diagram of print waiting table

[Figure 5] Notification processing procedure of print processing unit

[Figure 6] Print mode determination processing procedure

[Figure 7] Explanatory diagram of evaluation values for single printing and parallel printing

[Figure 8]
Procedure for finishing document printing

[Figure 9] Conventional system configuration diagram

[Figure 10] Conventional print processing time

[Figure 11] Print processing time for parallel printing

[Explanation of symbols]

1 and 65 are print reception processing units; 10 and 60 are processing devices; 1
1 is a network, 12 and 61 are workstations,
2 is a print control unit, 21 is a print mode setting unit, 22 is a single print flag, 23 is a parallel print flag, 3 and 68 are print processing units, 31 is a stacker unit, 4 and 66 are document data files, 5 and 67 indicates the print waiting table, and 71 to 77
, 81-85, 91-97, 100-104 represent processing steps.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A print reception processing section (1), a print control section (2), a print processing section (3), and a document data file (
4) and the print waiting table (5), either use parallel printing to print two documents alternately, or do not allow printing of other documents while one document is being printed until the printing of that document is finished. The print reception processing unit (1) includes a print mode setting unit (21) that sets the print mode for single printing, and the print reception processing unit (1) converts document data into a document data file (
4), and registers print control information consisting of document identification information and print data amount of the document in the print queue table (5) in the order of print reception, and the print control unit (2) If the document is registered by searching, the first document waiting to be printed is set as a pre-print document, a predetermined amount of document data of the pre-print document is read from the document data file (4), and used for ejecting the printed paper. The print processing unit (3) performs a print process that adds the stacker information to be printed and requests the print of the document, and when the print processing unit (3) receives a notification of completion of printing, all document data being printed is finished printing. If all pages of the document have been printed, the print queue table (5) is updated by deleting the document information of the document from the print queue table (5), and the print queue table (5) is updated. The printer determines whether or not to start printing the next document, and causes the print processing unit (3) to print the next document, and if all pages of the document being printed have not been printed, the printing starts in the case of parallel printing. Switch the document to the document data of another document and print it in the print processing section (
3), and in the case of single printing, the print processing of the document being printed is continued; if neither is the case, the print mode is set in the print mode setting section (21), and the print processing section (3) is set. ) prints a predetermined amount of document data when receiving a print request from the print control unit (2), ejects the print medium to the stacker corresponding to the stacker information, and sends a print completion notification to the print control unit (2).
2), and the print mode setting document (21) sets the print mode of the document to parallel printing or single printing based on the print data amount of the document.