JPH11119945A - Job management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a job management method for preventing execution of useless parallel processing. SOLUTION: A plurality of physical devices # in a distributed system
The present invention is applied to a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of logical devices constituted by 1, # 2 and a plurality of physical devices, and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by those devices. When one job is processed in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, there is lower-limit information that parallel processing is not performed unless there is a certain or more processing element as device information of the parallel logical device. For this reason, useless parallel processing that is not effective can be avoided. Also, by specifying the parallel processing method, the optimum parallel processing for the device configuration is performed, the processing elements are equally allocated to the physical devices, and the parallel processing of the physical devices having the same processing function is performed, and the processing elements are assigned to the physical devices. The optimum throughput can be expected in the entire processing by allocating according to the performance or the operation rate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a job management system in a system for managing a plurality of devices such as printers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a job management system is applied to, for example, a network printing system. 2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of LANs in offices and the like, distributed systems in which devices such as printers are arranged on a network and operated in coordination are being put to practical use. For example, ISO / IEC10
175-1 DPA (Document Printing Application)
A standard for such distributed printing systems,
It can be used as an interface on a network. In DPA, the server of DPA has multiple Printer ob
, and each Printer object has the capability of the device /
Publish functions to the outside in the form of attributes. Also this attr
ibute also has the state of the device. The user can
Printing can be performed by creating a Job object and specifying the printing conditions in the Job object and executing it.

There are many conventional distributed printing systems on this network. For example, a printer selection device and a printing system disclosed in JP-A-7-214872, a printer server device described in JP-A-7-64744, and the like.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional job management method, the job conditions specified for the logical device are changed in some way to the job conditions of the physical device which is the realization of the logical device. Will be converted. Conventionally, in the above-described configuration of a logical device, there is a problem that a method for generating a designation for a lower-level physical device is not shown.

An object of the present invention is to provide a job management method for preventing execution of useless parallel processing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a job management system according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system. A job management method in a distributed server system having a job management unit that manages jobs processed by those devices. In a parallel logic device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, a device of the parallel logic device It is characterized in that it has lower limit information that does not perform parallel processing if there is no processing element exceeding a certain value as information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job management system comprising:
A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. A parallel logical device that processes a job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices is characterized by having an instruction of a parallel processing method as device information of the parallel logical device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job management system comprising:
A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. In a parallel logical device that executes a job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, processing elements are evenly allocated to physical devices.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job management system comprising:
A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. In a parallel logical device that executes a job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, processing elements are assigned according to the performance of the physical device.

[0010] The job management method of the invention according to claim 5 is as follows.
A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. In a parallel logical device that executes a job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, a processing element is assigned according to the operating rate of the physical device.

[0011] The job management system according to the sixth aspect of the present invention,
This is a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting processing are connected to a server, and the server is connected to a network. The server includes a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of physical devices adapted to a desired processing operation. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting physical devices, and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of logical devices. If the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that processes a single job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, the number of prints set in the job is checked and checked. If the number of printed copies is equal to or less than the preset reference value, the processing is not requested to the parallel logical device, and the processing is requested to one physical device in the parallel logical device. It is a symptom.

The device management unit may include, in the management information of the plurality of parallel logical devices, setting information on how to allocate the number of copies to the physical devices constituting the parallel logical devices.

The job management system according to the invention described in claim 8 is:
This is a job management method in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting processing are connected to a server, and a server is connected to the network. The server is a physical device that matches a desired processing operation among the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting devices; and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices. If the logical device specified for the sent job is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, the number of prints set for the job is changed to the physical device constituting the parallel logical device. It is characterized by being equally allocated to

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job management system comprising:
This is a job management method in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting processing are connected to a server, and a server is connected to the network. The server is a physical device that matches a desired processing operation among the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting devices; and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices. If the logical device specified for the sent job is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, the number of prints set for the job is changed to the physical device constituting the parallel logical device. Is assigned according to the performance of

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting a process, and a server are connected via a network. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting a physical device suitable for a desired processing operation from a plurality of physical devices; A job management unit that manages a job to be processed, and when the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, Is assigned in accordance with the operating rate of the physical device constituting the parallel logical device.

The above operation rate is determined by calculating the average time during which the physical device operates without a failure and the average time during which the physical device operates without a failure, and taking some measures after the physical device becomes inoperable due to some failure and operates again. It is good to calculate by dividing by the sum of the average time required until it becomes possible.

[0017]

Next, an embodiment of a job management system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 to 4 show an embodiment of the job management system according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows the entire configuration of the distributed system 1. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram (or an abstract model diagram) showing a configuration example of the print server 3 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the job management unit. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a physical job generation process using a job for a logical device by a server.

FIG. 1 shows a plurality of physical devices # 1 and # 2,
A client 2 that issues a request to print data stored in a server by a physical device and a server that stores print data and the like are connected by a LAN 4 to form a distributed system. This distributed system includes a device management unit that manages device information of each connected device and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by those devices.

A printer is divided into a logical device and a physical device (some devices include both logical and physical devices). The physical device indicates a device that actually exists on the network. The logical device has two meanings, one of which is a device that changes the default value of the physical device and performs only a specific process. An example of an apparatus that performs only a specific process includes an apparatus that always performs duplex printing.
By providing a device that always performs only double-sided printing on the network, when performing double-sided printing, it is only necessary to always request the logical device to perform processing, and the operation setting is facilitated. As a second meaning, a plurality of physical devices are grouped together to perform a desired processing operation, and the processing capability enabled by the group is registered in a management unit that manages the devices, so that one physical device is obtained. Means a virtual device that appears to exist as if it exists.

Next, an example of a logic device configured by the above-described desired processing operation will be described. When considering a certain logical device, a device included in the logical device is called a child device, and a logical device including the child device is called a parent device when viewed from the child device.

The configuration of the logic device may be as follows. (1) Parallel Logic Device In the case of a logic device that operates a plurality of physical devices in parallel, for example, when printing 10 copies, printing is performed by two sets of 5 copies each. (2) Broadcast logical device A broadcast logical device is a logical device that allows a plurality of logical devices to simultaneously perform the same operation by one designation. This is suitable for applications such as printing simultaneously on a printer in each department in order to distribute documents. It is considered a variant of the parallel logic device.

(3) Divided parallel logical device In the case of a logical device in which a plurality of physical devices are operated in parallel by dividing a process, for example, when printing 100 sheets of one document, 5
Printing is performed on two units of 0 sheet at a time. (4) Synthetic logical device (clustered device) This is a logical device for indicating that the maximum can be achieved by a plurality of printers and for efficiently scheduling and using a plurality of printers. Actual printing is performed by one device.

(5) Failure avoidance logical device A logical device having a backup device when a failure occurs. (6) Default value-changed logical device A logical device in which the default value of the physical device has been changed. Used for user's convenience.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of the print server 3 in the distributed system 1 shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the print server 3 is a server 3
1, job management unit 32, device management unit 33, physical devices 1 to
n (34,..., 34), logical devices 1 to n (35,.
5).

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the job management section 33. The job management unit 32 manages jobs registered in the server 31. All jobs submitted to the server 31 are registered here. FIG. 3A shows a job management table, and FIG. 3B shows a job schedule table. The job management table manages the job conditions set for the job, the job status indicating the job progress, and the like, the job ID as the job identifier, and the like. Job conditions include device name / print data position / various designations for printing (paper size, duplex, use of finisher, etc.) /
There are print results / notification results of progress.

The job schedule table manages schedules of all physical devices and logical devices connected to the network. In this embodiment,
Jobs are managed by one table because one server manages a plurality of logical / physical devices, and has a queue for managing a schedule of a job for each device.

The device management unit 33 stores and manages device information of physical devices and logical devices. The information of each device managed by the device management unit includes information for managing the function, performance, and name of the device, the current status of the device, the administrator, the installation location, and the like. In the case of a logical device,
It contains information on the physical device on which the operation is actually performed. For example, in the case of a parallel logical device, the device management unit has a list of physical devices that can operate in parallel and an operation mode when performing parallel operation. When the target device specified in the job is a logical device, when the job is generated, a job for the physical device is generated based on the device information of the logical device.

In particular, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that there is the following device information. In a parallel logic device, there is the following information. B) Number of copies to start: Parallel processing is performed when the number of copies exceeding this value is specified. B) Logical device type: Refers to the type of parallel processing performed by the device. C) Physical device list: A physical device that implements the logical device. The physical device has the following information. B) Processing speed information: Processing speed of a physical device. B) Operating rate: The operating rate of the physical device.

Next, the parallel logic device used in this embodiment will be described in more detail. In the case of a parallel logical device, an attempt is made to improve the speed by operating the physical devices in parallel in units of the number of copies. This is because speed improvement cannot be expected unless the number of copies is sufficiently large. Therefore, a lower limit value at which parallel processing is not performed unless the number of copies is equal to or more than a certain number of copies (number of parallel start copies) is defined. It is assumed that the number of parallel start units is given to the device management unit as device information of the logical device.

When performing parallel processing, only the first available and available printer is used in order to maximize the parallelism. This can be known from the status of the device information and the job schedule table. Printers that have already been processed are not used in this embodiment. Of course, it is possible to estimate the end time of the job being processed and calculate the load sharing based on the estimated end time.

When configuring a parallel logical device, a physical device having very similar performance is often used in the parallel logical device. In such a case, it is sufficient to simply divide the number of copies equally and perform parallel processing. The operation of the parallel logic device is to increase the throughput by sharing the load so that the processes on the physical devices operating in parallel end almost simultaneously.
In the present embodiment, an appropriate number of copies are allocated to each physical device as a load, assuming that information of speed / information of operation rate is given as device information of the physical device.

The operation rate is MTBF / (MTBF + MTT)
R). In the case of a printer, the MTBF is the average time during which operation can be performed without obstacles, and MTTR is the average time during which some action is taken and operation becomes possible again. This value is
It is assumed that the server manages the failure information and is given as device management information. By considering the operation rate, the best throughput can be obtained as an expected value. In the case of a synthetic logic unit, a similar load distribution is only made for the data to be processed. In the case of a printer, the number of sheets to be processed is targeted, and information of a page to be processed is added to the job conditions of the physical device.

In this embodiment, a job of a lower-level device in a parallel / split parallel logical device is generated. In a parallel logical device, the designated number of copies is allocated to lower-level devices. In the division parallel, one print content is sorted by the number of sheets or the like. In the present embodiment, a distribution method for maximizing the speed of finishing is as follows.

1) Divide the number of copies evenly. This is the simplest method if the performance of the physical device is known to be very close. 2) Divide the number of copies according to the performance of the apparatus. In this method, when there is a difference in the performance of the physical devices to be used, it is necessary to optimize the job distribution in order to obtain optimal printing in total. In the present embodiment, this is performed with the following factors. a) Estimate the processing speed of the physical device to determine the distribution. b) Consider the operation rate.

Next, the process of generating a job of a lower device in the parallel / split parallel logical device from the server 31 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In step S1, the number of parallel start units is extracted from the device information of the logical device stored in the device management unit. In step S2,
A check is made for "parallel start copy count <copy count specified for job?" If the check in step S2 is Yes, the process proceeds to step S3. In the case of No, the process proceeds to step S9. In step S3, the device information of the logical device specified for the given job J is extracted from the device management unit into a pair list C. This is, for example, an operation of extracting information on the physical devices constituting the logical device designated by the job J into the pair list C from the device management unit.

In step S4, a list of physical devices of C is taken out and set as a variable L. This is an operation in which the device information of all the physical devices extracted in the pair list C is collectively set as a variable L. In step S5, only usable devices are extracted from the elements of the variable L.

Next, in step S6, a check is made as to "logical device type of pair list C = simple parallel?"
This is a check as to whether the configuration of the logical device specified by the job J is of a type suitable for simple parallelism. If the result of this check is No, the operation proceeds to step S7.
In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S10. If it is determined that the logical device is of a type suitable for simple parallelism, a device in which the device name of the job J is set to E and the number of copies is equally assigned to each element of L extracted in step 5 is set.

If it is determined in step S6 that the logical type of C is not simple parallel, the process proceeds to step S7,
A check is made for "logical device type of pair list C = speed parallel?" This check is for checking whether or not the configuration of the logical device designated by the job J is the speed parallel type. In this check, if No, the process proceeds to step S8. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S11.

If it is determined that the logical device type of C is parallel in speed, the device name at the time of processing the job J is set to E for each element of L extracted in step 5, and all device elements of E are obtained from the device information of E. Get the speed and availability of E. Then, the average speed of L is obtained from the speed of each E (step S12). Then E
Is obtained under the following conditions, the obtained value is set as the device name E, the number of copies is obtained under the following conditions, and the obtained value is rounded down to the nearest whole number (step S13). Set number of copies = (speed of E / average speed of L) × (total number of copies /
L length) × E operating rate

Next, a fraction obtained by subtracting the sum of the number of sets of each device from the total number of logical devices is adjusted by adding the set number by one from a device having a large number of copies so as to match the total number of copies (step). S14). This is step S1
3 is subtracted from the total number of copies to be printed set in the job J by calculating the sum of each E, and the obtained fraction is incremented by one in the order of the apparatus having the largest number of sets calculated in step S13. This is an operation of adjusting the total number of copies to match the total number of copies.

L including the set number of copies obtained in the job condition
A job for each element is generated (step S8).
This is an operation of transmitting the job to each physical device including the set number of copies set in each of the above-described steps S9, S10, and S14 when generating job conditions for each physical device responsible for processing of the job J.

As is clear from the above configuration and processing example, in a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, if there is no processing element exceeding a certain value as device information of the parallel logical device. It has lower limit information that does not perform parallel processing. Therefore, useless parallel processing that is not effective can be avoided.

In addition, parallel processing such as allocating processing elements equally to physical devices as device information of a parallel logical device, allocating processing elements according to the performance of a physical device, allocating processing elements according to the operation rate of a physical device, and the like. Since the processing method designation information is included, optimal parallel processing can be performed for the device configuration.

[0044]

As is clear from the above description, claim 1
According to the job management method of the invention described in the sixth aspect, in a parallel logical device that performs one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, the parallel processing is performed if there is no processing element of a certain value or more as device information of the parallel logical device. Has no lower limit information. Therefore, useless parallel processing that is not effective can be avoided.

In the job management system according to the second or seventh aspect of the present invention, since the parallel processing system is designated as the device information of the parallel logical device, the optimum parallel processing can be performed for the device configuration.

In the job management system according to the third or eighth aspect of the present invention, processing elements are evenly allocated to physical devices.
Parallel processing of physical devices having equivalent processing functions can be easily processed.

In the job management method according to the fourth or ninth aspect of the present invention, processing elements are allocated according to the performance of the physical device, so that an optimum throughput can be obtained in the entire processing.

In the job management system according to the fifth, tenth, and eleventh aspects of the present invention, the processing elements are assigned according to the operation rate of the physical device, so that an optimum throughput can be expected in the entire processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an entire configuration of a distributed system according to an embodiment of a job management system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram (or an abstract model diagram) showing a configuration example of a print server 3 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration example of a job management unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a physical job generation process using a job for a logical device by a server.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 distributed system 3 print server 31 server 32 job management 33 device management unit 34 physical devices 1 to n 35 logical devices 1 to n

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A job management method in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. In a parallel logical device that processes a single job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, the parallel logical device has lower limit information that does not perform parallel processing unless there is a certain or more processing element as device information of the parallel logical device. Job management method. 2. A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit for managing device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit for managing jobs processed by the devices. 2. A job management system according to claim 1, wherein the parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices has an instruction of a parallel processing method as device information of the parallel logical device. 3. A job management system in a distributed server system having a device management unit for managing device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit for managing jobs processed by the devices. 2. A job management method according to claim 1, wherein in a parallel logical device that performs one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, processing elements are evenly allocated to the physical devices. 4. A job management method in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by those devices. 2. The job management method according to claim 1, wherein in a parallel logical device that performs one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, processing elements are assigned according to the performance of the physical device. 5. A job management method in a distributed server system having a device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of physical devices and a plurality of logical devices in a distributed system and a job management unit that manages jobs processed by the devices. 2. The job management method according to claim 1, wherein in a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, processing elements are allocated according to the operation rate of the physical device. 6. In a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting a process, and a server are connected via a network, the server may select a desired one of the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting a plurality of the physical devices conforming to the processing operation of the above, and a job processed by the plurality of the physical devices and the plurality of the logical devices When the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that performs one job in parallel using a plurality of physical devices, The number of print copies set for the job is confirmed, and when the confirmed number of print copies is equal to or less than a preset reference value, the parallel logic device requests processing. A job management method, wherein a request is made to one of the physical devices in the parallel logical device for processing without relying on it. 7. The information management unit according to claim 1, wherein the management information of the plurality of parallel logical devices includes setting information on how to allocate the number of print copies to the physical devices constituting the parallel logical devices. 7. The job management method according to claim 6, wherein 8. In a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting a process, and a server are connected via a network, the server may select a desired one of the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting the physical device that conforms to the processing operations of the above, and manages jobs processed by the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of logical devices A job management unit, wherein if the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of the physical devices, A job management method, wherein the set number of print copies is equally allocated to the physical devices constituting the parallel logical device. 9. In a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting processing are connected to a server, and the server is connected to a network, the server may select a desired one of the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting the physical device that conforms to the processing operations of the above, and manages jobs processed by the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of logical devices A job management unit, wherein if the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of the physical devices, A job management method, wherein the set number of print copies is assigned according to the performance of the physical device constituting the parallel logical device. 10. In a job management system in which a plurality of physical devices, a plurality of clients requesting a process, and a server are connected via a network, the server may select a desired one of the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of physical devices. A device management unit that manages device information of a plurality of logical devices formed by extracting the physical device that conforms to the processing operations of the above, and manages jobs processed by the plurality of physical devices and the plurality of logical devices A job management unit, wherein if the logical device specified in the job sent from the client is a parallel logical device that processes one job in parallel using a plurality of the physical devices, A job management method, wherein the set number of print copies is allocated according to the operating rate of the physical device constituting the parallel logical device. 11. The operating rate is defined as an average time during which the physical device operates without a failure and an average time during which the physical device operates without a failure. 11. The job management system according to claim 10, wherein the calculation is performed by dividing by a sum of an average time required until the operation becomes possible again.