JPH10143450A - Device and method for processing job - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute batch processing and sequential processing while switching them corresponding to the character of job. SOLUTION: When a print job is sent from a client 10, a spooler 20 sends that job to a job executing part 30 while dividing it for each processing unit. When a reception completion type successive processing mode is designated by a mode designating part 11, the job executing part 30 simultaneously processes the plural processing units while linking them and when reception non-completion type successive processing is designated, sequential processing is performed for each processing unit. After printing processing is finished, the job executing part 30 reports the processing result to the spooler 20 for each processing unit. Since batch processing and sequential processing are executed while being suitably switched corresponding to the contents of job, processing efficiency is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and more particularly to batch processing of job processing when a job such as printing sent from a terminal device is executed and output to an output device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a print job is output from a terminal device (client), a print server receives a job request and further supplies the job to a job execution unit. The job execution unit performs decomposition for converting the image data described in the page description language (PDL) into raster data (bitmap data) using the image conversion generation unit, compresses the decomposed image data, and stores the compressed data in the memory. Store. After decompressing the compressed image data, the printer, which is an output device (IOT), is controlled to output a desired print image.

In general, when a job request is sent from a job scheduling device to a job execution unit, if a job includes a plurality of documents, the request is divided and issued in units of documents, and a plurality of copies are processed. When there is an instruction, the request is divided and issued a plurality of times, and the job execution unit executes the process each time these requests are received.

[0004]

However, as a job processing method, a reception completion type sequential process in which a document processing request is not issued until all documents constituting the job are collected, and a processing request is issued in the order of document reception. There are two types of non-reception completion type sequential processing. However, since the conventional job execution unit uniquely executes sequential processing in response to a document processing request, the reception completion type sequential processing and the non-reception completion type There is no distinction between sequential processing, and there is a problem that it is not possible to meet this demand even if it is preferable to process the jobs collectively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object not only the non-reception type sequential processing, but also a job to be processed, and the processing of jobs in a batch. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method capable of coping with a reception completion type sequential process which is suitable for the present invention.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide an issuing unit for dividing a job request sent from a terminal device into a plurality of processing units for each processing unit and issuing the job request. Executing means for receiving and executing the job request issued to the issuing unit, and notifying the issuing unit of the execution result for each processing unit. It is characterized in that it is executed as one job according to the contents.

In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the terminal device has a selection means for selectively selecting a reception completion type sequential processing mode and a non-reception completion type sequential processing mode. The issuing unit has a recognizing unit that recognizes whether a job request sent from the terminal device is a reception completion type sequential processing mode or a non-reception completion type sequential processing mode, and issues a job request according to a recognition result. When the processing mode of the job request received from the issuing unit is the reception-completed sequential processing mode, the execution unit receives all the processing units included in the job and executes them collectively, and executes the non-reception-completed sequential processing. In the case of (1), a means for sequentially executing the received processing units is provided.

In a third aspect based on the second aspect, the execution means includes a management means for storing a job attribute including a processing mode and a document attribute including head and last information of the job, and an output device. Control means for controlling, and sequentially determining the job attribute and the document attribute, and when the processing mode is a reception-type sequential processing mode, sending execution instructions to the control means collectively after receiving the last document. Is a non-accepting sequential processing mode, a scheduling means for sending a sequential execution instruction to the control means up to the last document.

In a fourth aspect based on the first to third aspects, when the job issuing request is sent from the terminal device, the issuing unit sends a plurality of the canceling requests for each processing unit. The execution unit performs the job cancel processing collectively after receiving all the divided cancel requests.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a job processing method for processing a job request divided into predetermined processing units, which determines whether a job is suitable for batch processing or sequential processing. Determining that the job request is suitable for batch processing, executing the combined job request as one process, and notifying the processing result for each received processing unit And a notifying step.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an overall block diagram of the present embodiment. The present system includes a client 10, a spooler 20, a job execution unit 30, and a printer 40, which may exist on the same machine or on different machines connected to a network. Good. In the present embodiment, as an example, a configuration in which a client machine, a print server, and a printer are connected to a network as different machines is used.

The client 10 generates a job as a plurality of documents, and outputs a job output request including these documents to the spooler 20 while adding information on the output result of the job such as the number of output copies of the job as attribute information.
Issue to Specifically, a user operates a graphical user interface (G
A print job is requested from a print server on the net by using the UI) or by a print command provided in the application software. When issuing a job,
The client designates the mode specifying unit 11 as one of the attribute information.
, It is possible to instruct the processing mode of whether the job request is the reception completion type sequential processing or the non-reception completion type sequential processing. If there is no instruction from the client, the default value is determined by the spooler 20. In the present embodiment, the default value is set to the reception completion type sequential processing.

The spooler 20 receives a job request from the client 10 at a job request control unit 21. The received job request is managed by the job queuing unit 22, and the job request is sent to the job execution unit 30 by the job execution unit control unit 26 that controls the job execution unit 30. At this time, the job queuing unit 22 determines the processing unit of the job sent to the job execution unit 30. Specifically, the number of copies is recognized by the number-of-prints recognition unit 23, the document included in the job is recognized by the document recognition unit 25, and the reception completion type sequential processing or the non-reception completion type sequential processing is performed by the mode recognition unit 24. Are recognized, and a processing unit is formed in accordance with each recognition result and sent to the job execution unit 30. When the processing mode is not instructed, the reception completion type sequential processing is performed as described above.

The job execution unit 30 receives the transmitted job request by the job request reception unit 31, registers the job attribute in the job attribute management unit 34 according to the processing unit from the spooler 20, and furthermore, the printer control unit 33. Request job processing. Further, the image data creating unit 32 is configured to execute a page description language (PDL) according to a request from the printer control unit 33.
The print data described in (1) is developed into raster data to create image data, and transferred to the printer 40 via the printer control unit 33.

When the image data output by the printer 40 is completed, the printer control unit 33 notifies the job request receiving unit 31 of the processing result. The job request receiving unit 31 needs to notify the output result corresponding to the processing unit from the spooler 20, and after confirming that the processing unit is the processing unit, acquires the output result information from the job attribute management unit 34 and Notify 20. The job queuing unit 22 of the spooler 20 monitors the processing result corresponding to the processing unit of the job sent to the job executing unit 30 and confirms that all the processing units included in the job have been reported. Is notified to the client 10.

The above is a case of a print output request.
The same applies to a cancel request for job output. The spooler 20 sends a cancel request in units of processing to the job execution unit 30, and the job execution unit 30 notifies the spooler 20 of the cancellation result in units of processing. Note that the spooler 20 and the job execution unit 30 can be configured as a hardware configuration including a CPU, a group of CPU peripheral chips such as a RAM and a ROM, a page buffer, a hard disk, a disk controller, a data bus, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a detailed functional block diagram of the job request receiving section 31 in FIG. A job request from the spooler 20 divided into processing units is controlled by a job scheduling unit 35. The job scheduling unit 35 obtains information on a job output result and a processing mode from the job attribute recognizing unit 36, and the document attribute recognizing unit 37 obtains information on whether the document is the first or last document, and Attribute management unit 34
Register with. Then, a processing request is made to the printer control unit 33. As described above, the job scheduling unit 35 notifies the output result in a 1: 1 correspondence with the processing unit while checking the information of the job attribute management unit 34 as described above.

FIG. 3 shows that the job execution unit 30
The configuration of a job accepted from 0 is shown. FIG.
(A) is a basic configuration of a job. The job is composed of a job attribute section, a document attribute section, and an actual file. The job attribute section contains information related to the output of the job, and specifically includes a job identifier, a job name,
The information includes the sender name of the job, the number of copies of the job, and the like. The mode specifying unit 1 of the client 10 shown in FIG.
The job processing mode designated by 1 is also included in this job attribute section. The document attribute section contains information about the output of the document, and specifically includes a document identifier, a document name, double-sided printing, a paper size, a feeder, and the like. These are information in units of documents, and can be in a state different for each document in the job. On the other hand, FIG. 3B shows a configuration example of a certain job A, which is a case where the job A is composed of three documents, a document 1, a document 2, and a document 3. Each document has the basic configuration shown in (A). For example, document 1 is composed of an attribute part of job A, an attribute part of document 1, and data described in PDL which is an actual file. Within the same job,
The information included in the job attribute part of each document is the same.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a job in the job attribute management section 34 in FIG. Jobs are managed in a list structure for each job identifier, and a document having the same job identifier is defined in the document information, and a processing unit from the spooler 20 is defined as a content and defined in the content information in a list structure. Is managed. As described above, the document attribute includes the output information of the document received from the spooler 20 (double-sided printing, paper size, etc.). The content attribute includes an identifier of a document corresponding to the processing unit, a copy count indicating the number of the document, and a division number when the document is further divided. The content attribute includes a flag indicating whether the processing unit is the last processing unit in the job, and a cancel (Can
cel) A flag indicating whether a request has been accepted and a flag indicating whether a processing result has been notified are included. FIG.
In the above, the “processing mode”, “final or not flag”, “flag of whether or not Cancel was received”, and “flag of whether or not a processing result has been notified” indicated by hatching are characteristic elements of the present embodiment. One.

Hereinafter, the job processing performed by the job request receiving section 31 will be described in detail with reference to flowcharts.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flowchart when the job request receiving unit 31 receives a job execution request divided into processing units. When the processing unit is received from the spooler 20, the unit is recognized as one content (S101), and an identifier is obtained from the job attribute (S102). Next, it is confirmed whether or not the job having this job identifier exists in the job list managed by the job attribute management unit 34 (S103). If it exists, it has already received a job having the same job identifier, and if it does not exist, it has received a job having this identifier for the first time. If not, the job with the identifier is added to the job list, a document corresponding to the content is added to the document list, and the content is added to the content list including the document information (S104). ). The content information identifier is assigned at this time. Then, the processing mode of the reception completion type sequential processing or the non-reception completion type sequential processing is acquired from the job attribute, and the value is set as the job attribute (S105). on the other hand,
If it is determined in S103 that the job mode exists, it is added to the document list and the content list of the job (S109), and the processing mode already set in the job attribute is acquired (S110).

When the processing mode is acquired as described above, it is next determined whether the mode is the reception completion type sequential processing mode or the non-reception completion type sequential processing mode (S106). If the processing mode is the reception-completed sequential processing mode, it is necessary to process the jobs all at once. Therefore, a flag indicating whether the processing unit is the last is obtained from the content attribute (S111), and it is checked whether the processing unit is the last processing unit. (S112). If it is not the last, it returns to the processing waiting state (from S101), and if it is the last, it requests the printer control unit 33 to execute the processing,
The jobs are processed collectively (S113). When the processing mode is the non-acceptance completion type sequential processing mode, the printer controller 33 requests the printer controller 33 to execute the processing of the content (S107), and further checks the flag as to whether the processing unit is the last processing unit from the content attribute. (S108). If it is not the last, the process returns to the process waiting state (S101 and thereafter), and if it is the last, the job request process ends.

FIG. 6 shows a job cancel (Cance).
l) A processing flowchart when the request is received by the job request receiving unit 31 is shown. The spooler 20 sends Can in the same unit as the processing unit issued at the time of the print request.
Issue a cel request. When this Cancel request is received (S201), an identifier is obtained from the request (S20).
2) The job having this identifier is assigned to the job attribute management unit 3
Then, it is determined whether or not the job list exists in the job list managed by No. 4 (S203). If the job does not exist, it is determined that the job has already been completed, the Cancel request is rejected, and the process is terminated (S209). On the other hand, if it exists, it means that a job having the same identifier has been received as a print request, and the content list of the job indicates that the job has Can.
The content requested by the cel is searched (S204).
Then, it is determined whether or not the content exists in the content list (S205). If the content does not exist in the content list, it is determined that the content has already been completed, and the Cancel request is rejected and processed. The process returns to the waiting state (S210). If the content exists in the content list, the content attribute is Canc.
A flag indicating that the request has been received is set (S2
06), and Ca is added to all the contents existing in the list.
It is determined whether the ncel request has been accepted (S2
07). This can be determined by determining whether or not the above-mentioned flag is set for all the contents existing in the list. If the Cancel request has been received for all the contents, the job is collectively requested to perform the Cancel (S208). ). If there is any content for which the Cancel request has not been received, the process returns to the process waiting state (S201 and thereafter).

FIG. 7 shows a processing flowchart when the job request receiving section 31 receives a processing result notification. First, when a notification of the content processing result is received from the printer control unit 33 (S301), a job having the job identifier is searched from the job list (S302).
Further, a content having the content identifier is searched from the content list (S303). If the corresponding content can be searched, the number of output pages is acquired from the content attribute (S304), and the spooler 20 is notified (S305). Further, a flag indicating that the processing result has been notified is set in the content attribute (S306), and it is determined whether or not the content is the last content in the job (S307). This determination can be made based on whether or not the above-mentioned flags are set for all the contents. If the last is determined, the processing is ended. If not, the processing returns to the state of waiting for processing.

The processing of this embodiment has been described above. To compare the processing of this embodiment with the processing of the prior art,
The sequence flowcharts for a case where a certain job is processed by the conventional technology and a case where the job is processed by the present embodiment are shown below.

<Sequence Flowchart of Prior Art>
FIGS. 8 and 9 show a conventional sequence flowchart. FIG. 8 shows a method of accepting a job of one document and two documents when a print request is made with two copies, and a result notification. The spooler 20 divides the job into processing units when sending the job to the job execution unit 30, but divides and sends the job as described below in the case of the above-described job.

The first copy of the document (Doc1), Do
The first copy of c2, the second copy of Doc1, and the second copy of Doc2 are each a processing unit, and the spooler 20 first sends the first copy of Doc1 to the job execution unit 30. The job request receiving unit 31 of the job executing unit 30 outputs an OK signal indicating that the job request has been received corresponding to the processing unit.
Return to 0. The spooler 20 sends the OK message from the job execution unit 30
After receiving the signal, the next processing unit, Doc2 1
Send a copy. Similarly, all the processing units are sent from the spooler 20 to the job execution unit 30 in the same manner. On the other hand, the job execution unit 30 sequentially executes processing for the request each time a processing unit is received from the spooler 20, regardless of the processing mode of the reception completion type sequential processing or the non-reception completion type sequential processing. It is uniform. When the execution of each processing unit is completed, a notification of the output end is also performed for each processing unit and received by the spooler 20.

FIG. 9 shows a case where a job of one document and two documents is requested to be printed with two copies.
1 shows how to accept and the result notification. The Cancel request is issued in a unit corresponding to the processing unit similarly to the print request, and information on the number of copies is also added. Such a spooler 2
In response to the processing request from 0, the job execution unit 30
Each time a cel request is received, execution processing for the request is sequentially performed, and the processing is uniform regardless of the processing mode of the reception completion type sequential processing or the non-reception completion type sequential processing.

As is clear from FIGS. 8 and 9, even if it is necessary to perform processing on a job-by-job basis, it is understood that the conventional processing method cannot respond to this request.

<Sequence Flowchart of the Present Embodiment> FIGS. 10 and 11 show a sequence flowchart of the present embodiment. FIG. 10 shows a reception method and a result notification when a job of one document and two documents is requested to be printed in two copies and in the reception completion sequential processing mode. The operation of the spooler 20 sends a request for each processing unit in the same manner as in the prior art shown in FIG. 8, but the job execution unit 30 does not start the processing even if it receives the first processing unit, and only receives the last processing unit. A processing instruction is sent to the control unit 33. Therefore, the jobs are processed collectively. OK indicating that the processing unit has been received
The signal and the output end notification are notified to the spooler 20 for each processing unit. When the processing mode is the non-acceptance completion type sequential processing, the sequential processing is the same as the conventional processing.

FIG. 11 shows a result notification of how to accept a Cancel request in the case of a job requested to print a job of two documents per job and two copies. The job itself is in the reception completion type sequential processing mode.
Request processing is mode independent. When a Cancel request is issued for a processing unit for which a print request has been received, the job execution unit 30 sends an execution command to the printer control unit 33. Thereby, Ca is independent of the processing mode.
The ncel processing can be unified.

FIGS. 10 and 11 correspond to FIGS. 8 and 9, respectively.
By comparing with, it is understood that the efficiency of the processing can be improved by performing the batch processing as appropriate according to the effectiveness of the present embodiment, that is, the nature of the job.

In the above-described embodiment, a case where a job request is made in a mode in which the spooler 20 does not issue the next processing unit until the processing of one processing unit is completed can be similarly handled. That is, spooler 2
Regardless of the processing mode starting from 0, it may be determined whether to perform sequential processing or collective processing according to the job attributes or resources. For example, in the case where a bookbinding instruction is given or the disk is abundant and all the images can be stored, the processing may be executed after all the job requests are accepted. Further, if only sequential processing can be performed due to a resource problem, it is only necessary to judge the processing and execute the processing when the first processing request is received.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since batch processing and sequential processing can be switched and executed according to the nature of the job, it is possible to flexibly respond to various requests and improve processing efficiency. That is, for example, it is possible to easily cope with a job request that binds a job in units of copies by batch processing, and conversely, by sequentially executing a job request whose reception time is unclear. Throughput time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a job request receiving unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a job.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a job configuration in a job attribute management unit.

FIG. 5 is an overall processing flowchart of a job request receiving unit.

FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart of a job cancel request.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing result notification.

FIG. 8 is a sequence flowchart of a conventional technique.

FIG. 9 is a sequence flowchart at the time of a cancel request according to the related art.

FIG. 10 is a sequence flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a sequence flowchart at the time of a cancel request according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 client 11 mode designation unit, 20 spooler, 21 job request control unit, 22 job queuing unit, 23 print copy number recognition unit, 24 mode recognition unit,
25 document recognition unit, 26 job execution unit control unit, 30 job execution unit, 31 job request reception unit, 3
2 Image data creation unit, 33 Printer control unit, 34
Job attribute management unit, 35 job scheduling unit,
36 job attribute recognition unit, 37 document attribute recognition unit, 40 printer.

Claims (5)

[Claims] An issuing unit that divides a job request sent from a terminal device into a plurality of units for each processing unit and issues the job request, receives and executes the job request issued for each processing unit, and executes the execution result. Executing means for notifying the issuing unit every time, wherein the executing means executes a plurality of job requests for each of the received processing units as one job according to the job content. apparatus. 2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device has a selection unit that can select between a reception completion type sequential processing mode and a non-reception completion type sequential processing mode. A recognition unit for recognizing whether the request is a reception completion type sequential processing mode or a non-reception completion type sequential processing mode, and issuing a job request according to a recognition result; If the processing mode is the reception complete type sequential processing mode, all the processing units included in the job are received and executed collectively, and if the processing mode is the non-reception completion type sequential processing, it is executed sequentially for each received processing unit 2. The job processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for performing a job. 3. An execution unit comprising: a management unit configured to store a job attribute including a processing mode and a document attribute including head and last information of a job; a control unit configured to control an output device; Are sequentially determined, and when the processing mode is the reception-type sequential processing mode, the execution instruction is collectively sent to the control unit after receiving the last document, and when the processing mode is the non-reception-type sequential processing mode, 3. The job processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: scheduling means for sending a sequential execution instruction to the control means until reaching the document. 4. When the job cancel request is sent from the terminal device, the issuing unit issues the cancel request by dividing the cancel request into a plurality of units for each processing unit. 4. The job processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a job cancel process is performed collectively after all cancel requests are received. 5. A job processing method for processing job requests divided into predetermined processing units, comprising: a determination step of determining whether a job is suitable for batch processing or sequential processing; When it is determined that the job request is suitable for the process, an execution step of linking the divided job requests and executing the job request as one process, and a notification step of notifying a process result for each received process unit, A job processing method comprising: