JPH07187491A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printing device in a distributed copying system which can present and display user name corresponding to output paper being discharged in correspondence to a discharge tray which stores the output paper. CONSTITUTION:Sensors 3-1 to 3-N detect the presence of paper in discharge trays 2-1 to 2-N. When the fact that there is the paper is detected by the sensors, an attribute of output paper, for example, user name, is displayed in a display section provided in correspondence to the sensors, viz. the discharge trays.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which performs processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, and in particular, can display information on a discharge tray and information on a discharged sheet in association with each other. Related printing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a network system in which network resources such as a plurality of workstations, file servers, print servers, etc. are connected is being constructed.
In such a network system, the print server prints according to print processing requests issued from a plurality of workstations.
We are trying to share and effectively utilize network resources.

Since the above-mentioned print server is equipped with a printer having a plurality of stackers, the print server performs processing corresponding to a print processing request from each workstation corresponding to each stacker of the printer. I try to eject the used paper.

As the print server, there is known a print server disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-241617 (title of the invention: output processing method of print server). In this print server, customer information corresponding to the workstation that issued the printout request,
It has a customer stacker management table that stores the print end time information processed in response to the request in association with each other. When all the customer stackers are unusable, the customer stacker management table is searched to find the stacker with the longest time. The occupied customer identification information is extracted, and a notification message is sent to the workstation of the customer identification information to promote the removal of the printout sheet.

[0005]

However, in the print server in the above network system, since it is not possible to remotely grasp the usage status of each stacker of the printer, there are the following problems.

(1) The operator of the workstation issuing the print processing request must go to the place where the printer is actually arranged and confirm it in order to obtain the usage status of the stacker. The distributed processing environment cannot be used effectively. In addition, the work for checking the usage status of the stacker is troublesome, and the work efficiency is reduced.

(2) If it is troublesome to check the usage status of the stacker, the stacker must be used after being aware of the possibility that the stacker is being used. For this reason, a plurality of operators will use one stacker, and a situation may occur in which the output sheets for other operators are mistakenly brought about, which may cause operator confusion. In order to deal with such a situation, a banner sheet on which a user name (operator name) and a job name are printed is output for each job on the upper part of the output sheet for one job. Although a printer is also realized, in this case, a banner sheet must be output for each job, and paper is wasted.

Further, in the print server in the above network system, when the output paper is output to each stacker of the printer, the following problems occur when the output paper for self is taken out.

(3) The operator cannot recognize to which stacker the output paper is output at a glance. Therefore, the operator can check the output paper output to each stacker, for example, the contents of a document. I had to recognize it.

Further, in the print server of the above publication, the print processing completion notification message for the print processing request is sent only to the workstation that has issued the print processing request.
In the future, the workstation that is going to issue the print processing request cannot know the utilization status of the stacker in advance, and in this case also, the same problems as the problems (1) and (2) occur. At the same time, a problem similar to the problem (3) occurs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing device in a distributed copying system capable of presenting and presenting a user name corresponding to an output sheet in correspondence with a discharge tray containing the output sheet. It is in.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus in a distributed copying system capable of recognizing the usage status of an output device such as a printer having a plurality of discharge trays before issuing a print processing request. To provide.

Still another object of the present invention is to recognize the use status of the discharge tray in an output device such as a printer having a plurality of discharge trays before issuing a print processing request and reserve the use of the discharge tray. The object of the present invention is to provide a distributed copying system capable of doing so.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing device for carrying out processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, a detection means for detecting the presence / absence of a sheet for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and each of the discharges. A holding unit that holds the attributes of the sheets accommodated in the tray, and a display unit that refers to the contents held by the holding unit and displays the attributes of the sheets accommodated in the discharge tray in association with the discharge tray are provided. ing.

A second aspect of the present invention further comprises a selection means for selecting the discharge destination of the document to be copied by referring to the content held by the holding means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus that performs processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, detection means for detecting the presence or absence of sheets for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and sheets stored in each of the discharge trays. Holding means for holding the attributes of
Display means for displaying the attribute of the paper stored in the discharge tray in association with the discharge tray by referring to the held content of the holding means, and discharging of the document to be copied by referring to the held content of the holding means The display unit includes a selection unit for selecting the destination and a display control unit for controlling the display unit to display the attributes of the document copied on the sheet contained in the discharge tray.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus which performs processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, a detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays and an attribute of each discharge tray are held. Discharge tray attribute holding means, paper attribute holding means for holding the attributes of the paper stored in each discharge tray, and contents held by the discharge tray attribute holding means and paper attribute holding means in response to a report request from a client And a change means for changing the attribute of the discharge tray in response to the reservation request from the client in response to the report content of the report means. It has.

[0018]

In the printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the detection means detects the presence or absence of paper for each of the plurality of discharge trays, the holding means holds the attribute of the paper stored in the discharge tray, and the display means. However, referring to the content held by the holding means, the attributes of the sheets stored in the discharge tray, for example, the user name and the discharge tray are displayed in association with each other. Therefore, the correspondence between the user name and the discharge tray can be recognized at a glance.

In the printing apparatus of the second invention, in the first invention, the selecting means selects the discharge destination of the document to be copied by referring to the content held by the holding means. Therefore, it is possible to select an unused discharge tray on which no paper is output.

In the printing apparatus of the third aspect of the invention, the detection means detects the presence or absence of the paper for each of the plurality of discharge trays, the holding means holds the attribute of the paper stored in the discharge tray, and the display means holds the attribute. By referring to the content held by the means, the attribute of the paper, for example, the user name, is displayed corresponding to the discharge tray containing the ejected paper, and the selection means makes a copy with reference to the content held by the holding means. Select the destination of the documents to be processed,
The display control unit controls the display unit to display the attributes of the document copied on the sheet contained in the discharge tray. Therefore, when the client issues a print processing request, it is not necessary to be aware of the discharge tray of the discharge destination, an unused discharge tray is selected, and in the actual printer, the user name and the discharge tray are not combined. Correspondence can be recognized at a glance.

In the printing apparatus of the fourth invention, the detecting means is
The presence or absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays is detected, the discharge tray attribute holding means holds the attribute of each discharge tray, for example, the attribute of being used or unused, and the paper attribute holding means is stored in each discharge tray. The attributes of the sheet, for example, the user name, are held, and the reporting means refers to the contents held in the discharging tray attribute holding means and the sheet attribute holding means in response to a report request from the client, and the attributes of the sheet and the discharging tray. And the changing unit changes the attribute of the discharge tray in response to the reservation request from the client. Therefore, the usage status (including used and reserved) of a plurality of discharge trays at the present time can be presented to the user before the print processing request is issued, and the user who referred to this presentation content can discharge You can book the use of the tray.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First and second embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is an external view showing a first embodiment of a printing apparatus in a distributed copying system according to the present invention. In the first embodiment, a printer device will be described as an example of the printing device.

In FIG. 1, the printer device comprises a printer body 1 and a discharge tray section 2. The discharge tray unit 2 includes N discharge trays 2-1, 2-2, ..., 2-N that store discharged sheets for each print processing request.
And sensors 3-1, 3-2, ..., 3-N provided corresponding to the respective discharge trays to detect whether output sheets are present in the discharge trays, and the respective discharge trays. A common discharge tray 4 for storing discharged sheets when all sheets are in use is provided. On the other hand, the printer body 1 is provided with display units 5-1, 5-2, ..., 5-N corresponding to the discharge trays 2-1, 2-2 ,. In each display unit, for example, the right holder of the paper that has been printed according to the print processing request and is output,
User name (operator name) who issued the print processing request
Is displayed. Since there are various types of display contents, details will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer body 1. In the figure, the printer body 1 includes the above-mentioned display units, an input / output interface (hereinafter, referred to as input / output I / F) 210, a control unit 220, and a memory 2.
30 and 30. The printer body 1 is also connected to a network via an interface (not shown), and receives and prints a job from a client (not shown) that issues a print processing request connected to this network.

The input / output I / F 6 inputs a signal indicating the presence / absence of output paper from each of the above sensors to notify the control section 7, and the contents according to the display information from the control section 7 are displayed on each display section. Display it.

When the control unit 7 receives a job, the control unit 7 executes and outputs a print process for this job. Further, the control unit 7 has a selection function 7A and a display control function 7B, executes these functions, and based on a signal indicating the presence or absence of output paper from the sensor, which is received from the input / output I / F 6, The attributes of the paper such as the user name are displayed on the display section corresponding to each sensor, that is, each discharge tray.

The selection function 7A refers to a management table (which will be described later) stored in the memory 8 to which the document to be copied is discharged, that is, the discharge tray 2-1.
~ 2-N, processing for selecting the common discharge tray 4 is performed.

The display control function 7B carries out a process of displaying the attributes of the sheets contained in the discharge tray (that is, the attributes of the document copied on the sheets) on the respective display sections.

An example of the management table is shown in FIG. The management table 9 includes a field 9A in which identification information indicating each discharge tray is written, a field 9B in which attributes related to the discharge tray such as information indicating whether the discharge tray is used or unused, and a print processing request. A field 9 in which information such as the name of the user who instructed or the name of the group to which the user belongs is written.
It is composed of C and. In the initial state, since there is no paper in the discharge tray, the sensor detects that there is no paper, and therefore unused information is written in the field of the discharge tray attribute 9B. On the other hand, when the output paper is discharged to the discharge tray, the sensor detects that the paper is present, and as a result, unused information is stored in the field of the discharge tray attribute 9B of the corresponding discharge tray. Instead of this, the information in use is written. Further, when the output paper is removed from the discharge tray, the sensor detects that there is no paper, and as a result, the discharge tray attribute 9 of the discharge tray which is in use is detected.
Unused information is written in the B field. Therefore, the discharge tray can be used as a discharge destination for outputting the print processing result for a job from another user.

Next, regarding the processing operation of the first embodiment,
This will be described with reference to FIG.

When the control unit 7 receives a job (step 401), it refers to the management table 9 using the selection function 7A to determine whether or not there is an unused discharge tray (step 402).

If there is an unused discharge tray, one unused discharge tray is selected (step 40
3) Obtain the user name (or group name) information included in the received job (step 404). This user name information is not limited to being included in the job as an attribute, but may be passed along with the job. It is assumed that the user who has selected the discharge tray 2-1 and has instructed the print request for the job is user A.

Then, in the management table 9, the control section 7 corresponds to the selected discharge tray 2-1 and is in use in the field of the discharge tray attribute 9B, and the acquired user name in the field of the paper attribute 9C (the above example). Then, each user A) is registered (step 405). Further, the print processing for the received job is executed (step 406), and the output tray selection mechanism and the paper transport mechanism (not shown) are controlled to discharge the output paper to the discharge tray 2-1 (step 407). Note that step 40
The print process of 6 may be performed in parallel with the processes of steps 402 to 405 after the job is received.

Then, the control section 7 refers to the management table 9 to display the user name A on the display section 5-1 corresponding to the discharge tray 2-1 from which the output paper has been discharged (step 4).
08), and the process ends.

When the output sheet is removed from the discharge tray 2-1, the sensor 3-1 provided corresponding to the discharge tray 2-1 detects that there is no sheet. Since this detection result is input to the control unit 7 via the input / output I / F 6, the control unit 7 updates the management table 9 based on the received detection result. That is, unused is written in the field of the discharge tray attribute 9B of the discharge tray 2-1 which is in use, and the content of the field of the paper attribute 9C is cleared.

By the way, when all the discharge trays are in use in the above step 402, the control section 7 selects the common discharge tray 4 (step 409) and executes the print processing for the received job (step 4).
10), the common discharge tray 4 selected by controlling the discharge tray selection mechanism and the sheet conveyance mechanism (not shown)
Output paper to the printer (step 411), and then
The banner sheet is discharged as in the conventional case (step 41).
2).

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the user name (or group name) who is the right holder of the output sheet is displayed on the display unit in correspondence with the discharge tray from which the output sheet is discharged. Is displayed, the user (or group) can recognize at a glance to which discharge tray the output sheet of the user is discharged.

Finally, the correspondence between the constituent elements of the first embodiment and the constituent features of the claims will be described.

The above-mentioned detection means corresponds to the sensors 3-1 to 3-N shown in FIG. 1 or 2, and the above-mentioned holding means is shown in FIG.
1 corresponds to the memory 8 shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned display means corresponds to 5-1 to 5-N shown in FIG. 1 or 2, and the above-mentioned selecting means corresponds to the control unit 7 (particularly the selecting function 7A) shown in FIG. Correspondingly,
The above-mentioned display control means corresponds to the control unit 7 (particularly the display control function 7B) shown in FIG.

Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be described with reference to.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the distributed copying system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 5, the end systems A to D are
Each is distributed and arranged in a local area network (LAN) 10.

Each of the end systems A to D has a copy processing execution section 21, a paper original input section 22, and an electronic original input section 2.
3, and one or a plurality of the processing content instruction units 24 are combined.

The end system A is composed of a computer 11 and a printer 12, and functions as a multi-process execution section 21. The end system B is composed of a computer 11 and a copying apparatus 13 or a copying apparatus 14, and functions as a copying process executing section 21 and a paper document input section 22,
It also functions as the electronic document input unit 23 and the processing content instruction unit 24.

The end system C is composed of a computer 11, and includes an electronic manuscript input section 23 and a processing content instruction section 2
Function as 4. The end system D includes a computer 11 and a scanner 15, and the paper document input unit 2
2. The electronic document input unit 23 and the processing content unit 24 function.

In any of the end systems A to D, the computer and the printer or the scanner are shown separately for convenience of explanation, but they may be built in the computer or the scanner.

The end system A and the end system B have commonality in that the copy processing execution unit 21 is provided, and are compared with the end system C or the end system D. In order to make this point easy to understand, in FIG. 3, the end system A and the end system B are surrounded by a broken line 31.

Further, the end system D includes the paper manuscript input section 2
2 (scanner 15) and the electronic manuscript input unit 23. On the other hand, the end system C includes only the electronic document input unit 23. In order to make this difference easy to understand, the end system C and the end system D are surrounded by broken lines 32 and 33, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the end system D. Each block shown in FIG. 6 implements the paper document input unit 22, the electronic document input unit 23, and the processing content instruction unit 24 shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the end system A. The copy processing execution unit 21 is realized by each block shown in FIG.

Each part of the end system B (21 to 2
4) is realized by each block shown in both FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

Now, in FIG. 6, the processor unit 41 is
The selection window 71 shown in FIG. 8 is provided. The selection window 51 is displayed on the display 16 of each computer 11.
Is a user interface displayed on the display screen of, and includes icons 72 to 74.

The icon 72 of the selection window 71 is shown in FIG.
The copying machine 13 shown in FIG.
Reference numerals 3 and 74 respectively represent the printer 12 and the electronic document holder. The electronic document holding unit corresponding to the icon 74 is realized by an external storage device (not shown) in each computer 11 and holds a file of an electronic document. The process activation unit 41 detects a user's operation corresponding to each of the icons 74 to 74, supplies information regarding the operation content to the process content input unit 42, and activates the process content input unit 42.

The processing content input section 42 includes a copying machine panel window 81 shown in FIG.

The copier panel window 81 is displayed on the display screen of the display 16 of each computer 11, and various buttons and a display section are provided in the window. That is, reference numerals 82 to 88 are selection buttons for the processing contents of the copying machine, which are the same as those provided in the conventional copying machine. A copy processing content can be selected by placing a cursor (not shown) on each button and clicking the button 18 of the mouse 17.

The copy processing items which can be operated by the buttons 82 to 88 are displayed corresponding to the respective buttons. Also,
A default value is set for each copy processing item, and this default value is stored in a copy parameter table (not shown). When the default value is updated, the updated value is set as the default value.

Buttons 89 to 93 are operation buttons,
Similarly, operate with the mouse. An area 101 is an apparatus status display section, which displays the copy permission / prohibition, the number of copies, the content of error, etc., as in the conventional copying machine. An area 102 is an electronic manuscript display section used for displaying the selected electronic manuscript. The file name of the electronic manuscript is displayed here, and when there are many electronic manuscripts to be displayed, the buttons 104 and 105 are displayed.
You can scroll the display with to display all selected file names.

The button 106 is also an operation button and is similarly operated with a mouse. By instructing this button 106, the usage status of the stacker (which has the same function as the discharge tray) can be displayed.
A column 107 is an area for entering a user name when reserving the use of the stacker.

The area 110 is a processing execution unit name display section, in which the names of the currently selected copy processing execution units 12 to 14 are displayed. In FIG. 8, the printer 12 is selected and its name “xcdpanel12” is displayed.

Returning to FIG. 6, the electronic manuscript management section 43
The image data read by the scanner 15 is stored in the electronic document holding unit 44 and read out. The electronic manuscript management unit 43 includes, as a user interface, an image storage window (not shown) used when the image data is stored in the electronic manuscript holding unit 44 as an electronic manuscript file, and an electronic manuscript selection window 120 shown in FIG. The electronic document selection window 120 is used to list, search, and read electronic document files stored in the electronic document holding unit 44. In order to register the electronic manuscript selected in the electronic manuscript selection window 120 in the processing content instruction section, the electronic manuscript selection section 103 of the copier panel window 81 of FIG. 8 is used. The electronic manuscript management unit 43 also has a function of transmitting it to the copy instruction activation unit 45.

The electronic document holder 44 is a hard disk,
It is realized by a storage device such as a CD-ROM or a floppy disk.

The image reading unit 46 has a function of driving an image reading device such as the scanner 15 to input a physical document such as paper as image information. The read document is delivered to the image processing unit 47.

The image processing unit 47 carries out predetermined image processing such as noise removal and data compression according to the read image information. The processed image information may be delivered to the electronic document management unit 43 and managed as an electronic document, or may be delivered directly to the copy instruction activation unit 45.

The copy instruction activation unit 45 activates the copy instruction input unit 48 corresponding to the instructed copy processing execution unit 21. At this time, the copy instruction activation unit 45 passes the relevant document to the copy instruction input unit 48. The document format can be the page description language used by the printer, the image information read from the reader, or a unique format created by the application. Further, it is also possible that each is in a compressed or encrypted format.

The copy instruction input unit 48 receives an instruction from the operator for the copy processing via the user interface. This user interface is for activating a print command provided by an application on the computer, and using the print instruction function provided by the operating system to change the application,
It is also possible to avoid special development.

The copy instruction input unit 48 is a copy instruction starting unit 4.
The data corresponding to the document passed from the document No. 5 and the instruction regarding the copy processing collected by the copy instruction input unit 48 are sent to the job generation unit 49. When using the stacker, the copy instruction input unit 48 requests the stacker information request job generation unit 50 for the job of the stacker use request.

The job generating section 49 has a copy instruction input section 48.
A job is generated on the basis of the data input from, and the generated job is supplied to the designated copy processing execution unit 21 via the LAN 10.

The form of the job generated by the job generating section 49 is a form in which an original and various instructions for copying processing of the original are combined, a form in which the instructions are combined as attributes of the original, or a combination of instructions. There may be a form in which a logical name is associated with and designated, but any form may be adopted.

The job generated by the job generating section 49 is passed to the transfer original sections 50 as needed, and the transfer original processing section 51 compresses data in order to reduce the amount of transfer data. Processing of is carried out. In order to simplify the configuration of the processing content instruction unit 24, this part may be omitted. The next job is the job sending unit 52.
Passed to.

The job sending section 52 is the copy processing executing section 21.
And a data transfer mechanism provided between the LAN 10 and
The job is sent to the copy processing execution unit by using a synchronization mechanism similar to this or the like. Any network protocol can be used as long as it can transfer the manuscript and the copy processing instruction that form the job.

On the other hand, the stacker information request job generator 50
Generates a job in response to a request from the instruction screen regarding the stacker. There is no information corresponding to the original in this job. Further, as a form of generating this job, there is a form in which a logical name is made to correspond to a combination of instructions and is designated. The job generated by the stacker information requesting job generation unit 50 is passed to the transfer original document processing unit 51 as needed, and the transfer original document processing unit 51 compresses data in order to reduce the amount of transfer data. Processing of is carried out. In order to simplify the configuration of the processing content instruction unit 24, this part may be omitted. The job is then delivered to the job sending unit 52.

The stacker use instruction input unit 53 is activated by receiving a notifier from the job control unit of the copy processing execution unit. Also, the stacker use instruction input unit 5
3 includes a stacker management window 130 shown in FIG. 10 as a user interface. Through the stacker management window 130, instructions from the operator regarding the stacker involved in the copying process are accepted.

The stacker use instruction input unit 53 can set the following functions related to the stacker. 1: Display of usage status of each stacker. With this display, the user can distinguish the stacker that is already used and the stacker that is not used. 2: Select the stacker to use. 3: Reservation for stacker use. This makes it possible to reserve which stacker to use. There are two types of usage, static usage and dynamic usage. Static usage is a PO Box-like usage method in which the current user can always use the stacker after making this reservation. On the other hand, the dynamic use is a one-time stacker reservation.

In FIG. 10, 131 is for designating that the stacker is statically used. Reference numeral 132 is for designating that the stacker is dynamically used.
133 is for canceling the stacker once set. Incidentally, the three stackers within the range of 134 are dynamically used and the stackers are reserved. The six stackers in the range indicated by 135 are unused. The three stackers in the range indicated by 136 are reserved for static use.

Buttons 137 and 138 are operation buttons and are operated by a mouse. After instructing any one of the above 131 to 133, the buttons 137 and 138 can be operated to make a reservation and release of the desired stacker.

Then, the stacker use instruction input unit 53
The instruction regarding the stacker set as described above is sent to the job generation unit 49.

This user interface can be used for activating print commands provided by an application on the computer, and can avoid application changes or special development by using the print instruction function provided by the operating system. It is possible. It is also possible to provide an environment using a user interface as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

In FIG. 7, the job acceptance unit 61 accepts the job sent from the job sending unit 52 on each end system, normalizes it, and supplies it to the job control unit 62. Here, normalization means unifying the jobs sent in various formats into the job formats defined by the copy processing execution unit 21. This normalized job corresponds to one or more pages, respectively.
One or a plurality of originals, a copy processing instruction valid for all of them, and a copy processing instruction valid only for a specific original.

There are n job receiving sections 61 (job receiving sections 61-1 to 61-n), and the jobs sent from the job sending section 52 on each end system are:
The job receiving unit 1 that matches the job format receives the job.

That is, each job accepting unit operates in the copy processing executing unit 21 in accordance with the network protocol used by the job sending unit 52 on each end system, and is always the LAN 10 or a synchronization mechanism similar thereto. A job transmitted via the job is monitored, and when the job is sent, the job reception unit 1 that conforms to the job format receives it, normalizes it, and passes it to the job control unit 2.

With such a configuration, the job generating section 49 provided on the side of each processing content instructing section 24 can generate and transmit a job in the existing job format defined by the end system, etc. System development is unnecessary.

Next, when the normalized job is delivered, the job control unit 62 analyzes the contents of this job and uses each job processing unit 63 to execute a process corresponding to the instructed copying process. Run. What kind of processing is possible is arbitrary.

Here, n job processing units 63 are arranged (job processing units 63-1 to 63-n), format conversion of documents and the like (job processing unit 3-1), image processing unit (job processing unit). 3-2), notifier processing (job processing unit 3- (n-1)), stacker information notifier processing (job processing unit 3-n), and the like.

The data to be copied, which has been subjected to the necessary processing by the job processing unit 63, is supplied to the designated job output unit 64 and is copied there. Of course, when the processing by the job processing unit 63 is unnecessary, the job output unit is designated as it is.

The job processing unit 3-n (stacker information notifier processing) performs stacker control, and this control includes request and update of stacker information. In the case of requesting stacker information, the sender is determined from the job, and the stacker control file as described below is notified to the sender of the job.

The stacker control file is shown below. However, the contents in "" are the contents of the file.

Identification information for identifying the stacker is described in the Stacker ID. The user name that uses the stacker is described in User. In Statistic, it is described whether or not the stacker is used as a static form. In the case of static use, “True” (true) is described, while in the case of dynamic use, “False” (false) is described. StartTime describes the start time for using the stacker. Also, the valid time of the start time is described. This effective time is for securing the stocker until a certain time when the job to be printed has not arrived by the start time and the print processing cannot be performed. Printed describes whether or not a printout was made. If it is printed out, "True" is written. If not, "Fa" is written.
lse ”(false) is described.

On the other hand, when the stacker information is updated, it is processed together with the electronic document. The job includes information about the stacker user and the usage pattern, and the stacker control file of the printer is updated based on this information.
At this time, if the contents of the stacker control file and the contents of the job conflict, the contents of the stacker control file are given priority.

The job output units 64 are arranged n (job output units 64-1 to 64-n), and output of jobs, that is, recording on an output medium (job output unit 64-1) or redirection output (job). The output unit 64-n) and the like are executed.

The job output unit 64-1 (recording device) has
Similar to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, at least a plurality of discharge trays are provided, and each discharge tray is provided with a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of paper. The detection results of the presence / absence of paper from these sensors are transmitted to the job control unit 62, and further from the job control unit 62 to the job processing unit 63-N (stacker information notifier), where they are used as stacker control information. It

Here, the recording on the output medium means the actual copying on the paper, that is, the formation, development, transfer, copying and the like of the electrostatic latent image. An output unit that realizes this exists corresponding to the recording device controlled by the copy processing execution unit. In the end system A of FIG. 5, an example in which two recording devices are attached is shown, but in this case, the copy processing execution unit can control these by activating the corresponding job output unit. . Of course, the number of recording devices may be one.

Further, the term "redirect" refers to another copy process executing unit 21 when the copy process executing unit 21 cannot process the copy process.
When the job is not running, the job is transferred to the copy executing unit 21 on another end system.

Electronic document input processing and paper document input processing will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing those processing operations.

First, the electronic document input process will be described.

In FIG. 11, the electronic manuscript management unit 43 is
It is judged whether or not the copy execution unit is selected (step 50).
1) If it is not selected, the process waits until it is selected. On the other hand, if it is selected, the copy instruction activation unit 45 is activated (step 502) and the copy instruction is passed. The copy instruction activation unit 45 activates the copy instruction input unit 45 corresponding to the designated copy processing execution unit 21 and passes the copy instruction content. The activated copy instruction input unit 45 receives the copy instruction content (step 503) and determines whether or not the instruction content includes a stacker information request instruction (step 50).
4). Here, if it is not a stacker information request instruction, it means that the document is an electronic document. Therefore, step 503
If the stacker information request instruction is not included in step S <b> 50, it is determined whether the copy start instruction is included (step 505). If the copy disclosure instruction is not included, the process proceeds to step 503, while the copy start instruction is issued. In the case of, the electronic original and the processing content instruction are passed to the job generation unit 49.

The job generating section 49 generates a job based on the electronic original and the processing content instruction (step 506) and transfers it to the job sending section 52. At this time, if document processing is required, the generated job is passed to the transfer document processing unit 50 to request image processing such as data compression. Then, the image-processed job from the transfer document processing unit 50 is delivered to the job sending unit 52. The job sending unit 52 sends the delivered job to the LAN 10 (step 50).
7).

As a result, the electronic document input unit has instructed to execute the copying process (step 50).
8), the process ends.

In the electronic manuscript input section, LAN 1
Entering a notifier through 0 (step 51
7) It is determined whether or not it is a stacker information notifier (step 518), and if so, the stacker use instruction input unit 52 is activated (step 519). The stacker use instruction input unit 50 receives information about the stacker input using the stacker management window 130 shown in FIG. 10 as a user interface (step 520). Upon completion of this step, the process moves to step 503. That is, the information about the stacker is input as a copy instruction to the copy instruction input unit 48 via the transfer document processing unit 51. Therefore, in step 504, the copy instruction input unit 45 determines that the instruction is a stacker information request instruction, and the copy instruction input unit 45 activates the stacker information request generation unit 50. The stacker information request generation unit 50 generates a job regarding the information related to the stacker (that is, a stacker information request job) (step 521). After completion of this step, the process proceeds to step 507.

If it is not the stacker information notifier in step 518, the job processing unit (notifier) 63- (n-1) is started (step 52).
2).

Next, the paper document input process will be described.

In FIG. 11, the processing content input section 42
It is determined whether it is either the scanner activation or the reading instruction from the user interface (UI) (step 509), and if it is not the one, it waits until it is input, while it is input. If so, the image reading unit 46 is notified to that effect.

The image reading section 46 reads the image information from the scanner (step 510) and judges whether or not there is an image processing instruction (step 511). If there is an image processing instruction, the read image information is read. To the image processing unit 47. The image processing unit 47 performs image processing of the passed image information (step 512), and then determines whether or not there is a document accumulation instruction (step 513).
If there is an instruction in step 513, the image information subjected to the image processing is passed to the electronic document management unit 43 (step 514). The electronic manuscript management unit 43 stores the image information in the electronic manuscript holding unit 44. Then, the processing content input unit 42 determines whether it is a copy execution (step 515), and if it is not a copy execution, determines whether there is an end instruction (step 516). Here, if it is not the end instruction, the process proceeds to the above step 509, while if it is the end instruction, the process is ended.

If there is an image processing instruction in step 511, the process proceeds to step 513, if there is no document accumulation instruction in step 513, the process proceeds to step 515, and if copying is performed in step 515, the process proceeds to step 501.

Next, the copy processing of the copy processing executing section 21 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the copy processing operation. This process is shown in FIG.
1 corresponding to step 508.

In FIG. 12, the job receiving unit 61 is L
The AN 10 is monitored to determine whether or not there is a job transfer (step 601). If there is no job transfer, the process waits until there is. On the other hand, if there is a job transfer, the job is accepted and stored (step 601). 602) After normalization (step 603), it is registered in the job control unit 62 (step 604). The job control unit 62 determines whether it is a stacker information request process (step 605).
Here, in the case of the stacker information request, the job processing unit 64
-N (stacker information notifier) is accessed (step 606), the stacker control information, that is, the stacker control file is acquired (step 607), and the job processing unit 63- (n-1) (notifier processing) is executed. It is activated (step 608) and the stacker control file is passed.

The job processing unit 63- (n-1) sends the passed stacker control file to the sender of the job (step 609). After this step 609 is completed, the routine proceeds to step 517 shown in FIG.

If the stacker information request is not made in step 605, the job control unit 62 sequentially takes out the received jobs and analyzes the contents thereof. If there is a need for format conversion, image processing, etc., the instructed processing is executed using each job processing unit (steps 611 to 611).
614). What kind of processing is possible is arbitrary. Here, the above-mentioned format conversion and image processing are possible (however, this format conversion processing and image processing
The target is a document file created by an ordinary document processing device. This process is not performed in the "copy of paper document" taken up here. ).

When step 614 is completed, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 13 is executed. Therefore, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 13 will be described next.

The job control section 62 selects the output section as described above (step 701), and judges whether or not it is the directly connected recording apparatus (that is, the job output section 64-1) (step 702). If so, the job output unit (recording device) 64-1 is activated (step 703).

The job processing section (stacker control) 63-n is accessed (step 704) to update the stacker control information (step 705). Further, it is determined whether or not there is a processing result notification instruction (step 706), and if there is an instruction, the job processing unit (notifier processing) 63- (n-
1) is activated (step 706), and it is determined whether or not it is an end instruction (step 708). Here, if it is not the end instruction, the process proceeds to step 601 of FIG. 12, while if it is the end instruction, the process is ended.

If the recording device is not the direct recording device in step 702, the job output unit (redirector) is activated, and the process proceeds to step 704.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the stacker usage status (in use and reserved) of the job output unit (recording device) at the present time is determined in accordance with the sticker information request from the client. Since the report is made to the client, the client side can know the usage status of the stacker of the job output unit (recording device) before issuing the print processing request.

Finally, the components of the second embodiment and claim 4
The correspondence relationship with will be described.

The above-mentioned document input means corresponds to the paper document input section 22 and the electronic document input section 23 shown in FIG. 5, and the above-mentioned copy processing content instruction means corresponds to the processing content instruction section 24 shown in FIG. The copy processing execution means corresponds to the copy processing execution part 21 in FIG. 5, the above-mentioned detection means corresponds to the sensor (not shown) of the job output part 64-1 shown in FIG. 7, the above-mentioned discharge tray attribute holding means and paper attribute. The holding unit corresponds to the stacker control file created by the job processing unit 63-n, and the reporting unit and the changing unit described above correspond to the job processing unit 63-n shown in FIG. 7.

[0117]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the detecting means detects the presence / absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and the holding means holds the attributes of the paper stored in the discharge trays. Since the display means refers to the content held by the holding means and displays the attribute of the paper stored in the discharge tray in correspondence with the discharge tray storing the discharged paper. The relationship between the discharge tray and the attribute of the paper, for example, the user name can be recognized at a glance. Therefore, the user who has instructed the print processing request can reliably and accurately take out the output sheet which is the processing result for the processing request.

According to the second invention, in the first invention, the selecting means selects the discharge destination of the document to be copied by referring to the contents held in the holding means.
You can select an unused output tray that has no paper output. Therefore, since only the output paper, which is the processing result for one job, is output to the output tray, it is not necessary to output the banner sheet as compared with the conventional method, and the paper resources are effectively used. can do.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the detecting means detects the presence or absence of the paper for each of the plurality of discharge trays, the holding means holds the attribute of the paper stored in the discharge tray, and the display means controls the holding means. Refer to the held contents, display the attributes of the paper corresponding to the discharge tray that contains the discharged paper,
The selection means selects the discharge destination of the document to be copied with reference to the content held by the holding means, and the display control means causes the display means to display the attributes of the document copied on the paper stored in the discharge tray. Since the display is controlled to be displayed, the client side that issues the print processing request issues a print processing request without paying attention to the discharge tray of the discharge destination, and Output paper can be output. Moreover, in the actual copying process executing means, since the user name is displayed corresponding to the discharge tray, the correspondence relationship between the discharge tray and the user name can be recognized at a glance.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in the copying process executing means, the detecting means detects the presence or absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and the discharge tray attribute holding means determines the attribute of each discharge tray, for example, whether it is in use or not. Hold attribute of use, paper attribute holding means holds the attribute of paper stored in each discharge tray, and reporting means responds to a report request from the client, the discharge tray attribute holding means and the paper attribute holding means. The print processing is performed because the attribute of the paper and the attribute of the discharge tray are reported with reference to the held content of the storage unit, and the changing unit changes the attribute of the discharge tray according to the reservation request from the client. Prior to issuing the request, the current usage status of the plurality of discharge trays (including used and reserved) can be presented to the client. Also, from the client who referred to this presentation content,
You can book the use of the output tray.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing a first embodiment of a printing apparatus in a distributed copying system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer body 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a management table.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the distributed copying system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing configurations of a paper original input unit 22, an electronic original input unit 23, and a processing content instruction unit 24.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a copy processing execution unit 21.

8 is a diagram showing a copier panel window as a user interface in the processing content input unit 42. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an electronic document selection window as a user interface in the electronic document management unit 43.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a stacker management window as a user interface in the stacker use instruction input unit 53.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing operations of an electronic document input unit and a paper document input unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of a copy processing execution unit in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the copy processing execution unit in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Printer main body, 2, 2-1 to 2-N ... Ejection tray,
3-1 to 3-N ... Sensor, 4 ... Common discharge tray, 5-1
-5-N ... Display unit, 6 ... Input / output interface, 7 ... Control unit, 7A ... Selection function, 7B ... Display control function, 8 ... Memory, 9 ... Management table, 21 ... Copy processing execution unit, 22 ...
Paper manuscript input unit, 23 ... Electronic manuscript input unit, 24 ... Processing content instruction unit, 50 ... Stacker information request job generation unit, 52 ...
Stacker use instruction input unit, 61 ... Job receiving unit, 62 ...
Job control unit, 63 ... Job processing unit, 63-n ... Job processing unit (stacker information notifier), 64 ... Job output unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing device for performing processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and holding attributes of paper stored in each of the discharge trays. And a display unit for displaying the attribute of the sheet accommodated in the discharge tray in association with the discharge tray by referring to the content held by the holding unit. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising selection means for selecting a discharge destination of a document to be copied by referring to the contents held by the holding means. 3. A printing device for performing processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and holding attributes of the paper stored in each discharge tray. Holding means, a display means for displaying the attributes of the sheets stored in the discharge tray in association with the discharge tray by referring to the held content of the holding means, and a copying process with reference to the held content of the holding means Selection means for selecting the discharge destination of the document to be stored, and display control means for controlling the display means to display the attributes of the document copied on the paper stored in the discharge tray. And printing device. 4. A printing device for performing processing such as printing in response to a request from a client, detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of paper for each of a plurality of discharge trays, and discharge tray attribute holding for holding attributes of each discharge tray. Means, paper attribute holding means for holding the attributes of the paper stored in each of the discharge trays, and referring to the contents held by the discharge tray attribute holding means and the paper attribute holding means in response to a report request from the client. A report means for reporting the attributes of the paper and the attributes of the discharge tray, and a changing means for changing the attributes of the discharge tray in response to a reservation request from the client in response to the report content of the reporting means. Characteristic printing device.