JPH07288621A - Server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To input/output image data by connecting a client computer to the same network so as to use scanners/printers on the network. CONSTITUTION:Plural client computers CCP 400 requesting print-out or scanner- input and plural servers 200 having means to receive requests from the CCP 400 and to execute the request are connected on the same network. The server 200 has a means storing information relating to a scanner 100 and a printer 300 connecting to the network, a means analyzing a keyed-in command, and a means informing the CCP 400 of the stored information relating to the scanner and the printer. Furthermore, the CCP 400 has a means acquiring the information relating to the scanner and the printer from the server 200 and a means selecting its own operation based on the acquired information. As a result, efficient scanner-input and print-out is attained without caring about special limit items.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scanner / printer server system in which a client user inputs and outputs image data to a scanner / printer server on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, when a document, an image, etc. created and converted on a computer is output from a printer, or when image data is fetched from a scanner, these computers, printers, scanners, etc. are connected via a network. By doing so, it has become possible for one client user to use a plurality of printers and scanners.

[0003]

However, in this case, in order to obtain the expected input / output results, each client user has restrictions on the scanner / printer used (available paper size, presence / absence of ADF / sorter, maximum reading). It is necessary to always be aware of size etc. If an I / O request that exceeds the limit is mistakenly made, either an error occurs and no I / O result is obtained, or an unexpected I / O result is obtained. However, when the scanner / printer is installed at a position distant from the user or when the number of scanners / printers is large, it is difficult for the user to always be aware of the restrictions of the scanner / printer.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a scanner / printer on a network can be used without being aware of the restrictions of the scanner / printer used by a client user.
An object of the present invention is to provide a server system that can input and output image data using a printer.

In order to achieve the above object, a plurality of client computers requesting print output or scanner input and a server having means for executing the requests in response to the requests from the client computers are connected on the same network. The above-mentioned server is configured such that the server stores information about scanners and printers connected via a network, a means for analyzing queued commands, and a stored scanner.
Means for notifying information about the printer to the client computer, and the client computer for obtaining information about the scanner and printer from the server, and means for switching the operation of itself based on the obtained information. An object of the present invention is to provide a server system characterized by having.

[0006]

According to the present invention, according to the above configuration, when a client user uses a scanner or printer connected on a network, efficient scanner input can be performed without being aware of restrictions on the scanner or printer. And print output can be performed.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a scanner / printer server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system of this embodiment has a digital image reading unit (hereinafter referred to as a "scanner") (100) on the upper portion and a digital image printing unit (hereinafter referred to as a printer) for printing out a digital image. (30)
0), a digital copying machine (1000), a scanner / printer server (200) connected to the network (1), and a plurality of client user computers (400).

FIG. 2 has a scanner / printer function,
The structure of this digital copying machine (1000) is shown.

In the scanner (100) section, the scanner controller (101) is at the center of control and performs the following control.

First, the exposure system controller (103) controls the contact type CCD line sensor to scan the document on the document table and convert it into an analog image signal corresponding to the density of each pixel. This analog image signal is sent to the A / D converter for each color.
It is converted into a digital image signal of bit. This image signal (digital) is converted by the image processing unit (102) from its brightness level to a level corresponding to the toner amount which is the density. Next, the image processing unit (102) performs various image processing such as composition, scaling, and movement.

In the printer (300) section, the scanner (1
The digital image signal sent from the (00) unit is converted into the lighting signal of the semiconductor laser unit, and the laser drive unit (31
The laser is controlled in 0), and the lighting signal of the laser is output as a pulse width corresponding to the level of the digital image signal.

The laser lighting level is 256 levels (8
It corresponds to bit). In accordance with the digital image signal to be output, the image is sequentially exposed / developed (314) on the photosensitive drum (315) in a digital dot format, a plurality of images are transferred (316) to the sheet, and finally fixed (322). It is an electrophotographic laser beam printer.

This scanner (100) unit and printer (3
The 00) section controls the printer (300) by the control of the scanner (100) section, and can also function as a digital copying machine (1000).

When it also functions as a digital copying machine (1000), an original image is set on the original plate of the scanner (100) unit, the copy start key is pressed, and the image is read from the scanner unit according to the above-mentioned process, and image processing is performed. An image is formed through the processes of exposure, development, transfer, and fixing in the printer (300) unit, and is output as a grayscale copy.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the client computer (400) on the network.

The client computer (400) is
A network controller (420) for controlling a protocol on the network with the scanner / printer server (200), a CPU (405) for central control of a client computer, temporary registration of image data, and storage of various data. Hard disk (451)
And a hard disk controller that controls it (45
0), a main memory (460) and a mouse (431) and a keyboard (441) as means for inputting instructions from an operator.
And a keyboard / mouse controller (430) for controlling them, a color display (412) for performing layout / editing / menu display, a display memory (411), a display controller (4
10) and an image editing controller (41) for performing image layout / editing on the display memory (411).
3).

FIG. 4 shows a scanner / printer server (200) according to the present invention.

This device is roughly divided into a main controller (210) for controlling the entire scanner / printer server (200), a network controller (220) for controlling protocol processing on the network, and a packet extracted by the protocol. Register on the network server controller (221) that controls as a server such as content analysis and image data separation, the hard disk controller (230) that controls a single hard disk or multiple hard disks, the hard disk (231) connected to it, and the hard disk. A queue management controller (270) that manages / controls the generated queuing file data, queue table data (271) about the management information, and a line based on the separated image data / command data. Data image data and the position and attribute information stored / managed, raster image storing unit that performs like layout (700), and a like. The queuing data is command data that is held until it is input and executed.

As the interface, a digital copier (1000) exchanges image data, control information, commands, etc., and, when a plurality of digital copiers (1000) are connected, a digital switch for switching the digital copier (1000). An interface controller (790), a mouse (244) and a keyboard (245) as instruction input means from a server administrator, a keyboard / mouse controller (243) for controlling them, a layout / edit / menu display The display (242), the display memory (241), and the display controller (240).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the raster image storage unit (700) in the scanner / printer server.

The raster image storage unit (700) is an image main controller (710) for controlling the entire raster image data, and memory management for efficiently arranging and managing the raster image data in a raster image memory (760). The controller (720) and its management table (770), the image data that has already been registered, or the image editing controller (730) that performs enlargement / reduction / deformation editing when registering an image on the memory, and outputs to the printer unit. A layout controller (750) for performing layout editing in real time is mainly configured.

When outputting the image data on the memory, the digital interface controller (79
Image data can be transferred to the digital printer unit (300) via 0) to obtain a print image.

Raster image storage unit (700) and scanner /
The image data and commands with the main bus of the printer server (200) are based on a specific format, and the image main controller (710) and the scanner / printer server (via the bus controller (740). 200) to communicate with the main controller.

The raster image storage unit (700) can manage image data in two modes: a file management mode and a page mode.

The first file management mode is a function of storing / managing a plurality of image data, and the stored image data is registered by an instruction from the main controller (210) of the scanner / printer server. Lay out a plurality of image data respectively, and through the digital interface controller (790),
A print image can be obtained by outputting to the digital printer unit (300). At that time, the plurality of image data are respectively converted into image files as raster image memories (76
0) is managed by being divided into a plurality of parts. The start address on the memory, its image data length, the attribute of the image data,
Position information of layout output of image data is registered in the position / attribute information table (770), and the memory management controller (720) manages it. The position and size designated by the image editing controller (730) that performs image conversion and enlargement / reduction / deformation editing of the registered image data and the layout controller (750) that performs layout editing when actually output. Then, it is output to the digital printer unit (300) through the color digital interface controller (790). Therefore, since the original image data is always on the memory, it is possible to change the layout output.

In the page mode, which is another memory management mode, the raster image memory (760) is treated as one sheet, the memory is managed by width (WIDTH) / height (HEIGHT), and a plurality of image data is stored. When each is laid out on the memory, the image is subjected to image conversion such as enlargement / reduction / deformation by the image editing controller (730) and is fitted into the specified layout position on the memory.

In this way, the layout controller (75
The position and size designated by 0) are output to the digital printer unit (300) via the digital interface controller (790).

In order to communicate with each other, the client computer (400) and the scanner print server (200) use a collection of data strings called packets as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as one block, and exchange packets. It is carried out.

The packet structure is such that the destination network address and then the source network address are set at the top, the frame size information of the packet is followed by the actual packet data, and finally the reliability of the data transfer. In order to improve the quality, an error check such as CRC called a tailor is attached. This packet data part (100
02), it is possible to enter arbitrary data, but in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS.
0003) and a data block part (10100).

As shown in FIG. 6, the header part (10003) of the packet data part (10002) first has a header code indicating that it is header information, and then what function this packet data has. A function code section (10020) indicating a continuous packet ID (10030) indicating a continuous NO when one packet is composed of a plurality of packets, a total packet ID (10031) indicating the total number of packets, and an actual packet ID. Data block (1010
It is composed of a data length (10032) indicating the length of the data of 0). Also, the function code part (10
020) is a function ID (10021) indicating the type of scanner / printer server and a job type ID (1002) indicating the type of job for the server.
2), the job ID (10 that identifies the job to be executed
023).

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the data block portion (10100) of the packet data portion (10002) has a command block (10005) according to the contents of the job type ID (10022) of the function code portion of the header portion. , Status block (10006),
It is divided into an image data block (10007) and an image information block (10008).

A command block (10005)
Is composed of layout positions, color balance data, etc., as shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 shows the general flow of the print operation procedure of the scanner / printer server system having the above configuration. The procedure shown in the figure will be described in detail below.

<Activation of Scanner / Printer Server> When the scanner / printer server (200) is activated, first, the main controller (210) detects the restrictions concerning the connected digital copying machine (1000). It controls the digital interface controller (790) and sends a command requesting notification of restrictions to all connected digital copying machines (1000). The restrictions are parameters that depend on the capability of the copying machine, such as maximum image reading range / maximum resolution of the scanner, maximum output range / maximum resolution / maximum number of layouts of the printer, and usable paper size. Digital copier (100
The interface controller (104) of 0) acquires a code uniquely corresponding to the content of each restriction from the scanner controller (101) and the printer controller (301), and acquires this code from the scanner / printer server (200). ) Is notified. The digital interface controller (790) which has received the notification from the copying machine side notifies the main controller (210) of the information regarding the acquired restrictions, and the main controller (210) stores the information in the main memory (260). It is stored as data (FIG. 10) (S1).

The scanner / printer server (20
0) while the digital copying machine (1000) is turned off or the paper cassette (32)
Since the state of 3) may be changed, the above-mentioned restrictions are detected regularly.

<Layout Process on Client Computer> (FIG. 13) On the client computer (400), the DTP
The software of (disk top publishing) uses the main memory (46) from the hard disk (451).
0) and is executed by the CPU (405) (S21). The user confirms on the display (412), the mouse (431) / keyboard (44
1) is used to display the layout of the document and various image data (illustration formed by vector / multivalued image such as natural image captured by a scanner) (41
2) Directly while confirming the above (S22).

When a multi-valued natural image is laid out on a document image, it is also possible to add a mask process to the image and crop it with a binary bitmap image.

The image editing controller (413) registers the processing procedure / multi-valued image data / binary bit map mask image etc. of any document image created during that time on the main memory (460) at any time (S23 ... S25) When the appearance of one page is completed, the hard disk controller (450) is controlled to register the appearance of one page on the hard disk (451) (S26).

<Generation of Raster Image> During this time, the document image developed on the display memory (411) is displayed on the display (412) by this, and when finally completed, the document image laid out on the hard disk. The device driver software in the ROM converts the document or image laid out and converted into a multi-valued raster image on the basis of the various kinds of information (S28). At this time, position information and color correction information for layout output are registered on the hard disk together with the image data as command data (S2).
9).

The multi-valued raster image converted in this manner has vector-based information such as characters and illustrations, multi-valued raster image data such as a laid out natural image, a mask command for mask processing, and its mask. It is created by device driver software based on the binary bitmap mask image data of the data.

<Request for Print Queue Information / Limitation Information> (FIG. 14) At the time when the raster image image is created, the user issues a print request to the DTP software. In response to this, the client computer (400) instructs the network controller (420) of the network controller (22) of the scanner / printer server (200).
0).

Based on the network address of the scanner / printer server registered in advance in the client computer, the network controller (42
In 0), the destination address of the packet base (10001) is set, and the ID of the printer that is uniquely determined as the ID for identifying the function is set in the function ID of the header part. The job ID has not been confirmed yet, so 0 is set and the job type ID is
The ID of a command that is uniquely determined and indicates that it is a data block of a command is set.

At this time, the data block section sets a printer status request command for obtaining the current print queue status information on the scanner / printer server side and information regarding printer restrictions.

The client computer (400) is
This packet data is sent via the network controller (420) to the scanner / printer server (2
00) (S30).

On the scanner / printer server side, the main controller (210) separates the contents of the packet into a header part and a data block part, analyzes that the contents of the data block part is a command, and outputs the command. Perform processing in line with it. Since the request from the client side is a printer status request command, the main controller (210) uses the specified function I
The queue management controller (270) is requested whether or not there is printer queue information corresponding to D (10021), and the restriction item information table data (FIG. 10) stored in the main memory (260) is referred to. To do.

<Reference to Queuing Table> The queuing table has a structure capable of registering a plurality of print / scan jobs requested by the client (FIG. 8).

The queue management controller checks the queue type in the queuing table and searches for the one corresponding to the designated function ID (10021). If it exists, the entire status information is created from the queuing table data. If there are multiple targets, create multiple status information for multiple minutes.

The data of the overall status information is a queue corresponding to the designated function ID (10021), and the registration queue ID and the server ID / network ID of the scanner / printer server that is the target of the queue.
And the total number of queues currently registered and the error code.

<Reference to Restriction Information> Next, the main controller (210) refers to the restriction information table data (FIG. 10) stored in the main memory (260) and refers to the designated function ID (10021). )
Extract the restriction information corresponding to.

The data of the overall status information and the restriction information is set in the data block part of the packet data, and the job type ID in the header is used as the ID of the status block and is returned to the client computer that issued the status request. (S31).

At this time, if there is no queue information or restriction information, a uniquely determined error code is set in the data block portion of the packet data and returned to the client computer that issued the status request.

<Print Setting by User> The client computer divides / analyzes the contents of the packet data returned from the file server in the same manner as the above-mentioned file server, and the registration queue ID corresponding to the currently valid scanner / printer server, The restricted item information of the printer corresponding to the designated function ID (10021) is obtained (S32).

Then, the device driver on the client computer displays a setting screen in order to prompt the user to make settings relating to printing. At this time, the range of parameters to be set is determined based on the obtained restriction item information, and the user is urged to set within the range (S33).

In FIG. 11, the maximum resolution is 2 as a limitation.
This is a setting screen when 00 dpi, usable paper size = A4, B4, and no sorter. In this setting screen, the setting range of resolution is specified, and the unusable paper size and setting items for sorter control are dim.
The range of parameters that can be set is specified to the user by changing the setting (keying or mouse input is disabled to shade the figure).

If the user is satisfied with the printer restrictions specified by himself, the user can actually print by clicking the "OK" button after setting each parameter. If you are not satisfied with the restrictions of the printer you specified, click the "Cancel" button to close this setting screen, specify another printer again, and then issue a print request again.

<Register job in queuing table>
The device driver on the client computer sets the destination address of the packet-based (10001) file server by the same procedure as the above-mentioned status request command issuance, and the function ID of the header part.
A printer ID, which is uniquely determined as an ID for identifying a function, is set in the. The job ID is set to 0 because the job has not been confirmed yet, and the job type I
In D, the ID of a command that is uniquely determined and indicates that the command is a data block is set. At this time, the data block section sets a job registration command for registering a new print job in the print queue on the file server side, and also sets the parameter of the determined registration queue ID in the command section. Similarly, this packet is issued to the scanner / printer server (S34).

<Issue New Job ID of Scanner / Printer Server> On the scanner / printer server side, the main controller (210) separates the contents of the packet into a header section and a data block section, as described above. It analyzes that the content of the data block part is a command, and performs processing according to the job registration command. The main controller (210) sends the registration queue I specified in the job registration command to the queue management controller.
A new job is newly registered in the queuing table of the printer corresponding to D, and the job ID at that time is newly issued. At that time, as the status, the job ID is set in the status block of the packet to be returned, and the packet is returned to the client computer by the procedure described above.

After that, the scan / print process is performed in the network using the job ID as an identification key.

<Client Print Job Registration / Image Data Transfer> The client device driver obtains the job ID from the status packet returned from the scanner / printer server (S35). The rasterized image data registered on the hard disk and the command data containing the layout information are read, the packet-based job ID is set to the same value as obtained, and the command type is set as the job type ID. set. At this time, the data block section sets a print execution command, and in the command section, layout information to be printed, print information such as color balance information, number of prints, print size, magnification, output resolution, and the image of the image data. Size (width,
Height), image data type (RGB, CMYK, Bi
parameters such as tmap, 8 bit Palette), image data transfer unit (line sequential, area sequential, dot sequential), sorter control information, and the like. At this time, the number of packets of the entire image data block to be sent after the command block is calculated from the image data size and the image type, and the total number of packets (including command packets) is calculated as the total packet of the header. Set to ID. These packets are continuously transferred from the client computer to the scanner / printer server by the procedure described above (S36).

In the continuous transfer of packets, some command packets are transferred first, and subsequently, packets of image data are transferred (S37). Command, image data, transfer of each Job type ID in the next header
Sets the respective types, and the job ID is registered in the queue. The continuous packet IDs of the header part are sequentially transmitted from 0 to the total packet ID-1 from the packet from the beginning (S).
38).

<Scanner / Printer Server Queue Registration> On the scanner / printer server side, the command packet / image data packet from the above-mentioned client is received, and it is checked whether or not the designated job ID exists. Incoming files are sequentially registered in the hard disk in the scanner / printer server (S39). Then, the ID of the queuing file registered in the hard disk of the scanner / printer server is registered in the queue of the job ID obtained from this command packet (S40). The job ID and the queuing file ID are managed as one set in the queuing table. In addition, the command packet / image data packet registered on the hard disk is
It is managed as one file data on the scanner / printer server.

<Queue Check of Scanner / Printer Server> (FIG. 15) The main controller (210) of the scanner / printer server (200) has a queue management controller (27) at regular intervals registered in the ROM (260).
0) requesting queuing table information (S)
50). When a newly registered job is found from this queuing table information (S51), the corresponding file information (the packet data from the client is registered as a file) is read from the hard disk (231) and the file is read. Only the command packet portion is extracted from the information (S52).

<Image File ID Request> The main controller (21) of the scanner / printer server (200)
0), so that it operates in the file management mode described above,
The image controller (710) of the raster image storage unit is set up via the bus controller (740). As a result, the image controller initializes the memory management controller in order to manage the raster image memory in the file management mode and stores the queued image data in the raster image memory (76).
In order to register in 0), an arbitrary file ID of image data at the time of registration is set in the memory management controller (S53). The memory management controller uses this as an image file ID for management / identification.

The print information / image attribute parameters of the queuing image data are stored in the position information table (77).
0) (S54).

<Transfer of Image Data Section to Raster Image Memory> The main controller (210) extracts only the image data section from the file information of the cuing file previously obtained on the hard disk (231), and extracts the image data section. The image data is transferred to the raster image memory (760) (S55). The transferred image data is managed by dividing the raster image memory (760) into a plurality of image files, and the start address and the image data length of the memory, the attribute of the image data, the layout output position of the image data are stored in the memory. Image file ID described above, such as information
Based on the information registered in the position / attribute information table (770) corresponding to the raster image memory (76
0) is registered.

<Layout Output of Image Data> After the registration of all the image data packets, the main controller (21
0) is the number of prints in the position / attribute information table,
The layout information is set in the layout controller (750) when outputting the layout (S56), and the layout controller performs enlargement / reduction / deformation editing to the designated position and size (S57) to convert the raster image data to the digital interface. The image is transferred via the controller (790) and output to the digital printer unit (300) (S58) to print the image requested by the user.

<Status information setting such as output / completion>
In this way, the status that the scanner / printer server is executing is determined by the queue management controller (27
0) and it is possible to monitor.
The status includes a job ID set in the current print output execution queue, the current number of output sheets, and an output end flag.

Only the status flow will be described below.

First, when the command parameter is registered in the raster image storage unit, the ID of the job to be executed is set in the execution queue (10203) of the queuing table, the job status (10215) is set to data transfer, and the print Print the total number of prints (10
216) and the number of printed sheets (1021
Set 7) to 1.

When the raster image storage unit (700) starts print output, the main controller (2
In step 10), the job status (10215) of the job data in the queuing table is set to print execution.

At the time when printing is started, the main controller (210) inquires the raster image storage unit (700) about the printing status at regular intervals, and as a result, the current number of printed sheets and the error status such as no paper, etc. Is confirmed, and the information is set in the parameter of the printing executed (10311) in the queuing table (S
59).

<Client Status Information Monitoring> The client computer (400) issues a print execution packet, and after issuing all command packets and image data packets, the status of the queuing table on the scanner / printer server side. Will be monitored. The CPU (405) of the client computer (400) is connected to the network controller (42
0), the command packet of the job status request command is issued. This command packet returns the job information in the queuing table of the job ID specified as a parameter to the client side, which allows the information of the current job to be monitored.

The job information is monitored by the CPU (405) of the client computer (400) based on the status information obtained from the scanner / printer server and the job ID of the data printed out and the registration destination scanner / printer server. The ID and the queuing table are displayed on the display controller (410). Each ID can also be displayed in contrast with the unique name managed on the scanner / printer server / client computer.
It is also possible to make the identification for the server easier to see. In the displayed queuing table of the scanner / printer server, it is possible to display the current execution process of the scanner / printer server, the number of printed sheets, and the error status. Scanner by packet of /
Obtain from the printer server side.

The client side can know the completion of printing by this monitor function (S
60).

[0077]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, efficient scanner input and printer output can be performed without being aware of restrictions on the scanners and printers connected to the network. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a scanner / printer system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a digital copying machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a client computer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a scanner / printer server according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a raster image storage unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a network packet unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a data block unit of a network packet according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a queuing table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a data block portion of a print execution command according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a scanner / printer restriction item information table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a printer setting screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a general flowchart of the server system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart 1 of the server system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart 2 of the server system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart 3 of the server system according to the embodiment.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A server system having a network function, wherein one or more client computers that issue a request for print output or scanner input, and a request from the client computer are executed on the network. And one or more servers having means, said servers storing means for storing information about scanners, printers connected by a network, means for parsing queued commands, and scanners for storing. , Means for notifying the client computer of information about the printer, and the client computer means for obtaining information about the scanner and printer from the server, and means for switching its operation based on the obtained information. With A server system characterized by: 2. The server system according to claim 1, wherein the server has a function of queuing print output or scanner input request and image data from a client computer. 3. The queuing information and image data registered in the server have a function of being managed as file data on a scanner / printer server separately from a queuing management table. Server system. 4. The queuing information and image data registered in the server have a function of being managed by a plurality of unique IDs that have meaning on the server.
Server system.