JP2829553B2 - Distributed processing controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distributed processing in which a plurality of service providing apparatuses such as printers and a plurality of processing request apparatuses for generating print requests are connected to each other via a communication network or the like. The present invention relates to a distributed processing control device in a system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been a distributed processing control system in which a plurality of service providing apparatuses and a plurality of systems for issuing service requests to these service providing apparatuses are connected to a network cable or the like. Hereinafter, as an example of the distributed processing system in the present invention, a system including a printer as a service providing apparatus and a printer control system that generates a print request as a processing requesting apparatus will be described. In this case, the processing performed in each service providing device corresponds to a print processing of a plurality of sheets. As is well known, when printing with one printer,
The time required for processing is almost proportional to the print amount. Further, the printing process can be usually divided into page units.

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of a distributed processing system in which a plurality of printers and a plurality of printer control systems are connected. Referring to FIG. 25, the system includes a first printer 18 connected to a network cable 10.
A second printer 20, a third printer 22, a first printer control system (hereinafter referred to as "PCS") 14 for generating an output command for each printer, and controlling printer printing. , A second PCS 16.

[0004] The PCSs 14 and 16 each correspond to a document editing system or the like. In this case, when the user wants to print a document, an output command is given to one of the printers 18, 20, and 22 via one of the PCSs 14 and 16 to perform printing.

In such a distributed processing control system, there are the following two methods for controlling print processing using the printers 18, 20, and 22.

(1) First method FIG. 26 is a flowchart for controlling a printer according to the first method. Referring to FIG. 26, PCS14
Alternatively, when a print request is issued from 16, it is determined in steps S401 to S403 whether each of the printers 18, 20, and 22 is in use. Printer 18, 2
If either 0 or 22 is empty, the printer is used, and the following processing is performed to indicate to another PCS that the printer will be used from now on.

For example, it is assumed that the first printer 18 is determined to be idle by the processing of step 401. In this case, the control proceeds to step S410, in which the first printer 18 is set to the use state, and subsequently, to step S411.
Then, printing is performed using the first printer 18 by the number of sheets for which a print request has been issued. Then, in step S412, the first printer 18 is returned to the empty state again, and the processing for this print request is ended.

[0008] Even when it is determined in step S402 that the second printer 20 is idle, the same processing is performed on the second printer by the processing in steps S407 to S409. Third in step S403
When it is determined that the printer 22 is idle, the same processing is performed in steps S404 to S406.

If it is determined in any of steps S401 to S403 that the printer is not idle, the control returns to step S401, and thereafter, in step S40
By repeating the processing of 1 to S403,
A process of waiting until any one of the first printer 18, the second printer 20, and the third printer 22 becomes idle is performed.

The order of determination in steps S401 to S403 is arbitrary, but is generally convenient for a user who has issued a print request, such as searching from the PCS which has issued a print command in order of distance from the PCS which has generated the print command. It is common that a printer is used first. For each PCS, the system can be configured so that the search order is registered and stored in advance, and the search order can be re-registered by moving a place.

[0011] (2) Second Method The second method, when generating a print command from the PCS, there is a method to specify whether to output in advance to which printer. FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating this method.

Referring to FIG. 27, first, at step S501.
Is used to determine whether the specified printer is currently in use. If it is in use, the process returns to step S5
Returning to step 01, this determination is repeated. Then, the process proceeds to step S502 only when the designated printer is idle.

In step S502, the designated printer is put into a use state in order to clearly indicate to another printer control system that the designated printer will be used.

Subsequently, in step S503, the necessary printing is performed by the designated printer. Further, in step S504, after printing is completed, all designated printers are returned to the idle state, and the printers can be used by other systems.

[0015]

However, the above-mentioned conventional method has the following problems.

In the first method, a vacant printer is searched in order, and printing is performed using the vacant printer as soon as the vacant printer is found. For this reason, even when the printer control system and the printer are located at a long distance, if the printer is idle, printing is performed using the printer. The user needs to go to the printer to get the print result. For this reason, the result of obtaining a print result may be delayed rather than the case where printing is performed using a nearby printer after the use state of the nearby printer is released.

In this regard, according to the second method, a user can specify a printer to be printed. for that reason,
It is possible to use the printer that is most convenient for the user. However, if the specified printer remains in use for a long time, printing cannot be performed by the printer control system that has specified that printer as the output destination, and printing will continue until the specified printer is idle. A situation arises in which it cannot be obtained at all.

In either of the above two methods, processing for one print request is performed using one printer. For this reason, when multiple printers are connected to the system, one printer must print even if other printers are idle, and these multiple printers can be used effectively. It is desired that the printing result can be obtained earlier.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a distributed processing system in which a plurality of service providing means are connected, to effectively utilize these service providing means, and thereby to provide a processing result. Of the present invention is to provide a distributed processing control device capable of controlling a distributed processing system that can obtain the data at an early stage.

[0020]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus comprising: a communication unit; a plurality of service providing units connected to the communication unit for performing predetermined processes of the same type; In a distributed processing system including a plurality of processing request means connected to each other and each independently generating a service provision request for each service providing apparatus, a service provision request from the processing request means is distributed to a plurality of service providing means. It is a distributed processing control device for dividing. The time required for executing the predetermined process by each service providing device is as follows:
It depends on the service provision request given. Further, the predetermined processing can be executed in a divided manner. The distributed processing control device according to claim 1 is connected to a distance storage unit for storing a distance between each processing request unit and each service providing unit in advance, and a communication unit, and is connected to one of the processing request units. A request generation detecting means for detecting that a service provision request has occurred, and a service provided based on the contents of the service provision request detected by the request generation detection means and the storage contents of the distance storage means, which are connected to the communication means. And a distribution unit for dividing the provision request according to predetermined conditions and distributing the division to one or more service provision units via the communication unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a manually operable device for allowing an operator to update the storage content of the distance storage means. It includes a distance storage updating means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus including a division table storing means for storing a division table for storing a plurality of divided memories. Each division rule includes a predetermined condition for dividing a service provision request, and a method of dividing a service provision request that satisfies the condition depending on storage in a distance storage unit. 4. The distributed processing control apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a division table search unit configured to search and extract a division rule satisfying the service provision request detected by the request generation detection unit from the division table. According to the division rule retrieved by the division table retrieval means and the contents stored in the distance storage means, the service provision request whose occurrence has been detected by the request occurrence detection means is divided, and the request is transmitted to one or more service provision means via the communication means Includes division / transfer means for transfer.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the distributed processing control apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the distribution unit further detects occurrence of a predetermined change condition and stores the predetermined change condition in the division table storage unit. And a partition table changing means for changing the contents of the divided table.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the divided table changing means is configured to generate a request for changing the divided table by manually operating the divided table. A change request generating means, and a manually operable input means for responding to the change request of the division table and allowing the contents of the division table to be changed by the input of the operator.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the division table changing means includes a service providing status monitor for monitoring a service providing status of each service providing means. Means for automatically changing the contents of the divided table according to a predetermined divided table change rule in response to the monitoring result of the service provision status monitoring means.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the division table includes a plurality of operator groups prepared in advance for each predetermined operator group. Includes separate partition table. The distribution unit further includes an operator group determining unit for determining a group to which the operator who has issued the service providing request whose occurrence has been detected by the request occurrence detecting unit belongs. The division table search means retrieves and fetches a division rule satisfying the service provision request detected by the request generation detection means from the selected operator group division table according to the determination result of the operator group determination means. Group-by-operator group division table searching means for searching.

An operation processing control device according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is the operation processing control device according to the first aspect, further comprising a reference time required for data transfer between each service providing means and the communication means via the communication means. It includes a data transfer required time storage means for storing. The distribution unit divides the service provision request according to predetermined conditions based on the contents of the service provision request detected by the request occurrence detection unit, the storage contents of the distance storage unit, and the storage contents of the data transfer required time storage unit. And means for allocating to one or more service providing means.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing control apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a circulating device for circulating from each request generating unit to each service providing unit selected by the distribution unit. Tour order determining means for determining the order, travel time storage means for storing in advance the travel time required for moving between the service providing means, and a tour determined by the tour order determining means Based on the order and the travel time required to move each service providing means, the required time required to execute the processing of the service providing means that the operator circulates first in the determined patrol order is followed by Correction means for correcting the result of the distribution of the processing by the distribution means so as to be shorter than the time required for execution of the processing of the service providing means by the operator.

The distributed processing control device according to claim 10 is
10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the correcting unit is configured to end the execution of the processing by each service providing unit at a time when the operator is expected to make a tour of each service providing unit according to the patrol order. And means for correcting the result of the distribution of the processes by.

[0030]

According to the distributed processing control device of the first aspect,
When a service providing request is generated by any of the processing requesting means, the request is detected by the request occurrence detecting means, and the contents of the service providing request and the processing requesting means which generated the service providing request stored in the distance storage means in advance. Based on the distance between the service providing means and each service providing means, the service providing request is divided according to a predetermined condition and distributed to one or more service providing means. The service provision means
Since the selection is made based on the distance from the processing requesting unit in which the request has occurred, the time until the operator finally obtains the processing result can be shortened. Further, since the service providing request is distributed to one or more service providing means and processed, the use efficiency of the service providing means is improved and the time required for the processing can be shortened.

In the distributed processing control device according to the second aspect, the storage contents of the distance storage means can be manually updated by the distance storage update means. Therefore, even when the arrangement of the processing request unit or the service providing unit is changed, the same operation as the distributed processing control device according to the first aspect can be obtained.

According to the distributed processing control device of the third aspect, in the distributed processing control device of the first aspect, the service provision request is divided according to a division rule satisfied by the service provision request, and one or more service provision requests are divided. Transferred to service providing means. By knowing which division rule condition the service provision request satisfies, it is possible to improve the use efficiency of the service provision means and to divide and transfer the service provision request so that the processing is completed early.

According to the distributed processing control device of the fourth aspect, the contents of the division table of the device of the third aspect can be changed. Therefore, it is possible to optimally change the division rule according to a change in the use environment or data obtained according to the progress of use, thereby improving the use efficiency of the service providing means and further reducing the time required for processing.

According to the distributed processing control device of the fifth aspect, the division table can be changed using the input means when the operator issues a request to change the division table.

In the distributed processing control device according to the sixth aspect,
In the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the service providing status of the service providing means is monitored, and based on the monitoring result, the contents of the division table are automatically changed according to a predetermined change rule. Therefore, it is possible to divide the service provision request based on the service provision status so as to further improve the use efficiency of the service provision means and further reduce the processing time.

According to the distributed processing control device of the seventh aspect, in the device of the third aspect, the division table is prepared in advance for each operator group. Since the generated service provision request is divided and transferred according to different rules for each operator group, the service provision request can be divided for each user group so as to obtain the processing result in the minimum time. it can.

According to the distributed processing control device of the eighth aspect, in the device of the first aspect, when distributing the service provision request to the service provision unit, the distribution between the processing request unit and each service provision unit is performed. And the time required for data transfer between the processing requesting means and each service providing means. As compared with the case where the data transfer time is not considered, it is possible to further improve the use efficiency of the service providing means and to divide and distribute the service providing request so that the processing result can be obtained earlier.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the distributed processing control apparatus according to the first aspect, for circulating from the request generation means having generated the service provision request to each service provision means selected by the distribution means. According to the tour order,
In accordance with the required travel time during that time, the service provision request can be distributed such that the service providing means that travels later travels until later than the service providing means that travels earlier. The time during the movement of the operator for obtaining the result of the distributed processing can be more efficiently used than before.

In the distributed processing control device according to the tenth aspect, in the device according to the ninth aspect, the execution of the process by each service providing unit ends at a time when the operator is expected to visit each service providing unit. In this way, the service provision request is distributed to each service providing means.
Since the operator can perform all the time between traveling and moving around each service providing means to obtain the result of the distributed processing, the utilization efficiency of the service providing means is improved and the shortest time is obtained. To obtain a processing result.

[0040]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a distributed processing system including a printer monitoring system according to an embodiment of the distributed processing control apparatus of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the system includes a network cable 10, a first printer control system 14 connected to the network cable 10, a second printer control system 16, a first printer 18,
It includes a second printer 20, a third printer 22, and a printer monitoring system 12 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Printer control systems 14, 16 and printers 18, 2
Reference numerals 0 and 22 are the same as those in the related art shown in FIG. Note that the printer control system is hereinafter referred to as PCS.

Referring to FIG. 2, a printer monitoring system 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a common bus 24 connected to the network cable 10 and a first PCS operation control device 26 connected to the common bus 24. , A second PCS operation control device 28, a first printer operation control device 30, a second printer operation control operation 32, a third printer operation control device 34, and a connection between these devices 36 to 34. A connection control device 36 for controlling the connection state and a print request generated from the PCS operation control devices 26 and 28 are divided and distributed to at least one of the printer operation control devices 30, 32 and 34. Based on the print content division device 38, the name of the PCS device that issued the print request, and the number of prints, to determine the range within which the printer is to be used from the PCS For each PCS, a divided table management device 40 for managing the relationship between the number of prints and the maximum distance to the printer to be used in a table format, the name of the PCS that issued the print request, and the number of prints corresponding to the number of prints In order to specify the printer to be used according to the maximum distance to the printer, a distance table management device 42 for storing such information in a table format, the printer to be used, and the printer monitoring system 12 to use them. And a data transmission table management device 44 for managing the reference transmission time to the printer in a table format.

Referring to FIG. 3, connection control device 36 includes first PCS 14 (see FIG. 1) and second PCS 16 (see FIG. 1).
Arbitration device 48 for determining which print request is to be used when a print request is issued at the same time from
And selecting one of the print information output from the first PCS operation control device 26 and the second PCS operation control device 28 in accordance with the determination of the arbitration device 48,
A print information switching circuit 46 for supplying the information to the print contents dividing device 38, a divided contents holding device 50 which operates according to the divided contents 100 given from the printed contents dividing device 38, and a PCS operation control device Print data 8 output by 26 and 28 respectively
4, a print data switching circuit 52 for switching any one of the printer operation control devices 30, 32, and 34 according to the content of division 100 and transmitting the same.

Referring to FIG. 4, print information switching circuit 46
Is the divided content 98 given from the print content dividing device 38.
a to give the PCS operation control devices 26 and 28 as divided contents 82a and 90a, respectively.
R, BF2R, and PCS operation controllers 26, 2 respectively.
8 includes buffers BF1T and BF2T for giving the print number information 82b and 90a given from 8 to the print content dividing device 38 as print number information 98b. Buffer BF
1R and BF1T both operate in accordance with a control signal ON1 provided from the arbitration device 48. Buffer BF2R,
Each of the BF2Ts operates according to a control signal ON2 given from the arbitrating device 48. Control signals ON1, ON2
Change complementarily to each other as described later.

Referring to FIG. 5, buffer control signal 102 provided from divided content holding device 50 to print data switching circuit 52 includes control signals ON11, ON12, ON13,
ON21, ON22, and ON23 are included.

Each of the print data switching circuits 52 has a first
Buffers BF11, BF12, and BF13 for receiving print data 84 from the PCS operation control device 26, and print data 9 from the second PCS operation control device 28, respectively.
Buffers BF21, BF22, BF2 for receiving the
3 is included. The buffer BF11 and the output of the buffer BF21 are connected, and are connected to the printer operation control device 30. The outputs of the buffer BF12 and the buffer BF22 are connected together and are connected to the printer operation control device 32. The buffer BF13 and the output of the buffer BF23 are connected together, and are connected to the printer operation control device.

The buffers BF11, BF12, BF13,
BF21, BF22 and BF23 are control signals ON11 and ON1 provided from the divided content holding device 50, respectively.
2. The operation is controlled by ON13, ON21, ON22, and ON23. Control signals ON11 and ON21, O
N12 and ON22 and ON13 and ON23 change complementarily to each other.

Referring to FIG. 6, print content dividing device 38
Includes a division content calculation device 54 connected to the connection control device 36, the division table management device 40, the distance table management device 42, and the data transmission table management device 44. The PCS name 96 output from the connection control device 36 is directly input to the distance table management device 42. The distance information output from the division table management device 40 is directly provided to the distance table management device 42. The print number information 98 given from the connection control device 36 is given to both the division table management device 40 and the division content calculation device 54. Information on the selected printer name output from the distance table management device 42 is given to both the data transmission table management device 44 and the division content calculation device 54. Data transmission table management device 4
The data transmission time given from 4 is given to the division content calculation device 54. The division content 100 calculated by the division content calculation device 54 is given to the connection control device 36.

Referring to FIG. 7, divided table management device 4
0 is connected to a division table 64 storing the distance between each PCS and each printer in a table format and as a separate table for each user, a print content division device 38 and a division table 64, Print content dividing device 38
And the user name are received from the
To determine the printer within a distance from the PCS that issued the print request, and a rule reading control device 70 for giving the distance to the print content dividing device 38; A registration device 66 for use when the contents are rewritten by a system administrator or the like, and rules for rewriting the contents of the division table 64 in accordance with user information, print number information, control method information, and the like provided from the registration device 66. And a write request recognition device 68.

The rules for division stored in the division table 64 are in the format shown in Table 1.

[0050]

[Table 1]

Referring to Table 1, the rules for the divided table are as follows:
The maximum distance of the printer to be used is given according to the number of prints and the user name. At this time, along with the distance, the upper limit of the number of printers to be used is also determined.
This is given to the print content dividing device 38 via the rule reading control device 70.

In FIG. 7, the division table 64 is separately registered for each user. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the user need not be distinguished. In this case, when rewriting the division table 64 using the registration device 66, there is no need to specify and rewrite a specific user. Also, the print content dividing device 38
Therefore, there is no need to give a user name to the rule reading control device 70. However, when rewriting the contents of the division table 64 using the registration device 66, it is desirable to input a password or the like given to the system administrator in order to indicate that the user has the authority to rewrite the division table.

Referring to FIG. 8, distance table management device 4
2 is a distance table 58 that stores the distance between each PCS and the printer in a table format in association with each other, and the maximum distance obtained by referring to the PCS name and the division table from the print content division device 38. Received, referring to the distance table 58,
A data reading control device 56 for outputting a printer name existing within the distance, a registration device 60 for use by an operator when rewriting the contents of the distance table 58, and an input from the registration device 60. Distance table 5 according to information
8 for rewriting the write request.

The contents stored in the distance table 58 are, for example, as shown in Table 2.

[0055]

[Table 2]

Table 2 shows a table format in which the distances between the first and second PCSs and the first, second, and third printers are represented by relative values expressed on the basis of a predetermined distance. Has become. Referring to Table 2, the distance between the second PCS and the first printer is 3 units, the distance between the second PCS and the first printer is 5 units, and the distance between the first PCS and the second printer is 5 units. It is shown that the distance to the printer is 10 units or the like. For example, the distance between the first PCS and the second printer is 10 units, and the distance between the second PCS and the second printer is 5 units, so that the former is twice as large as the latter. It turns out that it is distance.

Using the registration device 60, the distance table 58
Can be rewritten. In this case, in order to indicate that the operator who operates the registration device 60 has authority to change the storage content of the distance table 58, for example, a system administrator, the registration device 60 sends the write request recognition device 62 In this case, user information indicating that the user is a system administrator is given and checked. The operator
Using the registration device 60, the printer name and PCS to be changed
And the distance between them. The write request recognition device 62 rewrites the distance between the printer and the PCS stored in the distance table 68 based on the input information. This rewriting is performed according to a write signal provided from write request recognition device 62.

By rewriting the contents of distance table 58 using registration device 60, for example, the contents of the distance table shown in Table 2 can be rewritten to the distance table shown in Table 3. Can be.

[0059]

[Table 3]

Comparing Tables 3 and 2, it can be seen that the distance between the second printer and the first and second PCS has been changed from 10,5 to 5,20, respectively. . This is because when the setting position of the printer 2 is changed and the distances between the second printer and the first PCS and the second PCS are changed accordingly, the state is changed. This is a process for matching the contents of the distance table 58. In addition, when a new printer is added or a new printer control system is added to the network, the contents of the distance table 58 need to be changed.

Data reading from distance table 58 is performed as follows. The print contents division device 38 receives the maximum distance read from the division table management device 40 and the name of the PCS that has issued the print request from the print contents division device 38, and stores the corresponding PCS name in the distance table 58 and each printer. Find out the distance between. When a printer smaller than the maximum distance is found, the printer name is given to the print content dividing device 38 each time. The data reading at this time is performed according to a read signal given from data reading control device 56 to distance table 58.

The configuration of the data transmission table management device 44 is the same as the configuration of the divided table management device 40 and the distance table management device 42. However, in this case, the information that the data transmission table management device 44 obtains from the print content division device 38 is the printer name, and the information given from the data transmission table management device 44 to the print content division device 38 generates a print request. This is information indicating the time required for the data transfer time between the PCS and each printer.
For this purpose, the data transmission table managed by the data transmission table management device 44 has a format as shown in Table 4.

[0063]

[Table 4]

Referring to Table 4, the time required to transmit a predetermined amount of data between the first PCS and the first, second, and third printers is 10 units, 20 units, respectively.
10 units. Also in Table 4, since the data transmission time may be represented by a relative amount, the data transmission time is represented not by the actual data transmission time but by a predetermined data transmission time as a unit. Similarly, the data transmission time between the second PCS and the first, second, and third printers is one each.
0 units, 100 units, and 20 units.

The first PCS operation control device 26 will be described with reference to FIG. Second PCS operation control device 28
Is the same, so the details are omitted here. Referring to FIG. 9, first PCS operation control device 26 includes a timing signal generation circuit 72, a decoder circuit 74, and a transmission data creation circuit 76. The timing signal generation circuit 72 is supplied with a basic clock signal from a clock signal generation circuit (not shown). The timing signal generation circuit 72 includes two timing signals tm1, tm
m2, which are connected to generate a transmission data generating circuit 76 and a decoder circuit 74, respectively. The decoder circuit 74 is connected to the common bus 24, decodes information provided from the first PCS 14 via the common bus 24, and sends a print request signal 80, print data 84 Print number information 82b;
And a page end signal 82d. Decoder circuit 74
Supplies the print request signal 80 to the transmission data creation circuit 76 as well.

The transmission data creation circuit 76 is connected to the common bus 24
It is connected to the. Then, the division content 82a and the weight signal 82c given from the connection control device 36 are given to the first PCS 14 via the common bus 24.

Hereinafter, the first printer operation control device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the second printer operation control device 32 and the third printer operation control device 34
Is the same as that of the first printer operation control device 30. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated here.

Referring to FIG. 10, printer operation control device 30 includes timing signal generation circuit 78 and common bus 24.
And two buffers BF3 and BF4.
The timing signal generation circuit 78 is supplied with a basic clock signal from a clock signal generation circuit (not shown). The timing signal generation circuit 78 supplies the timing signals tm3 and tm4 to the buffers BF3 and BF4 based on the basic clock signal. Buffer BF
The input of 3 is connected to the output of the connection control device 36.
The output of the buffer BF3 is connected to the common bus 24. The input of the buffer BF4 is connected to the common bus 24. The output of the buffer BF4 is connected to the input of the connection control device 36. The status signal of the first printer 18 provided from the common bus 24 is provided as a status signal 104 to the connection control device 36 via the buffer BF4. Print data 106 output from connection control device 36
Is supplied to the first printer 18 via the buffer BF3 and the common bus 24.

The operation of the printer monitoring system 12 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the following description, a divided table managed by the divided table management device 40, a distance table managed by the distance table management device 42, and a data transmission table managed by the data transmission table management device 44 include: In each case, it is assumed that predetermined contents are stored in advance.

Normally, status signals are supplied from the first printer 18, the second printer 20, and the third printer 22 to the connection control device 36 via the printer operation control devices 30, 32, and 34, respectively. . Also, the first PCS2
4. When a print request is issued in the second PCS 16,
The information is stored in the network cable 10, the common bus 24,
Connection control device 3 via PCS operation control devices 26 and 28
6 given.

Assume that a print request has been issued from the first PCS 14. This print request is sent to the PCS operation controller 2
6 to the connection control device 36.

Referring to FIG. 3, PCS operation control device 26
Is input to the arbitration device 48. When there is no print request 88 from the PCS operation control device 28, the arbitration device 48 controls the print information switching circuit 46 in response to a print request 80 from the PCS operation control device 26 as described later. If the print request 88 from the PCS operation control device 28 is input to the arbitration device 48 at the same time, the arbitration device 48 arbitrates this conflict by some method, and selects one of the print requests 80 and 88. Is effective, and the operation of the print information switching circuit 46 is controlled.

When a print request 80 is input, buffer control signals ON1 and O
N2 is as follows. Referring to FIG. 4, buffer control signal ON1 changes to an active state, and buffer control signal ON2 changes to an inactive state. With this, PC
Buffer BF1 connected to S operation control device 26
R and BF1T are in a connected state, and BF2R and BF2T connected to the PCS operation control device 28 are in a disconnected state.

Referring to FIG. 4, PCS operation control device 26
To the print information switching circuit 46, the print number information 82b of the print request generated in the first PCS 14 is given. This print number information 82b is provided to the print content dividing device 38 as print number information 98b via the buffer BF1T.

Referring to FIG. 8, print number information 98b includes:
It is provided to the division content calculation device 54 and the division table management device 40.

Referring to FIG. 7, according to the print number information 98b and the user name given from print content dividing device 38,
The rule reading control device 70 refers to a portion of the division table 64 corresponding to the input number of prints of the corresponding user. As a result, the maximum distance of the printer and the maximum value of the number of used printers, if any, are extracted according to the table shown in Table 1. At this time, in accordance with the rules, information on a method of handling when there is no corresponding printer is also extracted and given to the print content dividing device 38.

Referring to FIG. 6, divided table management device 4
The distance information given from 0 is directly provided from the print content dividing device 38 to the distance table management device 42. The PCS name information 96 given from the connection control device 36 to the print content dividing device 38 is also stored in the distance table management device 42.
Is given as is.

Referring to FIG. 8, distance table management device 4
The second data reading control device 56 accesses the distance table 58 using the given PCS name and the maximum distance as keys. Then, using a table as shown in Table 2, the distance of each printer to the input PCS is checked, and all printer names of printers located at a distance smaller than the input maximum distance are given to the print content dividing device 38.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the printer name is given to data transmission table management device 44 and division content calculation device 54. Data transmission table management device 44
Gives the reference time required for data transmission between the PCS and each printer to the division content calculation device 54 from the given PCS name and printer name, similarly to the operation of the distance table management device 42.

The division content calculation device 54 is connected to the connection control device 3
6, the information on the division rule given from the division table management device 40, the printer name given from the distance table management device 42, and the printer name given from the data transmission table management device 44. From the time required for data transmission,
Divide the number of prints between printers to be used. In this case, for each printer to be used, the data is divided so that the data transmission time to the printer and the product of the number of divisions to be taken by each printer are equal to each other. If one or a plurality of printers are operated in accordance with the division contents thus divided, a plurality of printers can be operated in parallel to perform one printing operation.
Compared to the case where only one printer is always used for one printing process, the result of the printing process can be obtained earlier. When an idle printer exists, a plurality of printers can perform parallel processing using the idle printer, so that the use efficiency of system resources such as a printer can be further improved.

However, in order to use the system resources with higher efficiency and thereby obtain processing results more quickly, the printer monitoring system of the present embodiment is further devised as follows.

Referring to FIG. 11, it is assumed that a user who has issued a print request in first PCS 14 obtains a processing result. In this case, the first printer 18 and the second printer 2
0 is used for printing. Also, this PCS
14 displays the content of the division obtained by the print content division device 38. This allows
The user circulates through the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 in this order to collect print results.

In this case, if the first printer 18 and the second
And the printer 20 ends the printing operation at the same time. In order for the user to obtain a printing result on the first printer 18, the printing operation on the first printer must be completed. In this case, the printing operation of the second printer 20 ends at the same time. Then, while the user who has obtained the print result on the first printer 18 moves to the second printer 20, the second
Printer 20 is not operating at least for this user. Therefore, this user is
The second printer 20 is not effectively used only for the time required to move from the printer 18 to the second printer 20.

To solve this, the printer monitoring system of the present embodiment performs the following control. After the user obtains the print result of the first printer 18, the second printer 20 performs a printing operation for the user while moving to the second printer 20. For that purpose, the amount printed by the second printer 20 may be made larger than the amount printed by the first printer 18. As a result, the printing operation in the first printer 18 is completed, and after the user obtains the printing result, the second printer 20 operates while moving toward the second printer 20. Thus, the system resources can be effectively used. Further, the time until the user obtains the print result of the first printer 18 is shorter than the case where such a change is not performed. As a whole, the time required for the user to obtain the print result of the second printer 20 is also shorter than in the case where such correction is not performed.

In order to obtain the above-described effects, the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 are both operated until the user moves to the first printer 18, and the first printer 18 What is necessary is to operate the second printer 20 for at least a predetermined time until the operation is completed and the user moves to the second printer 20. However, if you want to use the system with the highest efficiency, you can do the following: That is, until the user reaches the first printer 18 from the PCS 14, both the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 perform the printing operation. Then, the printing operation of the first printer 18 is terminated at the same time when the user reaches the first printer 18. Thereafter, while the user is moving from the first printer 18 to the second printer 20, only the second printer 20 performs a printing operation, and at the same time when the user reaches the second printer 20, the second printer 20 is operated. To terminate the printing operation.

In order to do this, the user must enter the PCS
Considering the time required to move from 14 to the first printer 18, the time required to move from the first printer 18 to the second printer 20, and the printing speed at which each printer can print. Once the first printer 18 and the second
What is necessary is just to correct the number of prints distributed to the printer 20 as described above. By doing so, the system can be used more effectively than in the case where such correction is not performed, and the print result can be obtained in the shortest time.

Referring again to FIG. 3, divided content holding device 5
0 is the division content 10 obtained from the print content division device 38.
0 and information indicating the PCS name that generated the print request. Then, the division content holding device 50 connects the PCS that has issued the print request and the printer selected for the division printing by connecting the corresponding PCS operation control device and printer operation control device, respectively. .
Then, the divided content holding device 50 controls and switches each buffer in the print data switching circuit 52 as described later,
The print data 84 or 92 sent from the PCS operation control device is distributed to each printer operation control device.

FIG. 12 shows the printing operation of n pages from the first PCS 14 and the printing operation of n pages from the second PCS 16 by the first and second printers 18, 20 and the third printer, respectively. 6 is a timing chart showing the states of buffer control signals ON11, ON12, and ON23 when printing is performed using a printer 22. The other buffer control signals ON13, ON21, ON22 are in an inactive state. Further, among the printing of the n-th page data from the first PCS 14, the first to n / 2-th pages are printed by the first printer 18, and the printing of the n / 2 + 1 to n-th pages are performed by the second printer 20. It is assumed that the image is divided so as to perform the respective operations.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 12, a printing operation from first PCS 14 is started at time t0. Time t
At 0 to t1, the control signal ON11 is at a high level and the control signal ON12 is at a low level. As a result, the buffer BF11 shown in FIG. 5 is in the connected state, the buffer BF12 is in the disconnected state, and the print data 84 from the first PCS is
The data is sent to the first printer operation control device 30 via the buffer BF11. Conversely, during the period from time t1 to t2, the buffer signal ON11 is low level and ON.
12 goes to a high level. As a result, the buffer BF11 shown in FIG. 5 is in a disconnected state, the buffer BF12 is in a connected state, and the print data 84 is transmitted to the second printer operation control device 32. At this time, the first P
It is assumed that the print data of the first page is sent from the CS 14 during the time t0 to t1, and the print data of the n / 2 + 1 page is sent from the time t1 to t2. As described above, the buffer control signals ON11 and ON12 are changed in a complementary manner, and the print data from the PCS is sent alternately.
The print data of n pages from the first PCS 14 is transmitted to the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 by n
/ 2 pages can be sorted and printed.

The printing of page m from the second PCS 16 starts at time ta and ends at time tb. During this time, the buffer control signal ON23 is at a high level, and before and after it is at a low level. As a result, referring to FIG.
The buffer BF23 is in a connected state, and the print data 92 sent from the second PCS operation control device 28 is sent as print data 110 to the second printer 34 via the buffer BF23.

Note that the PCS 14, 16, the printer 18,
20 and 22 and the printer monitoring system 12 all communicate using the network cable 10. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, the communication network 10 monitors the printer in the order of the first PCS, the second PCS, the first printer, the second printer, and the third printer every cycle of the basic clock. It is used to communicate with the system 12. The control is performed in a time-division manner so that the five-cycle operation is performed once in the reception operation and once in the transmission operation to complete one cycle.

Referring to FIG. 9, PCS operation control device 26
Works as follows. Timing signal generation circuit 72
Is based on the input basic clock signal.
It generates timing signals tm1 and tm2 indicating the data transmission available time to the PCS 14 and the data reception available time managed by the operation control device 26, respectively, and supplies them to the transmission data creation circuit 76 and the decoder circuit 74, respectively.

The decoder circuit 74 outputs the timing signal tm
2 is activated, it receives data from the managing PCS from the common bus 24. Decoder circuit 7
Reference numeral 4 indicates whether the data transmitted from the corresponding PCS indicates a print request, a page end signal, the number of prints, or print data, and according to the recognition result, a print request signal 80, a page end signal 82d, a print number. Signal 82b,
One of the print data 84 is given to the connection control device 36.

When the timing signal tm1 is activated, the transmission data creation circuit 76
It is determined that the data can be sent to the CS, and the connection control device 36
Is transmitted to the corresponding PCS through the common bus 24. The division content 82a is sent only when a division request is made by the connection control device 36 immediately after a print request is issued. In other cases, only the weight signal is sent to the PCS.
Sent to

Referring to FIG. 10, printer operation control device 30 operates as follows. The timing signal generation circuit 78 is configured to control the printer (first printer) managed by the printer operation controller 30 based on the applied basic clock signal.
A timing signal indicating whether or not the printer 18) is operable is generated. This timing signal includes a timing signal tm3 indicating the data transmission time and a timing signal tm4 indicating the data reception time from the printer.

When the timing signal tm3 is in the activated state, the buffer BF3 is in the connected state, and the connection control device 3
Print data 106 from 0 is supplied to the common bus 24. When the timing signal tm4 is in the activated state, the buffer BF4 is in the connected state, and the state signal 104 sent from the corresponding printer via the common bus 24 is given to the connection control device 36.

Referring to FIG. 14, the operation of printer monitoring system 12, which is an example of the distributed processing control device according to the present invention, follows the following procedure. First, in step S101, a process of searching all printers for ones that are not in use is performed.

Subsequently, in step S102, it is determined whether there is a printer that is not being used, that is, whether there is an idle printer. If there is no idle printer, the process returns to step S101, and a wait is performed until one of the printers becomes idle.

If there is an idle printer, the process proceeds to step S103. In step S103, as described above, the division table is searched by using the number of prints (and the user name) as a key, and the process of extracting the maximum distance from the PCS that has issued the print request to the printer to be used is performed. Subsequently, in step S104, step S104
A process for finding a compatible idle printer within the distance extracted at 103 is performed. If there is no compatible printer within the maximum distance extracted in step S103, for example, a process of employing the closest compatible idle printer as shown in Table 1 is also performed here.

In step S105, step S104
Is determined as to whether or not there is an available printer. If not, the process returns to step S101. If there is, the process proceeds to step S106, and a process of changing the use state of these printers to "in use" is performed.

Subsequently, in step S107, a process of searching for a data transfer time is performed for each of the printers to be used.

In step S108, a process for determining the number of divided prints is performed according to the data transmission time and the circulation order of each printer when the user collects print results. Specifically, as described above, the calculation is performed in such a manner that the product of the data transmission time and the number of sheets to be printed is equal to each other. A larger number of copies are assigned to the printers that are to be circulated later, and the printing operation in those printers is ended such that the user is expected to arrive at the printer.

Subsequently, in step S109, step S
The division number determined by the process of 108 is transmitted to each printer, and a process of printing is performed.

After the process of step S109 is completed for all printers, a process of resetting the use status of the printer to "empty status" is performed, and the process for this print request is completed.

Hereinafter, the state of division when printer output is actually performed will be described with a specific example.

(1) When eight print requests are issued from the first PCS, the following division is performed. It is assumed that the operator of the PCS1 is the user 1. From Table 1, since the number of prints is less than 10, it is determined that all the prints are printed by the closest printer. Therefore, referring to Table 2, since the printer closest to the first PCS 14 is the first printer 18, all eight pages are printed using the first printer 18. If the first printer 18 is not available, the second printer is used, and if the second printer is not available, the third printer is used.

(2) When a request for printing 20 sheets is issued from the first PCS 14, the following printing is performed. Referring to Table 1, in this case, the number of sheets to be printed is divided by a printer having a distance of 5 or less. In this case, the maximum number of printers to be divided is limited to three. Referring to Table 2, the distance from the first PCS1 is 5
Only the first printer 18 exists as the following printer. After all, also in this case, printing of 20 sheets is performed using the first printer. If the distance table has been changed to a form as shown in Table 3, the printer whose distance from the first PCS is 5 or less is the first printer.
Printer 18 and the second printer 20. Therefore, basically, using these two printers, 20
The printing of the sheet is performed in a divided manner. In addition, this division content is determined in consideration of the data transmission time shown in Table 4 so that the product of the number of sheets to be printed and the data transmission time is equal.
In addition, as shown in Table 5, it is corrected in consideration of the time required to move from the printer 1 to the printer 2 by 10 unit times.

(3) Consider a case where a request for printing 50 sheets has been made in the first PCS 14. In this case, referring to Table 1, this print request is divided by a printer whose distance is 10 or less. At this time, the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 correspond to printers having a distance of 10 or less. Therefore, basically, the first printer 18 and the second
The printer 20 prints 25 sheets each. In practice, this division is further performed as described above in Table 4.
Are recalculated in consideration of the data transmission time shown in Table 5, and are corrected in consideration of the user's travel time shown in Table 5.

Hereinafter, a case is considered where the first printer 18 is in use and only the second printer 20 and the third printer 22 are idle. At this time, if it is divided, only the second and third printers 20, 22 are used.

(1) When eight print requests are issued from the first PCS 14, all prints are basically performed by the nearest printer. Therefore, as shown in Table 2, printing is performed using the second printer. In the control method for the user 1 shown in Table 1, when the number of prints is less than 10, in addition to the method of printing all the prints by the closest printer, the condition that "only use the printer whose distance is 5 or less" is used. Is added, the printing using the second printer 20 is not performed as described above, and the printing is performed using the first printer 18 after waiting until the first printer 18 becomes empty. Will do. The same applies to a case where a request for printing 20 sheets has been made from the first PCS 14.

(2) Consider a case where a request for printing 50 sheets has been issued from the first PCS 14. In this case, from Table 1, the number of sheets to be printed by the printer whose distance is 10 or less is divided. However, in this case, since the first printer 18 is not idle, only the second printer 20 is used,
The second printer 20 prints all 50 sheets.

(3) Consider a case in which the first PCS 14 has issued a print request for 100 sheets. In this case, a printer whose distance is 20 or less is selected from Table 1, and the number of sheets to be printed is divided. As described above, since the first printer 18 is not idle, the second printer 20 is obtained from Table 2.
And the third printer 22 are selected as printers to be used. And basically, these two printers 20,
22, data transmission times 20, 10 shown in Table 4
And the number of prints assigned to each printer are equalized. Further, as shown in Table 5, the printer 2
The division is performed such that the allocation to the printer 2 is reduced by the time corresponding to the movement time “20” to the printer 2, and the allocation to the printer 3 is increased accordingly.

Hereinafter, division of the number of printed sheets in consideration of the data transmission time will be described. Here, for example, the first P
Consider a case where a request for printing 60 sheets has been issued from the CS 14. It is assumed that the division table shown in Table 1 is set in advance, the distance table shown in Table 2 is set in advance, and the data transmission table shown in Table 4 is set in advance.

According to Table 1, in this case, the number of print requests is divided by a printer having a distance of 10 or less. Inspection of the printers corresponding to this requirement from Table 2 shows that the printers are the first printer 18 and the second printer 20.

Next, the first printer 18 and the second
Is assigned to the printer 20 as follows. Referring to Table 4, the data transmission time between the first PCS 14 and the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 is 10 unit times and 20 unit times, respectively. That is, compared to the data transmission time to the first printer 18, the data transmission to the second
It turns out that it takes twice. Basically, the number of prints to be assigned to the first printer 18 is set to be equal to the second
The number of prints is twice as large as the number of prints allocated to 0. That is, the number of prints of each printer is determined so that the product of the time required for data transmission in each printer and the number of prints printed by each printer is equal to each other. As a result, it is possible to make the times at which the printing processes of the assigned portions in each printer end are substantially the same. Therefore, it is possible for a user who has requested printing to obtain a printing result in a shorter time.

It should be noted here that, after the assignment as described above, the user further operates the second printer from the first printer.
If the number of prints is corrected in consideration of the time for moving to the printer, printing can be performed even during this moving time, so that a printing result can be obtained faster as a whole. The details will be described later.

In the above-described example, basically, 40 prints are allocated to the first printer, and the second printer 20 is allocated to 40 prints.
20 prints will be allocated.

In the above-described example, it is assumed that the user goes to the printer control system from the printer control system to get the processing result. However, it is assumed that the processing result is returned from each printer to the printer control system. If
Similar control can be performed by considering the round-trip data transmission time. In this case, it is not necessary to consider the time when the user goes around each printer to obtain a print result.

Hereinafter, in the case where one print request is divided and processed using a plurality of printers, a case where the user goes around each printer and collects print results will be described. At this time, as described above with reference to FIG. 11, for example, when divided printing is performed by the two printers 18 and 20, the second printer 18 and the printer 20 perform the second printing more than when the printing operations of the printer 18 and the printer 20 are simultaneously completed. The printing operation of the printer 20 is performed by the first printer 18 and the second printer 2.
It is possible for the user to obtain a print result earlier by ending it later by the movement time to zero. Therefore, when dividing the number of prints, the second printer 20
Operates longer by the time required to move from the first printer 18 to the second printer 20 (see FIG. 11),
It is necessary to allocate the number of prints to each printer.
As described above, this allocation is performed in consideration of the information indicating the travel time between each PCS and each printer, the information indicating the data transmission time between the devices, and the order in which the user goes around the printer.

Now, the first, second and third printers 1
Let the distance traveled between 8, 20, 22 be given in the form shown in Table 5.

[0121]

[Table 5]

Referring to Table 5, the travel time from the first printer 18 to the second printer 20 and the third printer 22 is 10 unit time and 20 unit time, respectively. Printer 18 and third printer 22
The travel time to each is 10 unit hours. From the third printer 22 to the first printer 18 and the second printer 20
The travel time to the respective is 20 unit time and 10 unit time. In Table 5, the required travel time between the same printers is zero.

The above-mentioned division method will be described with a specific example. Table 1 shows the contents of the division table, Table 2 shows the contents of the distance table, and Table 4 shows the contents of the data transmission table. It is assumed that the movement time table between the printers is as shown in Table 5. It is assumed that the following relationship is established between the unit times shown in Tables 4 and 5.

Time required for printing 10 sheets between apparatuses requiring a transfer time of 10 units of moving time = 20 units All printers are idle. The user who has issued the print request is instructed to go to the first printer, the second printer, and the third printer in order to obtain a print result.
It is assumed that the print request has been generated in the first PCS 14.

Consider a case where 70 sheets are printed under the above conditions. First, referring to Table 1, the number of prints is 7
Since there are no sheets, the print content is divided by a printer whose distance is 10 or less. From Table 2, the printers that meet this condition are the first printer 18 and the second printer 20. From Table 4, it can be seen that the data transmission time from the first PCS to the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 is 10, 20 in unit time, respectively. Also, from Table 5, it can be seen that the required travel time from the first printer 18 to the second printer 20 is 10 unit times. From these conditions, the first printer 18,
The number of sheets to be divided by the second printer 20 is calculated as follows.

From the first printer 18 to the second printer 2
The time to move to 0 is 10 unit times from Table 5. From equation (1), it can be seen that the number of sheets that can be printed by the second printer 20 during this period is ten. Therefore, the remaining 60 sheets, excluding the 10 sheets printed during the movement time, are divided from the 70 sheets so that the first printer 18 and the second printer 20 can simultaneously complete printing. Thus, if ten sheets during the moving time are assigned to the second printer 20, it is possible to obtain a print result in the shortest time.

As shown in Table 4, the first printer 18 has the second
It can be understood that the number of sheets to be assigned to the printer 20 should be doubled. From this, the number of prints allocated to the first printer 18 is 60 × 2 / (1 + 2) = 40. Therefore, the number of sheets assigned to the second printer 20 is the remaining number obtained by subtracting the 40 sheets from the original 70 sheets, that is, 30 sheets.

When the assignment is made in this manner, the second printer 20 finishes printing 20 sheets when the first printer 18 finishes printing 40 sheets after a print request is issued. Then, the user changes the first printer 18 to the second printer 2.
0 (see FIG. 11) while the second printer 2
With 0, the remaining 10 sheets are printed. Therefore, the first printer 18 uses 40 sheets and the second printer 20 uses
Prints 20 + 10 = 30 sheets, so that a total of 70 print results can be obtained in the shortest time.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the processing result is taken to the printer. However, in a case where the processing result is returned from each printer to the PCS, the same processing can be performed by considering the order of the returned processing result.

FIG. 15 shows a printer control system (PC
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of S). First, in step S201, when a print request is issued, the print request and the number of prints are given to the printer monitoring system 12 via the network cable 10.

Subsequently, in step S202, the printer monitoring system 12 determines whether or not the division contents have been returned. Control returns to step S203 only after returning.

In step S203, a process of displaying the returned division contents on the display device is performed. With this display, the user can determine which printer is used to process the print request, output the divided data to each printer, and output the divided data to each printer. You can know if you should go around. The post-processing of step S203 proceeds to step S204.

In step S204, processing for developing one page of print data in the memory is performed.
At 205, the developed data is transmitted to the network cable 1
0 to the printer monitoring system 10. Then, in step S206, a process of outputting an output signal for one page after the output is completed is performed.

In step S207, a determination is made as to whether output processing for the required number of prints has been completed. If the printing has been completed, the process for this print request is completed, and if not, the process returns to step S2.
Returning to step S04, the processing of steps S204 to S207 is repeated.

Hereinafter, a printer monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the distributed processing control apparatus of the present invention will be described.
Before describing the embodiments, a brief description of what the system is intended for is provided.

In the distributed processing system described in the first embodiment, consider a case where the frequency of use of the printer is extremely high. In such a case, if the print processing is divided using several printers, another print request will not be accepted immediately, and the possibility of a waiting state increases. Since some tasks performed by the PCS require responsiveness, it is not preferable that the occurrence of such a wait state has a high probability. The distributed processing control device of the second embodiment is intended to reduce the maximum waiting time for a print request in order to deal with such a problem.

The distributed processing control device according to the second embodiment
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the operation status of each printer is monitored for the number of printers used at the time of division, and the number of printers that can be divided at the time of division of printing according to the monitoring result. Dynamically change the upper limit of.

Referring to FIG. 16, at time t1, the first PC
Suppose that a print request is issued from S and division printing is started in the first, second, and third printers. It is assumed that the printing requested by the first PCS ends at time t2. In many cases, it is not possible to make the division of the number of printed sheets exactly the same in each printer. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, before the completion of the first printer and the completion of all the printing processes, 2nd printer and 3rd
The printing process assigned to the printer may be terminated first. However, in this case, since the second and third printers are not released until the print processing in the first printer is completed, all printers are eventually released only after the print processing of the first printer which is the slowest. Ends, that is, time t2.

Here, as shown by a circle in FIG.
In the second PCS, it is assumed that a print request has occurred between times t1 and t2. At this time, since all the printers are being used by the first PCS, a print request waiting state occurs. As a result, this second PC
The print request of S is repeated until the time when the printing process of all the printers is completed, that is, until time t2. in this case,
For the second and third printers, after processing the assigned number of prints in accordance with the print request from the first PCS,
Until the print request from the second PCS is processed, there is no print processing to be assigned, and the system enters an idle state during this time. If such an idle state occurs, effective utilization of system resources cannot be achieved.

On the other hand, for example, as shown in FIG. 17, when the printing process of the third printer is completed,
If the PCS print request is processed immediately,
Although the idle time of the third printer disappears, the second P
Since the print request from the CS is processed only by the third printer, the printing is finally completed at time t4.
And the second PCS as in the example shown in FIG.
It is also conceivable that the finally obtained time will be much later than in the case where the print request from the printer is divided and printed by three printers.

When the printer is used frequently, the problem as described above with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17 may occur. The operation processing control device according to the second embodiment described below solves the above-described problems and enables distributed processing to be performed more efficiently.

The distributed processing control device according to the second embodiment
To put it simply, when the frequency of use of the printer is high, the number of printers that divide the printing process according to the frequency of use of the printer is limited. By securing a printer capable of responding to a print request as soon as possible, the occurrence of a wait state is suppressed, and at the same time, system resources are effectively used. Therefore, in the printer monitoring system according to the second embodiment, it is necessary to monitor the usage status of each printer and automatically convert the contents of the divided table according to the monitoring result.

Referring to FIG. 18, printer monitoring system 1 according to a second embodiment of the distributed processing control apparatus according to the present invention.
16 differs from the printer monitoring system 12 shown in FIG. 2 in that it does not include the data transmission table management device 44,
And the print content dividing device 38 and the division table management device 4
Instead of 0, a print content separation device 120 for realizing the above-described function and a division table management device 122 are included. As shown in FIG. 18, a signal indicating the use status (empty state) of the printer is given from the print content division device 120 to the division table management device 122. By monitoring the wait state signal, the division table management device 122 automatically changes the contents of the division table if necessary.

In FIG. 18, parts that are the same as the parts of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals and names. Their functions are the same. Therefore,
A detailed description of them will not be repeated here.

Referring to FIG. 19, print content dividing device 12
0 includes a division content calculation device 126 for calculating the division content based on the number of printed sheets information provided from the connection control device 36 and the printer name provided from the processing table management device 42. The number-of-prints information 98 given from the connection control device 36 to the print content dividing device 120 is given to the division table managing device 122 and the division content calculating device 126. The waiting state signal of each printer from the connection control device 36 is given to the divided table management device 122.

The division table management device 122 responds to the number-of-prints information 98 given from the connection control device 36, refers to the division table, and receives a print request from the PCS that has issued the print request.
The maximum available printer distance is extracted and given to the distance table management device 42. The division table management device 122 also rewrites the contents of the division table as appropriate by monitoring the operation status of each printer by a wait state signal provided from the connection control device 36 via the print content division device 120.

The distance table management device 42 receives the PCS name from the connection control device 36 and the divided table management device 122.
Gives the maximum available printer distance from this PCS. The distance table management device 42 searches for a printer name whose distance from the PCS is smaller than the given distance in accordance with these pieces of information, and supplies the printer name to the division content calculation device 126. The division control unit 126 calculates how to divide the print contents based on the number of prints from the connection control unit 36 and the printer name given from the distance table management unit 42, and calculates the connection control unit. Give to 36.

Referring to FIG. 20, division table management device 122 includes a division table 128, a system usage start device 130, a rule write request control device 132, and a rule read control device 134.

In the division table 128, a division table as shown in Table 1 is stored in advance. The system usage monitoring device 130 is supplied with a waiting state signal of each printer from the print content dividing device 120. Based on the wait state signal, the system usage status monitoring apparatus 130 prints the print number information indicating how to change the print content (number of prints) of each rule stored in the division table 128 and what distance And the control method information indicating how to change the control information, which is a condition indicating whether the print content is to be divided by using the printer, is given to the rule writing request control device 132. The rule write request control device 132 writes the information provided from the system usage monitoring device 130 into the division table 128. This writing is performed by giving a write signal to the division table 128 when it is detected that the system use condition monitoring device 130 has generated a regular write request.

The reading of the contents of the division table 128 is performed as follows. Print content dividing device 12
0 indicates information indicating the number of sheets to be printed,
Give to 34. The rule reading control device 134 supplies this information to the division table 128 and simultaneously supplies a read signal. The corresponding control method information is read from the division table 128 in response to the read signal and the number-of-printed-sheets information, and the rule reading control device 134 sends distance information (according to the PCS that issued the print request) ,
(The maximum distance to the printer to be used) is given to the print content dividing device 120.

Referring to FIG. 21, system use state monitoring apparatus 130 includes a clock generation circuit 138 for generating a basic clock and a state in which the PCS that has issued the print request is waiting because the printer is not idle. And a wait state signal indicating that the clock generation circuit 13
8, a wait time counting device 136 for counting in response to the basic clock given from 8, an inverter 144 for inverting the basic clock signal output from the wait time generating circuit 138, and an inverted clock signal output from the inverter 144. In response to the frequency-divided clock signal and the frequency-divided clock signal, the frequency-divided clock 146 for dividing the frequency and outputting the frequency-divided clock signal, hold the added value of the wait time output from the wait time counting device 136 and output the count value And a counter value / control information conversion device 1 for converting the count number output from the flip-flop 140 into print number information and control method information and outputting the information.
42.

The wait time counting device 136 includes an adder circuit 148 to which the wait state signal is supplied to the input terminal, the basic clock is supplied to the clock terminal, and the divided clock is supplied to the reset terminal.

When the wait state signal is "1", the adding circuit 148 samples and adds at the timing of the basic clock. The added value is provided to the flip-flop 140, and the flip-flop 140 holds the added value in response to the frequency-divided clock, and provides the counted value to the counter value / control information converter 142. Based on the count, the counter value / control information converter 142 converts the control information into control information based on the conversion rules shown in Table 6 below, and outputs the number of printed sheets information and the control method information.

[0154]

[Table 6]

The timer 146 resets the adder circuit 148 by dividing a basic clock into one predetermined cycle. Further, the divided value output from the timer 146 holds the added value before the reset of the adding circuit 148 input to the flip-flop 140.

FIG. 22 shows the system usage monitoring device 13.
6 is a timing chart showing the operation of the "0". Referring to FIG. 22, first, the frequency-divided clock output from timer 146 at time t0 rises to a high level. In response, adder 148 is reset and flip-flop 140
Holds the addition value of the addition circuit 148 at this time and outputs it as the count number.

As shown in FIG. 22C, the wait state signal changes from low level to high level between times t1 and t2, changes from high level to low level between times t3 and t4, and changes from time t5 to t6. Between the low level and the high level. That is, it is assumed that the PCS in question is not in the waiting state at first, but temporarily enters the waiting state on the way, and is in the waiting state again after the waiting state is released again.

As shown in FIG. 21, adder 148
Increments the calculated value by 1 when the input wait state signal is at a high level at the rising timing of the basic clock signal. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 22A, the added value is 0 at times t0 to t2. At times t2 and t3, the added value is incremented by one. Then, after the value is also incremented by one at time t6, the added value is reset by the divided clock at time t7. The counter value at this time is thereafter held in the flip-flop 140 and output as the counter number.

Therefore, the added value is 1 at time t2, 2 from time t3 to t6, 3 from time t6 to t7, and is reset to 0 at time t7. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 22, since the waiting state signal is at the high level again at time t8, the added value is again incremented by one at time t8.

In the example shown in FIG. 22, the basic clock signal is frequency-divided at a frequency division ratio of 1/6 to be a frequency-divided clock.

As described above, the counter value / control information conversion device 142 rewrites the contents of the division table based on the rewrite rule shown in Table 6 in response to the number of counters output from the flip-flop 140. .

The rewrite rules shown in Table 6 indicate that when the counter value is 0, the contents of the division table are returned to the initial state (the contents of Table 1).

When the counter value is 1, it indicates that, in the contents of the division table shown in Table 1, the number of divided printers is reduced by 20% from the initial state for all print sheets. That is, the number of printers used is 4/5 in the initial state.

For example, it is assumed that the initial state is the division table shown in Table 1. (1) When the number of printed sheets is less than 10, all the sheets are printed by the nearest printer.

(2) When the number of printed sheets is 10 to 29, the maximum value of the number of printers to be used is 3 × 4/5 = 2.
5 units. The numbers after the decimal point are rounded down, and as a result, the maximum number of printers becomes two.

(3) When the number of printed sheets is 30 to 99, the maximum value of the number of printers used is 5 × 4/5 = 4.

(4) When the number of printed sheets is 100 to 499, the maximum value of the number of printers used is 10 × 4/5 =
It becomes eight.

(5) When the number of printed sheets is 500 to 1999, the maximum number of printers to be used is set to 20 × 4/5 =
It is assumed to be 16 units.

(6) When the number of printed sheets is 20 million or more, the maximum number of printers used is 30 × 4/5 = 24.

In the case of the above modification, only the maximum number of printers to be divided is changed, and the distance information is not changed. However, the present invention is not limited to only such a change, and the distance information can also be changed.

Similarly, as shown in Table 6, when the count number is 2, the number of divided printers is 4 from the initial state.
When the count number is 3, the number of divided printers is reduced from the initial state by 60% when the count is 3, and when the count is 4 or more, the number of divided printers is 80 from the initial state.
The division table is rewritten so as to be a percentage discount.

By doing so, the following effects are produced. When the printer is frequently used, even if the PCS issues a print request, the PCS often enters a waiting state because there is no printer available. In this case, the number of counters in the waiting state increases. When the number of waiting states increases, the maximum value of the number of printers that are divided and used when processing one print request decreases. The degree of the decrease becomes greater as the frequency of the waiting state increases. By doing so, if the occurrence of the wait state increases, the number of printers divided and used decreases, and the number of usable printers increases accordingly. In the PCS in the waiting state, printing processing may be performed using the printer in the empty state. As a result, there is less possibility that a print request which takes a long time to be in the waiting state and obtain the result is generated.

Referring to FIG. 23, for example, the first PCS
Generates a print request at time t1, and if the table is not rewritten, all three printers have been used to process this print request as described above. However, if the division table is rewritten as in the printer monitoring system according to the present invention, the print request from the first PCS is divided and printed as indicated by the first and second printers. At this time, the third printer is idle. Therefore, when a print request is issued in the second PCS at time t5, the third printer can immediately start printing. as a result,
Even if it takes the time shown in FIG. 23 to process the print request from the second PCS, the print request from the second PCS can be completed at time t7. When this is compared with the control methods shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, it is apparent that the printer can be more effectively used, and that the effect of shortening the end time of the printing process can be obtained. is there. If the printer is not used frequently, the division table is automatically rewritten to the initial state, and the print request from the first PCS is processed by three printers in the same manner as shown in FIG. Will be. In this case, there is a low probability that a print request from the second PCS will occur and the printer will be in a waiting state, so that effective use of system resources can be achieved, and the print request of the first PCS is processed early. be able to.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the counter value / control information conversion device 142 (see FIG. 21). Referring to FIG. 24, first, in step S30
In step 1, by referring to a conversion rule table as shown in Table 6, a process of reading change information for the input counter value is performed.

Subsequently, in step S302, step 30
Based on the change information obtained in step 1, how to change the number-of-printed-sheets information and the control-method information of the divided table is determined, and the information is sent to the regular write request control device 132. In this case, such rewriting is performed for all the items of the number of printed sheets in the rules for division included in the division table.

The processing as shown in FIG. 24 is performed by the counter value / control information conversion device 142, so that the processing shown in FIG.
The contents of the division table 128 as shown in (1) are used so as to maximize the effective use of system resources and obtain the printing result in the shortest time in accordance with the occurrence state of the printing request and the occurrence of the waiting state. Can be changed.

[0177]

As described above, according to the distributed processing control apparatus of the first aspect, when a service providing request of a processing requesting unit is generated, the service providing unit within a predetermined distance from the processing requesting unit is set to the distance. The service providing request is extracted by referring to the storage means, and the service providing request is distributed to these service providing devices. Therefore, as compared with a case where a service providing request is given to a service providing device without considering such a distance, the time required for circulating through these service providing means to obtain a service providing result is reduced. I do. Further, since the service provision request is divided according to predetermined conditions and executed by each service provision request device,
Processing time is shorter than when processing is performed using only one service providing unit.

As a result, it is possible to provide a distributed processing control device that can more effectively utilize the system resources of the distributed processing system and can obtain the service provision result in a shorter time.

In the distributed processing control device according to the second aspect, the storage content of the distance storage means can be updated. Therefore, even if the arrangement of the service providing means and the processing request means in the distributed processing system is changed, it is possible to effectively use the system resources and obtain the service result in the shortest time.

In the distributed processing control device according to the third aspect,
Based on the division rule stored in the division table storage means,
When the service provision request satisfies a predetermined condition, the service provision request is divided and transmitted to the service provision means depending on the storage of the distance storage means. Therefore,
By changing the division method according to what condition the service provision request satisfies, system resources can be effectively used, and a processing result can be obtained in the shortest time.

In the distributed processing control apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the contents of the division rules stored in the division table can be changed. Therefore, even if the configuration of the distributed processing system changes, it becomes possible to effectively use system resources and to provide services in the shortest time.

In the distributed processing control device according to the fifth aspect,
The contents of the division table can be changed by manual input by the operator. Therefore, a system administrator or the like can make system changes for effective use of system resources and early provision of services.

In the distributed processing control device according to the sixth aspect,
In the distributed processing control device according to the fourth aspect, the division table change rule is automatically changed based on the service providing status to the processing request unit. Therefore, the operation of the distributed processing control device can be adapted so that the system resources can be effectively used and the service can be promptly provided in accordance with the service providing status.

In the distributed processing control device according to the seventh aspect, the method of dividing the processing request can be made different according to which group the operator who issued the service provision request belongs to. Therefore, it is possible to divide a processing request that is considered optimal for each group, and to perform a desired processing division for each operator group.

In the distributed processing control device according to the eighth aspect,
In the division / distribution of service provision to the service providing means, division / distribution is performed in consideration of the time required for data transfer to each service providing means. Compared with the case where the time required for data transfer is not considered, the system resources can be more effectively utilized, and the time required for providing the service can be shortened.

In the distributed processing control device according to the ninth aspect,
In dividing and distributing processing requests to each service providing means, division / transmission is performed in consideration of the time required for the operator to move between each service providing means in order to obtain a service providing result. It is. Even while the operator is traveling, the service can be provided by effectively using the available resources, so that the system resources can be more effectively used and the processing time can be reduced.

In the distributed processing control apparatus according to the tenth aspect, the division of each service provision request is selected so that the processing in each service provision means is completed immediately when the operator goes around each service provision means. . Therefore, the effective use of system resources can be maximized and the processing time can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a calculation processing system including a printer monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a printer monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a connection control device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a print information switching circuit.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a print data switching circuit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a print content dividing device.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a division table management device.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a distance table management device.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a printer control system operation control device.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a printer operation control device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a movement route of an operator.

FIG. 12 is a timing chart showing the operation of the print data switching circuit.

FIG. 13 is a timing chart showing a state of time-division use of a network cable.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printer monitoring system according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printer control system.

FIG. 16 is a timing chart showing the operation of the distributed processing system when the print content is divided.

FIG. 17 is a timing chart showing the operation of the distributed processing system when the print content is divided.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a printer monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a print content dividing device.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a partitioned table management device.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a system usage monitoring device.

FIG. 22 is a timing chart showing the operation of the system usage status monitoring device.

FIG. 23 is a timing chart showing an operation of the distributed processing system according to the second example of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the operation of the counter value / control information conversion device.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram of a conventional distributed processing system.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing a printing process in a conventional distributed processing system.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating another example of print control in a conventional distributed processing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Network cable 12 Printer monitoring system 14, 16 Printer control system 18, 20, 22 Printer 26, 28 PCS operation control device 30, 32, 34 Printer operation control device 36 Connection control device 38 Print content division device 40 Division table management device 42 Distance table management device 44 Data transmission table management device 116 Printer monitoring system 120 Print content division device 122 Division table management device 124 Distance table management device 130 System usage monitoring device

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-230416 (JP, A) JP-A-3-255559 (JP, A) JP-A-5-274239 (JP, A) JP-A-5-158894 (JP) JP-A-62-115524 (JP, A) JP-A-63-136132 (JP, A) JP-A-2-278330 (JP, A) JP-A-3-100823 (JP, A) JP-A-3-255519 (JP, A) JP-A-3-257616 (JP, A) JP-A-5-61621 (JP, A) JP-A-5-73232 (JP, A) JP-A-5-108283 (JP, A A) JP-A-6-274292 (JP, A) JP-A-2-18146 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 15/16 370 G06F 15/16 380 G06F 3/12

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication means, connected to the communication means,
Including a plurality of service providing means for performing the same kind of predetermined processing, and a plurality of processing request means connected to the communication means and for generating service providing requests for each of the service providing means independently of each other In the distributed processing system, a distributed processing control device for distributing a service providing request from the processing requesting means to the plurality of service providing means, wherein each of the service providing means is required to execute the predetermined processing. The time varies according to a given service provision request, and the predetermined processing can be executed in a divided manner. The distributed processing control device is configured such that each of the processing request means and each of the service providing means Distance storing means for storing the distance between the communication means, and the service request means, Request generation detecting means for detecting that a service provision request has occurred, based on the content of the service provision request detected by the request generation detecting means, which is connected to the communication means, and based on the storage content of the distance storage means. And a distribution unit for dividing the service provision request according to a predetermined condition and distributing the service provision request to one or more service provision units via the communication unit.
Distributed processing controller. 2. The distributed processing control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a manually operable distance storage updating unit for allowing an operator to update the storage content of said distance storage unit. 3. The distribution means includes a division table storage means for storing a division table for storing a plurality of division rules, wherein each of the division rules is predetermined to divide a service provision request. And a method of dividing a service provision request satisfying the condition depending on the storage of the distance storage unit, wherein the distribution unit further comprises: a service provision request detected to be generated by the request generation detection unit. A partition table search unit for searching and extracting a partition rule satisfying from the partition table, and the request occurrence detecting unit according to the partition rule searched by the partition table search unit and the storage content of the distance storage unit. To divide the service provision request whose occurrence has been detected and transfer the divided service provision request to one or more service provision means via the communication means. Including division and transfer means, the distributed processing controller according to claim 1. 4. The splitting unit further includes a split table changing unit for detecting occurrence of a predetermined change condition and changing the contents of the split table stored in the split table storage unit. Item 4. The distributed processing control device according to item 3. 5. A split table change request generating means for generating a split table change request that is manually operable to generate a split table change request, and responding to the split table change request and receiving an operator input. 5. The distributed processing control apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a manually operable input means for allowing the contents of the division table to be changed by the user. 6. The division table changing means, comprising: a service provision state monitoring means for monitoring a service provision state by each of the service provision means; and a response to a monitoring result of the service provision state monitoring means,
5. The distributed processing control device according to claim 4, further comprising: a partition table automatic change unit configured to automatically change the contents of the partition table according to a predetermined partition table change rule. 7. The division table includes a plurality of operator group division tables prepared in advance for each predetermined operator group, and the distribution unit further detects occurrence by the request generation detection unit. Operator group discriminating means for discriminating a group to which the operator who issued the service providing request belongs, wherein the division table search means satisfies the service providing request detected by the request occurrence detecting means. 4. The distributed processing according to claim 3, further comprising: an operator group division table search unit configured to retrieve and extract a division rule from the operator group division table selected according to the determination result of the operator group determination unit. 5. Control device. 8. A data transfer required time storage means for storing a reference required time of data transfer performed via the communication means between each of the service providing means and each of the processing request means. The allocating unit determines the service provision request based on the contents of the service provision request detected by the request occurrence detection unit, the storage contents of the distance storage unit, and the storage contents of the data transfer required time storage unit. 2. The distributed processing control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for dividing according to the following condition and distributing the divided processing to one or more service providing means. 9. A traveling order determining means for determining a traveling order for traveling through each of said service providing means selected by said distributing means from each of said request generating means, and moving between said service providing means. Travel time storage means for storing in advance the travel time required to perform, the traveling order determined by the traveling order determining means, and the travel time required to travel each of the service providing means. In the determined patrol order, the time required for executing the processing of the service providing means that the operator circulates first is the time required for executing the processing of the service providing means that the operator circulates subsequently 2. The distributed processing control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a correction unit configured to correct a result of the processing distribution by the distribution unit so as to be shorter. 10. The distributing means so that the execution of the processing by each of the service providing means ends at a time when the operator is expected to make a tour of each of the service providing means according to the traveling order. The distributed processing control device according to claim 9, further comprising means for correcting a processing distribution result.