JP3488381B2 - Job management method, job management device and job management system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

(Table of contents) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION Conventional technology Problems to be Solved by the Invention Means for solving the problems Embodiment of the invention (FIGS. 1 to 5) The invention's effect

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention connects a plurality of processing components respectively in charge of a plurality of processes in a predetermined order so as to continuously perform a plurality of processes on a job in a predetermined order. The present invention relates to a technology for managing the execution status of each job in a processing system configured to execute the processing for each job by a component, and particularly, to print out print data described in, for example, Postscript language. The present invention relates to a job management method, a job management apparatus, and a job management system that are suitable for use in a printer system provided as a computer.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a plurality of processing components (hereinafter simply referred to as "components") are distributed and arranged, and a method of connecting these components through a network to construct one system is generally used with the progress of networking. It is being used. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-83256, when performing one set of work, data to be processed in relation to the work is divided into a plurality of jobs, and these jobs are respectively processed by a plurality of computer systems (components). A distributed processing system for processing is disclosed. Such a distributed processing system is generally configured by connecting a plurality of computer systems via a network.

In the publication, it is assumed that the distributed processing system processes jobs which are composed of, for example, four jobs A, B, C and D and which should be executed in the order of jobs A, B, C and D. , These jobs A, B, C, D
Are executed by four computer systems a, b, c and d which form a distributed processing system. At this time, basically, one job is all processed by one computer system.

A user who uses such a distributed processing system may need to know the execution status of a job that each computer system is in charge of. Therefore, in the above-mentioned publication, the history information (event log) of the processing for each job is held in each computer system, and when it becomes necessary to know the execution status of the job, the job management unit (predetermined computer system) Is
All computer systems are inquired at the same time, history information is received from each computer system in any order regardless of the job execution order, and the execution status of the entire job is grasped based on the received history information. Is output to a display or print.

[0006]

By the way, in a printer system that prints print data described in Postscript language (page description language for printing), the Postscript language is a very complicated format, and as it is, it is a bit error. Since it is extremely difficult to perform processing such as mapping, print data in Postscript language is converted into intermediate data that is easy to perform bitmap processing, then the intermediate data is converted into a bitmap, and then the bitmap data is output to the output device. To print the print data.

That is, in a printer system that handles the PostScript language, it is necessary to continuously perform a plurality of steps of processing on print data in a predetermined order, and these plurality of steps of processing are handled by a plurality of components. . Print data from a host device such as a host computer is stored in the spooler of the printer system on a job-by-job basis, and is sequentially input to the printer system through the spooler for each job and printed. Here, one job is, for example, to print the print data of a series of documents, and the print data may be divided into one job for each page and sent to the printer system. It may be sent to the printer system as one job.

Such a printer system is constructed by connecting a plurality of components respectively in charge of the above-mentioned plurality of stages of processing in processing order, and each component is
The print data is processed on a job-by-job basis, and the processed job (print data) is sent to the next component. The print data of each job is finally output from the printer system as a printed matter by sequentially performing all stages of processing in all components.

At this time, in order to complete the processing of all stages,
Depending on the print data, it takes a few seconds to a dozen minutes, so
There are many situations in which a user who has made a print request to the printer system desires to know the job execution status (that is, which processing stage the print data is currently in). When the technology disclosed in the above publication is used in such a situation, the job management unit makes inquiries to all the components at once, and the history information from each component (in any order regardless of the job execution order) ( Event log) will be received and the history information will be analyzed to grasp the job execution status.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional job management method, when the number of components (processing stages) increases, the history information handled by the job management section becomes enormous, and it is very difficult to grasp the execution status of the job desired by the user. Takes a long time. Therefore, when the execution status is shown to the user, the job may be transferred to another component and the execution status may be different from the actual execution status.
The job execution status cannot be known accurately.

Further, when canceling a job (print data) being processed in the printer system, it is necessary to confirm that the desired job has been canceled after issuing a cancel instruction. If the execution status of a job is grasped by the conventional job management method and it is confirmed that the desired job has disappeared from the printer system, a considerable time elapses until the confirmation is completed after the cancel instruction. Therefore, whether the desired job disappeared from the printer system due to the cancel instruction, or the cancellation due to the cancel instruction failed and the print output of the job was completed while the job execution status was being grasped and the job was removed from the printer system. There is a problem that it is not possible to determine whether it has disappeared.

The present invention was devised in view of such a problem, and makes it possible to grasp the execution status of a job in a short time even if the number of components increases, and to accurately notify the execution status of the job. It is an object of the present invention to provide a job management method, a job management apparatus, and a job management system, which enables the above-described job management and can reliably determine whether or not a desired job can be canceled when a job cancel instruction is issued.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, a job management method (Claim 1) of the present invention comprises a plurality of processes for performing a plurality of processes on a job continuously in a predetermined order. For managing the execution status of each job in a processing system that is configured to connect multiple processing components that are in charge of each processing in the processing order and execute the processing for the job in each job by each processing component. Therefore, a unique name is given to each job in advance, the names of the currently held jobs are queried with respect to multiple processing components, and the jobs included in the responses from the processing components are queried. Sort by job based on the name and the processing component that responded with the name of that job
By doing so, the status of each job
It is characterized in that the processing status of each job is determined and the execution status of each job is notified.

At this time, inquiries about the names of the jobs currently held are periodically made to a plurality of processing components, and the execution status of each job obtained periodically based on the answers to the inquiries is notified. Good (Claim 2). Also, when the name of a job whose processing should be canceled is specified, a cancel command is output to multiple processing components to instruct them to cancel the processing for that job if they have a job with that name. After that, the plurality of processing components are inquired about the names of the jobs currently held, and based on the job names included in the responses from the respective processing components to the inquiry, the jobs to be canceled include the plurality of processing components. It is possible to confirm that the job to be canceled has been canceled by recognizing that all the jobs have been deleted (claim 3). Instead of the cancel command, when a job with that name is received from the processing component of the preceding stage, a cancel command may be output to instruct the job to be discarded without being processed (claim 4). .

Furthermore, when the latest execution status of each job obtained periodically is held, the latest execution status is referred to, and when a processing component that has completed processing for all jobs is recognized, that processing component The output of the cancel command and the inquiry about the name of the job may be performed with respect to the processing component on the downstream side (claim 5).

Furthermore, by determining the presence or absence of a response by associating the processing component that has responded to the job name inquiry with all the processing components that make up the processing system, The state may be grasped (claim 6). On the other hand, the job management apparatus of the present invention (Claim 7) connects a plurality of processing components respectively in charge of the plurality of processings in the processing order in order to continuously perform the plurality of processings on the job in a predetermined order. , For managing the execution status of each job in a processing system configured to execute processing for that job in units of jobs by each processing component. A sending unit that inquires about a unique name given to a given job in advance, a receiving unit that receives the response from each processing component in response to the inquiry made by this sending unit, and a receiving unit that receives this reply. the name and the name of the job of job included in to answer based on the processing component that responded, job
By sorting for each, the execution status of each job
Which processing component is processing each job.
It is characterized by having a job management unit for determining whether or not to execute the job and a notification unit for notifying the execution status of each job determined by the job management unit.

A job management system according to the present invention (claim 13) includes the same job management device as described above, and each job is assigned to each processing component along with a name given to the job in advance. It is characterized by having an interface to be passed to the processing component, and an answering unit for replying to the job management device the name of the job currently held and the identifier of the processing component in response to an inquiry from the job management device. I am trying.

At this time, the transmitting unit periodically inquires of the plurality of processing components about the name of the job currently held, and the notifying unit manages the jobs based on the responses to the periodic inquiries by the transmitting unit. The execution status of each job obtained by the department may be notified (claims 8 and 14). Also, when the name of the job whose processing is to be canceled is specified, a cancel command is output to multiple processing components to instruct to cancel the processing for that job if there are jobs with that name. A command output unit is provided, and after the cancel command is output by the cancel command output unit, the transmission unit inquires of a plurality of processing components about the names of jobs currently held, and the job management unit The job to be canceled has been canceled by recognizing that the job to be canceled has disappeared from all of the processing components based on the name of the job included in the answer received by the receiving unit. May be confirmed (claims 9 and 15). The cancel command output unit may output, in place of the cancel command, a cancel command for instructing to discard the job without processing the job when the job with the name is received from the processing component in the preceding stage. Good (Claims 10 and 16).

Further, the execution status holding section for holding the latest execution status of each job obtained periodically is provided, and the cancel command output section and the transmission section have the latest execution status held in the execution status holding section. When referring to the situation and recognizing a processing component that has already completed processing for all jobs, the cancellation command is output and the job name is inquired to the processing components on the downstream side of the processing component. It may be (claims 11 and 17).

Furthermore, the job management unit determines whether or not there is a response by associating the processing component that has responded to the job name inquiry with all the processing components that make up the processing system. You may grasp | ascertain the state of several processing components (Claim 12 and 18). In the above-described job management method, job management apparatus, and job management system of the present invention, the job management side (job management unit) inquires of each processing component about the name of the currently held job, and the inquiry is made. Accordingly, each processing component responds with the name uniquely given to the job currently held.

Therefore, the side that manages jobs (job management section) does not need to analyze the history information as in the conventional case, and the processing component information for which the job names are answered can be sorted by the job name, and the number of components can be calculated. Even if the number of jobs increases, the job execution status can be grasped easily and in a short time. As a result, there is no discrepancy between the result of grasping and notifying the job execution status and the actual job execution status (claims 1, 7, 13).

At this time, since the execution status of the job can be grasped in a short time, it is possible to periodically make an inquiry about the job name to a plurality of processing components and to notify the execution status of the job obtained based on the reply to the inquiry. . Therefore, the user can always know the exact job execution status (claims 2, 8 and 14). In addition, after outputting a cancel command to a plurality of processing components to cancel a predetermined job, the job management side (job management unit) does not analyze the history information as in the conventional case, and Only by recognizing the presence or absence of the job name, it is possible to confirm in a short time whether or not a predetermined job has been canceled (claims 3, 4,).
9, 10, 15, 16).

In this case, when a job having a predetermined name is received from the processing component in the preceding stage, a cancel command instructing to discard the job without performing the processing is output to each processing component. Thus, even if the processing system is composed of processing components that cannot cancel the job during processing, the job can be canceled (claims 4 and 1).
0, 16).

Further, the processing can be speeded up by outputting the cancel command and inquiring the name of the job to the processing components on the downstream side of the processing components that have finished processing for all jobs. (Claims 5, 11, and 17). Furthermore, by determining whether there is a response to the job name inquiry and understanding the status of multiple processing components,
At the same time as grasping the execution status of the job, it is possible to recognize whether or not each processing component is operating normally (claims 6, 12, 18).

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of a printer system to which a job management system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, a case where the job management system of the present invention is applied to the printer system 2 will be described.

The printer system 2 receives print data described in a Postscript language (which may be referred to as a page description language) from a host device 1 such as a host computer, and prints the print data. component 22-1～22-5 is configured to have a printing mechanism 2 3 Contact <br/> by beauty job management apparatus 30.

The spooler 21 accumulates print data transmitted from the higher-level device 1 in units of jobs, and the print data is sequentially input to the printer system 2 through the spooler 21 for each job and printed. It has become so. One job is to print the print data of a series of documents, and the print data may be divided into one job for each page and sent to the printer system 2. It may be sent to the printer system 2 as a job.

Further, the printer system 2 of the present embodiment
Connects the five processing components 22-1 to 22-5, which are in charge of these processes, in the processing order in order to continuously perform the five-stage processing on each job in a predetermined order. -1 to 22-5 are configured to execute processing for the job in units of jobs.

As described above, the PostScript language has a very complicated format, and it is extremely difficult to perform processing such as bitmap conversion as it is. Therefore, even in the printer system 2 of this embodiment, print data in the Postscript language is also used. After converting to an intermediate list (intermediate data) that is easy to perform bitmap processing, the intermediate list is bitmapped, and then the bitmap data is sent to the printing mechanism (output device) 23 to print the print data. I am doing it.

Therefore, in the printer system 2 of this embodiment, the page description language as the processing component
Intermediate listing preparation component 22-1, page description language → intermediate listing processing component 22-2,
Intermediate list → Bitmap preparation component 22-
3, intermediate list → bitmap conversion processing component 22-4, and bitmap data transmission component 2
2-5 are connected in this order.

The page description language → intermediate list preparation component 22-1 is a part of the page description language → intermediate list preparation processing component 22-2 which prepares for actually converting the page description language into an intermediate list. Similarly, the intermediate list-> bitmap preparation component 22-3 is a part of the intermediate list-> bitmap processing component 22-4 that actually performs preparation for converting the intermediate list into bitmap data. Bitmap data transmission component 22-
Reference numeral 5 is a portion for sending the bitmap data obtained by the processing component 22-4 to the printing mechanism 23.

These components 22-1 to 22-
Reference numeral 5 processes the print data in units of jobs, and sends the finished jobs (print data) to the components 22-2 to 22-5 and the printing mechanism 23 in the next stage. The print data for each job is the same for all components 22-1.
By performing all the steps in sequence from ~ 22-5,
Finally, the printed matter is output from the printing mechanism 23.

Further, each component 22 of the present embodiment
Each of -1 to 22-5 has a function as an interface 22a and a response section 22b. The interface 22a associates each job with a unique name given to the job in advance (hereinafter may be simply referred to as a job name), and the components 22-2 to 22-5 in the next stage.
The interface 22a in the final stage component 22-5,
It may have a function of sending a job name, but it is sufficient if it has a function of passing each job to the printing mechanism 23.

The reply section 22b responds to an inquiry from the job management apparatus 30 (transmitting section 31), which will be described later, and the name of the job currently held by each component 22-1 to 22-5 and each component 22- The identifiers 1 to 22-5 are returned to the job management device 30. As described above, the printing mechanism 23 is an output device that outputs the bitmap data from the bitmap data sending component 22-5 as an actual printed matter.

The job management device 30 manages the execution status of each job by the components 22-1 to 22-5 of the printer system 2 described above, and includes a transmission unit 31, a reception unit 32, and a job management unit. 33, a cancel command output unit 34, an execution status holding unit 35, a user interface 36, and a display unit 37.

Here, the transmitting unit 31 periodically inquires of the five components 22-1 to 22-5 about the unique name given to the currently held job in advance. The receiving unit 32 receives the answers from the processing components 22-1 to 22-5 in response to the inquiry made by the transmitting unit 31.

The job management unit 33 determines each job based on the job name included in the reply received by the reception unit 32 and the components 22-1 to 22-5 (identifiers of the respective components) that reply the job name. The execution status is periodically determined. Further, the job management unit 33 of the present embodiment associates the components that have responded to the inquiry about the job name with all the components 22-1 to 22-5 that make up the printer system 2 and determines whether or not there is a response. Each component 22 by determining
It also has a function of grasping the operating states (normal / abnormal) of -1 to 22-5.

When the name of the job whose processing is to be canceled is designated from the operation panel or the like, the cancel command output unit 34 will notify the components 22-1 to 22-5 of the job if the job has that name. It outputs a cancel command instructing to cancel the process for the job. Note that, instead of the cancel command, when a job of that name is received from the spooler 21 and the components 22-1 to 22-4 in the preceding stage, the cancel command that instructs the job to be discarded without being processed. The cancel command output unit 34 may be configured to output

After the cancel command output unit 34 outputs the cancel command, the transmission unit 31 inquires of the components 22-1 to 22-5 about the name of the currently held job, and the job management unit 33 is
Based on the job name included in the response received by the receiving unit 32, the job to be canceled is the component 2
By recognizing that all of 2-1 to 22-5 have disappeared, it is confirmed that the job to be canceled has been canceled.

Further, in this embodiment, the job management unit 3
3, the execution status holding unit 35 that holds the latest execution status of each job obtained periodically is provided, and the cancel command output unit 34 and the transmission unit 31 are
When the latest execution status stored in the execution status storage unit 35 is referred to and a component that has already completed processing for all jobs is recognized, a cancel command is output to a component downstream of the component, and Each job name is inquired.

The user interface 36 is an existing control system (CP) for overall control of the printer system 2.
U) is an existing one that functions as an interface between an operation panel (not shown) and the display unit 37 is, for example, a display provided on the operation panel of the printer system 2 and is determined by the job management unit 33. It also functions as a notification unit that notifies the execution status of each job via the user interface 36.

The components 22-1 to 22-1 described above are provided.
22-5 and the job management apparatus 30 are each configured as, for example, one CPU, and the printer system 2 can be configured by connecting these CPUs so that they can communicate with each other via a bus or a communication network. Further, a transmission unit 31, a reception unit 32, a job management unit 33, and a cancel command output unit 3 which form the job management apparatus 30.
4 and the function as the execution status holding unit 35 can be realized by using a CPU (existing control system) which has been conventionally provided to integrally control the printer system 2.

Furthermore, in order to improve the processing performance of the printer system 2, the components 22-3 and 22- are provided.
Bitmap processing by 4 and component 22-5
In many cases, the printer system 2 is configured so as to execute the data transmission processing by the printer in parallel. Next, the operation of the printer system 2 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

Here, FIG. 2 is a flowchart (steps S11 to S16) for explaining the job execution status grasping process in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is for explaining the job canceling process in this embodiment. 2 is a flowchart (steps S21 to S27). In the present embodiment, when a job is transferred from the components 22-1 to 22-4 constituting the printer system 2 to the next-stage components 22-2 to 22-5, respectively, the job is given in advance by the interface 22a. The unique name (job name) is also transferred. And
Response part 22b of each component 22-1 to 22-5
When receiving an inquiry about the job name from the transmission unit 31 of the job management apparatus 30, each of the components 22-1 to 22-2
2-5 retrieves the name of the job currently held and returns the job name and the identifier of each component 22-1 to 22-5 to the job management device 30.

The job management apparatus 30 of the present embodiment utilizes the above-mentioned functions of the components 22-1 to 22-5 and periodically grasps the job execution status (processing stage) in the procedure shown in FIG. The user is notified. The transmission unit 31 periodically inquires of the components 22-1 to 22-5 about the name of the job currently held (step S11), and then the job management unit 33 receives the job within a predetermined time. All components 2 by part 32
It is determined whether the responses from 2-1 to 22-5 have been received, that is, whether the responses have been received from all the components 22-1 to 22-5 (step S12).

All components 22-1 to 22-5
When there is a response from (YES route of step S12), the job management unit 33 determines the job name included in the response from each component 22-1 to 22-5 and the component that responded the job name. Based on the identifier, it is determined at which processing stage each job is in the printer system 2, that is, which component is currently being processed. Then, the execution status of the job obtained by the job management unit 33 is displayed on the display unit 37 via the user interface 36 as described later with reference to FIG. The latest execution status is held in the execution status holding unit 35 (step S13).

On the other hand, the component 22-1 with no response
22-5 exists (NO route in step S12), the transmitting unit 31 makes an inquiry again to the component that has not responded (step S1).
4) As in step S12, the job management unit 33 causes the reception unit 32 to execute a process for all the components 2 within a predetermined time.
It is determined whether or not the responses from 2-1 to 22-5 have been received, that is, whether or not there has been a response from all the components 22-1 to 22-5 (step S15).

All components 22-1 to 22-5
If there is a response from (YES route in step S15), the process proceeds to step S13 and the same processing as described above is performed, while if there is a component that does not respond even if the inquiry is made again (in step S15). NO
The route), the job management unit 33 displays the fact that the operating state of the component which has not responded is abnormal on the display unit 37 via the user interface 36 to notify the user (step S16).

Here, the basic principle for judging the job execution status in step S13 will be briefly described. For example, focusing on only two of the components 22-1 and 22-1, three jobs J1, J2, J3 are input to the printer system 2, and these jobs J1,
It is assumed that J2 and J3 are processed in the components 22-1 and 22-2 in this order. In addition, J
1, J2 and J3 are unique names given in advance to the three jobs.

At this time, the transmission unit 3 of the job management device 30
1 inquires of the component 22-1 and 22-2 about the job name, and the components 22-1 to J
It is assumed that 3 and J2 are answered and J2 and J1 are answered from the component 22-2. Job management unit 33
Receives the response via the receiving unit 32 and re-sorts for each job. As a result, the job J1 is held only in the component 22-2, the job J2 is held in the components 22-1 and 22-2, and the job J3 is held only in the component 22-1. Then, the processing stages of the jobs J1, J2, and J3 are as follows: J1: being processed by the component 22-2 J2: component 22-1 to component 22
-2 during data transfer J3: It is determined that processing is being performed by the component 22-1.

By repeating such processing periodically, it is possible to know the processing stage of each job when the jobs are continuously supplied to the printer system 2 including the components 22-1 to 22-5. Further, according to the method of the present embodiment, the job management device 30 uses the printer system 2
It is not necessary to know in advance the names of all jobs that are input to
The execution status of each job can be grasped only by sorting the job names returned from -1 to 22-5.

Furthermore, by using this embodiment, it is not necessary for each of the components 22-1 to 22-5 to always hold the job processing history as in the conventional case, and each of the components 22-1 to 22- The configuration of 5 can be simplified. Further, in the present embodiment, by checking which component responded to the inquiry from the job management apparatus 30 (steps S12 and S15), each component 22 constituting the printer system 2 is determined by the presence or absence of the response. -1 to 22-
It is also possible to grasp the operating state (normal / abnormal) of No. 5.

Now, the job management apparatus 30 of this embodiment.
Uses the above-described function of each of the components 22-1 to 22-5 to cancel the job and confirm the cancellation result in the procedure shown in FIG. When the user designates the name of the job whose processing is to be canceled via the operation panel of the printer system 2 or the like, the cancel command output unit 34 refers to the latest information in the execution status holding unit 35, and already checks all jobs. The job name is notified to the component on the downstream side of the component for which the process for (1) has been completed, and a cancel instruction is output to cancel the process for the job to which the job name is assigned (step S21).

Thereafter, the transmission unit 31 inquires of the component that has output the cancel instruction (that is, the component on the downstream side of the component that has finished processing for all jobs) about the name of the currently held job ( In step S22), the job management unit 33 determines whether or not the reception unit 32 has received the responses from all the components that output the cancel instruction, that is, the responses from all the components that output the cancel instruction, within a predetermined time. It is determined whether or not there is (step S23).

When there is a response from all the components that output the cancel command (YES in step S23)
The route), the job management unit 33 determines whether or not all the names of the jobs to be canceled have disappeared based on the job names included in the responses from the respective components to the inquiry (step S24). If all the job names have disappeared (YES route in step S24), it is determined that the job designated by the user can be canceled, and the cancel processing ends, while the job name still remains (step S24). S24 NO
For route), the process returns to step S21 and the same process is performed again.

On the other hand, when there is a component that does not respond (NO route in step S23), the transmitter 31
Makes an inquiry again to the component which has not responded (step S25), and then to step S2.
Similar to 3, the job management unit 33 outputs whether or not the reception unit 32 has received the responses from all the components that output the cancel command within the predetermined time within the predetermined time, that is, outputs the cancel command. It is determined whether there is a response from all components (step S2).
6).

When there is a response from all the components that output the cancel command (YES in step S26)
(Route), the process proceeds to step S24 and the same processing as described above is performed, but when there is a component that does not respond even if the inquiry is made again (NO route of step S26), as in step S26 of FIG. The job management unit 33 notifies the user by displaying that the operating state of the component that has not responded is abnormal on the display unit 37 via the user interface 36 (step S27).

As described above, in this embodiment, the components 22-1 to 22- are used to cancel a predetermined job.
After outputting the cancel command to 5, the job management unit 33 recognizes the presence or absence of the job name in the reply without analyzing the history information as in the conventional case, and whether the predetermined job is canceled or not. Can be confirmed easily and in a short time.

At this time, the cancel command output unit 34
Instead of the cancel command described above, when a job having a predetermined name is received from a component in the preceding stage, a cancel command instructing to discard the job without performing the process is issued, the printer system can be configured. Even if the components 22-1 to 22-5 forming item 2 cannot cancel the job during the processing, it is possible to reliably cancel the job.

Further, the latest execution status of the job periodically checked by the job management section 33 is held in the execution status holding section 35, and all the components 2 are stored.
2-1 to 22-5 are not uniformly instructed to cancel, but the processing is speeded up by executing the job execution by removing the already processed component and issuing the cancel command and the job name inquiry. This method that can grasp the situation in a shorter time is particularly effective when the number of components is large.

By the way, display examples of the job execution status on the display unit 37 of the job management apparatus 30 of the present embodiment are shown in FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (F) and 5 (A) to 5 (F). . In these figures, for example, a unique job name A,
When the three print jobs assigned with B and C are continuously thrown from the upper level device 1 to the spooler 21, the display unit 3
The execution status of each job that is periodically displayed in 7 is the chronological order [(A) → (B) → (C) → (D) → (E) →
(F)]. It is assumed here that the print job C requires a longer time for the intermediate listing process than the other print jobs A and B.

In the example shown in FIGS. 4A to 4F, the execution status of each of the jobs A, B, and C is displayed in words. In the state shown in FIG. 4A, the print jobs B and C are still held in the spooler 21. In the state shown in FIG. 4B, the print job C is still held in the spooler 21. FIG. 4E shows a display example on the assumption that the bitmap processing and the data transmission are performed in parallel. In the state shown in FIG. 4F, the data of the print job A has been sent to the printing mechanism 23.

In the example shown in FIGS. 5A to 5F, the execution status of each job A, B and C is displayed at the position of ">", and the position of ">" is shown in the figure. The further to the right in the middle, the closer the processing for that job is to the end. 5 (A) to 5 (F) show display states in the situations corresponding to the above-mentioned FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (F), respectively.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the job management unit 33 does not need to analyze the history information as in the conventional case, and only sorts the component information for which the job name is answered by the job name. Thus, even if the number of components increases, the job execution status can be grasped easily and in a short time. As a result, there is no discrepancy between the result of grasping / notifying the job execution status and the actual job execution status, and the user can be notified of the job execution status accurately at all times.

Further, after outputting a cancel command to the components 22-1 to 22-5 to cancel the predetermined job, the job management section 33 does not analyze the history information as in the conventional case, and the Since it is possible to confirm in a short time whether or not a predetermined job has been canceled simply by recognizing the presence or absence of a job name, it is possible to reliably determine whether or not a desired job can be canceled when a job cancellation instruction is given. You can

Furthermore, it is judged whether or not there is a reply to the inquiry about the job name, and the components 22-1 to 22-
By grasping the state of No. 5, the execution status of the job is grasped, and at the same time, the components 22-1 to 22-5
Since it can recognize whether or not is operating normally, it manages the execution status of jobs and, at the same time, manages the components 22
It is also possible to manage the operating states of -1 to 22-5.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be carried out in various modified forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a printer system that handles a page description language has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this, and as long as the processing system continuously performs a plurality of processes on a job in a predetermined order, the processing system is applied in the same manner as the above-described embodiment, and the same operational effects as those described above are obtained. Obtainable. At this time, naturally, the number of stages of components is not limited to five.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the notification unit for notifying the execution status of the job is the display unit 37 on the operation panel.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the execution status obtained by the job management unit 33 may be printed out.

[0069]

As described above in detail, the job management method (claims 1 to 6) and the job management apparatus (claims 7 to 7) of the present invention are described.
12) and job management system (claims 13 to 18)
According to this, the following effects and advantages can be obtained. (1) The job management side does not need to analyze the history information as in the past, and the job execution status can be grasped easily and in a short time even if the number of components increases, so that the job execution status can be grasped. There is no discrepancy between the notified result and the actual job execution status, and the job execution status can be accurately notified (claims 1, 7, 13).

(2) A job name inquiry to a plurality of processing components and a job execution status notification obtained based on the answers to the inquiries can be periodically made, and an accurate job execution status is always notified. (Claims 2, 8 and 14). (3) After outputting a cancel command to a plurality of processing components in order to cancel a predetermined job, the job management side does not analyze history information as in the conventional case, and the presence or absence of a job name being answered Since it is possible to confirm in a short time whether or not a predetermined job has been canceled by simply recognizing, it is possible to reliably determine whether or not the desired job can be canceled when the job cancel instruction is issued (claim Items 3, 4, 9, 10, 15,
16).

(4) When a job having a predetermined name is received from a processing component in the preceding stage, a cancel command for discarding the job without performing the processing is output to each processing component. However, the desired job can be reliably canceled even when the processing component does not allow the job to be canceled during the processing (claims 4, 10, 16).

(5) The processing can be sped up by outputting the cancel instruction and inquiring the name of the job to the processing components on the downstream side of the processing components that have finished processing for all jobs. The execution status of the job can be grasped in a shorter time (claims 5, 11, 17). (6) Since it is possible to grasp the execution status of the job and at the same time recognize whether or not each processing component is operating normally, it is possible to manage the execution status of the job as well as the operating status of the processing component. (Claims 6, 12, 18).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a printer system to which a job management system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a job execution status grasping process according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a job cancel process according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 4A to 4F are diagrams showing display examples of job execution status of the present embodiment.

5A to 5F are diagrams showing another display example of the job execution status of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Upper device 2 Printer system 21 Spooler 22-1 Page description language-> intermediate listing preparation component (processing component) 22-2 Page description language-> intermediate listing processing component (processing component) 22-3 Intermediate list-> bitmap preparation Component (processing component) 22-4 Intermediate list → bitmap processing component (processing component) 22-5 Bitmap data transmission component (processing component) 22a Interface 22b Response unit 23 Printing mechanism 30 Job management device 31 Sending unit 32 Receiving unit 33 job management unit 34 cancellation command output unit 35 execution status holding unit 36 user interface 37 display unit (notification unit)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-8-305520 (JP, A) JP-A-8-272557 (JP, A) JP-A-1-270449 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 115487 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12

Claims (18)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of processing components respectively in charge of the plurality of processings are connected in the processing order so that the plurality of processings are successively performed on the job in a predetermined order, and each processing component makes a job for each job. In a processing system configured to perform processing for
A job management method for managing the execution status of each job, in which each job is given a unique name in advance, and the plurality of processing components are queried for the name of the currently held job. And sort by job based on the job name included in the response from each processing component to the inquiry and the processing component that answered the job name.
By, as the execution status of each job, each job
A job management method characterized by determining which processing component is processing a job and notifying the execution status of each job. 2. For the plurality of processing components,
2. The job management method according to claim 1, wherein an inquiry about the name of the currently held job is periodically made, and the execution status of each job is periodically obtained based on the answer to the inquiry. . 3. When a name of a job whose processing is to be canceled is specified, a cancel instruction for instructing the plurality of processing components to cancel the processing for the job if there is a job with that name After outputting the command, the plurality of processing components are queried for the names of the jobs currently held, and the jobs to be canceled based on the job names included in the responses from the processing components to the inquiries. 3. The job management method according to claim 2, further comprising confirming that the job to be canceled has been canceled by recognizing that the job has disappeared from all of the plurality of processing components. 4. When the name of a job whose processing is to be cancelled is specified, when a job with that name is received from a preceding processing component, the job is processed for that plurality of processing components. After outputting a cancel command instructing to discard without performing the job, inquire of the names of the currently held jobs to the processing components, and the jobs included in the responses from the processing components to the inquiry. A confirmation that the job to be canceled has been canceled by recognizing that the job to be canceled has disappeared from all of the plurality of processing components based on the name of The job management method according to item 2. 5. A processing component that holds the latest execution status of each job obtained periodically, refers to the latest execution status, and recognizes a processing component that has already completed processing for all jobs, 5. The job management method according to claim 3, wherein the cancel instruction is output and the job name is inquired to a processing component on the downstream side. 6. The plurality of processing components are determined by associating the processing components that have responded to a job name inquiry with all the processing components that make up the processing system to determine the presence or absence of a response. The job management method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the status of the job is grasped. 7. A plurality of processing components respectively in charge of the plurality of processings are connected in the processing order so that the plurality of processings are successively performed on the job in a predetermined order, and each processing component makes a job for each job. In a processing system configured to perform processing for
A job management device for managing the execution status of each job, comprising: a sending unit for inquiring of the plurality of processing components about a unique name given in advance to a currently held job; A receiving unit that receives an answer from each processing component in response to the inquiry made from the transmitting unit, a job component included in the answer received by the receiving unit, and a processing component that answers the job name. based on, by sorting for each job, as an execution status of each job, which process components each job
A job management apparatus, comprising: a job management unit that determines whether or not the job is processed by a job management unit; and a notification unit that notifies the execution status of each job determined by the job management unit. 8. The transmission unit periodically inquires of the plurality of processing components about the name of a job currently held, and the notification unit is based on an answer to the periodic inquiry by the transmission unit. 8. The job management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the job management unit notifies the execution status of each job that is periodically obtained. 9. When a name of a job whose processing is to be canceled is designated,
If a job with that name is present, the job transmitter includes a cancel command output unit that outputs a cancel command instructing to cancel the process for that job, and after the cancel command is output by the cancel command output unit, the transmitter unit , Inquires of the currently held job name to the plurality of processing components, and the job management unit cancels the job based on the job name included in the answer received by the receiving unit. 9. The job management apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the job management apparatus confirms that the job to be canceled has been canceled by recognizing that the job to be canceled has disappeared from all of the plurality of processing components. 10. When a name of a job whose processing is to be canceled is specified, when a job having that name is received from a preceding processing component, the processing is performed on that job. A cancel command output unit that outputs a cancel command for instructing to discard without performing the process is provided, and after the cancel command is output by the cancel command output unit, the transmission unit is The job management unit inquires about the name of the held job, and the job management unit determines that the job to be canceled from all of the plurality of processing components based on the job name included in the answer received by the reception unit. By recognizing that it has disappeared, it is possible to confirm that the job to be canceled has been canceled. Characterized by, the job management apparatus according to claim 8. 11. An execution status holding unit for holding the latest execution status of each job obtained on a regular basis, and the cancellation command output unit and the transmission unit are held in the execution status holding unit. When referring to the latest execution status and recognizing a processing component that has already completed processing for all jobs, output of the cancel command to the processing component on the downstream side of the processing component,
11. The job management apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising inquiring the name of the job. 12. The job management unit determines whether or not there is a response by associating a processing component that has responded to a job name inquiry with all the processing components that make up the processing system. 9. The job management apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: grasping the states of the plurality of processing components. 13. A plurality of processing components respectively in charge of the plurality of processings are connected in the processing order so that the plurality of processings can be continuously performed on the job in a predetermined order, and each processing component makes a job unit for each job. In a processing system configured to execute processing for each job, a job management device for managing the execution status of each job is provided, and each job is assigned to each processing component together with a unique name given to the job in advance. An interface for passing to the processing component in the next stage, and a reply unit for replying to the job management device the name of the job currently held and the identifier of the processing component in response to an inquiry from the job management device In addition, the job management device is provided with a plurality of processing components. A sending unit for inquiring a unique name given to a job currently held in advance, and a receiving unit for receiving an answer from each processing component in response to the inquiry made by the sending unit, By sorting for each job based on the name of the job included in the reply received by the receiving unit and the processing component that answered the job name, the processing status of each job is
1. A job management system, comprising: a job management unit that determines whether or not processing is performed by a job management unit; and a notification unit that notifies the execution status of each job determined by the job management unit. 14. The transmission unit periodically inquires of the plurality of processing components about the names of jobs currently held, and the notification unit is based on an answer to the periodic inquiry by the transmission unit. 14. The job management system according to claim 13, wherein the execution status of each job that is periodically obtained by the job management unit is notified. 15. When a name of a job whose processing is to be cancelled is specified, a cancel instruction for instructing the plurality of processing components to cancel the processing for the job when the job with that name is held. A cancel command output unit for outputting the cancel command output unit, and after the cancel command output unit outputs the cancel command, the transmission unit inquires of the plurality of processing components about the names of jobs currently held. , The job management unit recognizes that the job to be canceled has disappeared from all of the plurality of processing components based on the name of the job included in the answer received by the receiving unit. Claim, characterized by confirming that the job to be canceled has been canceled 4 job management system described. 16. When the name of a job whose processing is to be canceled is designated, the processing is executed for the plurality of processing components when the job with that name is received from the processing component of the preceding stage. A cancel command output unit that outputs a cancel command for instructing to discard without performing the process is provided, and after the cancel command is output by the cancel command output unit, the transmission unit is The job management unit inquires about the name of the held job, and the job management unit determines that the job to be canceled from all of the plurality of processing components based on the job name included in the answer received by the reception unit. By recognizing that it has disappeared, it is possible to confirm that the job to be canceled has been canceled. Job management system of the feature to claim 14, wherein that. 17. An execution status holding unit that holds the latest execution status of each job obtained periodically, and the cancel command output unit and the transmission unit are held in the execution status holding unit. When referring to the latest execution status and recognizing a processing component that has already completed processing for all jobs, output of the cancel command to the processing component on the downstream side of the processing component,
The job management system according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the job name is inquired. 18. The job management unit determines whether or not there is a reply by associating a processing component that has answered a job name inquiry with all processing components that make up the processing system. The job management system according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the statuses of the plurality of processing components are grasped.