JPH0754496B2 - Information processing system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [Overview] A control method for a device shared by a plurality of workstations. For a shared device that is selected at any time by the workstation, the state information of the device is displayed on the workstation, and in other words, a means is provided so that the required state can be forcibly changed by an instruction from the workstation.
According to this method, the work efficiency of the user can be improved especially when the shared device is used from a workstation located at a distant position.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention is an information processing system having an improved control method of a shared device in an information processing system having a plurality of workstations and a device shared by them.

In a system having a plurality of workstations, for example, a printer device or the like may be shared by those workstations. In that case, it is often difficult to use the shared device in a workstation located away from the shared device.

[Problems to be solved by conventional technology and invention]

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system having a plurality of workstations 10, 11, 12, 13 and the like, and shared devices 20, 21 such as printer devices shared by them.

When the shared devices 20 and 21 are printer devices, the users of the workstations 10 to 13 operate the keyboards or the like to input predetermined instructions, and thereby the shared devices 2 and 21 respectively.
When one of the required devices 0 and 21 is selected and the connection is successfully established, the output data can be sent from the workstation to print out.

If the shared device 20, 21 cannot be used unless the keys on the operation panel of the device are in a predetermined set state, or if it is being used by another workstation,
Alternatively, in the case of a printer device that requires setting of paper, ink ribbon, etc., it cannot be used and generally results in the above selection not succeeding. For example, the user repeats the selecting operation until the selection is successful.

However, of the above various states, if it is not in the state of being used in another workstation, it will not be in the usable state unless you go to the installation location of the shared device 20, 21 and take the necessary measures. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the factors that make the selection unsuccessful.

Such a state can be easily identified by the user in the vicinity of the shared device, but if the workstation and the shared device are separated from each other or the shared device is installed in another room, The user cannot accurately know the status of the shared device. For this reason, there is a problem that the work efficiency of the user is often impaired due to unnecessary movement of the user to the installation location of the shared device or delay of necessary treatment.

[Means for solving problems]

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.

The figure shows the configuration of the information processing system, 10 to 13 are workstations, 30 and 31 are shared devices, and each shared device 30,
Reference numeral 40 is a monitoring control unit, and reference numeral 41 is a main body unit.

[Work]

As in the past, workstations 10-13 are shared devices 3
When an instruction to select one device 0 or 30 is issued, a state in which communication with the monitoring control unit 40 of the designated shared device is possible is set.

The main body 41 has a function similar to that of the conventional shared devices 20 and 21, and is, for example, a part that executes a printing operation and the like, and a monitoring controller.
Reference numeral 40 is configured so that it can always communicate with the selection source workstation when the main body 41 to be coupled is selected even when performing a printing operation of another workstation.

The monitoring control unit 40 identifies and notifies the state of the main body unit 41 to the workstations 10 to 13 as the selection source, and the notification is received by the corresponding workstations 10 to 13 and displayed.

The workstation user sees this status display and
For example, the start of printing operation is instructed, and the shared devices 30, 31
When it is necessary to go to the installation place for treatment, each treatment is performed, and when it is being used by another, it is possible to make a determination such as waiting for the end.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of the monitoring control unit 40 of FIG. In this example, the shared device 30 or 31 is a printer device.

Any one of the workstations 10 to 13 is a shared device 30 or 31.
When printing is performed by, the selection request is sent by a known method such as operating the keyboard of the workstation or the like to send the address signals of the required shared device and the workstation of the selection source to the bus (processing). Step 6
0).

The supervisory control unit 40 of the designated shared device is activated, for example, by the address signal (processing step 50), receives the address of the workstation of the selection source, and starts the control described below.

First, in the processing step 51, the monitoring control unit 40 determines the main body unit.
The state of the main body portion 41 is determined by detecting the state of a predetermined portion of 41.

The processing step 52 identifies whether or not the determined state is printing in progress, and if the printing is in progress, then in processing step 53, returns a status display message to the workstation of the selection source, Returning to the state determination, the state monitoring is repeated until the printing is completed in this way.

At the work station, a status display message sent from the monitoring control unit 40 during this time, which indicates that printing is being executed by another work station, is displayed on a display device such as a so-called CRT display in processing step 61. The person sees this and waits for the completion of printing.

When the monitoring control unit 40 detects a state other than printing in progress, the process proceeds from the processing step 52 to the processing step 54,
A status display message indicating the determined status of the main body is transmitted.

In the work station, the message is displayed in the process step 62 in the same manner as described above, and the user sends an instruction to start printing in the operable state according to the message (process step 63).

In addition, the function to forcibly set to the operable state when the key etc. that should be set to operate the main body 41 is not set (for example, when the power of the main body 41 is not turned on, the power is turned on). And the like) are provided, and in response to such a status display, a status setting instruction is sent to enable the operation (processing step 64).

When the monitor control unit 40 receives these instructions, the main body unit
Required control is performed on 41 (processing steps 55 and 56).

If any other status is displayed, such as "out of paper", "ink ribbon setting failure", and "other abnormal status", the user or maintenance person can check the status at the installation location of the shared device. Appropriate decisions can be made to take the necessary actions to treat.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in an information processing system, a shared device including a plurality of workstations is easy for a user to use, so that a remarkable industrial effect of improving system utilization is achieved. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart of processing of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary configuration of an information processing system. In the figure, 10 to 13 are workstations, 20, 21, 30, and 31 are shared devices, 40 is a supervisory control unit, 41 is a main body unit, and 50 to 56 and 60 to 64 are processing steps.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Masafumi Asano 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (56) References JP-A-60-142729 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information processing system having a plurality of workstations and a shared device selectively connected to the workstations, wherein the shared device is communicably connected to the plurality of workstations. When the selection request issued from the workstation is received, the communication state with the workstation that issued the selection request is ensured, the state of the shared device main body is determined, and the workstation that issued the selection request receives the selection request. Judgment result of the message that distinguishes the unusable state of the shared device main unit from the unusable state due to other workstation being used and the unusable state due to different factor from that being used by other workstation According to the above, a monitoring control unit for sending the selection request to the workstation is provided. An information processing system characterized by the above.