JP2003118209A - Job managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a job managing system in which a required job type can be executed preferentially to individual jobs attached with a priority. SOLUTION: A job list display screen 106 displays jobs being executed in order at a job display section 108. Each individual job can be designated preferentially by pushing a button 110 for designating preferential processing. In the embodiment, 'printer print A' is designated preferentially. A most preferential job type being executed preferentially to a job attached with a priority is also registered. When the most preferential job type is executed, it is displayed to be executed preferentially to a job attached with a priority. In the embodiment, an automatic report print and a security print are executed as the most preferential job type.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a job management apparatus for managing a plurality of jobs, and is used in, for example, an image processing apparatus.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

In an image processing apparatus, jobs are normally executed in a temporal order input by a user, but it is known to prioritize other jobs. Jobs with priorities are executed with priority over other jobs, so that jobs can be executed according to the user's wishes.

However, if the priority-assigned jobs are prioritized as described above, there is a problem that other jobs, for example, prints required for management may be delayed, and management may be hindered.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a job management apparatus capable of executing a necessary job type with a higher priority than a job with individual priorities. The task is to do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a job management apparatus for managing a plurality of jobs, and a priority job specification for specifying a job to be executed preferentially for each job. And a top priority job registration means for registering a job type prioritized over the job designated by the priority job designation means. Therefore, the job type registered as the highest priority job type will be executed with priority over the individually prioritized jobs, so that the job type required for maintenance and management of the device can be executed earlier, and the device type It is possible to reduce the risk of hindering maintenance and management.

The highest priority job type registration means may be rewritable or non-rewritable, and at least one job is rewritable and the other at least one job is not rewritable. You can also do it. Jobs that are registered as non-rewritable include printing an unavoidable report on the device.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 10 is
The print unit 12 includes a print unit 12 and a scan unit 14, and the print unit 12 includes, for example, three stages of recording medium supply trays 16, and each of the recording medium supply trays 16 is provided with a supply head 18. When one of the recording medium supply trays 16 is selected, the supply head 1
When the recording medium supply tray 8 operates, the recording medium is supplied to the print engine 18 from the selected recording medium supply tray 16 through the recording medium supply path 20.

The print engine 22 comprises, for example, xerography, a photoconductor 24, a charging roll 26 for uniformly charging the surface of the photoconductor 24, a laser writing device 28 for writing a latent image on the photoconductor 24, and toner. Image the photoconductor 2
4, a developing device 30 for developing, a transfer roll 32 for transferring the developed toner image onto a recording medium, a cleaner 34 for removing residual toner, and a fixing device 36 for fixing the toner image on the recording medium. The photoconductor 24 by the charging roll 26
Is uniformly charged, a latent image is formed by the laser writing device 28, the latent image is developed by the developing device 30, transferred to a recording medium by the transfer roll 26, fixed by the fixing device 36, and ejected. The paper is discharged from the path 38 to the discharge tray 40.

However, when double-sided printing is set, the recording medium whose surface has been fixed by the fixing device 36 is sent from the recording medium discharge path 38 to the reversing device 42, is reversed by the reversing device 42, and is rewritable. It is sent to the inversion path 44, returned to the recording medium supply path 20 again, and sent to the print engine 22 to print the back surface.

The scanning unit 14 has an automatic document feeder 46 such as a DADF capable of reading a double-sided document, and the original is fed to the platen 4 by the automatic document feeder 46.
Then, the image of the original is read on the platen 48 by the reading unit 50 including a CCD. The image forming apparatus 10 is also provided with a facsimile modem connected to a public line and a network communication device connected to a network such as a LAN.

The UI device 52 is provided integrally with the image processing device 10 or via a network, and is adapted to select and display the processing contents of the image processing device 10. The UI device 52 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display touch panel.

In FIG. 2, an example of a control circuit of the image processing apparatus is shown.
A system memory 56, an image storage memory 58, a highest priority job type registration memory 60, a skin interface 62, a print interface 64, a network communication interface 66, and a modem interface 68 for facsimile are connected by a bus. The CPU 54 controls each circuit according to a program written in the system memory 56. The operation input data from the UI device 52 is transmitted to the CPU 54, and the display image data from the CPU 54 is transmitted to the UI device 52. The image storage memory 58 is for temporarily storing the image captured by the image processing apparatus. The highest priority job type registration memory 60 is for registering the highest priority job type as described later.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the job management program in the image processing apparatus. The input analysis unit 70 analyzes the coordinate position performed by the user on the touch panel of the UI device, and transmits the analysis result to the job management unit 72. The job management unit 72 receives the operation input data from the UI device analyzed by the input analysis unit 70. Further, the job management unit 72 receives the highest priority job type data, and manages jobs performed by the image processing apparatus from these data.

The job management section 72 has a job management table 74, and creates a job list based on the management table 74. The job management table 74 has an in-execution queue 76 for storing in-execution jobs in order and an execution queue 78 for sequentially storing in-wait jobs, and the job management section 74 controls these queues. It is like this. The job in the executing queue 76 is transmitted to the executing unit 82 and executed, and the execution waiting queue 78 is executed.
The jobs in the are transferred to the running queue 74 in order.

The job execution unit 82 is based on the job list created by the job management unit 72, and the scan control unit 8
4, print control unit 86, network communication control unit 88
And the modem control unit 90. Can control unit 84,
The print control unit 86, the network communication control unit 88, and the modem control unit 90 control the scan interface, print interface, network communication interface, and modem interface, respectively, so as to read, store, transmit / receive images, and print images. Has become. The event detection unit 92 also detects events such as execution start and end that are sent from the scan control unit 84, the print control unit 86, the network communication control unit 88, and the modem control unit 90, and the job management unit 72.
Communicate the detected data to. The data detected by the event detection unit 92 is sent to the history storage unit 94, the history such as the communication date and time and the communication state is stored, and the job management unit 72 calls up the data as needed, and the print control unit 86. Printed as a report via.

The UI image generation unit 96 receives the control data from the input analysis unit 70 and the job management unit 72, generates images corresponding to the respective control data, sends the generated images to the UI device, and displays them on the UI device. It is supposed to do.

In the above-mentioned job management section 72, the priority of the job is set in advance as shown in FIG. That is, the startup page is set to the UI for the priority 1.
There are a startup page job displayed on the device and an automatic report print job that automatically prints the job history. The priority 2 is input from the security print job for printing the security information stored in the CPU 54, the manual report print job for the user to manually instruct the print of the job history from the UI device, and the scan unit 14 described above. Direct copy job for printing images directly without passing through the image storage memory 58, confirmation print job for checking the number of printed sheets, fax progress reception print for printing received images sent by facsimile from a confidential reception, and polling reception There is a polling receive print job that prints the captured image. Priority 3 includes jobs for which priority is given individually. Priority 4 includes printer print, copy print, and FAX reception print other than the above. The job types registered in the above-mentioned highest priority job type memory 60 are limited to the job types set to priority 1 and priority 2. The job type set to the priority 1 is registered as the highest priority job type at the time of factory shipment of the image processing apparatus, and can be prevented from being rewritten normally. Further, the job type set to priority 2 can be rewritable. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a UI device is provided with a highest priority job type registration screen 98, and the highest priority job type can be registered from the highest priority job type registration screen 98. A job type that can be the highest priority job type is displayed on the highest priority job type candidate display unit 100. When the job type is selected and the highest priority processing button 102 is pressed, it is moved to the highest priority job type registration display unit 104. Is registered in the above-mentioned highest priority job type registration memory 60. Non-rewritable job types may or may not be displayed on the highest priority job type registration display unit 104.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S10, it is determined whether or not there is an instruction of the highest priority job type. If it is determined in this step S10 that there is a top priority job, the process proceeds to the next step S12, and the top priority job type is placed at the head of the execution waiting queue 78. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, when an automatic report print job is instructed, the job display unit 108 of the job list display screen 106 of the UI device irrespective of whether there is another printer print job or the like. It is placed at the beginning. Therefore, the automatic report print job is executed immediately after the currently executed job ends.

If it is determined in step S10 that there is no instruction of the highest priority job type, the process proceeds to step 14 and it is determined whether or not there is a priority job. As shown in FIG. 7, the priority job is set by pressing the priority instruction button 110 displayed on the job list screen 106 of the UI device. If it is determined in step S14 that there is a priority job, the process proceeds to step S16, the priority job is arranged next to the highest priority job type in the execution waiting queue 78, the process is terminated, and the job is stored in the execution waiting queue 78. The executed jobs are processed in order. Figure 7
In the example of (b), a priority instruction is given to the printer print A, and this printer print A is arranged next to the automatic report print, and is prioritized over other jobs.

If it is determined in step S10 that there is no highest priority job type, the flow advances to step S18 to determine whether there is a priority job. This step S18
When it is determined that there is a priority job in step S20, the priority job is arranged at the head of the execution waiting queue 78, the processing is terminated, and the jobs stored in the execution waiting queue 78 are processed in order. Like If it is determined in step S18 that there is no priority job, the process is terminated and the jobs stored in the execution waiting queue 78 are processed in order.

However, when there are a plurality of top priority job types, as shown in FIG. 7C, one top priority job type is followed by another top priority job type. The order among the highest priority job types is determined according to the priority shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 7C, the security print job is registered as the highest priority job type. However, since the automatic report print job has a higher priority, the automatic report print job is arranged at the top, and this is followed by Secure print job is placed. Even in this case, as shown in FIG. 7D, the job is given priority over the printer print A which is the job for which the priority is instructed.

In the above embodiment, the job management apparatus of the image processing apparatus has been described, but the job management apparatus of the present invention can be applied to information processing apparatuses other than the image processing apparatus.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to register the highest-priority job type to be executed with priority over the priority jobs individually instructed, so that it is possible to manage and maintain the apparatus. It is possible to speed up the execution of necessary jobs and reduce the risk of trouble in management and maintenance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control circuit used in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a management program used in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a table showing job priorities in the job management apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a highest priority job registration screen in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of priority processing in the job management apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a job list display screen in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image processing device 52 User interface device 60 highest priority job registration memory 72 Job Management Department 76 running queue 78 Waiting queue 98 Top priority job registration screen 100 Top priority job candidate display area 102 Top priority registration processing button 104 Registration top priority job type display 106 Job list display screen 108 job display section 110 Priority processing button

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kyoko Matsushita             Fuji Zero, 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Co., Ltd. Ebina Office F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP04 AQ06 HJ08 HR02                 2H027 EJ11 ZA07

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A job management apparatus for managing a plurality of jobs, wherein priority job specifying means for specifying a job to be preferentially executed for each job, and a job specified by the priority job specifying means A job management apparatus comprising: a highest priority job registration means for registering a priority job type. 2. The top priority job registration means is such that the job type cannot be rewritten.
The described job management device. 3. The job management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the highest priority job registration unit is capable of rewriting a job type. 4. The job management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the highest priority job registration means makes at least one job type rewritable and at least another job type unwritable. . 5. The job management apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a highest priority job registration display means for displaying a highest priority job so as to be registered. 6. The job management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a job display unit that displays the highest priority job type to be executed so as to be prioritized over other jobs.