JPH0443743A - Printer output system for network - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is applicable to network data compression and
This invention relates to a method for streamlining the decompression function and outputting to a server printer.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a plurality of workstations that perform various processing using personal computers and a machine server (resource supply center) are connected via a network to exchange information with each other. PC communication is taking place.

When outputting image data from one workstation to a remote printer on a server, if the data is sent as is over the network,
It takes too much time to finish sending all the image data. Converting and transmitting information digitally can significantly reduce time and memory capacity.

Regarding image communication via network, see 1, for example, Gfacsimile and New Image Communication 1198: March 10, '.
Published by Nissan Hohataban Co., Ltd., pp. 101-130.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] When outputting image data to a remote printer in a personal computer network, there is a problem in that it takes too much time to send all the data because the amount of data is too large. Ta.

During this transmission period, the workstation cannot do any other work, so it has been required to shorten this time.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a network printer output method that can solve these conventional problems, shorten the time it takes to output image data to a remote printer, and significantly increase data transfer speed. It's about doing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the network printer output method according to the present invention requires the network to turn on the compression flag from the workstation side. Compression After sending out the packet with the compression flag, the data sent from the work stage Yoshi is compressed packet by packet, and multiple packets are sent to the server side during one packet transmission period. It is characterized by determining that it is a compressed packet by flag packet sorting, decompressing the received data, and outputting it to a printer.

[Function] In the present invention, one packet of normal data is transmitted in, for example, 1518 bytes, but by compressing this 1518 bytes on the network and shortening it to about 500 bytes, and performing this process three times. , 3 packets into 1
Enable transmission during packet transmission period. To indicate that one packet is compressed, a compression flag packet is sent at the beginning, and then a data packet is sent.

This increases data transfer speed by three to four times compared to conventional technology. As a result, even when image data is transferred from the workstation to a remote printer of the server and printed out, it is possible to output it at high speed.

[Example] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sequence chart showing the processing procedure on the sending side (that is, on the cotton station side) in the present invention.

On the application side, before outputting data to a remote printer, it notifies the network whether or not to compress the data (step 101).

In the network, if this compression flag is ON,
The subsequent data is compressed, and when the compressed data becomes one packet, it is sent to the server.

Usually, the data is 】packet (e.g. or 〕5〕8 bytes)
This 1 packet is compressed into 5 packets.
If the data is set to 00 hide, the remaining 1018 bytes of data can be transmitted as one packet.

As a result, data that was sent in 3 to 4 packets in conventional packet communication can be sent in 1 packet with the present invention.

When transmitting and receiving data, collision detection is performed on the network for each packet, so one packet (15
It is more efficient to use all 18 bytes). Therefore, the data transfer rate is improved 3-4 times compared to the conventional technology.

If the compression flag is ON, the network sends a packet indicating that the flag is ON to the server before sending out the pig (step +02) so that the compression flag packet arrives at the beginning of the spooled file.

On the workstation side, once data has been sent (step 103), this flag must be turned OFF. If the user does not change this flag, this flag information will be retained from now on.

In the network, the data after that is 】Packet 9
The data is compressed and sent to the server (step 104).
.

FIG. 2 is a sequence chart showing the processing procedure on the server side in the present invention.

On the server side, the data sent from the workstation is spooled as is, and after spooling is completed, it is sent to the printer driver (step 201).

In the printer driver, it is determined whether the data is compressed or not, and if there is a flag packet at the beginning, it is determined that the packet is a compressed packet (step 2o2). If the compression flag is ON, the subsequent data is decompressed and then (
Step 203), output to printer (Step 2o)
4).

When one spool file has finished outputting, the state returns to the default and normal output continues until the next compression flag packet is received.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of processing data on the transmitting side and receiving side of the present invention.

Figure 3(a) shows the packet processing at the workstation, Figures 3(b) and 3(c) show the compression processing and transmission processing in the network, and Figure 3(d) shows the reception on the server and printer driver side. - Indicates decompression processing.

Prior to data transmission, the workstation sends a request to turn on the compression flag to the network, and when a response arrives from the network, data is transmitted to the network every 1518 bytes (see FIG. 3(a)).

In the network, 518 bytes are compressed to 500 bytes, and 3 packets are stored as A and B respectively.

When compressed into C, the compression flag Q is placed at the beginning (see Figure 3(b) #).
After sending out packet l'J, three packets A, B, and C are sent out during the conventional one-packet sending period (see FIG. 3(C)).

On the server side, by sending the data to the printer driver after spooling is completed, the driver determines that it is a compressed packet by seeing the flag packet at the beginning, and saves A, B, and C each with 15]8 bytes. The data is decompressed (see FIG. 3(d)).

In this way, by compressing data on the workstation side and decompressing it on the server side, the amount of data passing through the network is significantly reduced, and the processing time required for data transmission and reception is shortened. As a result, the workstation side can quickly move on to other tasks after outputting data to the printer, improving work efficiency.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since each packet is compressed and sent to the network, the data transfer rate is three to four times faster than the conventional method, and the processing time on the workstation side is shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a processing sequence chart on the workstation side showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a processing sequence chart on the server side showing an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 is a compression of l packet in the present invention. It is an explanatory diagram showing a state. 101.103: Workstation processing, 102.
104: Network processing, 201° Server processing,
202, 203, 204 - Printer driver processing. Figure: Workstation side network

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a network transmission/reception system that outputs image data from a workstation to a remote printer on a server via a network, when the workstation requests the network to turn on the compression flag, the network inserts a compression flag packet at the beginning. After sending, the data sent from the workstation is compressed into packets and multiple packets are sent to the server during one packet transmission period. A network printer output method characterized by determining that something is wrong, decompressing the received data, and outputting it to a printer.