Printing system, printing control method in cluster environment, and printing control program

A printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the printing system comprising:

• a print job submitting unit for submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers;
• a print executing control unit for giving a printer an instruction for executing print based on the print job in the print server into which the print job is submitted by the print job submitting unit;
• and
• a server failure occurrence detecting unit for detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server,
• wherein the print executing control unit gives the printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for all pages in one of the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted by the print job submitting unit,
• when the occurrence of the failure in the one print server is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting unit, the print executing control unit gives the printer an instruction for executing print through the print job for all pages based on the print job which has been submitted by the print job submitting unit in one of the at least two print servers which is another print server having the failure occurrence, and
• the printer confirms to include a status information managing unit for generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed and storing the status information in an internal memory, and
• a print processing unit for executing print from a first page when the print job for all pages is sent from the one print server, and for discarding pages indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the internal memory and executing the print from a next unprinted page when the print job for all pages is sent from another print server.

A printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the printing system comprising:

• a print job submitting unit for submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers;
• a print executing control unit for giving a printer an instruction for executing print based on the print job in the print server into which the print job is submitted by the print job submitting unit and for acquiring status information of print every predetermined timing from the printer;
• a status information share managing unit for generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed based on the status information of the print acquired from the printer by the print executing control unit and storing the status information in storing units of the at least two print servers, respectively;
• and
• a server failure occurrence detecting unit for detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server,
• wherein the print executing control unit gives the printer an instruction for executing print through the print job for all pages in one of the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted by the print job submitting unit,
• when the occurrence of the failure in the one print server is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting unit, the print executing control unit gives the printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for completion non-notification pages which is a print job from a next page to a page indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the storing unit based on the print job which has already been submitted by the print job submitting unit in another one of the at least two print servers from the print server having the failure occurrence, and
• the printer confirms to include a status information managing unit for generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed and storing the status information in an internal memory, and
• a print executing unit for executing print from a first page when the print job for all pages is sent from the one print server, and for discarding pages indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the internal memory in the completion non-notification pages and executing print from a next unprinted page when the print job for completion non-notification pages is sent from another print server.

A printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the printing system comprising:

• a print job submitting unit for submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers;
• and
• a print executing control unit for giving a printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for all pages from the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted by the print job submitting unit,
• wherein the printer confirms to include a print processing unit for executing print from a first page based on one of the print job for all pages when the print jobs for all pages are sent from the at least two print servers, and for executing the print from a succeeding page based on another print job which is being received when receipt of the one print job is interrupted before the receipt of the print job is completed.

A print control method of controlling execution of print in a printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the method comprising:

• a first step of submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers by a print job submitting unit of the client terminal;
• a second step of sequentially giving a printer instructions for executing print for respective pages in accordance with respective commands based on the print job and receiving print completion notices for respective pages from the printer by a print executing control unit of one of the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted and which takes main charge;
• a third step of generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed based on the print completion notice received from the printer and storing the status information in storing units of the at least two print servers respectively by the status information share managing unit of the print server taking the main charge;
• a fourth step of detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server taking the main charge by a server failure occurrence detecting unit of one of the at least two print servers which takes sub charge;
• and
• a fifth step of sequentially giving the printer instructions for executing print from a next unprinted page to a page indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the storing unit based on the print job submitted in the first step by the print executing control unit of the print server taking the sub charge when the occurrence of the failure in the print server taking the main charge is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting unit.

A print control method of controlling execution of print in a printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the method comprising:

• a first step of submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers by a print job submitting unit of the client terminal;
• a second step of giving a printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for all pages based on the print job by a print executing control unit of one of the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted and which takes main charge;
• a third step of executing print from a first page based on the print job for all pages sent from the print server taking the main charge by a print processing unit of the printer;
• a fourth step of generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed and storing the status information in an internal memory by a status information managing unit of the printer;
• a fifth step of detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server taking the main charge by a server failure occurrence detecting unit of one of the at least two of the print servers which takes sub charge;
• a sixth step of giving the printer an instruction for executing print through the print job for all pages based on the print job submitted in the first step by a print executing control unit of the print server taking the sub charge when the occurrence of the failure in the print server taking the main charge is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting unit;
• and
• a seventh step of discarding pages indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the internal memory and executing print from a next unprinted page by the print processing unit of the printer when the print job for all pages is sent from the print server taking the sub charge.

A print control method of controlling execution of print in a printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the method comprising:

• a first step of submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers by a print job submitting unit of the client terminal;
• a second step of giving a printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for all pages based on the print job by a print executing control unit of one of the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted and which takes main charge;
• a third step of executing print from a first page based on the print job for all pages sent from the print server taking the main charge by a print processing unit of the printer;
• a fourth step of generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed and storing the status information in an internal memory by a status information managing unit of the printer;
• a fifth step of acquiring the status information of print every predetermined timing from the printer by a print executing control unit of the print server taking the main charge;
• a sixth step of generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed based on the status information of the print acquired from the printer and storing the status information in storing units of the at least two print servers respectively by a status information share managing unit of the print server taking the main charge;
• a seventh step of detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server taking the main charge by a server failure occurrence detecting unit of one of the at least two print servers which takes sub charge;
• an eighth step of giving the printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for complete unreceived pages which is a print job from a next page to a page indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the storing unit based on the print job submitted in the first step by the print executing control unit of the print server taking the sub charge when the occurrence of the failure in the print server taking the main charge is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting unit;
• and
• a ninth step of discarding pages indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the internal memory in the completion non-notification pages and executing print from a next unprinted page by the print processing unit of the printer when a print job for completion non-notification pages is sent from the print server taking the sub charge.

A print control method of controlling execution of print in a printing system in a cluster environment having a plurality of print servers, the method comprising:

• a first step of submitting a print job generated in a client terminal into at least two of the print servers by a print job submitting unit of the client terminal;
• a second step of giving a printer an instruction for executing print through a print job for all pages by print executing control units of the at least two print servers;
• a third step of executing print from a first page based on the print job for all pages by a print processing unit of the printer when the print job for all pages is sent from the at least two print servers;
• and
• a fourth step of executing print from a succeeding page base on another print job which is being received by the print processing unit of the printer when receipt of one of the print jobs is interrupted before the receipt of the print job is completed.

A printing control program to be executed in a plurality of print servers in a printing system in a cluster environment having the print servers, the printing control program causing a computer of the print servers to function as:

• print executing control means for sequentially giving a printer instructions for executing print for respective pages in accordance with commands based on a print job submitted from a client terminal and receiving print completion notices for respective pages from the printer;
• status information share managing means for generating status information indicating which pages have been completely printed based on the print completion notice received from the printer by the print executing control means and storing the status information in storing units of at least two of the print servers into which the print job is submitted, respectively;
• and
• server failure occurrence detecting means for detecting occurrence of a failure in the print server,
• wherein the print executing control means sequentially gives the printer instructions for executing print from a first page in accordance with the print job if the print server is set to take main charge in the at least two print servers into which the print job is submitted from the client terminal, and
• the print executing control means sequentially gives the printer instructions for executing print from a next unprinted page to a page indicated to be completely printed through the status information stored in the storing unit based on the print job which has already been submitted when the occurrence of the failure in the print server taking the main charge is detected by the server failure occurrence detecting means if the print server is set to take sub charge in the at least two print servers.