Apparatus transmitting activation instruction for printer
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorJin KAMADA
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of performing a print operation includes receiving a print request to perform a print operation on a first printer and identifying an error with respect to the first printer. In response to the error, a second printer is selected, which is currently powered OFF, to perform the print request, based on one or more criteria. The printer request is transmitted to the second printer. The second printer includes a network interface that receives the print request and, responsive thereto, causes the second printer to be powered ON to perform the print operation.
Claims20
A method performed by a print system including a plurality of printers, the method comprising:
- synchronizing first configuration of a first printer with second configurations of one or more second printers so that a print job issued in the print system is performed by any of the first printer and the second printers,
- receiving from an external device a print request to perform the print job on the first printer;
- detecting an error with respect to the first printer;
- in response to the error, selecting one of the second printers that are currently in a sleep mode to perform the print job based on one or more criteria;
- and
- transmitting to the selected second printer an instruction that causes the selected second printer to wake up and perform the print job.
A printer comprising:
- a memory;
- a network interface;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- synchronize first configuration of the printer with second configurations of other printers so that a print job is performed by any of the printer and the other printers;
- store the synchronized first configuration in the memory;
- control the network interface to receive from an external device a print request to perform the print job;
- detect an error with respect to the printer;
- in response to the error, select one of the other printers that are currently in a sleep mode to perform the print job based on one or more criteria;
- and
- control the network interface to transmit to the selected printer an instruction that causes the selected printer to wake up and perform the print job.
A printer system comprising:
- a first printer comprising:
- a memory;
- a first network interface;
- and
- a first processor configured to:
- synchronize first configuration of the first printer with second configurations of one or more second printers so that a print job issued in the printer system is processed by any of the first printer and the second printers;
- store the synchronized first configuration in the memory;
- control the first network interface to receive from an external device a print request to perform the print job;
- detect an error with respect to the first printer;
- in response to the error, select one of the second printers that are currently in a sleep mode to perform the print job based on one or more criteria;
- and
- control the first network interface to transmit an instruction to the selected second printer;
- and
- the selected second printer comprising:
- a second network interface;
- and
- a second processor configured to:
- control the second network interface to receive the instruction from the first printer;
- change an operation mode from the sleep mode to a ready mode;
- and
- perform the print job according to the instruction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.