Distributed printing
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorMartin F. Lobiondo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printshop management scheduling routine and system which provide optimum scheduling of printer jobs on a network. The scheduling routine utilizes the total complex of printers available at local location and/or remote locations to allocate and complete printer jobs based on a plurality of criteria, including requested completion time for the project. If requested completion time does not allow printing of the print job by a sole printer, the print job is allocated to a plurality of available printers, each printing a portion of the complete print job.
Claims6
An automated scheduling method for a network having a plurality of printers located at various locations within said network, an input means, a scheduling means, and a communication link to connect said plurality of printers with each other and to said input means and said scheduling means, the network being capable of scheduling a complex of remote and local printers located on the network, the method comprising the steps of:
- inputting from said input means a plurality of criteria relating to a print job requested by a user to said scheduling means, said criteria including at least the number of copies of said job requested, locations within said network where said job is to be printed, and a requested completion time for said job;
- electronically analyzing said plurality of printers to determine availability of one or more of said plurality of said printers at each of said locations;
- automatically electronically scheduling printing of said job at said locations;
- electronically prompting said user if any of said locations cannot complete said job;
- and
- electronically prompting said user of an estimate of when completion of said print job can be expected.
An automated scheduling method for a network having a plurality of printers located at various locations within said network, an input means, a scheduling means, and a communication link to connect said plurality of printers with each other and to said input means and said scheduling means, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) submitting a job to a selected network printer;
- (b) determining the length of said job;
- (c) electronically examining the selected network printer print queue;
- (d) electronically determining if the selected network printer can complete the job by a requested time;
- (e) electronically allocating a portion of the job that can be completed by the requested time to the selected network printer for printing;
- (f) electronically searching for other available printers;
- (g) electronically allocating any unallocated portion of the job to an available printer;
- and
- (h) informing a user of the job schedule.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.