Method for redirecting a print job, negotiation apparatus, printing system, and article of manufacture

A negotiation apparatus comprising:

• a negotiator associated with a printer, the negotiator being capable of communicating with other negotiators, each associated with a respective printer in a network linking the printers, the negotiator being capable of negotiating a redirection of a print job from its associated printer to another of the printers, wherein the negotiator is configured for utilizing constraint services which ensure that constraints associated with an outsource request are met, each of the constraint services applying a different set of constraints, the constraint services comprising:
• a split service which ensures that if the print job is split into sub-jobs, the print job is an exact composition of the sub-jobs,
• an include service which enables an offer to be made by another negotiator for a portion of the print job prior to the job being split, and
• an equal service which ensures that a print job is outsourced as a whole;
• the negotiator comprising:
• a memory storage device for storing information on a plurality of ongoing negotiations;
• a processor, in communication with the memory storage device, which executes processing instructions for carrying out a negotiation in which a first negotiator seeks to outsource a print job, the instructions including instructions for:
• when serving as the first negotiator, utilizing at least one of the constraint services to formulate an outsourcing request for execution of the entire print job, the outsource request including parameters of the print job expressed in a negotiation protocol and communicating the outsourcing request to at least one other negotiator;
• when serving as one of the other negotiators, where the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job to the first negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, whereby an agreement is formed between the first negotiator and the other negotiator;
• when serving as the one of the other negotiators, where a portion of the print job which is less than the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the print job portion to the first negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, in response to the outsourcing request;
• when serving as the first negotiator, where the communicated insource offer is for only a portion of the print job, which is less than the entire print job, with the include service, ensuring that the insource offer meets constraints for being a sub-job of the print job;
• and
• when serving as the first negotiator, where no print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job is communicated from the at least one other negotiator within a predetermined time period, modifying the outsourcing request to offer a split of the print job and communicating the modified outsourcing request from the first negotiator to at least one other negotiator, which takes into account the insource offer for the portion of the print job which was received in response to the outsourcing request, thereby enabling agreements to be made with the at least one other negotiator for sub-jobs of the job and redirection of the print job to at least one other printer of the plurality of printers with which an agreement has been made through negotiation with its negotiator.

A printing system comprising:

• a plurality of printers which execute print jobs by printing on print media, the printers being capable of redirecting print jobs to other printers of the plurality of printers;
• a respective negotiator associated with each of the printers capable of negotiating a redirection of a print job from its associated printer to another of the printers, wherein the negotiators are configured for utilizing constraint services which ensure that constraints associated with an outsource request are met, each of the constraint services applying a different set of constraints, the constraint services comprising:
• a split service which ensures that if the print job is split into sub-jobs, the print job is an exact composition of the sub-jobs,
• an include service which enables an offer to be made by another negotiator for a portion of the print job prior to the job being split, and
• an equal service which ensures that a print job is outsourced as a whole;
• the negotiators including memory storing instructions and a processor for executing the instructions, the instructions including instructions for:
• when serving as a first negotiator, utilizing at least one of the constraint services to formulate an outsourcing request for execution of the entire print job, the outsource request including parameters of the print job expressed in a negotiation protocol, and communicating the outsourcing request to at least one other negotiator;
• when serving as one of the at least one other negotiators, where the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job to the first negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, whereby an agreement is formed between the first negotiator and the other negotiator;
• when serving as the one of the at least one other negotiators, where a portion of the print job which is less than the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the print job portion to the first negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, in response to the outsourcing request;
• when serving as the first negotiator, where the communicated insource offer is for only a portion of the print job, which is less than the entire print job, with the include service, ensuring that the insource offer meets constraints for being a sub-job of the print job;
• when serving as the first negotiator, where no print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job is communicated from the at least one other negotiator within a predetermined time period, modifying the outsourcing request to offer a split of the print job and communicating the modified outsourcing request from the first negotiator to at least one other negotiator, which takes into account the insource offer for the portion of the print job which was received in response to the outsourcing request, thereby enabling agreements to be made with the at least one other negotiator for sub-jobs of the job and redirection of the print job to at least one other printer of the plurality of printers with which an agreement has been made through negotiation with its negotiator.

A non-transitory article of manufacture, the article comprising a computer readable medium which stores instructions for conducting at least one negotiation for the redirection of a print job between a first negotiator associated with a first printer of a plurality of printers and at least one other negotiator associated with another of the plurality of printers, the negotiators each being configured for utilizing constraint services which ensure that constraints associated with an outsource request are met, each of the constraint services applying a different set of constraints, the constraint services comprising:

• a split service which ensures that if the print job is split into sub-jobs, the print job is an exact composition of the sub-jobs,
• an include service which enables an offer to be made by another negotiator for a portion of the print job prior to the job being split, and
• an equal service which ensures that a print job is outsourced as a whole;
• the instructions including instructions for:
• utilizing at least one of the constraint services to formulate an outsourcing request for execution of the entire print job for the first negotiator, the outsource request including parameters of the print job expressed in a negotiation protocol;
• communicating the outsourcing request from the first negotiator to the at least one other negotiator;
• where the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job to the first negotiator from the other negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, whereby an agreement is formed between the first negotiator and the other negotiator;
• where a portion of the print job which is less than the entire print job meets insourcing conditions, communicating a print job insource offer for execution of the print job portion to the first negotiator from the other negotiator, expressed in the negotiation protocol, in response to the outsourcing request;
• where the communicated insource offer is for only a portion of the print job, which is less than the entire print job, with the include service, ensuring that the insource offer meets constraints for being a sub-job of the print job;
• where no print job insource offer for execution of the entire print job is communicated to the first negotiator from the at least one other negotiator within a predetermined time period, modifying the outsourcing request to offer a split of the print job and communicating the modified outsourcing request from the first negotiator to at least one other negotiator, which takes into account the insource offer for the portion of the print job which was received in response to the outsourcing request, thereby enabling agreements to be made with the at least one other negotiator for sub-jobs of the job and redirection of the print job to at least one other printer of the plurality of printers with which an agreement has been made through negotiation between its negotiator and the first negotiator.