Power management apparatus, file server, printing system and computer software

Abstract

The present invention provided a power management apparatus for managing power supply to a plurality of printers 31 to 33 connected to a plurality of host 21 to 23 over a network 5, the power management apparatus 1 comprising: a host-operation-state monitoring module 116 for monitoring whether or not the hosts 21 to 23 are powered on; a host-specific-priority-setting module 111 for setting priority of each of the printers 31 to 33 for each of the hosts 21 to 23; a printer information calculation module 113 for aggregating the set host-specific priorities to calculate priority of each of the printers 31 to 33 by taking the operation state of the hosts 21 to 23 into account; a printer power supply determination module 114 for determining whether or not each printer should be powered on; and a printer power supply control module 115 for remotely controlling power supply to each printer 31 to 33 on the basis of determination on whether or not each printer 31 to 33 should be powered on.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a power management device, a printer, a file server, a printing system and computer software, in particular to a printing system in which multiple host devices such as multiple computer equipments share multiple printers, and a control method thereof. Background technique [0002] An automatic power supply device is disclosed in (Japanese) Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-172474, which automatically detects the end of business of all computers using a network printer, and turns off the power of the network printer. [0003] In addition, JP-A-2001-199131 proposes to set a priority order for each printer, and to determine power on / off and power saving mode control based on printing frequency and interval. [0004] However, in reality, when a plurality of printers are shared and connected to the network, waiting for the completion of all computer operations to turn off the power of all the printers leads to waste of ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0008] In addition, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-172474, before confirming that the last host device is stopped, all the printers are turned on, which leads to waste of power.

[0009] Moreover, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-199131, it is assumed that a plurality of host devices share a plurality of printers, and the printer in the power saving mode is determined according to the order of priority and the frequency of use. This setting can reflect the past use status. , but the expected usage at that moment may not be the most suitable setting

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