Multi-job printing control method, image forming apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides a multi-job printing control method, image forming equipment and a storage medium, and the method comprises the steps: determining a second printing job from all to-be-printed jobs stored in a first storage medium when a first printing job is about to complete printing; reading the second printing job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium; and in response to the completion of printing of the first printing job, reading the second printing job from the second storage medium for printing. Wherein the first storage medium is different from the second storage medium. According to the scheme, the printing data in the printing scene can be prevented from being lost, and meanwhile the reading speed of the printing data is guaranteed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of image forming technology, and in particular to a multi-job printing control method, an image forming device and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the field of printing control, in the current common technical solution, before the printer performs a printing operation on the file to be printed, it first stores the file to be printed in the random access memory (RAM), and then reads the data from the RAM when it needs to print it. Although this method can improve the data reading speed, the data stored in the RAM will be lost after the printer is shut down and restarted, which is not conducive to data preservation. Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of this, the present application provides a multi-job printing control method, an image forming device and a storage medium, which are used to prevent the loss of print data in a printing scenario and ensure the reading speed of print data without increasing costs.

[0004] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-job printing control method, which is applied to an image forming device, wherein the image forming device includes a first storage medium and a second storage medium, and the first storage medium is different from the second storage medium; the method includes: when a first print job is about to be printed, determining the next second print job to be printed from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium; reading the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium; in response to the completion of printing of the first print job, reading the second print job from the second storage medium for printing.

[0005] In a possible implementation, the first print job is about to be printed, including: during the printing process of the first print job, detecting the printing progress of the first print job; when the printing progress of the first print job reaches a preset printing progress, determining that the first print job is about to be printed.

[0006] In one possible implementation, the second print job is a target job to be printed that exists among all jobs to be printed and satisfies at least one preset condition; the preset conditions include but are not limited to: there exists a job to be printed that carries a delay request; or there exists a job to be printed that carries a queue-jumping request; or there exists a job to be printed that is initiated by a target user, and the target user is the user with the highest probability of triggering a queue-jumping request among all users who initiate jobs to be printed; or there exists a job to be printed that has the earliest reception time among all jobs to be printed.

[0007] In one possible implementation, when there are multiple candidate preset conditions that satisfy the preset condition, determining the next second print job to be printed from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium includes: screening out the target preset condition according to the condition priority of each of the candidate preset conditions; and screening out the target job to be printed that satisfies the target preset condition from the various jobs to be printed as the second print job.

[0008] In a possible implementation, filtering out a target job to be printed that meets the target preset condition from various jobs to be printed includes: when there are multiple candidate jobs to be printed that meet the target preset condition, filtering out the target job to be printed according to the job priorities of the multiple candidate jobs to be printed.

[0009] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: in response to receiving a new job to be printed, determining whether there are any unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium; if it is determined that there are any unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, storing the new job to be printed in the first storage medium; if it is determined that there are no unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, storing the new job to be printed as the second print job in the second storage medium.

[0010] In one possible implementation, when it is determined that there are unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, the method further includes: if the job priority of the new job to be printed is higher than that of the unprinted job to be printed, the new job to be printed is stored as the second print job in the second storage medium.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the read and write speed of the first storage medium is lower than the read and write speed of the second storage medium, and / or the storage capacity of the first storage medium is larger than the storage capacity of the second storage medium.

[0012] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an image forming device, comprising a memory for storing computer program instructions and a processor for executing the program instructions, wherein when the computer program instructions are executed by the processor, the device is triggered to execute any one of the methods described in the first aspect above.

[0013] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a stored program, wherein when the program is running, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute any method described in the first aspect.

[0014] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an image forming device, comprising a first storage medium and a second storage medium, wherein the first storage medium and the second storage medium are different; the device also includes a determination module, which is used to determine the next second print job to be printed from the various print jobs stored in the first storage medium when the first print job is about to be printed; a reading module, which is used to read the second print job from the first storage medium into the second storage medium; and an execution module, which is used to read the second print job from the second storage medium for printing in response to the completion of printing of the first print job.

[0015] The present application provides a multi-job printing control method, an image forming device, and a storage medium, which have at least the following technical effects:

[0016] First, by storing print data in the first storage medium and the second storage medium (i.e., physical storage medium), print data loss can be prevented; second, by caching the next print job to be printed from the first storage medium (slow-speed, large-capacity storage medium) to the second storage medium (high-speed, small-capacity storage medium) in advance while the previous print job is being printed, on the one hand, the reading speed of the next print job can be increased and the printing efficiency can be improved, and on the other hand, the storage space occupied by the high-speed, small-capacity storage medium can be reduced; third, equipment costs can be saved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic flow chart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0019] Figure 2 Another flowchart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 3 Another flowchart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] Figure 4 Another flowchart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0022] Figure 5 Another flowchart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0023] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of another image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to better understand the technical solution of the present application, the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] It should be clear that the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0027] The terms used in the embodiments of the present application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present application and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates other meanings.

[0028] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0029] Image forming equipment (device): including but not limited to printers, copiers, fax machines, scanners, and multi-function machines that integrate printing, copying, faxing, scanning and other functions, whose function is to print images or text on imaging media.

[0030] When using any of the above-mentioned image forming devices for printing operations, the user needs to first send the file to be printed to the image forming device. After receiving the file to be printed, the image forming device first needs to store the file to be printed to the target storage location, and then, the stored file to be printed can be read from the target storage location for printing.

[0031] In the prior art, image forming devices store files to be printed in random access memory (RAM), but RAM is volatile. Once the power is off, the stored data will be lost, which is not conducive to data preservation. In addition, RAM is expensive and has a small available storage space. Especially in the case of massive multi-jobs, storing these massive files to be printed requires additional RAM storage space, which greatly increases the cost of the image forming device and is difficult to use in some low-end image forming devices.

[0032] This application is filed to address the above issues.

[0033] In the embodiment of the present application, the image forming device may be configured with a first storage medium and a second storage medium, and both the first storage medium and the second storage medium are physical storage media, such as disk storage, hard disk, USB flash drive, SD card, etc. Among them, the read and write speed of the first storage medium is lower than the read and write speed of the second storage medium, and the storage capacity of the first storage medium is greater than the storage capacity of the second storage medium. In short, the first storage medium is a large-capacity low-speed storage medium, and the second storage medium is a small-capacity high-speed storage medium. Exemplarily, the first storage medium may be, for example, an embedded multimedia card (Embedded MultiMediaCard, eMMC), and the second storage medium may be, for example, a NAND flash memory (Nand Flash). It should be understood that this is only an example of the specific form of the first storage medium and the second storage medium. In other implementations, the first storage medium and the second storage medium may also be any other storage medium having the above-mentioned characteristics. The image forming device can implement operations such as storage, reading, and printing of print jobs based on the above-mentioned first storage medium and the second storage medium, using the multi-job printing control method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Since the storage space of eMMC and Nand F l ash is much larger than RAM, in a multi-job scenario, eMMC and Nand F l ash can be used to store files to be printed, and using eMMC and Nand F l ash for storage can prevent data loss.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present application, the image forming device can store, for example, unprinted jobs to be printed, in the first storage medium in priority when the first print job is about to be printed. When the printing progress of the first print job reaches 80%, the next second print job to be printed is determined in advance from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium. Furthermore, the image forming device can read the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium in advance. Furthermore, in response to the completion of printing of the first print job, the image forming device can quickly read the second print job from the second storage medium for printing.

[0035] Among them, the second print job can be, for example, the job to be printed with the earliest reception time among all the jobs to be printed stored in the image forming device, or a job to be printed with a delay request, or a job to be printed with a queue-jumping request, or a job to be printed initiated by a target user, etc., wherein the target user is the user who has the highest probability of triggering a queue-jumping request among all the users who initiate the jobs to be printed.

[0036] In the above technical scheme, first, by storing print data through physical storage media, print data loss can be prevented; second, by caching the next print job from a low-speed, large-capacity storage medium to a high-speed, small-capacity storage medium in advance when the previous print job is about to be printed, it is convenient to quickly read the next print job from the high-speed, small-capacity storage medium for printing immediately when the previous print job is printed. On the one hand, it can improve the reading speed of the next second print job to be printed and improve printing efficiency, and on the other hand, it can reduce the storage space occupied by the high-speed, small-capacity storage medium; third, it can save equipment costs.

[0037] The following embodiments describe in detail the multi-job printing control method provided by the present application.

[0038] Figure 1 A flowchart of a multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 The present invention describes the process of receiving and storing a new job to be printed by an image forming device in a scenario where the image forming device receives a new job to be printed. Figure 1 As shown, the method includes:

[0039] S101: The image forming device determines that a new job to be printed is received.

[0040] S102: The image forming device determines whether there is an unprinted job to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium. If it is determined that there is, step S103 is executed, otherwise, step S104 is executed.

[0041] S103: The image forming device stores the new job to be printed in the first storage medium.

[0042] S104: The image forming device stores the new job to be printed in the second storage medium.

[0043] S105: The image forming device reads a new job to be printed from the second storage medium and prints it.

[0044] In the embodiment of the present application, when the image forming device receives a new job to be printed, it can first determine whether there is an unprinted job to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium.

[0045] If it is determined that there are unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium, then the new jobs to be printed can be stored in the first storage medium and wait for printing. Since the first storage medium has the characteristics of low speed and large capacity, it can be used to store a large number of jobs to be printed, which can not only prevent data loss, but also will not significantly increase the cost of equipment.

[0046] If it is determined that there are no unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium, that is, there are no jobs to be printed in the first storage medium, then it means that the new job to be printed currently received can be printed immediately. At this time, the new job to be printed can be stored in the second storage medium, and then the image forming device can immediately read the new job to be printed from the second storage medium for printing without pre-caching it in the first storage medium. Since the second storage medium has the characteristics of high speed and small capacity, the image forming device can increase the data reading speed and printing efficiency by reading the new job to be printed from the second storage medium. In addition, storing only the job data to be printed in the second storage medium will not occupy a large amount of storage space of the second storage medium.

[0047] The storage solution for print jobs described above can improve the printing speed while not occupying a large amount of storage space of high-speed, small-capacity storage media, thereby saving equipment costs.

[0048] In some embodiments, when there is a new job to be printed and a job to be printed that meets a preset condition (i.e., an unprinted job to be printed) in the first storage medium at the same time, the job priorities of the new job to be printed and the job to be printed that meets the preset condition can be determined, and the job to be printed with a higher priority is used as the second print job and stored in the second storage medium. For example, when the job priority of the new job to be printed is higher than the job priority of the job to be printed that meets the preset condition in the first storage medium, the new job to be printed is directly stored in the second storage medium without being transferred from the first storage medium to the second storage medium.

[0049] It can be understood from the description of the above embodiment that when there are multiple jobs to be printed, the multiple jobs to be printed will be stored in the first storage medium. In another embodiment of the present application, the image forming device can also determine the next job to be printed from the jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium during the process of executing the printing operation of the previous job, and cache the next job to be printed in advance in the second storage medium. Then, when the print job that is executing the printing operation is printed, the image forming device can directly read the next job to be printed from the second storage medium for printing.

[0050] The specific implementation method is described below.

[0051] Figure 2 A flowchart of another multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the cache process of printing data may include:

[0052] S201. When a first print job is about to be printed, the image forming device detects whether there is a job to be printed in a first storage medium; if so, execute step S202; if not, execute step S210.

[0053] When the first print job is being printed, the unprinted jobs to be printed will be cached in the first storage medium. When it is detected that the first print job is about to be printed, if there is no job to be printed in the first storage medium, it means that there is no job, and the process ends.

[0054] S202, detecting whether there is a delayed printing job in the jobs to be printed. If yes, executing step S203, otherwise, executing step S204.

[0055] S203: Is the delayed printing job approaching the printing time? If yes, go to step S207; otherwise, go to step S204.

[0056] In an embodiment of the present application, the image forming device can determine the next second print job to be printed from each to-be-printed job stored in the first storage medium when the first print job is about to be printed, and read the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium in advance. Among them, the second print job can be a to-be-printed job (or delayed print job) with a delay request in the first storage medium, or a to-be-printed job (or queue-jumping print job) with a queue-jumping request, or a to-be-printed job initiated by a target user, etc. When the above-mentioned to-be-printed jobs exist in each to-be-printed job stored in the first storage medium at the same time, the priority of the to-be-printed job with a delay request may be greater than the to-be-printed job with a queue-jumping request, and the priority of the to-be-printed job with a queue-jumping request may be greater than the to-be-printed job initiated by the target user. When there are multiple to-be-printed jobs with delay requests, the priority of the delayed print job that has reached the printing time is greater than the delayed print job that has not reached the printing time.

[0057] Specifically, the image forming device can detect the printing progress of the first print job during the printing process of the first print job. When it is determined that the preset printing progress is reached, the image forming device can determine that the first print job is about to be printed. At this time, the second print job can be determined from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium. The preset printing progress can be 80%.

[0058] The specific process of the image forming device determining the second print job from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium may be, first, determining whether there is a delayed print job among the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium. The delayed print job refers to a print job using a delayed print function, that is, when issuing a print job, the user can set a delay time for printing, and after receiving the delayed print job, the image forming device can print the delayed print job only when the print time arrives.

[0059] If there are multiple delayed print jobs, the priority of the delayed print jobs that are close to the print time is higher than that of the delayed print jobs that are not close to the print time. Therefore, if there is a delayed print job that has reached the print time, the image forming device can determine that the delayed print job is the second print job, and can read the delayed print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium. Then, after the image forming device completes the printing operation of the first print job, it can directly read the second print job from the second storage medium for printing, which has a faster reading speed and higher printing efficiency.

[0060] If there is no delayed printing job approaching the printing time, the image forming apparatus may further perform step S204.

[0061] S204, detecting whether there is a queue-jumping print job among the jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium. If yes, executing step S207, otherwise, executing step S205.

[0062] A queue-jumping print job refers to a job to be printed using the queue-jumping print function, that is, after the user sends the job to be printed, the user can set the job to be printed as a queue-jumping print based on the display panel of the image forming device. Then, the image forming device can determine the job to be printed as the next second print job to be printed.

[0063] If there is a queue-jumping print job, the image forming device can determine that the queue-jumping print job is the second print job, and can read the queue-jumping print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium. Then, after the image forming device completes the printing operation of the first print job, the queue-jumping print job can be directly read from the second storage medium for printing, which has a faster reading speed and higher printing efficiency.

[0064] If there is no queue-jumping print job, the image forming apparatus may further perform step S205.

[0065] S205: Determine the probability that the user corresponding to each job to be printed may trigger queue-jumping printing.

[0066] In the embodiment of the present application, the image forming device can determine the probability of the user corresponding to each to-be-printed job triggering queue-jumping printing based on the historical data of queue-jumping printing initiated by different users. For example, for any user, the probability that the user may trigger queue-jumping printing can be determined based on the ratio of the number of queue-jumping printing initiated by the user to the total amount of printing jobs initiated by the user.

[0067] In some embodiments, when the probability of triggering queue-jumping printing is greater than 0, the job to be printed and the corresponding user are marked and recorded. When determining the probability that the user corresponding to each job to be printed may trigger queue-jumping printing, it is detected whether there is a job to be printed with a marked identifier in the first storage medium, and the queue-jumping probability value corresponding to the job to be printed with the marked identifier is obtained. By comparing the sizes of the queue-jumping probability values, the job to be printed with the highest queue-jumping probability value is determined as the second print job.

[0068] In order to further save storage space and improve processing speed, only the target user corresponding to the highest queue-jumping probability value may be marked and stored, so as to directly obtain the to-be-printed job initiated by the target user as the second print job.

[0069] S206: Whether there is a job to be printed corresponding to the user with the highest probability of triggering queue-jumping printing. If yes, execute step S207; otherwise, execute step S208.

[0070] S207: Store the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium, and then execute step S209.

[0071] Specifically, delayed printing jobs that meet the approaching printing time, queue-jumping printing jobs, pending printing jobs initiated by users that may have a high probability of triggering queue-jumping printing, and pending printing jobs with the earliest receiving time are taken as second printing jobs, and are read in advance from the first storage medium and stored in the second storage medium.

[0072] S208: Determine the job to be printed with the earliest receiving time.

[0073] If there is no delayed printing job, queue-jumping printing job, or a job to be printed that may be initiated by a target user with a high probability of queue-jumping printing among the jobs to be printed, the job to be printed with the earliest reception time among the jobs to be printed stored in sequence in the first storage medium is determined as the second print job. In other words, the job to be printed with the earliest reception time is the job to be printed stored earliest in the queue.

[0074] S209: When the first print job is finished printing, read the second print job in the second storage medium and print it.

[0075] After determining the probability that the user corresponding to each to-be-printed job may trigger queue-jumping printing, the image forming device may determine whether there is a user with the highest probability of initiating queue-jumping printing, that is, a target user. If there is, then the to-be-printed job initiated by the target user may be determined as the second print job and read from the first storage medium to the second storage medium.

[0076] If it is determined that the users corresponding to each job to be printed have not triggered the possibility of queue-jumping printing, then the probability of the users corresponding to each job to be printed triggering queue-jumping printing is 0, and at this time, there is no user with the highest probability of initiating queue-jumping printing. Then, in a possible implementation, the image forming device can read the jobs to be printed from the first storage medium in sequence for printing. When there is a second print job in the job to be printed, the image forming device can cache the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium in advance during the execution of the first print job, so that after the first print job is completed, the image forming device can read the second print job from the second storage medium for printing. In this way, the reading speed of the second print job can be improved, and the printing efficiency of the second print job can be improved. In another possible implementation, the image forming device can determine the first received job to be printed as the second print job according to the order of receiving each job to be printed, and read the job to be printed from the first storage medium to the second storage medium. Thus, after the current first print job is completed, the image forming device can read the earliest received job to be printed from the second storage medium for printing. In this way, each job to be printed can be printed in sequence according to the priority of the specific print job, and the reading speed of each job to be printed can be improved, thereby improving the printing efficiency of each job to be printed.

[0077] Figure 3 A flowchart of another multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 As shown, the cache process of printing data may include:

[0078] S301, when a first print job is about to be printed, the image forming device detects whether there is a target job to be printed that meets at least one preset condition among various jobs to be printed stored in a first storage medium. If yes, execute step S303, otherwise, execute step S302.

[0079] In the embodiment of the present application, at least one preset condition may include but is not limited to: carrying a delay request, carrying a queue jump request, or being initiated by a target user. At least one preset condition may be a parallel priority. Then, unlike the aforementioned embodiment, in this embodiment, the image forming device may traverse each to-be-printed job stored in the first storage medium to determine whether there is a target to-be-printed job that meets at least one of the aforementioned preset conditions.

[0080] If there is a target job to be printed that satisfies at least one of the aforementioned preset conditions, then the second print job can be screened out from the determined target jobs to be printed, and the second print job can be cached to the second storage medium. If there is no target job to be printed that satisfies at least one of the aforementioned preset conditions, then it is determined not to cache the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium in advance to the second storage medium, and at this time, when the first print job is completed, the printing operation is performed on the various jobs to be printed in the first storage medium in the order in which they are received.

[0081] S302: Print each to-be-printed job stored in the first storage medium in the order in which it is received.

[0082] S303: The image forming device determines whether the number of candidate jobs to be printed that meet at least one preset condition is plural. If yes, execute step S304; otherwise, execute step S305.

[0083] S304: The image forming device selects a target job to be printed as a second print job according to the job priorities of the plurality of candidate jobs to be printed.

[0084] S305: The image forming device takes the target to-be-printed job that meets at least one preset condition as the second print job.

[0085] S306: The image forming device reads the second print job from the first storage medium to the second storage medium.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present application, when there are multiple candidate jobs to be printed that meet at least one preset condition, the target job to be printed can be screened out as the second print job according to the job priorities of the multiple candidate jobs to be printed. The job priorities of the various candidate jobs to be printed can also be determined, for example, according to the receiving time, and the earlier the receiving time, the higher the priority. Alternatively, in another implementation, when there are multiple candidate jobs to be printed that meet at least one preset condition, the multiple candidate jobs to be printed can have the same priority. At this time, for example, any one of the candidate jobs to be printed can be used as the second print job.

[0087] When the number of candidate jobs to be printed that meet at least one preset condition is one, it can be directly used as the second print job.

[0088] In some embodiments, when there are multiple candidate preset conditions that satisfy the preset condition, the target preset condition is screened out according to the condition priority of each candidate preset condition; and the target job to be printed that satisfies the target preset condition is screened out from each job to be printed as the second print job.

[0089] Among them, the condition priority refers to each level of the preset condition. When there are multiple preset conditions, the target preset condition will be determined based on the condition priority, and each preset condition will be used as a candidate preset condition. Specifically, there are jobs to be printed that meet multiple candidate preset conditions in the first storage medium. At this time, the target preset condition will be selected according to the condition priority of each candidate preset condition. For example, in the above example, the priority of the delayed printing job near the printing time is higher than the priority of the queue-jumping printing job, which is higher than the priority of the job to be printed initiated by the target user. When there are jobs to be printed that meet the above three preset conditions in the first storage medium at the same time, since the highest priority among the candidate preset conditions is the delayed printing job near the printing time, the candidate preset condition will be used as the target preset condition, so that the target job to be printed corresponding to the target preset condition will be used as the second printing job, that is, the delayed printing job near the printing time will be used as the second printing job, and it will be read from the first storage medium to the second storage medium. The setting of the condition priority can be set accordingly according to the requirements of different scenarios.

[0090] Furthermore, in another embodiment of the present application, a method for an image forming device to obtain a next job to be printed after the first print job is completed is described.

[0091] Figure 4 A flowchart of another multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 The present invention describes the process of an image forming device acquiring a second print job to be printed after the current first print job is printed. Figure 4 As shown, the method flow provided in the embodiment of the present application may include:

[0092] S401: The image forming device determines that the first print job is completed.

[0093] S402: The image forming device determines whether there is a second print job in the second storage medium. If yes, execute step S403; otherwise, execute step S404.

[0094] S403: The image forming device reads a second print job from a second storage medium for printing.

[0095] S404: The image forming device reads the next job to be printed from the first storage medium and prints it.

[0096] Based on the above embodiments, it can be understood that in the process of printing the first print job, the image forming device can detect the presence of the aforementioned second print job in the first storage medium, and cache the second print job in the second storage medium in advance. Based on this, in the embodiment of the present application, after the printing of the first print job is completed, the image forming device can first detect whether there is a second print job in the second storage medium. If there is, the image forming device can directly read the second print job from the second storage medium for printing. If not, it means that there is no second print job in each job to be printed. At this time, the image forming device can read each job to be printed from the first storage medium in sequence and print them in sequence.

[0097] Through the above technical solution, the print data is stored in a physical storage medium, which can prevent the print data from being lost, and can improve the reading efficiency of the print data at a lower cost, thereby improving the printing efficiency.

[0098] Figure 5 A flowchart of another multi-job printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 A flowchart of the method in a complete implementation scenario is described. Figure 5 As shown, the method flow provided in the embodiment of the present application may include:

[0099] S501 . When a first print job is about to be printed, the image forming device determines a second print job from various jobs to be printed stored in a first storage medium.

[0100] S502: The image forming device reads the second print job from the first storage medium into the second storage medium.

[0101] S503: In response to the completion of printing of the first print job, the image forming device reads a second print job from the second storage medium for printing.

[0102] See also Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 As shown, the device includes: a determination module 51, a reading module 52, an execution module 53, a first storage medium 54, and a second storage medium 55.

[0103] The first storage medium 54 is different from the second storage medium 55. Specifically, the first storage medium 54 and the second storage medium 55 are physical storage media, the read and write speed of the first storage medium 54 is lower than the read and write speed of the second storage medium 55, and the storage capacity of the first storage medium 54 is larger than the storage capacity of the second storage medium 55. The determination module 51 is used to determine the second print job from the various jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium 54 when the first print job is about to be printed. The reading module 52 is used to read the second print job from the first storage medium 54 to the second storage medium 55. The execution module 53 is used to read the second print job from the second storage medium 55 for printing in response to the first print job being printed.

[0104] As a possible implementation, the determination module 51 is specifically used to detect the printing progress of the first print job during the printing process of the first print job; when the printing progress of the first print job reaches a preset printing progress, determine that the first print job is about to be printed.

[0105] As a possible implementation method, the second print job is a target job to be printed that exists among all jobs to be printed and satisfies at least one preset condition; the preset conditions include but are not limited to: there is a job to be printed that carries a delay request; or there is a job to be printed that carries a queue-jumping request; or there is a job to be printed initiated by a target user, and the target user is the user with the highest probability of triggering a queue-jumping request among all users who initiate jobs to be printed; or there is a job to be printed that has the earliest reception time among all jobs to be printed.

[0106] As a possible implementation method, when there are multiple candidate preset conditions that meet the preset conditions, the determination module 51 is specifically used to filter out the target preset conditions according to the condition priority of each candidate preset condition; and filter out the target job to be printed that meets the target preset condition from each job to be printed as the second print job.

[0107] As a possible implementation manner, the determination module 51 is specifically configured to, when there are multiple candidate jobs to be printed that meet the target preset condition, screen out the target job to be printed according to the job priorities of the multiple candidate jobs to be printed.

[0108] As a possible implementation method, the reading module 52 is also used to, in response to receiving a new job to be printed, determine whether there are any unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium; if it is determined that there are unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, store the new job to be printed in the first storage medium; if it is determined that there are no unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, store the new job to be printed as a second print job in the second storage medium.

[0109] As a possible implementation method, when it is determined that there are unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, the reading module 52 is also used to store the new job to be printed as the second print job in the second storage medium if the job priority of the new job to be printed is higher than that of the unprinted job to be printed.

[0110] Through the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, it is possible to prevent the loss of print data in a printing scenario while ensuring the reading speed of the print data.

[0111] Corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiment, the present application also provides an image forming device. Figure 7 The schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application is as follows: the image forming device 400 may include: a processor 401, a memory 402, and a communication unit 403. These components communicate via one or more buses. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that the structure of the image forming device shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the embodiment of the present application, and it may be a bus structure or a star structure, and may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0112] The communication unit 403 is used to establish a communication channel so that the image forming device can communicate with other devices, receive user data sent by other devices or send user data to other devices.

[0113] The processor 401 is the control center of the image forming device. It uses various interfaces and lines to connect various parts of the entire image forming device. It runs or executes software programs, instructions, and / or modules stored in the memory 402, and calls data stored in the memory to perform various functions of the image forming device and / or process data. The processor can be composed of an integrated circuit (IC), for example, it can be composed of a single packaged IC, or it can be composed of a plurality of packaged ICs with the same or different functions. For example, the processor 401 can only include a central processing unit (CPU). In the embodiment of the present application, the CPU can be a single computing core or multiple computing cores.

[0114] The memory 402 is used to store the execution instructions of the processor 401. The memory 402 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0115] When the execution instructions in the memory 402 are executed by the processor 401 , the image forming device 400 is enabled to execute part or all of the steps in various embodiments of the present application.

[0116] In a specific implementation, the present application also provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium may store a program, and when the program is executed, the program may include some or all of the steps in each embodiment of the multi-job printing control method provided by the present application. The storage medium may be a disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM) or a random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0117] In a specific implementation, the present application also provides a computer program product, wherein the computer program product includes executable instructions, and when the executable instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes part or all of the steps in each embodiment of the multi-job printing control method provided in the present application.

[0118] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the technology in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a storage medium such as ROM / RAM, a disk, an optical disk, etc., including several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application or some parts of the embodiments.

[0119] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples, without contradiction.

[0120] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of this application, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0121] Any process or method description in a flowchart or otherwise described herein may be understood to represent a module, fragment or portion of code comprising one or more executable instructions for implementing the steps of a custom logical function or process, and the scope of the preferred embodiments of the present application includes alternative implementations in which functions may not be performed in the order shown or discussed, including performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in the reverse order depending on the functions involved, which should be understood by technicians in the technical field to which the embodiments of the present application belong.

[0122] The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining" or "in response to detecting", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if it is determined" or "if (stated condition or event) is detected" may be interpreted as "when it is determined" or "in response to determining" or "when detecting (stated condition or event)" or "in response to detecting (stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

[0123] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0124] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0125] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

[0126] In this specification, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In particular, for the device embodiment and the terminal embodiment, since they are basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description in the method embodiment.

Claims

1. A multi-job printing control method, characterized in that: Applied to an image forming device, the image forming device includes a first storage medium and a second storage medium, the first storage medium is different from the second storage medium, the method includes: When the first print job is about to be printed, determining a second print job to be printed next from the jobs to be printed stored in the first storage medium; reading the second print job from the first storage medium into the second storage medium; In response to the first print job being printed out, the second print job is read from the second storage medium for printing.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first print job is about to be printed, including: During the printing process of executing the first print job, detecting the printing progress of the first print job; When the printing progress of the first printing job reaches a preset printing progress, it is determined that the first printing job is about to be printed.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The second print job is a target print job that satisfies at least one preset condition among all the print jobs; the preset condition includes but is not limited to: There are pending print jobs with delay requests; or There are pending print jobs with queue-jumping requests; or There is a job to be printed initiated by a target user, and the target user is the user who has the highest probability of triggering a queue-jumping request among all users who initiate the job to be printed; or There is a job to be printed that is the oldest among the reception times of the respective jobs to be printed.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: When there are multiple candidate preset conditions that meet the preset condition, determining a next second print job to be printed from each to-be-printed job stored in the first storage medium includes: Filtering out a target preset condition according to the condition priority of each of the candidate preset conditions; A target job to be printed that meets the target preset condition is screened out from each job to be printed as the second print job.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The step of selecting a target job to be printed that meets the target preset condition from each job to be printed includes: When there are multiple candidate jobs to be printed that meet the target preset condition, the target job to be printed is screened out according to the job priorities of the multiple candidate jobs to be printed.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: In response to receiving a new job to be printed, determining whether there is an unprinted job to be printed in the print queue of the first storage medium; When it is determined that there is an unprinted job to be printed in the print queue, storing the new job to be printed in the first storage medium; When it is determined that there is no unprinted job to be printed in the print queue, the new job to be printed is taken as the second print job and stored in the second storage medium.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that In the case where it is determined that there are unprinted jobs to be printed in the print queue, the method further includes: If the job priority of the new job to be printed is higher than that of the unprinted job to be printed, the new job to be printed is taken as the second print job and stored in the second storage medium.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The read / write speed of the first storage medium is lower than the read / write speed of the second storage medium, and / or the storage capacity of the first storage medium is higher than the storage capacity of the second storage medium.

9. An image forming device, characterized in that: include: A memory for storing computer program instructions and a processor for executing the program instructions, wherein when the computer program instructions are executed by the processor, the device is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium includes a stored program, wherein when the program is executed, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images