Print management method and apparatus with destination panel

Abstract

A method for managing printers, implemented in a print job management apparatus, is provided. The method includes determining availability of each of the printers in accordance with a pre-defined criteria, and displaying a list of the printers together with the availabilities of the printers on a display monitor.

1 . A method for managing printers, implemented in a print job management apparatus connected to the printers, the print job management apparatus having a display monitor, the method comprising:
 determining availability of each of the printers in accordance with a pre-defined criteria; and   displaying a list of the printers together with the availabilities of the printers on the display monitor.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the availability of each of the printers includes:
 determining the number of outstanding print jobs that need to be processed by the printer before processing a new print job;   determining an operating status of the printer indicating whether the printer is operational; and   deriving a degree of the availability according to the determined number of the outstanding print jobs and the determined operating status of the printer.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of displaying the availability of each printer includes pictorially representing the degree of the availability. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the pictorially representing the degree of the availability uses a color coding. 
   
   
       5 . A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable code embodied therein for controlling a data processing apparatus connected to printers, the data processing apparatus being connected to a display monitor, the computer readable program code being configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for managing the printers, the process comprising:
 determining availability of each of the printers in accordance with a pre-defined criteria; and   causing the display monitor to display a list of the printers together with the availabilities of the printers.   
   
   
       6 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the step of determining the availability of each of the printers in said process includes:
 determining the number of outstanding print jobs that need to be processed by the printer before processing a new print job;   determining an operating status of the printer indicating whether the printer is operational; and   deriving a degree of the availability according to the determined number of the outstanding print jobs and the determined operating status of the printer.   
   
   
       7 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the display monitor displays the availability of the printer by pictorially representing the derived degree of the availability. 
   
   
       8 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the pictorially representing the degree of the availability uses a color coding.