Improved load balancing of distributed printing systems using enhanced printer attributes

摘要

A distributed printing system that more optimally distributes job requests within a distributed printing system based on more detailed information about the particular attributes of each output device. In particular, additional printer attributes are used that allow greater utilization of a plurality of attached printers having differing capabilities. These attributes include "max-concurrent-jobs-processing" (MCJP), "number-of-jobs-on-device" (NJOD) and "number-of-cascaded-jobs" (NCJ), and a attribute value "saturated" for the attribute "printer-state". The attribute MCJP is an integer value that is based on the capabilities of the printer. NJOB and NCJ attributes allow monitoring of jobs sent to each printer for supported and unsupported printers. IfNJOB or NCJ are greater than MCJP, then the attribute "printer-state" is set to "saturated", prohibiting further spooling of print jobs to that particular printer. <IMAGE>