KONICA MINOLTA SYSTEMS LABORATORY, INC. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120250052 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - A method for generating a hardcopy document, including: receiving, by a printer, a direct print request for an Office Open XML (OOXML) document having a plurality of pages; identifying, by the printer, a tag in the OOXML document specifying a multiple page printing feature (MPPF) for the plurality of pages, where the tag is located within a settings xml file of the OOXML document; identifying, by the printer, a first printer setting required to implement the MPPF; invoking, by the printer, the first printer setting on the printer; and generating, by the printer and from the OOXML document, the hardcopy document with the MPPF feature after invoking the first printer setting. | 10-04-2012 |
20120173332 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROMOTING AND MARKETING MORE ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY PRINTING - A method and system for promoting and marketing more environmental friendly print shops through a process carried out by an online platform. The process includes the steps of receiving a print job request with particular specifications from a customer, retrieving from a database profiles of participating print shops to determine which print shops can handle the print job, calculating a job-level green score based on the particular specifications of the print job request for each such print shop, and recommending to the customer a list of print shops that can handle the print job with a ranking of their job-level green scores. The process may also include the steps of collecting information and data from the print shops to prepare their profiles and calculate a shop-level green score for each print shop based on a set of environmental friendly factors, and storing the profiles in a database, and recommending the print shops that can handle the print job based on a ranking of total green score. | 07-05-2012 |
20120170576 | METHOD AND SYSTEM HAVING AN APPLICATION FOR A RUN TIME IPV6 ONLY NETWORK - A system that facilitates a network environment, which includes a computer device, the computer device have a software module, which performs the steps of: (a) establishing an IP network criteria for incoming and outgoing packets for the computer device; (b) retrieving the incoming and outgoing packets to determine if an IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets meet the IP network criteria; (c) if the IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets meets the IP network criteria, forwarding the incoming packets having the IP address to the computer device and forwarding outgoing packets to a network connection; and (d) if the IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets does not meet the IP network criteria, dropping the incoming and outgoing packets such that the incoming packets are not forwarded to the computer device and the outgoing packets are not forwarded to the network connection. | 07-05-2012 |
20120166798 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING NEIGHBOR DISCOVERY UNSPECIFIED SOLICITATION TO OBTAIN LINK LOCAL ADDRESS - A system that facilitates enhancing security for a computer device by obtaining a link layer address of an IPv6 IPsec address. The system including a computer device having a software module, which performs the following steps: capturing multicast addresses and solicited multicast addresses for one or more IPv6 IPsec addresses; calculating the computer device identifier from the one or more multicast addresses and solicited multicast addresses; storing the computer device identifier for the one or more multicast addresses and solicited multicast addresses; sending a neighbor solicitation to one or more of the IPv6 IPsec addresses as a tentative target address simulating double address detection; capturing the neighbor advertisement response from the one or more IPv6 IPsec addresses and calculating a link-layer identifier; generating a neighbor cache with the link-layer identifier; and enabling IPv6 IPsec communication with the one or more IPv6 IPsec addresses using the link-layer identifier. | 06-28-2012 |
20120162698 | METHOD OF SECURING PRINTERS AGAINST MALICIOUS SOFTWARE - A method for securing a computer device against malicious code, the method including the steps of: executing a computer program on the computer device, the computer device having a central processing unit, which carries out instructions of the computer program, and wherein at least a portion of the computer program is executed by one or more tasks, each of the one or more tasks having a task stack associated therewith; and managing the central processing unit such that the central processing unit does not execute machine code from the task stacks associated with each of the one or more task so as to secure the computer device against malicious code from the task stack. | 06-28-2012 |
20120127507 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING FOR MISSING RESOURCES - A method of searching for missing resources associated with an image forming apparatus, which includes the steps of: forwarding a print job having a resource call-out from a host computer to an image forming apparatus; receiving the print job on the image forming apparatus; checking the image forming apparatus for a resource, which has been called out by the print job, and if the resource is not available on the image forming apparatus, obtaining the resource by: sending a request for the resource from the image forming apparatus to a device having the resource; receiving a response from the device having the resource indicating that the resource is a non-sharable resource and including at least one link to where the non-sharable resource can be obtained; and choosing a link having the non-sharable resource and obtaining the non-sharable resource. | 05-24-2012 |
20120127506 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING FOR MISSING RESOURCES - A method of searching for missing resources associated with an image forming apparatus, which includes forwarding a print job having a resource call-out from a host computer to an image forming apparatus; receiving the print job on the image forming apparatus; checking the image forming apparatus for a resource, which has been called out by the print job, and if the resource is not available on the image forming apparatus, obtaining the resource from a device having the resource by: sending a request for the resource from the image forming apparatus to the device having the resource; receiving a response from the device having the resource indicating that the resource is a secured resource requiring user authentication; and obtaining the secured resource by sending the user authentication to the device having the secured resource. | 05-24-2012 |
20120120453 | METHOD FOR BINARIZING SCANNED DOCUMENT IMAGES CONTAINING GRAY OR LIGHT COLORED TEXT PRINTED WITH HALFTONE PATTERN - A method for binarizing a scanned document images containing gray or light colored text printed with halftone patterns. The document image is initially binarized and connected image components are extracted from the initial binary image as text characters. Each text character is classified as either a halftone text character or a non-halftone text character based on an analysis of its topology features. The topology features may be the Euler number of the text character; a text character with a Euler number below −2 is classified as halftone text. The gray-scale document image is then divided into halftone text regions containing only halftone text characters and non-halftone text regions. Each region is binarized using its own pixel value statistics. This eliminates the influence of black text on the threshold values for binarizing halftone text. The binary maps of the regions are combined to generate the final binary map. | 05-17-2012 |
20120110441 | USING A LAYOUT ENGINE TO DISPLAY AN OVERFLOWED TEXTBOX - A method for managing electronic documents (EDs), including obtaining an ED defining an overflowed textbox with a vertical justification, a paragraph for the overflowed textbox, and a horizontal justification of the paragraph, where the paragraph comprises a plurality of characters, generating, based on the ED, an intermediate document (ID) defining an enlarged textbox encapsulating the paragraph with the horizontal justification, calculating, using the layout engine and based on the ID, a plurality of positions of the plurality of characters within the enlarged textbox by generating an intermediate page including the enlarged textbox, calculating, based on a vertical justification of the overflowed textbox, a transformation between a point of interest (POI) associated with the enlarged textbox on the intermediate page and a reference point associated with the overflowed textbox, and generating a rendered page of the ED by applying the transformation to the plurality of positions of the plurality of characters. | 05-03-2012 |
20120102394 | APPLICATION OF PATH-FILL ALGORITHM TO TEXT LAYOUT AROUND OBJECTS - A method including: obtaining an electronic document (ED) including a text line for placement on a page having an exclusion region (ER); obtaining a path for the page having a first subpath corresponding to a margin of the page and a second subpath corresponding to the ER on the page; calculating, using a path-fill algorithm inputting the path, a region on the page excluding the margin and the ER; selecting, on the page and after calculating the region, a line band crossing the ER on the page and having a dimension of the text line; identifying, based on an intersection of the region and the line band, a plurality of segments; and rendering the page by placing a first portion of the text line in a first segment of the plurality of segments and a second portion of the text line in a second segment of the plurality of segments. | 04-26-2012 |
20120102385 | DETERMINING HEIGHTS OF TABLE CELLS - A method for managing tables, including: obtaining a document including a table having a bottom row and a first stacked row; identifying, within the first stacked row, a first plurality of neutral cells having an initial height value; calculating, using a layout engine, a plurality of overall vertical dimensions for the first plurality of neutral cells based on a plurality of data items in the first plurality of neutral cells; identifying a maximum overall vertical dimension (MOVD) of the plurality of overall vertical dimensions; setting, in response to the MOVD exceeding the initial height value, a plurality of height attributes of the first plurality of neutral cells to the MOVD; shifting down the bottom row by a first difference between the MOVD and the initial height value; and rendering a page of the document including the table after shifting down the bottom row. | 04-26-2012 |
20120084642 | BALANCING MULTIPLE COLUMN LAYOUT - A method for managing multiple columns in a document. The method includes obtaining a text stream from the document; obtaining a current fill limit associated with an initial column of the multiple columns; placing, using a layout engine, the text stream within the multiple columns according to the current fill limit; identifying, after placing the text stream, a first fill level of a final column of the multiple columns; calculating a first difference between the current fill limit and the first fill level of the final column; calculating, in response to the first difference exceeding a tolerance, a revised fill limit based on the current fill limit; placing, using the layout engine, the text stream within the multiple columns according to the revised fill limit. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084640 | RESOLVING PAGE REFERENCES IN LAYOUT DEPENDENT DOCUMENTS - A method for resolving references in electronic documents (EDs), including: obtaining an ED having a reference to an item; generating, based on the ED, an intermediate document (ID) for input to a layout engine; identifying an entry having an initial value for the reference; calculating, during a first rendering of the ED, a first page having the item based on the ID and the initial value substituted for the reference; populating the entry with a first page number corresponding to the first page; calculating, during a second rendering of the ED, a second page having the item based on the first page number substituted for the reference; populating the entry with a second page number corresponding to the second page; and generating, in response to the first page number equaling the second page number, a first rendered document based on the second page number substituted for the reference. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084365 | DELIVERING RESOURCE FILES TO PRINTERS USING EMAIL - A method for managing printers, including retrieving, by a printer, an email sent to an email address of the printer and including a resource file, identifying, by the printer, a field within the email including a type of the resource file, and installing, by the printer, the resource file on the printer based on the type. | 04-05-2012 |
20120082373 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A POINT IS INSIDE A POLYHEDRON - A method for determining if a test point is within a color gamut of an image processing device, which includes: (a) selecting a test point which may or may not be within the color gamut of the image processing device, and wherein the color gamut of the image processing device is defined by at least one polyhedron; (b) forming a test plane containing the test point and two other points, and which intersects an inner portion of the at least one polyhedron; (c) generating a polygon from the intersection of the test plane and an outer boundary of the at least one polyhedron, the polygon having a closed path, which forms a boundary of the polygon; (d) generating a test ray extending from the test point and which is within the test plane; and (e) counting a number of times the test ray crosses the boundary of the polygon. | 04-05-2012 |
20120081737 | PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZING PRINT-ON-DEMAND DRIVER - A method implemented in a print shop management system that includes a data processing apparatus having a non-transitory memory for storing a computer software program and a processor for executing the software program, wherein the program includes a program code configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for customizing a print-on-demand (POD) driver, which process includes the steps of accessing a configuration file of the POD driver having a plurality of fields with respective values; and modifying values of the configuration file fields to customize available user interfaces and print job settings editing options of the POD driver. | 04-05-2012 |
20120081736 | PRINT MARK ON PAPER EDGE FOR EASIER SORTING - A method executed by an image forming apparatus for producing a print job, which includes the steps of: (a) receiving data representing a document to be printed in the print job; (b) receiving job information about the print job, the job information including an instruction to print multiple copies of the document; (c) printing the requested multiple copies of the document; and (d) printing a mark on an edge of at least one sheet of each of the multiple copies of the document. | 04-05-2012 |
20120081720 | PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZING COLOR OR BLACK AND WHITE PRINTING - A method implemented in a print shop management system that includes a data processing apparatus having a non-transitory memory for storing a computer software program and a processor for executing the software program, wherein the program includes a program code configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for customizing color or black and white (B/W) printing of a document containing color and B/W pages, which process includes the steps of analyzing the document to obtain its original color page data which specifies color pages of the document that are originally set to be printed in color, providing a user interface for editing the color page data of the document by allowing input of individual page numbers designating which color pages of the document will indeed be printed in color, and printing the document according to the edited color page data by printing color pages of the document in color if they are also designated to be printed in color, and printing color pages of the document in black and white if they are not designated to be printed in color. | 04-05-2012 |
20120081718 | ALIGNMENT COMPENSATION BY PRINTER DRIVER - A method of compensating for misalignment of a print engine of an image forming apparatus, which includes: (a) forwarding a request from a host computer having a printer driver to an image forming apparatus for reference data of a printable area of the print engine; (b) sending the reference data of the printable area of the print engine to the printer driver; (c) comparing the reference data of the printable area of the print engine to an ideal reference data of the printable area of a print job; and (d) if the reference data of the printable area of the print engine is different than the ideal reference data of the printable area of the print job, generating a new reference data of the printable area of the printable area to adjust for the difference in printable area between the ideal reference data of the printable area of the print job and the reference data of the printable area of the print engine. | 04-05-2012 |
20120075661 | PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZED PRINT JOB DUPLICATION - A customized print job duplication method implemented in a print shop management system that includes a data processing apparatus having a non-transitory memory for storing a software program and a processor for executing the software program, wherein the software program includes program code configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a customized print job duplication process, which includes the steps of providing print job duplication options to allow selection of which sub-sections of a first print job will be duplicated, duplicating from the first print job the sub-sections selected for duplication, and creating a second print job with existing data and a set of settings to be applied to a second document processing job, the set including the settings duplicated from the first print job in the duplicated sub-sections. | 03-29-2012 |
20120075644 | PREFERRED HUE SELECTION METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING COLOR IMAGE REPRODUCTION - A method implemented in a color image reproduction system that includes a data processing apparatus having a non-transitory memory for storing a computer software program and a processor for executing the software program, wherein the program includes a program code configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for optimizing color image reproduction, which process includes the steps of finding preferred hue angles for a memory color, for each preferred hue angle determining a maximum chroma value of its hue slice, selecting two chroma points at a pre-determined percentage of the maximum chroma value, integrating a lightness function of chroma over a range between the two chroma points to calculate an area under a curve of the function, and selecting a preferred hue angle to be used as a gamut mapping target for the memory color based on the result of the area calculation. | 03-29-2012 |
20120005568 | RENDERING DATA IN THE CORRECT Z-ORDER - A method including: receiving a document encoded in a markup language and having a page with an image and text; creating a first high-level graphics (HLG) object corresponding to the image, where the first HLG object specifies a first z-index less than zero for the first HLG object; generating a first entry in an input file including a pointer to the first HLG object; generating a second entry in the input file corresponding to the text; generating an output file using a typesetting program and the input file; in response to the first z-index not being zero: parsing the output file to identify the page; creating an ItemHandles List (IL) for the page; adding a first ItemHandle corresponding to the first entry to the IL, where the first ItemHandle including the pointer; and generating a display list for the page using the output file and the IL. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002229 | METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR CUSTOM SPOOL PAGE PRINTING - A method and a printer for post-submission and post-rendering custom spooled page printing of a raw print file sent directly to the printer without a printer driver or print application. Embodiments of the method and printer implement a process that includes the steps of sending a raw print file directly to a printer and the printer receiving the raw print file for direct printing, rendering the raw print file by the printer's interpreter, after all pages of the raw print file are spooled, pausing the printer's print engine, providing page printing options on the printer's control panel to allow a user to select pages to be printed, and after receiving the user's page selection, starting the print engine to print only the pages selected by the user. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002226 | ENFORCING A MINIMUM FONT SIZE - A method for enforcing a user specified minimum font size (USMFS) in a hardcopy document (HD). The method includes: receiving a request to print an electronic document (ED) according to a magnification ratio; identifying a first character in the ED having a first font size smaller than a quotient of the USMFS divided by the magnification ratio; and increasing the first font size by a scale factor to match the quotient; where the HD is generated by scaling the ED according to the magnification ratio, and wherein the HD comprises the first character in the USMFS. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002221 | MAINTAINING PRINT SETTINGS ACROSS MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS - A method, including: receiving a request to print a first document from a first application; displaying print settings and an option to maintain print settings (MPS); collecting a time limit, a selection enabling the option to MPS, and a selection enabling a print setting; sending a first print job corresponding to the first document and the print setting to a printer; initiating, in response to the selection enabling the option to MPS, a time window having a duration set to the time limit; receiving a request to print a second document from a second application; identifying a remaining time of the time window; retrieving, in response to the remaining time exceeding zero, the indication of the print setting; and sending, bypassing the printer driver GUI, a second print job corresponding to the second document and the print setting to the printer. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002220 | CONTROLLING PRINTER ENERGY CONSUMPTION - A method for controlling printer energy consumption. The method includes identifying, during a first time interval, a quantity of energy consumed by a printer since commencement of the first time interval; generating a comparison by comparing the quantity of energy with a first energy threshold for the first time interval; and invoking an energy saving mode of the printer based on the comparison. | 01-05-2012 |
20120002219 | PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR PRINTING MIXED COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITE DOCUMENTS - A method and computer program is described for managing a print shop system in which a plurality of color and black and white printers are connected to and managed by a computer. To print a source document having mixed color and black and white pages with a color-split printing process, the computer first execute a verification program to determine whether the source document indeed contains mixed color and black and black and white pages by utilizing a recursive pair-down or page-down scheme where the color values of the pages are compared and as soon as a mismatch in the color values of the processed pages occurs, the computer will return a result indicating that the source document indeed contains mixed color and black and white pages. Alternatively the computer will return a result indicating that the source document does not contain mixed color and black and white pages when a last page of the document is reached but a mismatch of the color value of the compared page never occurs. | 01-05-2012 |
20110292415 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC PRINTER PERFORMANCE TUNING USING BAYESIAN ANALYSIS - A method and a printing implementing the method for dynamic printer performance tuning. The method includes the steps of processing a page to be printed by a printer description language interpreter to generate a Display List, selecting tuning parameters from the Display List data, analyzing the tuning parameters by a Bayesian analyzer to obtain a score for each tuning parameter, and based on the score of each tuning parameter, adjusting rendering settings of the tuning parameters for printing the page. The steps of training the Bayesian analyzer includes creating a set of training pages, rendering each page to determine best performance settings for each tuning parameter, grouping the pages based on tuning parameter settings, generating Display List data of each page, rendering the training pages in each group to compile training data that are saved for future printing jobs. | 12-01-2011 |
20110267640 | MULTIPLE MEDIA TYPE PRINTING - A method for printing including receiving, by a printer, a first page image, a second page image, and a selection for enabling media type substitution. The printer identifies a preferred media type and an alternate media type, where the preferred media type and the alternate media type include a common printable area (CPA), and the first page image and the second page image are modified to match a dimension of the CPA. The printer then selects the preferred media type for printing the first page image. The printer receives a message, after receiving the selection enabling media type substitution, associated with the preferred media type after selecting the first media type. The printer then selects the alternate media type in response to the message and the selection enabling media type substitution, and prints the second page image using the alternate media type. | 11-03-2011 |
20110249290 | METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR SMART RECOVERY FROM PRINT FAILURE - A method and a printer for recovering a printing job by a user from a printer's control panel after the printer is stopped either automatically by the printer due to a printer error, or manually by a user either because the user notices a printer error or simply wants to modify the settings of an on-going printing job. Embodiments of the method and printer provide on the printer's control panel user interfaces to allow the user, while the printing job is paused, to select an option that changes the printer into a repair mode, modify job settings of the printing job, and select job restart specifications, so that the stopped printing job can be recovered based on the modified job settings and the selected job restart specifications. Particularly a non-fixable printer problem may be avoided when the printing job is resumed by disabling or not using a non-fixable printer part. | 10-13-2011 |
20110243326 | HARDCOPY DOCUMENT SECURITY - A method for securing data in hardcopy documents. The method includes obtaining a page image having a private data item; generating an encrypted version of the private data item; obtaining a decoder identification (ID) value of a decoder; generating, using an encoder, a symbol having the encrypted version of the private data item and the decoder ID value; and generating a hardcopy document by recording the symbol on a physical medium, where the hardcopy document is transported to a subsystem having the decoder, and where the subsystem decrypts the encrypted version of the private data item after extracting the encrypted version of the private data item from the symbol. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242581 | METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR A UNIVERSAL JOB DEFINITION FORMAT (JDF) PRINTER DRIVER - A method and program for a universal Job Description Format (JDF) printer driver. The universal JDF printer driver computer software program product has a computer readable program code embedded in a computer usable storage medium for controlling a data processing apparatus, where the program code is configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for generating a JDF job ticket for printing documents by a JDF compatible printing device. The process implemented by the universal JDF printer driver has the steps of obtaining device capabilities information from the JDF compatible printing device and creating a baseline JDF job ticket based on the device capabilities information, providing a graphical user interface to allow a user to modify the baseline JDF job ticket interactively, and generating a syntactically and semantically correct final JDF job ticket compatible with the device capabilities of the JDF compatible printing device. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242580 | SUBMISSION OF JDF PRINT JOBS TO A TARGET PRINTER USING A USB STORAGE DEVICE AND OTHER RELATED METHODS - A method for submitting a Job Description Format (JDF) print job to a printer using a USB flash drive or other portable storage device is described. An operator stores JDF files on the USB drive, and inserts it in the printer. The printer detects the USB drive, identifies the JDF files, and displays a list of the JDF files on a control panel of the printer for the operator to select a JDF file. The printer reads and interprets the selected JDF file to obtain job parameters, and displays the job parameters on the control panel. If desired, the operator modifies the job parameters using the control panel. The printer prints the print job according to the modified job parameters, and saves the modified job parameters back to the USB drive. Additional functions, such as updating audit information in the JDF file and displaying operator instructions, may be provided. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242579 | USER-BY-USER CONTROL OF PRINTER BASED ON PRINTER LANGUAGE (COMMAND) - A method implemented in a multi-user data processing system including an image forming apparatus for processing a print job, which includes the steps of: (a) storing a printer language access policy in an image forming apparatus, the printer language access policy including a plurality of printer language policy settings for each of the plurality of users having access to the image forming apparatus; (b) when a user requests to execute a printer language command for the image forming apparatus, determining whether the user is authorized to execute such a printer language command based on the printer language policy settings for the user; (c) when it is determined that the user is authorized to execute the printer language command of the image forming apparatus, executing the printer language command of the image forming apparatus; and (d) when it is determined that the user is not authorized to execute the printer language command of the image forming apparatus, denying the request to execute the printer language command. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242578 | SMALL AIO (ALL IN ONE) PRINTER THAT USES EXTERNAL STORAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAPER COLLATION - A method implemented in a data processing system including an image forming apparatus for producing a print job, which includes the steps of: (a) receiving data representing a document to be printed in the print job; (b) receiving job information about the print job; (c) determining if the job information includes an instruction to print multiple copies of the document in a collated order; (d) forwarding the data representing the document to be printed in the print job to an external storage unit when multiple copies of the document in collated order have been requested; (e) retrieving the data from the external storage unit; and (f) printing the multiple copies of the document in collated order. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242577 | ADJUSTING PAPER EJECTING SPEED TO COLLATE PRINTED MATTERS - A method executed by an image forming apparatus for producing a print job, which includes the steps of: (a) receiving data representing a document to be printed in the print job; (b) receiving job information about the print job, the job information including an instruction to print multiple copies of the document; (c) printing the multiple copies of the document; and (d) ejecting one sheet of each of the multiple copies of the document at an ejection speed, that is either greater than or less than an ejection speed of the other sheets of the multiple copies of the document. | 10-06-2011 |
20110242574 | HARDCOPY DOCUMENT INTEGRITY - A method for restricting duplication of a hardcopy document, including: displaying, in response to a request to print a document from a user application, a graphical user interface (GUI); receiving, in response to displaying the GUI, a plurality of print settings and a plurality of copy restrictions selected from the GUI by a user; generating a copy code by encoding the plurality of copy restrictions; generating a print job for the document based on the copy code and the plurality of print settings; and sending the print job to a print queue to generate the hardcopy document, where the hardcopy document includes a machine-readable version of the copy code, and where the copy code restricts duplication of the hardcopy document by a copier after the copier identifies the machine-readable version of the copy code on the hardcopy document. | 10-06-2011 |
20110235093 | METHOD IMPLEMENTED IN PRINT SHOPS FOR SELECTING AND EXCHANGING JOB GROUPS BETWEEN APPLICATION PROGRAMS USING PORTABLE STORAGE DEVICES - A method implemented in a print shop management system which allows operators to conveniently transport groups of print jobs between different devices and programs of the print shop, such as a MIS system, prepress devices, printers, finishing devices, etc. When exporting print jobs from a print job management program (the exporting program), the operator defines one or more job groups by specifying the criteria for each job group, and the exporting program exports all print jobs in the job groups to a storage location such as a USB flash drive. As a part of the exporting step, the exporting program filters the print jobs in the program's jobs database to find all jobs satisfying the criteria of each job group. The groups of jobs may be imported into another print job management program by accessing the storage location (e.g. by inserting the USB drive into the importing device). | 09-29-2011 |
20110235091 | METHOD IMPLEMENTED IN PRINT SHOPS FOR SELECTING AND EXCHANGING JOB GROUPS BETWEEN APPLICATION PROGRAMS USING PORTABLE STORAGE DEVICES - A method for pre-configuring a portable storage device for use in transporting print jobs in a print shop, and a method for using the pre-configured portable storage device to export and import print jobs between different devices in the print shop. The portable storage device is pre-configured to contain multiple root directories uniquely corresponding to multiple print job management programs. A configuration file containing exporting and importing instructions and administrative information is stored in each root directory. When exporting print jobs, the exporting program automatically locates its own unique root directory and exports jobs into that root directory. When importing print jobs, once the operator indicates an exporting program, the importing program searches the root directory for the exporting program for all stored jobs and displays them to the operator for selection. The exporting and importing programs also automatically checks the configuration file in the appropriate root directory for instructions. | 09-29-2011 |
20110161674 | DOCUMENT AUTHENTICATION USING DOCUMENT DIGEST VERIFICATION BY REMOTE SERVER - A method of generating a self-authenticating document while utilizing document digest stored on a server for verification purposes. Authentication information for the document is encoded in barcode which is printed on the document. A document digest is calculated from the authentication information and transmitted to a server to be stored. When authenticating a scanned copy of the document, the barcode is read to extract the authentication information. A target document digest is calculated from the extracted authentication information and transmitted to the server for verification. The server compares the target document digest with the previously stored document digest. If they are not the same, the barcode has been altered. If they are the same, the extracted authentication information is used to authenticate the scanned copy. A document ID may be generated and transmitted to the server, and used by the server to index or search for the stored document digest. | 06-30-2011 |
20110161665 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RESOLVING CONFLICTS BETWEEN IPSEC AND IPV6 NEIGHBOR SOLICITATION - A method of enabling host devices having an IPsec policy to communicate with one another via an IPv6 communication network, which includes the following steps: extracting a Media Access Control identifier (MAC ID) for a target host from a security policy for an IPv6 address for the target host; searching for the MAC ID of the target host in an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table on a source host; upon locating the MAC ID of the target host, creating a temporal neighbor cache entry in a neighbor cache table for the target host; and enabling a security association between the source host and the target host based on the temporal neighbor entry in the neighbor cache table, which allows IPv6 communications to be exchanged between the target host and the source host. | 06-30-2011 |
20110158483 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTHENTICATING PRINTED DOCUMENTS USING MULTI-LEVEL IMAGE COMPARISON BASED ON DOCUMENT CHARACTERISTICS - A document authentication method compares a target document image (scanned image) with an original document image at multiple levels, such as block (e.g. paragraph, graphics, image), line, word and character levels. The paragraph level comparison determines whether the target and original images have the same number of paragraphs and whether the paragraphs have the same sizes and locations; the line level comparison determines if the target and original images have the same number of lines and whether the lines have the same sizes and locations; etc. Document segmentation is performed on the target and original images to segment them into paragraph units, line units, etc. for purposes of the comparisons. The original document may be segmented beforehand and the segmentation information stored for later use. The authentication process may be designed to stop when alterations are detected at a higher level, so lower level comparisons are not carried out. | 06-30-2011 |
20110157612 | METHOD FOR CALCULATING COLOR TRANSFORM IN WCS PIPELINE - A modified WCS (Windows Color System) pipeline is provided, which calculates the color transform off-line. More specifically, the color transform is calculated once after any profile is changed, and the calculated color transform data is stored for later use. During the printing process (i.e. when the user prints a document), the stored color transform data is retrieved and used by the pipeline to perform subsequent steps such as content color translation, without re-performing the color transform calculation. | 06-30-2011 |
20110133887 | IMAGE REGISTRATION METHOD FOR IMAGE COMPARISON AND DOCUMENT AUTHENTICATION - A method for authenticating a printed document is disclosed. Barcode stamps are added to an original document image near the corners of the page to act as registration markers. The original document image bearing the barcode stamps is printed and circulated, while the original document image is stored in a database. To authenticate a printed document, the printed document is scanned into a target document image, which is compared to the stored original document image. The barcode stamps are used as registration markers to perform a global image registration. Then, the target image and the original image are divided into multiple sub-images, and local image registration is performed on the sub-images before performing an image comparison. Difference sub-images are generated from the pairs of sub-images, and merged into a global difference image for the purpose of detecting any alterations in the printed document. | 06-09-2011 |
20110121066 | DOCUMENT AUTHENTICATION USING HIERARCHICAL BARCODE STAMPS TO DETECT ALTERATIONS OF BARCODE - A method of generating a self-authenticating printed document and authenticating the printed document. The back side of the printed document contains 2d barcode which encode extracted features of the document content. The features are hashed into a hash code, converted to a barcode stamp element, and transformed into a hierarchical barcode stamp by repeating the stamp element. The hierarchical barcode stamp is printed as a gray background pattern on the front side of the same sheet of printed document. To authenticate the printed document, the barcodes on the back side are read to extract the document features. The features are hashed into a hash code and compared to the hash code extracted from the hierarchical barcode stamp on the front side of the document to detect any alterations of the back side barcodes. Further, the document features extracted from the front and back sides of the document are compared. | 05-26-2011 |
20110075195 | METHODS OF EXPORTING PRINT JOBS FROM A PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT PROGRAM - A method implemented in a print shop management system for exporting print jobs from the print shop management program. The exporting method allows selection of an export job ticket format at the time of export. The export job ticket format may be a press device format suitable for consumption by a digital printing device, or an original input format that preserves the format of the original job ticket imported from an external program. For the press device format, an output job ticket in the requested format is generated from scratch based on job parameters stored in a job ticket database. For the original input format, a copy of the original job ticket is read from an input job ticket and exported; optionally, job parameters generated by the print shop management program may be incorporated into the copy of the input job ticket before exporting. | 03-31-2011 |
20110075193 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING OUTPUT OF PRINTING DEVICES - A printing device is provided with an imager to capture an output image of the paper after it is printed on. The output image is compared to an input image representing the image being printed to detect any artifacts in the output image and to determine the type of the artifacts. The types of the artifacts include effects caused by dirty drum, low or missing toner, dirty or wrinkled paper, etc. The printing device performs a responsive action based on the type of artifacts detected, including displaying a diagnostic message, stopping the printing, rejecting the sheet, re-printing, printing subsequent pages with a corrective action, etc. Further, another imager is provided to capture an image of the paper before it is printed on, and the image is analyzed to detect artifacts of the input paper, including dirty or wrinkled paper, wrong paper size, paper skew or misalignment, etc. | 03-31-2011 |
20110075192 | METHOD FOR MANAGING RE-ASSIGNMENT OF PRINT JOBS IN CASE OF PRINTER ERRORS - A print shop management method for handling re-assignment of print jobs after a printer error occurs. After a print job is assigned to a printing device, the print shop management system monitors the status of the printers. When a printer error occurs, re-assignment decisions is made based on the severity of the error, so that less severe errors can be resolved by the operator without job re-assignment, while more severe errors cause the print job to be automatically re-assigned to another printer. For some errors, the print shop management system may notify the operator of the error, and wait for a timeout period; if the operator does not respond within the timeout period, the print job will be re-assigned to another printer. The handling of a printer error may be affected by other factors such as time of day, physical proximity of an operator, etc. | 03-31-2011 |
20110075160 | IN PLACE LINE SPLITTING PROCESS AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLE BEAM PRINTERS - A method of rasterizing a print image plane for a multiple beam printer engine, which comprises the steps of receiving an image having a plurality of lines of print data for processing by the printer engine, and performing a print image plane rasterization. The print image plane rasterization includes (a) calculating a first line destination for a first line of print data; (b) moving the first line of print data to the first line destination; and (c) calculating a displaced line destination for a displaced line of print data, and continually moving the displaced line of print data to the displaced line destination until the displaced line of print data is moved to the first line and forms a loop. The process is repeated until each line of the plurality of lines has been moved to a line destination associated with each line of the image. | 03-31-2011 |
20110055362 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MODIFYING AND/OR CHANGING A MAC ID UTILIZING AN IPV6 NETWORK CONNECTION - A system that facilitates enhancing security for a computer device utilizing an IPv6 network connection. The system includes a computer device having a software module, which performs the following steps: capturing outgoing IPv6 packets, the outgoing IPv6 packets having a stateless autoconfiguration IPv6 address, which is configured at least partially based on a computer device identifier; modifying the IPv6 address associated with the computer device identifier to generate a modified IPv6 address; and returning the outgoing IPv6 packet with the modified IPv6 address to a network layer of the Internet Protocol of the computer device. In accordance with an example, the computer device is an image forming apparatus. | 03-03-2011 |
20110050724 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR SCANNING A DOCUMENT HAVING A RAISED IMAGE ON IT - A method and system include using a scanner to copy a document containing an original image and an embossment. The method includes first scanning a front face of the document from which the original image is visible to form a first image, wherein the first scanning is conducted with a sensitivity such that the embossment is essentially not visible in the first image; increasing a sensitivity of the scanner; second scanning the document to create a second image, wherein the embossment is visible in the second image; combining the first and second images so as to obtain a reproduction image of the original image containing the embossment. | 03-03-2011 |
20110044554 | ADAPTIVE DEBLURRING FOR CAMERA-BASED DOCUMENT IMAGE PROCESSING - An image deblurring method for camera-based document image processing is described. A document image captured by a digital camera is divided into multiple overlapping or non-overlapping sub-images. A point spread function is derived for each sub-image by analyzing the gradient information along edges contained in the sub-image. Each sub-image is deblurred by using its local point-spread function. The whole deblurred image is constructed from deblurred sub-images. In cases where information of interest is located in localized parts of the document image, dividing the image into sub-images may be done by extracting the area of interest from the captured image. This deblurring method improves the quality of the deblurred image when the camera-captured image is blurred by variable amount of location-dependent defocus. | 02-24-2011 |
20110043864 | DEBLURRING AND SUPERVISED ADAPTIVE THRESHOLDING FOR PRINT-AND-SCAN DOCUMENT IMAGE EVALUATION - A method is described to obtain a binary image from the print-and-scan process to best match the known original. A point-spread function (PSF) of the PAS process is first obtained from its knife-edge responses, and deblurring is carried out on the scanned images using deconvolution. After image deskewing and preliminary registration, a supervised adaptive thresholding procedure is utilized to binarize the scanned image such that a measure of difference (e.g. the Euclidean distance) between the original and binarized images is minimized. The supervised adaptive thresholding procedure divides the scanned images into many rectangular sub-images. Otsu's method is used to find a starting threshold for each scanned sub-image. An optimal threshold is found around the Otsu's threshold via iterative search to minimize the measure of difference between the original sub-image and scanned sub-image. The sub-images are binarized using the optimal threshold. This method may be used in document authentication. | 02-24-2011 |
20100329576 | METHOD FOR DETECTING ALTERATIONS IN PRINTED DOCUMENT USING IMAGE COMPARISON ANALYSES - A document alteration detection method compares a target image with an original image using a two-step process. In the first step, the original and target images are divided into connected image components and their centroids are obtained, and the centroids of the image components in the original and target images are compared. Each centroid in the target image that is not in the original image is deemed to represent an addition, and each centroid in the original image that is not in the target image is deemed to represent a deletion. In the second step, sub-images containing the image components corresponding to each pair of matching centroids in the original and target images are compared to detect any alterations. | 12-30-2010 |
20100328704 | STACKING PRINT JOBS BEFORE FINAL PRINT - A system for producing continuous print jobs, which includes a printing unit which prints an image and a client computer having executable instructions for creating a print job for producing a continuous print job. The executable instructions include activating a continuous print mode from a list of print properties within a printer driver user interface, and wherein the continuous print mode stacks at least two print jobs in a print job queue until instructed to print; sending at least two print jobs to the print job queue; selecting a final print format for each of the at least two print jobs; processing and formatting each of the at least two print jobs into a single combined print job; and printing the single combined print job. The printing unit and the client computer are connected via a network and/or direct connection. | 12-30-2010 |
20100328703 | USER-CONTROLLED COLOR DETECTION AND OPTIMIZATION DURING DOCUMENT ANALYSIS PRIOR TO PRINTING - In a print shop system including a plurality of printers and a print shop management server which manages print jobs, an improved method is described for controlling a document color detection method for purposes of assigning documents to appropriate printers for printing. A user interface is provided for the user to specify a set of criteria for selectively forwarding the color detection task to another server or for rejecting the print job. In a first embodiment, if one or more specified criteria are met, the print shop management server forwards the print job to another server to perform color detection. In a second embodiment, if one or more specified criteria are met, the print shop management server rejects the print job and notifies the user. | 12-30-2010 |
20100328684 | COLOR DETECTION DURING DOCUMENT ANALYSIS PRIOR TO PRINTING - In a print shop system including a plurality of printers and a print shop management server which manages print jobs, an improved method is described for detecting color components in a document page for purposes of assigning the document to appropriate printers for printing. First, each page element is analyzed without rasterizing the page. If a raster image is colored, its location and size are added to an image information list. If a non-raster graphical element overlaps a raster image previously stored in the image information list, the overlapped raster image is removed from the list. After analyzing all page elements of the page, if any raster image remains in the image information list, the page is marked as colored. Otherwise, the page is rasterized to detect colored using a conventional method. The resolution used for page rasterization may be controlled by a user. | 12-30-2010 |
20100245884 | CONSTRAINT EVALUATION AND RE-EVALUATION FOR MANAGING PRINT JOBS - An improved method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment is described. When an operator manually assigns a print job to a printer, the job ticket settings of print job are compared with capabilities of the printer to detect any constraints (i.e. incompatibilities). Messages including textual descriptions of the detected constraints are displayed in a UI, and job ticket settings that caused each constraint are displayed adjacent the corresponding message. The job ticket settings display allows the operator to change values of the job ticket settings and then re-evaluate the job assignment to detect any further constraints. The display and input steps are performed using a single UI. The changed job ticket settings are kept in a temporary version of the job ticket, and the original job ticket is updated with the changed values when the job is finally printed. | 09-30-2010 |
20100238484 | METHOD FOR ESTIMATING PROCESSING TIME FOR A PRINTER AND RELATED APPLICATIONS - An algorithm implemented in a print shop management system for estimating a processing time of a print job by a printer, i.e., how long the print job will take to complete printing and inline finishing, is disclosed. The algorithm takes into account the job's printing requirements and the printer' capabilities in determining the processing time. The estimated processing time is used to improve work flow management of the print shop. Practical applications include: using the estimated processing time to improve print job assignment by the management system; displaying the status of a print job that has been submitted to a printer to show a real-time estimate of when the job will complete the processing; generating an alert prior to a time by which the job must start in order to meet a deadline; and informing downstream operators when the print job will proceed to the next step in the workflow. | 09-23-2010 |
20100214599 | Method for printing with XPSDrv printer driver - A method used with the XPSDrv printer driver which reduces the overhead associated with loading the XPS filters is disclosed. The method may be implemented in a dynamic-link library (DLL) loaded by the configure module of the XPSDrv driver or a special function. The DLL or the special function dynamically modifies the XPSDrv driver's filter pipeline configuration file for each print job, so that only a subset of the filters, i.e., filters that are required for that print job, are included in the filter pipeline configuration file. In operation, the user uses the printer driver interface (UI) to set print property settings for the print job, and when the user exits the driver UI, the DLL or the special function modifies the filter pipeline configuration file based on the print property settings set by the user. | 08-26-2010 |
20100214571 | DRAG-AND-DROP PRINTING METHOD WITH ENHANCED FUNCTIONS - A drag-and-drop direct printing method with enhanced functions is described. A printing bin icon is provided on the computer's desktop, and the user drags files onto the icon to print the files without manually opening them. The printing bin program allows a user to set basic printing property settings, select a printer, compose a page, etc. all without visibly opening the files or the full printing and print properties interface. Simple popup menus, such as a printing property setting menu, printer selection menu, page composition menu, etc. are provided to allow the user to accomplish these functions. In one embodiment, when a user drops a file in the printing bin icon, a popup menu allows the user to select one of multiple printing methods, such as print with current settings, change settings and print, select printer and print, compose page and print, etc. | 08-26-2010 |
20100188700 | PRINT MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS WITH MULTIPLE VIEWS - A method for managing a plurality of pint jobs is implemented in a print job management apparatus connected to printers. The method includes receiving print job, and visually presenting a display screen to a user, the display screen including first, second and third panels for classifying the received print jobs according to processing phase thereof, the first panel being provided for listing print jobs that are awaiting assignment of printers thereto for processing the print jobs, the second panel being provided for listing print jobs that have been assigned to printers and that have not been completed by the assigned printers, the third panel being provided for listing at least one of first and second categories of print jobs, the first category including print jobs that have been completed, the second category including print jobs that have been cancelled. | 07-29-2010 |
20100171992 | Image Forming System, Image Forming Method And Image Forming Control Program - An image forming method includes marking a cutting pattern over an image to be printed, designating portions of the cutting pattern as a portion to be kept in the image to be printed and a portion to be discarded, creating an image mask using information of the designated portions, applying the image mask to create a modified image in which the portion to be kept is exposed and the portion to be discarded is hidden by the image mask, applying colorant only to the portion to be kept of the modified image, which is exposed by the image mask, to create an outputted image with colorant only on the portion to be kept, and cutting away the portion to be discarded of the modified image, which is hidden by the image mask, so that the portion to be discarded is not included in the outputted image. | 07-08-2010 |
20100171975 | Focus Image Centering and Printing on a Specified Paper Size - A printing system, which includes a printer and a client computer having executable instructions for creating a print job for producing a large format of an image. The executable instructions include selecting a medium size, displaying an image on a display associated with the client computer, wherein the image is partitioned into a plurality of images, selecting a partition within the plurality of images, and printing the selected partition. | 07-08-2010 |
20100165406 | Split Large Image Printing - A printing system, which includes a printer and a client computer having executable instructions for creating a print job. The executable instructions include selecting a medium; dividing an image into a plurality of image partitions; determining margins for the image on the image partitions based on a selected composition layout of the image partitions; and locating the image within the plurality of image partitions in accordance with the determined margins. The printer and the client computer are connected via a network. | 07-01-2010 |
20100165378 | VARIABLE DATA PRINTING METHOD USING VARIABLE TEXT COLOR DEPENDING ON BACKGROUND - An improved variable data printing (VDP) method is disclosed. A VDP database contains variable data and form data. The variable data includes a plurality of entries each having a plurality attributes. The form data includes images. Each printed piece of a VDP production includes variable data and form data selected based on the variable data attributes. When the printed pieces include a background image and foreground text to be printed over the background image, and when different pieces in the VDP production have different background image, the method automatically selects a text color to print the foreground text over the background image on each piece to enhance visibility and/or aesthetic appearance. In addition, the foreground text color for each piece may be selected based on additional attributes of the variable data. | 07-01-2010 |
20100164171 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEARING PAPER JAM IN A PRINTING DEVICE - A paper clearing mode is provided in a printing device such as a copier or printer to automatically eject stopped sheets of paper after the jammed paper is manually cleared. The printing device indicates on a display panel only the location(s) of the jammed paper, i.e., the jam location that triggered the print engine to stop printing. The display does not indicate to the user the locations of other sheets of paper that are stopped along the paper transport path but not jammed. Following the displayed instruction, the user manually clears the jammed paper, but does not clear the stopped sheets. After the jammed sheet is cleared, the printing device automatically discharges the stopped sheets from the paper path as a part of the jam recovery process. | 07-01-2010 |
20100161832 | METHOD FOR EXECUTING DISCOVERY AND STATUS UPDATE POLLING PROCEDURES OF NETWORKED DEVICES - In a system of networked devices such as printers managed by a computer connected to them by a network, a method is described for executing device discovery and device status update at independent time intervals using a SNMP broadcast method while eliminating thread safety risk. Device discovery and status update are executed as subroutines within a main routine and each subroutine has its own decrement counter. The entire routine is repeated one cycle every time unit. In each cycle, the decrement counters are evaluated. If a counter is a positive value, the corresponding subroutine is skipped and the counter is decremented by one. If a counter is zero, the corresponding subroutine is executed and its counter is reset to the user-specified time interval afterwards. | 06-24-2010 |
20100161783 | SOCKET CONNECTION-BASED PRINTER DISCOVERY METHOD USING A THREAD MANAGEMENT SCHEME - A targeted TCP socket connection-based printer discovery method is disclosed. It does not use network broadcasts; rather, single packets are sent to each IP address. A multi-threaded method is implemented so that each child thread attempts a TCP socket connection with one IP address, and multiple child threads executes simultaneously. If a connection is successful, the child thread records the corresponding IP address in a local record table. After all child threads exits, the parent thread examines each IP address in the local record table to determine whether the IP address is a supported printer not already in the discovered printer list, and adds the IP address to the discovered printer list if appropriate. Alternatively, the steps of determining whether the IP address is supported printer not already in the discovered printer list may be performed by the child threads. | 06-24-2010 |
20100157368 | PRINT MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS WITH DESTINATION PANEL - 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. | 06-24-2010 |
20100157357 | IMAGE PRINTING APPARATUS HAVING CLUSTER PRINTING FUNCTION, IMAGE PRINTING SYSTEM AND IMAGE PRINTING METHOD - An image printing apparatus includes an image printing unit which prints an image and has a cluster printing function in which a print job is shared with at least one other printing apparatus over a network. A registration unit registers in the memory unit paper type information of a recording sheet to be used in the print job. A communication unit receives over the network paper type information of recording sheets in each of the plurality of other image printing apparatuses. A determination unit selects at least one candidate image printing apparatus from among the plurality of other image printing apparatus based whether the paper type information received by the communication unit matches the paper type information registered in the memory unit. The image printing apparatus, during cluster printing, shares the print job with the at least one candidate image printing apparatus. | 06-24-2010 |
20100157318 | CREATION AND PLACEMENT OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE STAMPS ON PRINTED DOCUMENTS FOR STORING AUTHENTICATION INFORMATION - A document authenticating method is disclosed by which a plurality of two-dimensional barcode stamps are generated and printed on a back side of the document forming a pre-defined special pattern. The barcode stamps collectively encode the content of the document to be used for document authentication. Each barcode stamp encodes linking information indicating the position of the next barcode stamp. An index barcode may be printed on the front side of the document which encodes the position information for all of the barcode stamps on the back side. | 06-24-2010 |
20100155479 | CREATION AND PLACEMENT OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE STAMPS ON PRINTED DOCUMENTS FOR STORING AUTHENTICATION INFORMATION - A document authenticating method is disclosed by which a plurality of two-dimensional barcode stamps are generated and printed on a back side of the document forming a color mosaic pattern. Each barcode stamp by itself is a binary barcode, but the plurality of barcode stamps as a whole are printed with different colors and/or color intensities. The barcode stamps collectively encode the content of the document to be used for document authentication. | 06-24-2010 |
20100080574 | PRINTING DEVICE WITH SENSOR FOR OUTPUT TRAY - To solve the problem of incorrect jam recovery, a printer is equipped with one or more sensors to detect the number of sheets outputted to the output tray(s) of the printer. The number of sheets outputted to the tray(s) for a print job is counted, and compared to the number of pages to be printed in the print job. If the numbers do not match, the printer notifies the user of the mismatch. The user may then inspect the printed sheets to determine whether some pages are missing or extra pages have been printed, and take appropriate corrective actions. | 04-01-2010 |
20100079788 | VARIABLE DATA PRINTING METHOD UTILIZING MULTIPLE PRINTERS - A variable data printing (VDP) method is disclosed. The method takes advantage of the capacity of a print shop to increase overall throughput of a VDP production. The shop management software running on a server provides the ability for a print shop operator to divide the VDP production and submit it to multiple printers so that each printer prints different pieces of the production. In one method, the operator enters a division rule to divide the VDP production based on the variable data. In another method, the server automatically determines how to divide the VDP production based on performance of the printers and other the volume of the VDP production. | 04-01-2010 |
20100079787 | VARIABLE DATA PRINTING METHOD UTILIZING SEPARATE PRINTERS FOR DIFFERENT CONTENT - A variable data printing (VDP) method is disclosed in which different types of contents on each piece of the VDP production, such as color form contents and black and white contents, are printed using different types of printers, such as color printers and black and white printers, respectively. The color form content is printed first to form partially printed sheets. Partially printed sheet carrying different color contents are loaded into different input trays of the black and white printers. The black and white content is printed on the partially printed sheets using the black and white printers. When printing the black and white content, the color data in the input VDP data is excluded. The job tickets for the black and white print jobs specify the input trays to be used so that the appropriate partially printed sheet is selected for each black and white print job. | 04-01-2010 |
20100079773 | METHOD FOR PRINTING A COMPOSED DOCUMENT FROM MULTIPLE PRINT JOBS - A printing method that allows a user to conveniently compose and print a document that includes multiple portions from multiple original documents. The method may be implemented as a separate printer driver program or as a part of another printer driver program. The printer driver program displays images of the original documents, and allows the user to select blocks from the original documents. The program then automatically arranges the selected blocks of image into one or more pages, and prints the resulting pages. Thus, only the selected blocks of image are printed. The program additionally allows the user to rearrange the blocks on the pages before printing. A graphical user interface (GUI) is implemented to interact with the user in this process. | 04-01-2010 |
20100073712 | PRINT JOB ASSIGNMENT METHOD ALLOWING USER-PRIORITIZATION - An automatic job assignment method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment described. Each print job is processed by comparing the printing requirements of the job with capabilities of the printers to find one or more candidate printers that can satisfy all job requirements. Then, from all such candidate printers, one printer is selected by evaluating real-time conditions of the printers, such as wait time, device status, periodic maintenance (PM) count, operation history, job ticket history, etc., and the print job is submitted to the selected printer. The real-time conditions and the order in which they are evaluated are set by the operator. The process can also be run in an alternative mode where one of the candidate printers is selected based on a pre-defined fixed priority preference. | 03-25-2010 |
20100073706 | PRINTING OF PROOF COPY WITH REDUCED RESOURCE USAGE IN A PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A proof copy printing method implemented in a print shop. When a user desires to print a proof copy of a print job while reducing resource usage, the user activates a GUI screen, which allows the user to conveniently set multiple parameters that will achieve reduced resource usage. When printing the proof copy, the values set on the GUI screen are used to temporarily override the corresponding parameter values specified in the job ticket without modifying the job ticket itself. When the user desires to print the job normally, the user activates the GUI screen to cancel the proof mode. The system then prints the job using the job parameter values specified in the job ticket. | 03-25-2010 |
20100073705 | PRINT JOB ASSIGNMENT METHOD ALLOWING USER-PRIORITIZATION - An automatic job assignment method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment described. Each print job is processed by comparing the printing requirements of the job with capabilities of the printers to find one or more candidate printers that can satisfy all job requirements. Then, from all such candidate printers, one printer is selected by evaluating real-time conditions of the printers, such as wait time, device status, periodic maintenance (PM) count, operation history, etc., and the print job is submitted to the selected printer. The real-time conditions and the order in which they are evaluated are set by the operator. The process can also be run in an alternative mode where one of the candidate printers is selected based on a pre-defined fixed priority preference. | 03-25-2010 |
20100037286 | PRINTER-CRITERIA BASED PRINT JOB SUBMISSION APPROVAL POLICY IN A PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - In a print shop management system, a print job submission approval policy is provided to determine whether a print job submission to a target printer is approved or prohibited. The policy includes multiple policy settings of job restriction criteria enforced at job submission time. The restrictions are based on conditions of the target printer, such as PM count, jam count, error count, printer status, levels of available resources, etc. The policy may also restrict certain user's ability to submit print jobs to certain printers. If the job submission is prohibited, a message is displayed to the user but the print job is not submitted to the printer. Each policy setting may be applied to a printer based on printer type or identity. Each policy setting is created by an administrator. A user interface for inputting policy setting values is disclosed. | 02-11-2010 |
20100037285 | USER-CRITERIA BASED PRINT JOB SUBMISSION APPROVAL POLICY IN A PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - In a print shop management system, a print job submission approval policy is provided to determine whether a print job submission made by a particular user is approved or prohibited. The policy includes multiple policy settings of job restriction criteria enforced at job submission time. The restrictions may be based on job price, certain restricted functions, resource usage, etc. If the job submission is prohibited, a message is displayed to the user but the print job is not submitted to the printer. Each policy setting may be applied to a user based on his user role or user name. Each policy setting is created by an administrator. A user interface for inputting policy setting values is disclosed. | 02-11-2010 |
20100027893 | METHOD OF DIGITAL IMAGE COMPARISON FOR IMAGING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - A method which uses digital image comparison for imaging software development is described. The software under development is used to generate a set of test digital images from print data. The images are stored. The software of a reference system is used to generate a set of reference digital images based on the same print data. The test and reference images are tiled, and image comparison is carried out on a tile-by-tile basis. A difference tile is generated for each test image tile and corresponding reference image tile, and the tiles are stored together in an image file to be displayed to the human user. The test images and reference images are compared using an image comparison program. The result of the comparison is presented to the human software developer for further comparison and evaluation. | 02-04-2010 |
20090328143 | METHOD OF SELF-AUTHENTICATING A DOCUMENT WHILE PRESERVING CRITICAL CONTENT IN AUTHENTICATION DATA - An improved document authentication method in which critical content, such as signatures, is preserved at a high-resolution in the authentication data carried on the self-authenticating document. When generating authentication data, signatures are compressed without down-sampling to preserve their resolution and quality. The compressed signature data (a bit string) is embedded in an image segment on the document. For example, each bit of the bit string is stored in the low bits of one or more image pixels. A hash code is calculated from the bit string and stored in a barcode printed on the document. To authenticate a scanned-back document, the bit string is recovered from the image segment. A hash code is calculated from the recovered bit string and compared to the hash code extracted from the barcode. The signatures re-generated from the recovered bit string are compared to the signatures in the scanned document. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323099 | PRINTING METHOD AND PRINTER DRIVER PROVIDING USER INTERFACE FOR GENERATING OUTPUT FILES - A printing method is described that allows the user to conveniently either print a document, or generate an output file from it in a desired image file format and save the file for late use, or both at once. The user opens a document using an application, and issues a print request. From the print dialog box, the user chooses to set printing preferences. The print preferences dialog box includes an “output file” tab allowing the user to specify whether an output file is to be generated, specify an output file format, specify a destination for saving the output file, and specify whether hard copies of the document are to be printed on the printer. The method may be implemented as a part of a printer driver program. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323098 | METHOD FOR BATCH FILE PRINTING AND RELATED USER INTERFACE - A batch file printing method is described. A user opens a file using an application, and issues a print request. From the print dialog box, the user chooses to set printing preferences. The print preferences dialog box includes tabs for setting various printing references, and an additional batch file printing tab for selecting a number of files to be printed as the same batch using the same printing preferences. The batch file printing tab includes a file list box showing the files to be included in the batch and buttons allowing the user to add files to or remove files from the list. The selected files, along with the currently open file, are printed at once using the same printing preferences set by the user. The selected files may be in different folders, and may be different type of files. | 12-31-2009 |
20090284795 | METHOD FOR PRINTING OVERSIZED IMAGE DATA - A method implemented in a printer controller for printing oversized image data is described. During printing, a process is executed to determine whether the data to be printed have a page data size that exceeds the maximum printable area for the specified recording medium. The page data size of a given page is the total extent (width and height) of the data objects on the page. If the page data size exceeds the maximum printable area, the process determines whether the portions of the image that exceeds the maximum printable area are background data. If they are, a portion of the background data that exceeds the maximum printable area are cut off, and the document is printed without reducing the size of the non-background data. The method can also be implemented on a print driver. | 11-19-2009 |
20090245678 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A HIGH QUALITY SCANNED IMAGE OF A DOCUMENT - An improved image processing method for generating an image from a hard copy document includes the following steps: scanning the hard copy document multiple times using a scanner to generate a plurality of images; performing deskewing for each image; performing translational compensation for each image; selecting two images (first and second) among the plurality of images that have the highest similarity to each other; dilating the first image; converting the dilated first image into a binary form; eroding the converted first image to generate a first processed image; eroding the second image; converting the eroded second image into a binary form; dilating the converted second image to generate a second processed image; and extracting common portions of the first and second processed images to generate a final image. This method can be used to generate high quality scanned images of hard copy documents for purposes of document authentication. | 10-01-2009 |
20090244621 | METHOD FOR CANCELING A PRINT JOB SUBMITTED TO A PRINTER - A print job canceling method for a printer is described and is especially useful in a printer with relatively small buffer memory. When a print job is cancelled by the user using the printer's control panel, this method allows the printer controller to receive additional print jobs while the current job is being cancelled, without having to notify the host to stop sending the current print job. The printer controller reduces the memory allocated to the job being cancelled. The printer controller continues to accept data for the current job from the host, but does not print the received data. The data is subsequently flushed from the memory. The printer controller also assigns a lower priority to the print job being cancelled. Meanwhile, the remaining memory can be used to receive and print additional print jobs. | 10-01-2009 |
20090238626 | CREATION AND PLACEMENT OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE STAMPS ON PRINTED DOCUMENTS FOR STORING AUTHENTICATION INFORMATION - A document authenticating method is disclosed by which numerous small-sized two-dimensional barcode stamps are generated and placed in a distributed manner on a printed document. The small-sized barcode stamps collectively encode the content of the document to be used for document authentication. In one example, the stamp size is 1 cm by 1 cm and the tile size for the stamps is 4 by 4 pixels at a resolution of 400 dpi. A total of approximately 80 such small barcode stamps are placed on the page to form a pattern that resembles a border on one or more sides of the page. In one particular example, the stamps are placed on all four sides of the page to form a frame. Such a stamp layout minimizes undesirable visual effect and can create a decorative effect. Small-sized stamps also allow reduced tile sizes and increased information density. | 09-24-2009 |
20090238625 | CREATION AND PLACEMENT OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE STAMPS ON PRINTED DOCUMENTS FOR STORING AUTHENTICATION INFORMATION - A document authenticating method is disclosed by which numerous small-sized two-dimensional barcode stamps are generated and placed in a distributed manner on a printed document. The small-sized barcode stamps collectively encode the content of the document to be used for document authentication. In one example, the stamp size is about ¼ by ¼ inches or less and the tile size for the stamps is 4 by 4 pixels at a resolution of 400 dpi. The document is segmented into segments each containing a paragraph or a line of text. For each segment, a set of barcode stamps encoding the authentication data for the segment is placed in the vicinity of the segment. They may be placed in the empty space in the last line of each paragraph, in the empty space between adjacent paragraphs, or at the beginning or end of each line. | 09-24-2009 |
20090217268 | MULTI-TIERED CONSTRAINT CHECKING FOR MANAGING PRINT JOBS - A method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment is described. When an operator manually assigns a print job to a printer, the print job requirements are compared with capabilities of the printer to detect any constraints (i.e. incompatibilities between printer capabilities and print job requirements). The job is printed if no constraint is detected. If a constraint of a first category is detected (e.g. incompatible color capabilities, paper size and type, layout, etc.), printing will not proceed and an error message is displayed. If a constraint of a second category is detected (e.g. inadequate finishing capabilities), a warning message is displayed with a request for operator instruction regarding whether to proceed with printing. If the operator chooses to proceed, the job will be printed, and a banner page containing instructions regarding uncompleted job requirements is generated. | 08-27-2009 |
20090201534 | METHOD FOR GENERATING SIMULATED INSERT SHEETS FOR A PRINT JOB - A printing method is described where, when a print job requires printing multiple copies of a document and a simulated insert sheet option is selected as a part of the print job requirements, simulated insert sheets are automatically generated and inserted between the printed copies that are outputted to the output tray of the printer. The simulated insert sheets are printed using the same paper as the document. The simulated insert sheets may be numbered, and may include a printed pattern extending to an edge of the sheets. The layout and content of the simulated insert sheets may be specified by the printer driver or the printer itself. The method can also be used with copiers when making multiple copies of an original document. Further, simulated insert sheets can be used to separate groups of pages within a single document, such as chapters or sections. | 08-13-2009 |
20090201531 | PRINT JOB ASSIGNMENT METHOD ALLOWING USER-PRIORITIZATION - A method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment is described. Each print job specifies job ticket parameters representing printing requirements. Each received job is processed by comparing the printing requirements of the job with capabilities of the printers. If a printer cannot satisfy all printing requirements of the job, it is eliminated as a candidate printer. Then, from all printers that can satisfy all printing requirements of the job, one printer is selected based on a pre-defined priority preference and the job is submitted to the selected printer. The printer priority preference is created by the operator based on cost and other factors. The operator can also select an alternative execution mode where, among all printers that can satisfy all requirements of the job, the one with minimum wait time is selected. | 08-13-2009 |
20090201528 | METHODS FOR PRINTING MULTIPLE FILES AS ONE PRINT JOB - A method is disclosed for selectively printing multiple PDF files currently open in a PDF viewer (including editor) application. A GUI lists all PDF files currently open within the viewer. A user selects files from the list and specifies page ranges for the selected files. The PDF viewer submits data from the user-selected files to a printer as a single print job. In one implementation, the viewer generates a master PDF file from the selected files and transfers it to the printer. In another implementation, the viewer interprets the PDF data in the selected files into PDL data and transfers it to the printer. In another implementation, the viewer generate a separate PDF file containing selected data for each open PDF file, composes a job ticket using the generated PDF files and transfers the job ticket and the generated PDF files to the printer. | 08-13-2009 |
20090195811 | METHOD FOR PRINTING TEXT-ONLY CONTENT OF PDF DOCUMENTS - A method for printing only text objects within a PDF document is described. PDF data is transmitted from a host computer to a printer, along with job information that specifies a text-only mode. If printer controller detects that the text-only mode is specified, it interprets only the text objects within the PDF data. As a result, only text objects are printed on the recording medium, and the graphics and image objects are not printed. The interpretation step preserves position, font, size, and style (e.g. bold, italic, underline) of the text objects. Representation may be generated and printed on the recording medium to indicate the presence of graphics or image objects in the original PDF document. | 08-06-2009 |
20090147296 | COLLECTING RESOURCE USAGE INFORMATION IN A PRINT SHOP - A method used in a print shop for collecting and tracking the amount of resources used for a print job is described. The print shop includes a plurality of copy production devices such as printers and finishing devices and a server for managing them. Each copy production device collects information regarding actual resource usage for a copy production job, such as the amount of paper used, the amount of toner used, the number of staples used, etc., and provides the information to the server after the job is executed. The server generates total resource usage information for executing the job, and stores the information. The actual perjob resource usage information may be analyzed to enable the print shop to set a price structure that more accurately reflects and ultimately recaptures the cost incurred. | 06-11-2009 |
20090147295 | PAPER NAME DATABASE IN A PRINT SHOP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A method for managing a print shop system having a plurality of printers connected to a management server is described. A paper name database is maintained on the server and each printer, and contains a plurality of paper name definitions each associating a paper name to a plurality of paper attributes such as paper size, weight, etc. The paper name databases are synchronized with each other. When creating a job ticket on the server, the operator specifies the paper name but does not need to specify the paper attributes. The server generates a job ticket containing the paper name and/or the paper attributes (retrieved from the paper name database using the paper name entered by the operator). When a printer receives a job ticket that contains a papa name, it retrieves the paper attributes associated with the paper name from the local paper name database and executes the job. | 06-11-2009 |
20090147279 | METHOD FOR COMPENSATING FOR COLOR VARIATIONS AMONG MULTIPLE PRINTERS - A method for compensating for color variations among multiple user printers by providing a target simulation process in each user printer that modifies its default color characteristics so that it has the same color characteristics as a designated target printer. In a WCS implementation, a target CDMP and a user CDMP representing color characteristics of the target printer and the user printer, respectively, are stored and used by the WCS workflow to perform color conversion when printing an image on the user printer. In an ICC implementation, a color simulation profile is generated that matches the color characteristics of the user printer to those of the target printer. The color simulation profile is combined with the default color profile of the printer to generate a combined color profile which is used to perform color conversion when printing an image on the user printer. | 06-11-2009 |
20090119120 | AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING AND APPLYING OVERAGE FOR A CUSTOMER PRINT JOB - A print shop management system for automatically handling overage for customer print or copy jobs is described. An overage refers to extra copies of a customer job produced for internal use at the print shop. The print shop management system allows the operator to create overage formulas, each formula specifying a set of criteria and an overage value for customer jobs meeting the criteria. The system then automatically applies the overage formulas to each customer job to print the requested number of copies and the extra copies. The system can also keep track of actual resource usage for each job | 05-07-2009 |
20090089457 | RECONNECTING A HOST COMPUTER WITH A NETWORKED PRINTER HAVING A DYNAMIC NETWORK ADDRESS - Methods and apparatus for reconnecting a host computer with a networked printer having a dynamic network address without manually entering the printer's network address. In a first method, when a user presses a reconnect button on the printer, the printer broadcasts a reconnection event containing the printer's network address over the network. The host receives the event, extracts the network address and reconnects the printer accordingly. In a second method, the host obtains the network addresses of candidate printers, displays a list of them on a UI, and sends a flash signal to the candidate printers to cause them to generate an alarm one by one. The user observes the desired printer and correlates its alarm with the timing of the flash signals sent by the host. Based on the observation, the user selects one of the candidate printers on the UI and the host reconnects it. | 04-02-2009 |
20090086290 | METHOD FOR COMPENSATING FOR COLOR VARIATIONS ACROSS A PRINTED PAGE USING MULTIPLE COLOR PROFILES - A method for compensating for color variations introduced by printer hardware limitations and other factors is described. First, the extent of color variation throughout a printed page is determined. Based on this determination, each page is partitioned into a plurality of image areas. A color profile is generated for each image area. The partition and the multiple color profiles are stored in the printer. In an actual printing process, the page of image to be printed is divided into a plurality of image areas based on the paper size and the stored partition, and the respective stored color profiles for the image areas are retrieved and used to process the digital image for printing. | 04-02-2009 |
20090086273 | METHOD FOR COMPENSATING FOR COLOR VARIATIONS ACROSS A PRINTED PAGE USING MULTIPLE-PASS PRINTING - A method for compensating for color variations introduced by printer hardware limitations and other factors is described. First, for each printer model or each individual printer, the extent of color variation throughout a printed page is determined. Based on this determination, each page is partitioned into a plurality of image areas. Then, in an actual printing process, the page of image is printed in a multi-pass process where each image area is printed in a separate pass. The digital image data is shifted and/or rotated for each pass, and the paper is shifted and/or rotated correspondingly, so that the different image areas printed in different passes form a complete image on the final printed page. From the standpoint of the pointer hardware, all passes involve printing the same area of a physical page, resulting in reduced color variation across the page. | 04-02-2009 |
20090080011 | NETWORK PORT SETUP FOR PRINTER DRIVER FOR A NETWORKED PRINTER - A method and apparatus for setting up a printer driver for a networked printer by providing a dedicated configuration button on the printer. During printer driver setup, the user pushes the configuration button on the printer to cause the printer to broadcast a configuration event over the network the printer is connected to. The configuration event contains information regarding the printer's network address. The host computer that is performing a printer driver setup process will receive the event, which allows the host computer to automatically perform printer driver installation. This process eliminates the need to manually find out the printer's network address or type the network address on the host during printer driver setup. | 03-26-2009 |
20090079755 | GAMUT MAP MODEL WITH IMPROVED GRADATION FIDELITY AT LOW CHROMA VALUES - An improved gamut map model (GMM) useful in conjunction with Windows Color System (WCS) is described. The method uses the WCS Minimum Color Difference (MinCD) GMM to handle gamut mapping for the Saturation rendering intent at low input chroma values. For input values to the gamut map model profile (GMMP), if the chroma value C falls within a predetermined chroma value range, the MinCD GMM will be applied, otherwise the Hue Mapping GMM is applied. The predetermined chroma value range can be determined by experimentation. The range is 0≦C≦10 in a preferred embodiment. This method will improve the gradation fidelity of the rendered images and reduce or prevent major hue shifts at low chroma values. The method may be implemented as a plug-in utility for a computer. | 03-26-2009 |
20090073476 | PRINTING APPRATUS AND SYSTEM - A printing system includes a print device having a paper tray and a sensor disposed adjacent to the paper tray, the sensor being configured to sense a feature formed on a paper that resides in the paper tray; and a computer connected to the print device, the computer including a printer driver for driving the print device, the printer driver processing data provided from the sensor and generating positional information indicating a position of the feature on the paper, the computer system further including a display monitor to display the position of the feature on the paper so that the position of the feature on the paper can be discerned before printing operation. | 03-19-2009 |
20090067666 | DETERMINING DOCUMENT AUTHENTICITY IN A CLOSED-LOOP PROCESS - A document authentication method uses a watermark added in a printed document to detection possible alterations made to the document after it was printed. First, a visible watermark in the form of a dot pattern is overlapped with an original digital image. The watermarked image is printed out as a halftone image at a first resolution. The watermark in the printed document appears as a light gray shade. Later, the printed document is scanned back using a grayscale scan at a resolution higher than the first resolution. In the scanned image, altered areas would appear flat (lacking intensity variation) whereas unaltered areas will have relatively large density variations due to the watermark dots and the fact that the image was halftone printed at a lower resolution. Alternations are detected by identifying flat areas within the image using a combination of flat block detection and a multiple thresholds method. | 03-12-2009 |
20090041383 | METHOD FOR CORRECTING SKEW IN SCANNED DOCUMENTS - An apparatus and method for deskewing a scanned printed document is described. The original printed document is scanned with the scanner to obtain a first digital image, which contains skew (rotation) with respect to the original printed document. The first digital image is digitally flipped around a centerline to obtain a second digital image, which is printed to generate a second printed document. The second printed document is scanned using the same scanner to obtain a third digital image, which contains skew errors with respect to the second printed document. The third digital image is digitally flipped around the centerline to obtain a final digital image, which is substantially free of the skew introduced by the scanner. | 02-12-2009 |
20090015847 | PRINTER-INITIATED PRINTING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A printing method that allows a user to initiate printing of files on a host computer from the printer side with one or more button touches. The user initiates printing from the printer using one or more buttons, such as a dedicated easy print button. The printer sends a data request to the host computer. A printer monitoring program on the host computer receives and responds to printer requests. Upon receiving the data request from the printer, the host computer finds the most active application window (the window on top of all other windows), calls the application's default printing setting, generates a printing task for the most active opened file, and sends it to the printer. The printer prints the file received from the host computer. Other printing modes are also possible, such as printing all opened files in the most active application, etc. | 01-15-2009 |
20080244586 | DIRECTED SAX PARSER FOR XML DOCUMENTS - A method for processing XML documents using a SAX parser, implemented in a two-thread architecture having a main thread and a parsing thread. The parsing procedure is located in a parsing thread, which implements callback functions of a SAX parser and creates and executes the SAX parser. The main thread controls the parsing thread by sending target content to be searched for and wakeup signals to the parsing thread, and receives the content found by the parsing thread for further processing. In the parsing thread, each time a callback function is invoked by the SAX parser, it is determined whether the target content has been found. If it has, the parsing thread sends the found content to the main thread with a wakeup signal, and enters a sleep mode, whereby further parsing is halted until a wakeup signal with additional target content is received from the main thread. | 10-02-2008 |
20080243818 | CONTENT-BASED ACCOUNTING METHOD IMPLEMENTED IN IMAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICES - A content-based accounting method is implemented in a management section for a copier, scanner, printer or multifunction device (referred to as MFP), or on a networked server accessible by the copier, scanner, printer or MFP. When copying, scanning or printing a document, the management section automatically extracts content information from the documents being copied, scanned or printed, groups the documents based on the content, and updates an accounting database. The accounting database contains user accounts that store usage information according to content groups. For copied and scanned documents, textual content is extracted from the document image using OCR techniques. For printed documents, textual information is extracted from the digital data used to print the document. | 10-02-2008 |
20080239363 | COPIER DEVICE CAPABLE OF ELECTRONICALLY STORING AND RECALLING COPIED DOCUMENTS - A method is described for electronically storing images of previously copied documents and recalling them for reprinting later. When a user uses a copier to make a physical copy of a physical document, the document image is stored by the copier, and certain document management information is captured and stored in a document management database to facilitate later recall and reprint of the document images. A document management section, which resides either on the copier or on a server connected to the copier by a network, performs document management functions that allow a user to select a previously copied and stored document for reprinting. | 10-02-2008 |
20080231885 | DIRECT PRINTING METHOD USING RAM STORAGE FOR SPOOLED PRINTER FILES - In a PDF direct printing method, the printer controller stores PDF direct print data received from a client on a RAM of the printer controller, or partly on the RAM according to a printing order and/or frequency of use if there is insufficient space to stored all the received PDF data. A PDF parser on the client generates a tag for each block of data being transferred based on the content of the block, and transfers the tag with the block. Based on the tag, the printer controller stores each block either on RAM or on disk. The printer controller maintains a memory allocation database to record the memory location where each block is stored on the printer controller. During rendering, the database is accessed to determine the memory location for blocks of data, and the blocks are retrieved from the memory locations for processing. | 09-25-2008 |
20080231880 | AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF USER PREFERENCE FOR COPY OR SCAN SETTING - A method is described for automatically predicting user-preferred copy or scan settings based on past user behavior. The method is implemented in a management section of a copier, scanner, or multifunction devices that combine copy, scan and print functions, or on a server connected with such a device. The management section maintains a copy/scan/user (CSU) settings database that stores copy and/or scan settings associated with user IDs. Each time a copy or scan job is initiated, the management section analyzes the CSU database to determine a predicted user-preferred setting. The user may manually change the setting and confirm it, and the management section stores the user confirmed setting in the CSU database for future use. The CSU database may be transferred from one copier/scanner/multifunction device to another. | 09-25-2008 |
20080212138 | NON-SEQUENTIAL TRANSFER OF PDF DATA FOR PDF DIRECT PRINTING - In a PDF direct printing method, an intelligent parser is provided on the client computer to parse out and transfer to the printer blocks of PDF data in an order in which the data will be used by the PDF rendering process of the printer. The directory information block of the PDF file is transferred first, and the printer can start the rendering process soon after the directory information block is received, before the entire PDF file is transferred to the printer. The blocks of PDF data are stored on the printer, and the memory locations of the blocks of data stored on the printer are recorded in a memory allocation database. The PDF rendering process of the printer accesses the memory allocation database to obtain the memory location of the block of PDF data it will need next for rendering, and retrieves that block of data for processing. | 09-04-2008 |
20080212110 | PDF DIRECT PRINTING METHOD UTILIZING PAGE PRINTING ORDER INFORMATION FOR EFFICIENT HANDLING OF DATA - In a PDF direct printing method, a client computer transfers PDF direct print data to a printer controller for direct printing. The client is provided with page printing order information which specifies which pages of the PDF file are to be printed, and preferably also the order in which the pages are to be printed. Based on this information, a PDF parser on the client parsers out the PDF data and transfers to the printer controller only the pages of data as specified by the page printing order. The page printing order information is either transmitted to the client from the printer controller, or supplied by a program on the client that initiated the PDF direct printing process. The printer controller stores the PDF direct print data transferred from the client, and maintains a memory allocation database to record the memory locations where pieces of the PDF data are stored. | 09-04-2008 |
20080211819 | RASTER IMAGE PROCESSOR USING A SELF-TUNING BANDING MODE - A raster image processor (RIP) using a self-tuning banding mode is disclosed. The RIP automatically and continuously adjusts the band size used for generating the raster image based on past performance (i.e. past data throughput values) and corresponding band sizes. At the start of each page of image, or after a certain number of pages has been processed or certain amount of time has elapsed, the RIP determines whether performance has worsened since the last band size adjustment. If it has worsened, the band size is reverted to a previous best performing value. If the performance has improved, then the band size is changed in the same direction as the last change. Raster image processing is performed using the adjusted band size, | 09-04-2008 |
20080204805 | AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF USER PREFERENCE FOR PRINTER SETTING - A method is described for automatically predicting user-preferred printer settings based on past user behavior. A driver service module maintains an application/driver/user (ADU) settings database that stores printer settings associated with the application that initiated the print job, the printer driver and versions thereof, and (in a multiple user environment) the user's identity. Each time a print job is initiated, the driver service module analyzes the ADU database to determine a predicted user-preferred setting. The user may manually change the setting and confirm it, and the driver service module stores the user confirmed setting in the ADU database for future use. The method can transfer user-preferred settings associated with one application or one printer driver (or a version thereof) to another application or another printer driver (or another version thereof). It further allows user preference information to be accessed or transferred over a network. | 08-28-2008 |