Patent Application
20070076234
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for generating user defined marking settings to print marks to control post-processing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user may specify that a print job include markings to control post-processing devices such as a folder, burster, trimmer, stacker, take-up roll, Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) printer, color printer, etc., that perform post processing operations on the printer output to finish the print job. The printer when processing a print job would print markings for post-processing operations on the print output. The markings may be printed at an inconspicuous location on the print output or in a section that will be removed as a result of the subsequent post-processing operations. The printer stores marking settings that control the dimension and location of a mark specified in the print job. Upon detecting the marking on the print output, the post processing device performs a predefined post processing operation as specified by the marking.
The printer may include marking settings for a specific post processing device. However, if new post-processing devices are attached to the printer, the printer marking settings may produce marks that are not recognized by the newly attached post-processing device. The printer developer may have to supply a new printer microcode patch to apply to the printer firmware to modify the marking settings to work with different post-processing devices.
There is a need in the art for improved techniques for generating and delivering updated marking settings to enable the printer to integrate with different post-processing devices.
Provided are a method, system, and program generating user defined marking settings to print marks to control post-processing devices. A user interface is generated to enable user input to define at least one marking setting comprising a name of the marking setting, a dimension of a marking, and a location of the marking on the print medium. Marking settings control a printer to output markings on a print medium. The outputted markings on the print medium control at least one post processor device to perform post processing operations on the print medium. User input is received from the user interface defining at least one marking setting. The user defined at least one marking setting is stored with an existing set of marking settings to control the printer.
Users at client systems in communication with the printer controller 4 may access, the marking configuration 12 program through a web (e.g., embedded web server) or other interface. Alternatively, the marking configuration program 12 may be part of a printer program executed by a client system that provides a user interface to enable the user to configure the printer controller 4. Still further, an administrator may access the marking configuration program 12 at a console at the printer controller 12, where the user interface 14 is displayed on a display 20 attached to the printer controller 4.
The printer controller 4 includes a non-volatile storage 22 to store an existing set of marking settings 24 that control how the printer controller 4 outputs the markings, i.e., the dimension and location of the marking on the print output 16. The marking configuration program 12 generates user defined marking definitions 26. The existing set of marking settings 24 in the printer non-volatile storage 22 may be updated with the user defined marking definitions 26 generated by the marking configuration program 12. The printer controller 4 further includes a printer engine interface 28 to control one or more printer mechanisms 32a, 32b . . . 32n, and other programs to control printer operations, such as rasterizing data, managing print jobs, communicating with network and attached components, communicating with a printer program and the marking configuration program 12, etc. The printer controller 4 further includes printer mechanisms 32a, 32b . . . 32m, which are hardware and mechanical components to perform the printing. In certain embodiments, the marking configuration program 12 may directly access the existing marking settings 24 from the non-volatile storage 22 to edit or update. Alternatively, the marking configuration program 12 may interact with the printer engine interface 28 or other printer controller 4 components or application program interfaces (APIS) to supply marking definitions 26 to the printer controller 4.
In
A storage unit 30 may be coupled to the printer controller 4. The marking definitions 26 may be stored onto the storage unit 30. An administrator may then connect the storage unit 30 to printers to supply new marking definitions 26 to the printers.
The connection 6 may comprise a cable providing a direct connection or a network connection, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), Storage Area Network (SAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), wireless network, peer-to-peer network, etc. The non-volatile storage 22 and storage unit 30 may comprise non-volatile storage device known in the art, such as a non-volatile electronic memory (e.g., Flash Disk), hard disk drive, portable magnetic disk drive, optical disk or storage, tape, etc. The printer mechanisms 32a, 32b . . . 32m may comprise a printer, plotter, three dimensional model builder or other similar output device known in the art.
In one embodiment, the user interface 14 may comprise a graphical user interface (GUI) having panels, windows, fields and other selectable graphical controls in which the user may enter the information 52-62 for the marking setting 50. The marking configuration program 12 may convert the user entered information into marking definition 26 code or language that is understood by the printer controller 4. In an alternative embodiment, the user interface 14 may comprise a text editor or other program that the user controls to edit a file including editable marking settings. The editable marking settings may comprise entries in the file. The user interface 14 may add entries having editable fields for the marking setting information 52-62 that the user may modify through the user interface 14, e.g., editor. Upon editing the marking setting entries 50 in the text files, the user may then provide the file or marking settings therein to the printer controller 4 to add to or replace the existing set of marking settings 24. The file may have entries for predefined marking names recognized by the printer controller 4 that the user may edit or the user may add new marking names for new post-processing devices.
In certain embodiments, the marking setting 50 includes two location components, an offset from an edge in the feed path direction 76, as expressed in field 56, and an offset from an alignment position in the direction perpendicular to the feed path direction 74, as expressed in fields 58 and 60. In certain embodiments, the user may select from multiple alignment positions that define positions in the feed direction.
In one embodiment, the alignment position further indicates the alignment of the mark at the location, such that a front alignment position 78 with an offset of zero places the left edge of the marking on the edge of the print output 16 at the front of the printer 72, a center alignment point 80 with an offset of zero places the center of the marking at the center of the print output 16, and a rear alignment position 80 with an offset of zero places the right edge of the marking on the edge of the print output 16 at the rear of the printer 70. Thus, the alignment point 78, 80, and 82 indicates a position in the direction perpendicular to the path direction 74 and how to align the mark with respect to that position.
In an additional embodiment where the marking configuration program 12 is in a system separate from the printer controller 4 or is within the printer controller 4 (as shown in
Described embodiments provide techniques for a user to modify and add marking settings to a printer that controls how the printer outputs markings to control post-processing devices to perform post processing operations on print output. Described embodiments provide a user interface through which a user may configure the dimension and location of markings generated on the print output. In this way, the user may optimize the location and dimension of the markings for particular post-processing devices that will process the print output.
The described operations may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The described operations may be implemented as code maintained in a “computer readable medium”, where a processor may read and execute the code from the computer readable medium. A computer readable medium may comprise media such as magnetic storage medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical storage (CD-ROMs, DVDs, optical disks, etc.), volatile and non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, DRAMs, SRAMs, Flash Memory, firmware, programmable logic, etc.), etc. The code implementing the described operations may further be implemented in hardware logic (e.g., an integrated circuit chip, Programmable Gate Array (PGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.). Still further, the code implementing the described operations may be implemented in “transmission signals”, where transmission signals may propagate through space or through a transmission media, such as an optical fiber, copper wire, etc. The transmission signals in which the code or logic is encoded may further comprise a wireless signal, satellite transmission, radio waves, infrared signals, Bluetooth, etc. The transmission signals in which the code or logic is encoded is capable of being transmitted by a transmitting station and received by a receiving station, where the code or logic encoded in the transmission signal may be decoded and stored in hardware or a computer readable medium at the receiving and transmitting stations or devices. An “article of manufacture” comprises computer readable medium, hardware logic, and/or transmission signals in which code may be implemented. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the present invention, and that the article of manufacture may comprise suitable information bearing medium known in the art.
In the described embodiment, the marking settings provided one offset 56 in the direction of the feed path 76 and an alignment position 58 and offset 60 for the alignment position for the direction perpendicular to the feed path direction 74. In an alternative embodiment, the offset 56 may be provided for the direction perpendicular to the feed path and the alignment position 58 and offset 60 may be provided for the feed path direction. Thus, the offset 56 may be provided for a first direction with respect to a feed path direction and the alignment position 58 and offset 60 may be provided for a second direction with respect to the feed path direction, where the first direction and the second direction can either be in the feed path or perpendicular to the feed path directions.
The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.
The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.
The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.
The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.
Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.
A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention.
Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.
When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present invention need not include the device itself.
The illustrated operations of
The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
