Patent Application
20050108679
With a personal computer and an appropriate software package, a user can produce virtually any type of desired document. For example, word processing software may be used to produce text documents, graphic design or computer-aided design software can be used to produce diagrams, charts, graphs, or designs, and spreadsheet software allows a user to manage large amounts of financial and other types of information. Similarly, database software may be used to manage various databases of information such as client contact information, address and phone number information, or “to do” items.
Frequently, it is desirable to generate a “hardcopy” of a document or data set that has been produced or stored on a personal computer. A hardcopy may be desired, for example, for record keeping purposes or to share with another party. Consequently, a wide variety of printers and document processing devices have been developed to receive a print job from a host computer and produce a hardcopy of a document or data set. Additionally, hardcopies may be created by replicating one or more existing hardcopies. Conversely, a hardcopy may be transferred to a softcopy by scanning a hardcopy and storing it as a digital data set.
In order to save space, particularly in home offices, many users employ a multifunction device (MFD) that performs two or more functions including printing, scanning, copying, faxing, digitally sending (including email, send to network drive, scan to host), etc. An MFD may receive a document or data set and print it, scan it, copy it, fax it, digitally send it, etc. depending on the user's request. While the ability of an MFD to perform multiple functions for multiple users both increases efficiency and saves space, these same abilities often produce organizational issues between users.
A method and system of providing document processing job information, includes organizing the job information into menus and submenus and displaying the job information to a user.
The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of the present system and method and are a part of the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examples of the present system and method and do not limit the scope thereof.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.
The present specification describes a method and a system for managing job information on a document processing device. More particularly, the present specification presents a system and a method for organizing document processing information into menus and submenus while displaying the document processing information to a user.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present system and method. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present system and method may be practiced without these specific details. Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Both here and in the appended claims, the term “print job” is meant to be understood as data that has been prepared for printing by a document processing device. Similarly, the more general term, “job” is meant to be understood as data, in the form of a file or a document, which has been prepared for handling by a multi-function device or other document processing device.
As used both in the present specification and in the appended claims, the term “document processing device” is defined as any device configured to processes a document or data set to produce either a hardcopy or a softcopy from electronic data including, but in no way limited to, laser printers, inkjet printers, dot matrix printers, plotters, facsimile machines, digital copiers, photocopiers, multifunction devices (MFDs), scanners, digital senders, etc. For ease of explanation only, the present system and method will be described in the context of an MFD. Moreover, the above-mentioned document processing device may produce images on a variety of print media and may produce images that are in color or are monochromatic.
In a business office, school, or other location, a multifunction device (MFD) or other document processing device may receive numerous requests per day to print, copy, scan, digitally send, and/or fax a file or document. Often, two or more jobs will arrive at the MFD simultaneously. Additionally, there may be one or more users employing various functions on the MFD simultaneous with the arrival of other job requests. When multiple requests have been made of a single MFD, a user may desire to know the progress status of a job that was to be handled by the document processing device. The following system and method presents an organization including menus and submenus containing job information, such as a job's progress status, that may be displayed to and/or viewed by a user.
As shown in
The user terminal (104), illustrated in
Turning now to the document processing device (102) illustrated in
As shown in
Additionally, the document processing device (102) may include a number of drivers (not shown) such as an MFD driver. An MFD driver (not shown) is a piece of software or firmware capable of formatting data to be handled by the MFD. Alternatively, the MFD may receive data that has been processed by an MFD driver at another location. Such a driver may reside on the MFD itself or on a remote user terminal (104).
Similar to most document processing devices, the present document processing device (102) may also employ some type of user interface (101) to facilitate human interaction with the document processing device. The user interface (101) illustrated in
Job information displayed on the user interface (101) may include, but is in no way limited to, job progress status, job type, job size, number of pages in requested job, date job request was received, time job request was received, process details, job request sender, job recipient, location job request was sent from, desired destination of job request, etc. Additional information that may be available through the job management menus may include queue information when multiple jobs are waiting to be processed by the document processing device. For example, if a user is making a copy at the document processing device and two additional jobs come in over the network (103), the two additional jobs may be put in a queue and handled according to precedence. Additionally, the user interface (101) may display job confirmation data indicating the date and time the processing of a request occurred, or view the progress status of a job currently being processed.
As previously mentioned, an MFD or other document processing device (102) may be used to create a hardcopy from a softcopy (e.g. printing a file or document). Moreover, an MFD may produce a hardcopy from a hardcopy (e.g. making a copy of a document), a softcopy from a hardcopy (e.g. scanning a document and storing the scanned image in memory), or a softcopy from a softcopy (e.g. digitally sending a scanned image, copying to a network drive, etc.). The present system and method manages all of these possible functions to be performed and the possibility of accommodating requests from multiple users. According to one exemplary embodiment, the user interface (101) may comprise a system of menus and submenus. These menus and submenus include various types of information and options. For example, the first or “main” menu (202,
As shown in
The submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may be configured to display specific information about jobs such as, by way of example only, who sent the job request, who the recipient of the job is, the content of the document or file, when the job was originated and/or processed, the type of the job, the number of pages included in the job, etc. The information contained in the “Details” (204) submenu is separated into different categories which will be explained below. The titles that may be given to submenus may be similar to titles traditionally encountered in an e-mail display and may include, but are in no way limited to, “From” (212), “To” (213), “What” (214), “When” (215), “Job Type” (216), “Pages” (217), or any other title that may enable the user to quickly understand the content of the submenu (203).
The category entitled “From” (212) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may contain job information identifying who sent or initiated a particular job on the document processing device (102,
The category entitled “To” (213) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may contain job information identifying where or to whom the job is intended to be sent. This job information may include, but is in no way limited to, an IP address, a MAC address, an email address, a bin number, a room number, a name, or any other identifier which may be used to determine where or to whom a particular job is to be sent.
The category entitled “What” (214) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may present job information identifying the file or document type. This job information may include, but is not limited to, file extensions, a Microsoft® application name (e.g. “Word” or “Excel” document) or other software application name, a file size, or any other file or document characteristics which may be used to identify what type of file or document is being processed.
The category entitled “When” (215) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may display job information identifying when the file or document was processed or received for processing. This job information may include, but is in no way limited to, the date, the time, or any other information that may be used to determine when the file or document was processed or received for processing.
The category entitled “Job Type” (216) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may present job information identifying the type of job that has been entered or received. It may also identify which function or functions the document processing device (102;
The category entitled “Pages” (217) under the submenu (203) entitled “Details” (204) may include job information identifying the number of pages in a particular job. This job information may include, but is not limited to, the number of pages in a particular job, the number of originals, the number of copies, the number of cover sheets or attachments, or any other information the may be used to determine how many pages are in a particular job.
In contrast to the above-mentioned manufacturer designated menu structure, one exemplary embodiment of the user interface may allow the layout and content of the main menu (202) and the submenus (203) to be specified by the user. For example, in one sample layout illustrated in
Alternatively, the user may specify a layout similar to that shown in
Similar to previously mentioned user interfaces (101), the user interface (101) illustrated in
The user interface illustrated in
The present system of menus and submenus may also include an integrated calendaring system. This calendaring system may be implemented according to user specifications in any of the menus, submenus, menu configurations, etc. The calendaring system may provide a user with information regarding all of the jobs processed in a given time period (e.g. a day, week, month, year, etc.). Alternatively, the user may specify to view only the jobs processed for a certain type of function in a given time interval. By way of example only, the user may select to view all print jobs completed within the last five days. Upon such a request, the present system of menus and submenus would display data collected regarding all the print jobs completed within the last five days. The layout and content of the calendar, calendaring system, job types displayed, etc. may be configured by the user, operator, owner, etc. of the MFD or other document processing device (102;
Similar to customizable menus and submenus, methods of prioritizing job requests on an MFD or other on a document processing device (102;
In the case that a user initiates a job, whether from the user's terminal (104;
In some cases, it may be desirable to upgrade existing document processing devices to implement the present method of managing job information. Existing document processing devices are often equipped with older, less versatile means of providing job information or may be equipped with no such user interface (101) at all. Some document processing devices, if found to have a suitable user interface and appropriate hardware, may be programmed and/or configured to use the present method of managing job information. The present method of managing job information may be programmed in with a firmware reburn or installed through a hardware upgrade.
Additionally, a user or owner may customize the present menu system to perform multiple actions with a single command. By way of example only, it may be desirable to store copies of each document handled by a document processing device. According to this embodiment, whenever a document is copied, faxed, printed, digitally sent, or otherwise processed by the MFD or other document processing device (102;
Each time a job is processed, details of the job or the entire job itself may be stored in memory on the document processing device itself or remotely. The memory may include, but is in no way limited to, a random-access memory (RAM), a tape drive, a hard drive, or any other volatile or non-volatile storage medium. In one embodiment, a log may be recorded listing each job, the job size, the job origin (both user and place), the time and date of processing, and any other characteristics specified by the document processing device user. When a copy of each processed job is saved to memory, the processed jobs may be organized in a number of different ways, which may be specified by the user. For example, the jobs may be organized into folders where each folder contains jobs created by one specified user. Alternatively, the jobs may be categorized according to size, date and time of processing, program type, etc. Moreover, menus, submenus, folders, and the like may be restricted to certain users and may implement some type of authentication in order to access a particular menu, submenu, or folder. Jobs saved in memory may be resent or reprocessed according to the specification of the user.
In conclusion, the present system for managing job information, in its various embodiments, organizes and displays job information in menus and submenus. In the present system, the title and content of each menu and submenu is customizable. This system allows users of a document processing device to ascertain the status of a job, whether the job has been processed, is being processed, or is in a queue waiting to be processed. With the present system, a user can also advantageously customize the prioritization of job processing, thus increasing the workflow and efficiency of the document processing device.
The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe embodiments of the invention. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to any 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 defined by the following claims.
