Patent Application
20060126103
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Embodiments of the invention relate, in general, to methods and systems of using document processing devices and, in particular, to method and systems of polling a user after processing a document to adjust document processing settings based on the user's answers.
Typically, users of document processing devices, such as printers, scanners, copiers, facsimile machines, and devices that provide a combination of features, do not adjust document processing settings. Generally, users operate the devices at default settings. Although some users can find the default settings acceptable, others do not. Some document processing devices attempt to “intelligently guess” settings to produce adequate output. “Intelligent guesses,” however, often do not account for user preferences such as processing speed and quality. For example, a user preferring a quick draft of a document containing images can receive a high-resolution and slowly-printed document from a printer that is configured to “intelligently guess” that documents containing images should be printed at a high resolution and, consequently, a low speed.
Embodiments of the invention provide a method for modifying settings for document jobs. The method can include processing a document job according to one or more settings to produce output, polling a user for selecting a setting modification after processing the document job, receiving the user-selected setting modification, determining if modification of one or more settings is to be made based on the selected setting modification, and processing at least one subsequent document job according to the modified settings determined to require modification.
Additional embodiments can provide a document processing device comprising a processor, a memory, a user interface and a communication link between the foregoing elements. The document processing device can be configured to process a document job according to one or more settings to produce output, after processing the document job generate on the user interface a user poll containing a plurality of setting modification choices for selection by a user, accept a user-selected setting modification, determine if modification of the one or more settings is to be made based on the selected setting modification, and process at least one subsequent document job according to the modified settings determined to require modification.
Another embodiment provides a computer-readable medium that includes instructions for modifying document processing settings. The computer-readable medium can include instructions for processing a document job according to one or more settings to produce output, generating a user poll containing a plurality of setting modifications after processing the document job, receiving a user-selected setting modification, determining if modifications to the one or more settings are to be made based on the selected setting modification, and processing at least one subsequent document job according to the modified settings determined to require modification.
Yet another embodiment provides a method of determining settings for a document processing device. The method can include obtaining a first document job, the first document job including a first parameter, processing the first document job according to one or more settings to produce output, polling a user for a setting modification after processing the first document job, receiving the user-selected setting modification, storing the first parameter and the selected setting modification, obtaining a second document job, the second document job including a second parameter, and determining one or more settings for the second document job based on the selected setting modification.
Another embodiment provides a document processing device comprising a processor, a memory, a user interface and a communication link between the foregoing elements. The device can be configured to obtain a first document job including a first parameter, process the first document job according to one or more settings to produce output; after processing the first document job, generate on said user interface a user poll having a plurality of settings modifications for selection by a user after processing the first document; receive via said user interface said selected setting modification, store the first parameter and the setting modification, obtain a second document job including a second parameter, and determine one or more settings for the second document job based on the selected setting modification.
Additional embodiments provide a computer-readable medium including instructions for determining document processing settings. The computer-readable medium can include instructions for obtaining a first document job, the first document job including a first parameter, processing the first document job according to one or more settings to produce output, generating and displaying a user poll after processing the first document job, receiving a user selected setting modification, storing the first parameter and the selected setting modification, obtaining a second document job, the second document job including a second parameter, and determining if modification to the one or more settings for the second document job are to be made based on the selected setting modification.
Another embodiment provides a system for modifying document processing settings. The system can include a document processing device having a processor, a memory, and a communication link between the foregoing elements with the processor configured to obtain a first document job including a first parameter, and to process the first document job according to one or more settings to produce output and a workstation in communication with the document processing device with said workstation configured to generate a user poll having a plurality of setting modifications for selection by a user after the document processing device processes the first document job and to receive the user-selected setting modification.
Yet another embodiment provides a method of adjusting one or more settings for a document processing device. The method can include processing at least one document job according to one or more settings to produce output, and polling a user for a setting modification after processing the document job at a predetermined frequency.
Other features and advantages of embodiments of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description and drawings.
In the drawings:
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.
When the device 20 is connected to the workstation 12, a user can also modify document processing settings via the workstation 12. In some embodiments, the display 14 of the workstation 12 displays a document processing setting menu or poll containing a plurality of setting modifications to a user and the user uses the keyboard 16 and/or cursor control device 18 to modify document processing settings. The workstation 12 can also include additional input and output devices, such as a touch screen, a joystick, a speaker, a microphone, and the like, that a user can use to modify document processing settings.
The settings can include a quality setting with values such as “DRAFT,” “NORMAL,” and “BETTER” or “HIGH RESOLUTION.” The quality setting can also designate a speed setting. The quality setting and speed setting can be linked such that an increase in one setting causes a decrease in the other setting. For example, processing a. document using a “BETTER” or “HIGH RESOLUTION” quality setting can require more time than processing a document using a “DRAFT” quality setting. Generally, higher quality increases the resolution of the output and the time that is required to generate such output. The settings section 74 can also include one or more default settings. The device 20 can be initialized to these settings when it is manufactured.
The settings section 74 can also include other settings, such as a color/black-and-white setting, a lightness/darkness setting, a number-of-outputs setting, a magnification setting, an output-media setting, a one-sided/double-sided setting, a collate setting, a staple setting, and the like.
In some embodiments, the settings section 74 can include one or more modes where each mode specifies values for one or more settings. When the device 20 processes a document, rather than determining or selecting a value for multiple settings the device 20 may select a mode stored in the settings section and process the document according to the settings specified in the selected mode. For example, the settings section 74 can include a range of modes such as “DRAFT,” “NORMAL,” “BETTER,” and “BEST” that specify setting values for generating draft quality output to high resolution quality output.
It should be apparent that the memory module 58 can also contain more or less designated sections and can contain designated sections that contain different types of data or software than those illustrated in
The process begins at step 100 where the device 20 obtains a document job, which requests processing of a document. The document job can include a document to be processed and one or more parameters. The one or more parameters can specify an application executing on the workstation 12 that submitted the job, a user who submitted the job, a document type (e.g., a text-base document or an image-based document) or particular document of the document set included in the document job, processing parameters for the document job such as a media type, a magnification level for the job, number of pages of the document, and number of copies of the document, and the like.
After receiving the document job, the device 20 processes the job according to one or more settings to produce output (step 105). The settings used or applied by the device 20 can be saved in the setting section 74 of the memory module 58 as previously described. The settings used by the device 20 can include default settings of the device 20 or can also include settings set by a user before submitting or initiating a document job. The produced output can include a printed hardcopy of a document, an image of a scanned document, or the like.
After the device 20 processes the document job and produces output, the device 20 polls or prompts a user about what changes (if any) the user would like to see to future document jobs based on the output recently produced (step 110). A user can be polled on the display 14 of the workstation 12 when the device is connected to the workstation. A user can also be polled on the graphical display 32 of the operator panel 30. A user can also be polled audibly by the device 20 and/or the workstation 12. The device 20 can also generate a hardcopy poll by printing a prompt that includes instructions for a user on how to modify document processing settings manually.
It should be apparent that other modifications can be included on the poll 115. For example, the poll 115 can include a selection to adjust printing on one or two sides of a sheet of paper (such as a double-sided selection and a single-sided selection), a color selection, a black-and-white selection, a lighten selection, a darken selection, an increase-magnification selection, and/or a decrease-magnification selection. In some embodiments, the prompt 115 can list settings and allow a user to manually set a value for each setting. The poll 115 can restrict a user from setting conflicting setting values or setting values that cannot be provided by the device 20. In some embodiments, the prompt 115 can list settings and allow a user to adjust a setting through a range of acceptable setting values to provide a simple user interface and further restrict a user from setting conflicting or unattainable setting values. In some embodiments, the prompt 115 can display trade-off settings (i.e., speed versus quality, light versus dark, etc.) where an improvement or increase to one setting usually results in a downgrade or decrease in the other setting. When displaying trade-off settings, the prompt 115 can restrict a user from selecting both trade-off settings and can provide a simple user interface that poses one or more binary questions (e.g., a “YES/NO” question, an “INCREASE/DECREASE” question, and the like) to a user rather than posing multiple settings each with multiple setting values.
Referring back to
As previously described, in some embodiments, a user can only be allowed to select one setting modification. For example after selecting the improve speed selection 120 and modifying the settings, the device 20 can wait to obtain a subsequent document job which starts the process again at step 100.
Alternatively, if at step 135 the device 20 determines that a user has not selected the improve speed selection 120, the device 20 determines if a user has selected the improve quality selection 124 (step 145). If a user has selected the improve quality selection 126, the device 20 modifies the settings to improve processing quality at step 150. As previously noted, modifying the settings can include modifying the values of individual settings to create new default settings for the device 20 or modifying the default mode of the device 20.
After modifying the settings to increase quality, the device 20 waits for a subsequent document job at step 100. Each new job is processed according to the modified settings.
If a user did not select the improve speed selection 120 or the improve quality selection 126, or if the polling period has timed out, it is assumed that the user selected the no change selection 122 and no modifications are made to the settings. The device 20 returns to step 100 to await another document job.
The frequency of post-operative polling can be set to a predetermined frequency. In some embodiments, the user can be polled after every operation of the device 20 or until a user selects the stop selection 130. Alternatively, a user can be polled only after a predetermined number of operations such as the first few operations (e.g., the first five prints, first five scans, first five copies, etc.). A user can also be polled (once or a few times) whenever a new operation scenario is detected, such as printing from a new application executing on the workstation 12, scanning a new type of document, or printing on a new type of print media. In addition, a user can also be polled when it appears that the user is not familiar with checking and/or adjusting document processing settings. For example, if a user checks and/or adjusts document processing settings before initiating a document job, the user will not be polled after the job is completed. Polling can also be skipped if an error occurs during processing of the job. It should be apparent that the frequency of polling a user after processing a document can be varied in numerous ways beyond those listed above.
In one embodiment, after a modification is made to the settings, the modification remains in effect for all further operations (i.e., all print jobs are affected by a print quality change, all scanning jobs are affected by a scan quality change, all copying jobs are affected by a copy quality change, etc.) until another modification is made. For example, if a document containing images is printed from a first application executing on the workstation 12 and the user selects to improve print quality, all further print operations, including a document containing only text printed from a second application different from the first application, prints at the improved print quality setting (unless changed by a user either manually before printing the document or during the post-operative polling). Applying a setting modification to all future jobs regardless of parameters of the job is effectively similar to changing the default settings of the device 20. Changing the default settings through post-operative polling (when a user has tangible output to base decisions on) helps reduce reliance on a user to know or estimate desired settings and set them using the operator panel 30 prior to executing a job. Using the post-operative polling, the device 20 can be shipped with default settings set to the lowest quality settings or the lowest speed quality settings and the user can adjust the settings to their preferences through post-operative polling as they use the device 20.
Alternatively, in another embodiment, a modification can be associated with one or more parameters of a document job and can be only applied to future document jobs that include parameters associated with the modification. For example, an improved quality setting can be generated after a user prints a document from a first application, which, for example, can be an image editing application, and the improved quality setting can only be applied to future jobs submitted from that application. A modification can also be associated with a particular document type (e.g., text-based document, image-based document, word-processing document, image-processing document, and the like) or even a particular document. Modifications can further be associated with one or more processing settings provided with the document job or provided at the document processing device such as a media type setting, magnification level setting, single-sided or double-sided setting, and the like.
In some embodiments, the device 20 “learns” setting modifications associated with parameters of document jobs through post-operative polling by implementing a type of artificial intelligence (“AI”).
As illustrated in
The post-operative poll 250 can further include a stop learning selection 260 that a user can use to terminate the learning process performed by the device 20. In some embodiments, selecting the stop learning selection 260 can stop or turn off the learning process but can continue post-operative polling and associated setting modifications as described above in
After obtaining one or more post-operative user-selected modifications via the poll 250, the device 20 provides the one or more parameters and post-operative modifications to the processor 56 of the device 20 (or a separate AI module), which creates an association or link between the one or more parameters and selected modifications. In some embodiments, an association can include a pointer or handle to the one or more modifications held by the at least one of the one or more parameters or vice versa. Another type of association can include placing the one or more parameters and modifications as attributes of a common data object or structure. An association can also be a physical association by sequentially storing the one or more parameters and modifications in a memory module. Mechanisms other than those described above can also be used to relate the one or more parameters to the one or more modifications.
After creating an association between the one or more parameters and the one or more modifications, the processor 56 stores the one or more parameters and the associated modifications to the memory module 58 of the device 20.
In some embodiments, after storing the associated data, the device 20 can not adjust settings used by the device 20 as described above in
The learning process as described above can be repeated for any number of received document jobs. In some embodiments, upon receiving one or more post-operative modifications after processing a document job with one or more parameters similar or identical to parameters already stored to the associated data section 300, the device 20 can replace the previously stored modifications associated with the similar or matching parameters with the newly obtained modifications. The device 20 can also disregard subsequent modifications after an initial one or more modifications are associated with one or more parameters and stored in the memory module 58. The device 20 can also store multiple modifications or can store a single modification determined from multiple modifications with one or more parameters in the associated data section 300. In some embodiments, the device 20 can determine an average or other combination of multiple modifications associated with one or more parameters. For example, if one or more parameters are associated with a “BETTER” mode and a “DRAFT” mode, the device 20 can store a “NORMAL” mode with the parameters, which is between or the average of a “BETTER” mode and a “DRAFT” mode.
The device 20 can operate the learning process as described above for every submitted document job or periodically (e.g., every fifth submitted document job). In some embodiments, the device 20 can operate the learning process for a given amount of time or number of processed jobs. The device 20 can also operate the learning process continuously.
After the learning process is complete or concurrently during the learning process, the device 20 performs a dynamic setting determination process. As illustrated in
After obtaining a modification, the device 20 modifies the settings used by the device 20 based on the obtained modification. In some embodiments, the device 20 uses the obtained modification to determine initial settings and then applies a setting modification or adjustment as specified in a previous post-operative poll to create settings to be used to process the current job.
In some embodiments, there may not be a stored modification associated with one or more stored parameters that are similar to the one or more parameters of the current document job. In these situations, the device 20 can use default settings. The device 20 can also notify a user that settings could not be dynamically determined and can prompt a user to manually specify settings or accept default settings.
After determining the settings to use, the device 20 processes the job. After processing the job, the device 20 can perform the learning process or the. post-operative polling process without learning. Post-operative polling during the dynamic setting determination process is optional.
In some embodiments, the device 20 can retain the settings determined by the device 20 during the dynamic setting determination process after processing a job. The device 20 can also return to default settings after processing a job.
In some embodiments, the device 20 can determine additional parameters not initially provided with the document job to determine settings to use. For example, specific settings for scan and copy jobs can be tied to the type of document (e.g., text-based, image-based, etc.) being scanned and the device 20 can determine the type of document during a pre-scan.
Additional embodiments can also include associating document processing settings with users. In some embodiments, as previously noted, document jobs can include a user identification as a parameter. The device 20 may also read user identifiers from cards presented to the device 20.
Various features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims.
