Patent Application
20120188595
Print service providers offer a variety of printing services to various types of customers. One service offered by many print service providers is a print-on-demand service. Print-on-demand services provide the customer with the ability to print a book as it is ordered instead of producing a particular number of books. This service, although slightly more costly per book, ensures that no extra copies of the book are produced. This eliminates the risk of wasteful production and storage costs.
Publishers typically store content to be published in an electronic document in a particular format such as Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). The content also includes print specifications that indicate how the content should be printed. These print specifications are specific to the printing equipment that will be printing the content. For example, a particular book printing system may require that each page leave a two inch margin on the left side of the page for binding purposes. The electronic document will then include a two inch margin on the left side of the content for each page.
Publishers and other entities who wish to print books and other content often use their own print specifications. These print specifications differ from those used by print service providers. Typically, when a print service provider partners with a publisher to print books, the print service provider will manually adjust the electronic document to comply with the print service provider's print specifications. This process is time consuming and costly. If a large number of books are printed from this electronic document, then the cost can be compensated for with the larger revenue brought in from sales of the printed books. However, if a smaller number of books are being printed, then this process is not cost effective.
The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of the principles described herein and are a part of the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.
As mentioned above, publishers and other entities who wish to print books and other content often use their own print specifications. These print specifications differ from those used by print service providers. Typically, when a print service provider partners with a publisher to print books, the print service provider will manually adjust the electronic document to comply with the print service provider's print specifications. This process is time consuming and costly. If a large enough number of books is being printed from this electronic document, then the cost can be compensated for with the larger revenue brought in from sales of the printed books. However, if a smaller number of books are being printed, then this process is not cost effective. Alternatively, the print service provider can request that the publisher place the content into the print service provider's print specifications. However, this makes it less desirable for the publisher to want to do business with that print service provider.
In light of these and other issues, the present specification discloses a print specification conversion system that is capable of automatically converting an electronic document that uses one print specification to an electronic document that uses a different print specification. Specifically, the system is able to convert an electronic document from using the publisher's print specification to an electronic document that uses the print service provider's print specification.
According to certain illustrative examples, the print specification conversion system is configured to convert an electronic document from one print specification to another using plug-ins specifically designed for particular print specifications. A plug-in is a piece of software that provides additional and specific functionality to a larger piece of software. Each plug-in for the print specification conversion system is provided with important information about a particular print specification format. For example, if a publisher and a print service provider decide to do business, then the publisher can provide information about its own print specifications to the print service provider. The print service provider can then create a specific plug-in for that print specification. This plug-in provides an additional functionality to the print specification conversion system. Specifically, it can go through an electronic document and edit each page so that the converted electronic document now complies with the print service provider's print specification.
Through use of methods and systems embodying principles described herein, a print service provider doing business with multiple publishers can use a system that automatically converts the electronic documents from those publishers into a print specification used by the print service provider. This eliminates the cost of adjusting each electronic document manually. Additionally, it makes it more desirable for publishers to do business with that print service providers. Particularly because they can use that print service provider for smaller orders without the expense of a manually adjusting the electronic documents holding the content for those smaller orders or print-on-demand orders.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present systems and methods. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present apparatus, systems and methods may be practiced without these specific details. Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “an example” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least that one embodiment, but not necessarily in other embodiments. The various instances of the phrase “in one embodiment” or similar phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Throughout this specification and in the appended claims, the term “print specification” is to be broadly interpreted as a set of specifications relating to characteristics of an electronic document that are dependent upon the equipment to be used to print, bind, and/or trim a physical copy of that electronic document.
Throughout this specification and in the appended claims, the term “publisher” is to be broadly interpreted as any entity seeking to print content of an electronic document. The term “print service provider” is to be broadly interpreted as an entity capable of printing content. A print service provider may also bind, trim, or perform other tasks to bring the content within an electronic document into a book format.
Referring now to the figures,
There are many types of memory available. Some types of memory, such as solid state drives, are designed for storage. These types of memory typically have large storage volume but relatively slow performance. Other types of memory, such as those used for Random Access Memory (RAM), are optimized for speed and are often referred to as “working memory.” The various forms of memory may store information in the form of software (104) and data (106).
The print specification conversion system (100) also includes a processor (108) for executing the software (104). The software (104) may include an operating system. An operating system allows other applications to interact properly with the hardware of the print specification conversion system. The software includes plug-ins (104) designed for converting electronic documents from different publishers' print specifications to the print service provider's print specifications.
A communication interface (110) may provide a means for other equipment to interact with the print specification conversion system (100). For example, the communication interface (110) may allow a client system (114) of a publisher to interact with the print specification conversions system (100). Specifically, the publisher can submit electronic documents for printing. Additionally, the communication interface can communicate with the printing system (112) that will be printing the electronic documents submitted by a publisher.
In one example, the print service provider engages in business with Publisher A (204). Publisher A uses print specification A (206). Publisher A provides the print service provider with the relevant information regarding print specification A (206). The print service provider can then create a plug-in (214) that is familiar with that relevant information. This plug-in gives the specification conversion system (212) the additional functionality of being able to convert electronic documents using print specification A (206) to an electronic document using the print service provider's specification. The newly converted electronic document includes the same content as it did before the conversion. The difference is that the converted electronic document has been adjusted so that when it is printed on the print service provider's equipment, it appears as the creator of the content intended. More detail and examples of print specifications will be discussed below in the text accompanying
In some cases, a publisher may use more than one print specification. In a further example, Publisher B (208) uses print specification B1 (210-1) and print specification B2 (210-2). Publisher B can provide the print service provider with the relevant information for both of these print specifications (210-1, 210-2). The print service provider can then create a plug-in (216) that will allow the print specification conversion system (212) to convert electronic documents from either of these print specifications (210-1, 210-2) to the print service provider's print specification (218).
With these plug-ins (214, 216), the print specification conversion system (212) can readily accept electronic documents that are to be printed and bound into books. Neither the print service provider nor the publisher will have to make any manual changes to the electronic documents. Thus, the publisher will be able to print and bind smaller orders and print-on-demand orders without the added time and cost of manual adjustment.
In some cases, a publisher may provide an electronic document to a print service provider and that document may not completely comply with the publisher's own print specification. In this case, there will be errors in the conversion process. In some cases, the print service conversion system may utilize an error control system. This error control system can be configured to detect any discrepancies in the print specification of an electronic document. The error control system can then flag these discrepancies for manually checking and correcting. Additionally, for some errors, an auto-correction function may automatically correct the error.
The examples shown above are only some print specifications that may need to be changed when converting from a publisher's print specification to a print service provider's print specification. Other print specifications may be changed as well including specifications for the front and back cover of the book.
In some cases, the print specification conversion system may convert print specifications for various print products other than books. For example, the print specification conversion system may convert print specifications for banners, posters, and other signage products. Additionally, the print specification conversion system may be used for pamphlets, flyers and other small print products.
In conclusion, through use of methods and systems embodying principles described herein, a print service provider doing business with multiple publishers can use a system that automatically converts the electronic documents from those publishers into a print specification used by the print service provider. This eliminates the cost of adjusting each electronic document manually. Additionally, it makes it more desirable for publishers to do business with that print service providers. Particularly because they can use that print service provider for smaller orders without the expense of a manually adjusting the electronic documents holding the content for those smaller orders or print-on-demand orders.
The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe embodiments and examples of the principles described. This description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit these principles to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
