Patent Application
20080037053
The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which:
Turning now to the drawings, and more particularly,
Thus for example, the printer 100 may include an operator panel or console 110, a printer engine 112, a rasterizer 114, a configuration or parameter management unit 116, a job monitor unit 118, a duplexer 120, local storage 122 and a change propagator 124. The operator panel 110 provides a basic, local user interface. A typical operator panel 110 may be, simply, console lights and push buttons, or a more full featured interface, e.g., a color touchscreen with a keyboard and a mouse. The printer engine 112 interfaces to printer hardware that moves paper through the printer (e.g., selects a paper source and destination) and, for example, marks the page (e.g., selects fonts, inserts header/footers and watermarks and designates file location). The rasterizer 114 processes print job data, e.g. creates bitmaps from a raw print job for printing. For example, the rasterizer 114 may create full bitmap pages one at a time or, create bitmap bands. The configuration/parameter management unit 116 stores internal parameter values and settings. The job monitor unit 118 tracks jobs in the printer and may report the status of each job in the system. The job monitor unit 118 may also handle job operations such as cancel, hold and release. The duplexer 120 temporarily holds pages that have been printed on one side and returns held pages for printing the second/other side. The storage 122 may be shared amongst various caches and components 110, 112, 114, 116, 118. Also, jobs received for printing, but not yet printed, may be spooled to the local storage 122. Printer components (e.g., 110, 114, 116, 118, 122) may each use certain job parameters that may change for each print job. When a parameter is changed, the change propagator 124 sends messages to the printer components 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122 that are registered for changes to that parameter.
Component registration in step 130 may be implemented in any of a number of suitable ways. For example, components 110, 114, 118, may register only for parameters they effect or that affect them. So in this example, for any component 110, 114, 118 that does not register for a parameter, the change propagator 124 lists as a “don't care” and, those “don't care” components are not notified for changes to that corresponding parameter. So, again in this example, while every registered component 110, 114, 118 must respond to changes for a registered parameter, there is no delay in applying a new parameter value from waiting for a response from a “don't care” component.
Alternately, each component can register for each parameters with one of two default application times. In this alternate approach, the change propagator 124 determines the time for parameter application based on the registered default for each component 110, 114, 118 for the respective parameter. So, for example, one default can indicate that the respective component always applies changes immediately, with the other default indicating that the component applies changes dependent upon the current printer state. In another example, the first default can indicate that parameter changes are always applied at a certain indicated point, such as immediately or at the next system restart with the other default again indicating that when the component applies changes depends upon the current printer state. These defaults may vary by component and so, need not apply to all parameters for each component or all components. Instead, parameter defaults may be individually selected for each parameter.
Optionally, instead of registering components 110, 114 and 118 in step 130, and skipping component registration entirely, the parameter management unit 116 broadcasts messages to all components for all parameter changes in step 134. In this optional approach in step 136, all components 110, 114, and 118 must respond to the parameter management unit 116 for every notification. Then, the change propagator 124 checks all of the responses. In this example, every reply must indicate whether the corresponding component can apply the new parameter value immediately, and if not, when the particular component can apply the new value. So, which of the components register, are notified and respond, depends upon the particular approach selected. If components register only for each related parameter or if the parameter management unit 116 broadcasts parameter change messages, then, all notified components respond. Otherwise, if default registration is provided for, the default determines which components are registered and so, will respond.
The instructions presented to the user/operator depend both on the responses from the components and the state of the system. If all of the components provide the same response, that response is the response shown to the user/operator. If some components respond differently than others, then the parameter management unit 116 further checks to determine if the responses may be consolidated. For example, the components may respond with “effective immediately,” “effective at next job start” and “effective at next system reboot.” So for this example, if the parameter management unit 116 receives all three responses, parameter change application cannot complete until the next reboot. Thus, in this example, only the response “effective at next system reboot” is presented to the user/operator. By contrast, however, if the components only respond with “effective at next network enable” and “effective at next print engine diagnostic test start,” both responses are presented to the user/operator.
Furthermore, “when-effective” values can be defined using any suitable approach and these values can be passed around the system. Preferably, however, all the values are defined as individual bits in a bit field. Then, the size of the accumulated list is fixed at the size of the particular bit field regardless of how many distinct values are specified. So, for example, “when-effective” values may be maintained for “Complete,” “Next Job,” “Next Enable,” “Next Appl Restart” and “Next OS Restart” bit fields defined as:
So, marking the “Complete” bit field (e.g., with a “1”) indicates that the parameter value can be/has been applied immediately. Marking the “Next Job” bit field indicates that the parameter value can be applied to the next job that runs. Marking the “Next Enable” bit field indicates that the parameter value will be applied the next time the network or attachment is enabled. Marking the “Next Appl Restart” bit field indicates that the parameter value will be applied the next time the embedded application portion of the system is restarted. Marking the “Next OS Restart” bit field indicates that the parameter value will be applied the next time the operating system is restarted. Since the size of each particular bit field is fixed, as the change propagator 124 receives responses, those responses are simply accumulated by ORing the respective incoming when-effective values with the corresponding accumulated value. Further, additional values can be defined as appropriate for the particular system.
Advantageously, printer system parameters are changed automatically without operator intervention, unless the printer system itself identifies changes that require operator intervention. Further, the operator is provided with guidance regarding the type of intervention required and the appropriate time for taking necessary action.
While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. It is intended that all such variations and modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims. Examples and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.
The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/262,395 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920050024US1) entitled “Notification of Changed Parameters In A Printing System” to Erin A. Boyd et al., filed Oct. 28, 2005, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
