Patent Application
20050088668
As used herein, the term “job” refers to a unit of work that is to be performed by a computing device. As used herein, the phrase “print job” describes any type of job that directs a printing device to print an image (e.g., document, digital photograph, etc).
Many printing devices can receive a print job electronically from, for example, a host computer. Some printing devices include a document scanner and allow a user to generate a print job by scanning a document. A print job that is generated in this manner may sometimes also be referred to as a “copy job”.
Jobs may sometimes be placed in a job queue prior to being processed by a device. For example, print jobs may be placed in a job queue prior to being processed by a printing device. Typically, the printing device will process each job in the order the jobs are lined up in the queue.
A user may wish to know the present status of a job queue. For example, a user may have interest in a particular job and wish to know where that job is positioned in the job queue with respect to other jobs. A user may also wish to manipulate the job queue in some manner. For example, a user may wish to change the way jobs are lined up in the job queue.
The communication link 108 may represent any type of communication path that allows data communication between two devices. For example, the communication link 108 may represent a serial cable, a parallel cable, a network system, a wireless link, the INTERNET, etc.
In this example, the printing device 104 is a multi-function device that includes both a document scan and a document print function. To enable the document scan function, the printing device 104 includes a document scanner 110.
A walk-up user to the printing device 104 may use the scanner 110 to perform a number of tasks. For example, a user may use the scanner 110 to convert a printed document into a copy job that is then printed by the printing device 104. As noted above a copy job is considered a type of print job for purposes of this document. A user may also use the scanner 110 to convert a printed document into an image file that is then transmitted to a remote destination.
A print job may also be electronically transmitted to the printing device 104 via the communication link 108. For example, the computer 106 (under the direction of a user) may generate and then transmit a print job to the printing device 104.
The printing device 104 further includes a local user interface 112 that enables the printing device 104 to both display information and receive input from a walk-up user. As shown, the user interface 112 includes a display device 114. The display device 114 may represent any suitable device capable of displaying the print preview images described below. In one implementation, for example, the display device 114 represents a touch screen.
The (I/O) port 206 enables the printing device 104 to receive a transmission of a print job over the communication link 108. The print engine 208 includes the appropriate mechanisms to enable the printing device 104 to print on physical media. The print engine 208 may represent any type of print engine such as, for example, a laser print engine or an ink jet print engine.
The controller 202 controls the operation of the printing device 104, including the operation of the display device 114. It is noted that the controller 202 may include one or more hardware components and/or software components that enable the printing device 104 to perform the various functions described below. The software components may be stored in the memory 204.
Job Queue
It is noted for the later discussion that print jobs may be placed in a job queue prior to being processed by the printing device 104. In this embodiment, for example, the jobs that are presently in the job queue may be buffered in the memory 204. These jobs may have been generated locally by the use of the scanner 110 and/or electronically received over the communication link 108.
Communication of Job Queue Status
At step 302, a request is received by the printing device 104 to communicate the present status of the job queue. This request may be received either remotely (e.g., over the communication link 108) or locally from a walk-up user. A walk-user may submit the request, for example, by using the user interface 112.
In response to receiving the request, the printing device 104 operates to generate a “print preview” image of each print job that is presently in the job queue (step 304). It is noted that in other embodiments the printing device may generate a print preview image of a subset of the jobs that are presently in the job queue.
As used herein, a “print preview” image of a print job refers to an image that shows how at least one page of a print job will look after printing. Thus, a print preview image of a multi-page job may be an image of the first page of the job or of multiple pages of the job. In this embodiment, the printing device 104 operates, at step 304, to generate a print preview image of the first page of each job that is presently In the job queue.
At step 306, the printing device 104 operates to communicate the present status of the job queue by displaying the print preview images on a display device. In this example, the images are arranged on the display device so as to indicate the way the jobs are presently lined up in the job queue.
It is noted that step 306 may be performed in any number of ways. In the present embodiment, the printing device 104 displays the images locally on the display device 114. In other embodiments, however, the printing device 104 may direct a remote device (e.g., the computer 106) to display the images.
In this example, these three jobs are lined up in the job queue as follows: Job A is scheduled to be processed first, followed by Job B and then Job C.
As shown in
The three print preview images are arranged on the display device 114 according to a pre-determined convention so as to indicate the order the corresponding jobs are lined up in the queue. In this example, the images are arranged in a horizontal line from left to right. As shown in
It is noted that in other embodiments different conventions can be used to arrange images on a display device to indicate the way the corresponding jobs are lined up in the job queue. For example, in some embodiments the images may be arranged on a display device from top to bottom. The image displayed at the very top, according to one convention, corresponds to the job in the job queue that is next in line to be processed.
Job Queue Manipulation
In this embodiment, the printing device 104 allows a user to manipulate jobs in the job queue by interacting, via the user interface 112, with the displayed print preview images.
A user, for example, may change the way jobs are lined up in the job queue by rearranging the displayed print preview images. Referring to
In response to this user input, the printing device 104 may operate to:
The printing device 104 may also allow a user to cancel a job in the job queue by interacting with the displayed print preview images. For example, the printing device 104 may provide a cancel option 410 as shown in
The printing device 104 may also allow a user to suspend a job in the job queue by interacting with the displayed print preview images. For example, the printing device 104 may provide a “suspend job” option 412 as shown in
The printing device 104 may also allow a user to view the image described by a particular job in more detail. For example, the printing device may provide a “view document” option 414 as shown in
Thus, for example, if the user selects the print preview image 408 and then selects the view document option 414, the printing device 104 may generate a new print preview image of multiple pages of Job C.
Additional Options
It is noted that in some embodiments a printing device may be configured to display a print preview image of some jobs and not others. To illustrate an example of one such an embodiment, attention is directed to
The printing device then proceeds to display a print preview image of each job that does not include the indicator (step 506(a)). Additionally, the printing device operates to display a pre-defined image for each job that includes the indicator (step 506(b)). The pre-defined image, in this embodiment, is not a print preview image and does not provide a view of the printable information in the corresponding job.
As indicated in
When the image 602 is selected, the printing device 104 may update the display device 114 so as to prompt a user to enter a PIN number (see
Client/Server Systems
It is noted that the invention may be embodied in a client/server system. The following discussion illustrates an example of one such embodiment.
Referring now to
The print server receives the request at step 706. In response to the request, the print server generates a print preview image of each print job in the job queue (step 708). At step 710, the print server transmits the print preview images back to the client. The print server may also communicate the order the jobs are lined up in the queue at this step. This may be accomplished, for example, by transmitting the images back to the client in the same order the corresponding jobs are lined up in the job queue.
The client receives the print preview images from the server at step 712. At step 714, the client displays the print preview images. The displayed images may be arranged so as to indicate the order the corresponding jobs are lined up in the job queue.
At step 716, the client receives a user request to manipulate the job queue. For example, the user request may be a request to rearrange the jobs in the job queue. At step 718, the client transmits a request to the server to manipulate the job queue as per the user's request.
At step 720, the server receives the request. At step 722, the server operates to manipulate the Job queue in accordance with the request received at step 720. At step 724, the print server sends a confirmation back to the client that the job queue was manipulated as per the user request.
At step 726, the client receives the confirmation. At step 728, the client may update the display to convey to the viewer that his/her request to manipulate the job queue was successful.
Other Embodiments
It is also noted that the present invention may be embodied in the form of a “computer-readable medium”. As used herein, the phrase “computer-readable medium” can refer to any medium that can contain, store or propagate computer executable instructions. Thus, in this document, the phrase “computer-readable medium” may refer to a medium such as an optical storage device (e.g., a Compact Disc), a magnetic storage device (e.g., a magnetic tape), a semi-conductor storage device, etc. The phrase “computer-readable medium” may also refer to signals that are used to propagate the computer executable instructions over a network or a network system, such as the Public Internet.
For example, according to one implementation the instructions 804 are executable by a processor to perform the steps depicted in
A Web Client 808 can download the instructions 804 over a network 812. The network 812 may represent, for example, the Public Internet.
The memory 805 is a type of computer-readable medium and represents an embodiment of the Invention. Additionally, the signals used to propagate the instructions over the network 812 are also considered a type of computer-readable medium. These signals represent yet another embodiment of the invention.
In response to the request, the MFP 1004 may place a job to fulfill the request in a job queue (step 1104). The MFP 1004 may take this action, for example, because the MFP 1004 is presently busy performing some other task. For ease of discussion, this type job may alternatively be referred to herein as a “send job”.
At step 1106 the MFP 1004 receives a request to display the present status of the job queue. In response to the request, the MFP 1004 operates to display a set of images (step 1108). Each image corresponds to a different “send job” in the job queue. One of the images displayed is an image of document “A”. This image corresponds to the send job placed in the job queue at step 1104. The set of images may be arranged so as to convey the order the jobs are presently lined up in the queue.
Although several specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The invention is limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
