Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
  • G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
  • G06F3/1202—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to achieve a particular effect
  • G06F3/1203—Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
  • G06F3/1208—Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/12—Digital output to print unit, e.g. line printer, chain printer
  • G06F3/1201—Dedicated interfaces to print systems
  • G06F3/1223—Dedicated interfaces to print systems specifically adapted to use a particular technique
  • G06F3/1237—Print job management
  • G06F3/125—Page layout or assigning input pages onto output media, e.g. imposition
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
  • G06K15/00—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers
  • G06K15/02—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to methods for calculation of parameters for digital pages processing by digital front ends without performing a page imposition on the related printing job.
• NexPress digital printer tackles this problem differently.
• NexStation performs full imposition before processing the pages contained in the print job. The processing will process a complete flat, and all the pages are part of one side of a single printing sheet.
• the NexStation processes only page description format (PDF) pages.
• PDF page description format
• PDF format unlike pages that are described in PostScript (PS), enable page random access and as such can be easily altered without the need of re-imposition.
• PS PostScript
• this limitation of consuming PDF only pages is a difficult limitation for a color server and requires extra conversion time to prepare the print job PDF pages, and additionally, changes in the imposition scheme, which require reprocessing of the print job.
• Current versions of some color servers require imposition to be performed twice. The first time it is done is for the page processing stage and the second for the full page imposition before the actual print is performed. This carries inherent performance problem. The first imposition is performed to derive parameters required for correct print job page processing. This process of layout imposition is done according to the order of pages and is a very lengthy process.
• the present invention proposes performing a single job imposition stage just before the actual print of the relevant print job.
• a method for calculating properties of printing elements includes providing a range of sheets for printing; providing the desired imposition schemes for the print job; calculating a set of printing elements required to the range of sheets for printing according to the desired imposition schemes; splitting the set of printing elements into plurality of printing elements subsets, wherein each of the subsets contains less printing elements than in the set of printing elements; calculating processing parameters for each of the printing elements subsets, wherein the processing parameters are required for processing of the printing elements; and wherein calculation of the printing elements and the processing parameters are performed without calculation of the imposition layout of the sheets.
• Figure 1 is a schematic flow illustrating calculation of pages needed to process a certain print job
• Figure 2 is illustrating a template for calculation of page ranges for saddle stitch and perfect bound imposition of 4 pages on 2 front sheets or 2 back sheets;
• Figure 3 is an example of imposition layout structure for a certain sheet range deriving relevant page ranges required for processing of saddle stitch imposition
• Figure 4 is a additional example of imposition layout structure for a certain sheet range deriving relevant page ranges required for processing of perfect bound imposition
• Figure 5 is a schematic flow illustrating calculation of page rules needed to process a certain print job
• Figure 6 is illustrating a template for calculation of page ranges for saddle stitch and perfect bound imposition
• Figure 7 is an example of perfect imposition layout structure for a certain sheet range deriving relevant page ranges required for processing of saddle stitch imposition.
• Figure 8 is an example of perfect imposition layout structure for a certain sheet range deriving relevant page ranges required for processing of perfect bound imposition.
• the method disclosed hereunder suggests solutions to two related major problems.
• the first is, calculating needed pages or printing elements which are part of a desired range of sheets requested to be printed by a user.
• the second is calculating process rules which are related to specific printing elements.
• rules can represent: page orientation, color profiles associated with printed sheets and other attributes. Color profiles and other attributes may depend upon where a page will be printed. Which set number, sheet number, and sheet side (front or back)?
• Figure 1 describes a flowchart 100 illustrating the calculation of pages needed in order to process a certain print job.
• a sheet print range 112 is selected by the user during the job programming stage 110.
• the sheet print range 112 is provided to the processing stage 120.
• the processing stage 120 starts a resolving page range inquiry 132 for finding out which pages (or printing elements) will participate in the printing of the previously selected sheet print range 112.
• the list of the resolved pages 134 is retuned from the job rules stage 130 and the imposition stage 140 back into processing stage 120.
• the processing stage will start the processing of resolved pages 136.
• the printing of the processed pages will start 152 by invoking print stage 150.
• the print stage will trigger the build imposition layout 142 process to prepare the data before the actual printing of the job 154.
• the method for resolving the printing elements that participate in a given sheet print range might differ between different imposition schemes.
• the examples below explain the calculation of resolving of pages from a given sheet range in the cases of saddle stitch, perfect bound and step, and continue imposition schemes.
• a method for resolving pages from a saddle stitch imposition given a sheet range is described hereunder in a Meta language form.
• Figure 2 describes a saddle stitch and perfect bound imposition template 200.
• Template 200 comprises a front side sheets template 210 and a back side sheets template 220.
• Template 200 is used for resolving pages from a given a sheet range of a saddle stitch 4X2 (4 printing elements on 2 sheets) imposition.
• An example of an 85 page job is provided. Pages needed to be resolved from the job within a given print sheets range 4-5.
• Figure 3 describes the resulted layout 300 for sheets 4-5 given a job of 85 pages.
• the calculated layout 300 comprises 4 flats: front side sheet 4 (310), back side sheet 4 (320), front side sheet 5 (330) and back side sheet 5 (340).
• the resolved pages to be processed for sheet 4-5 are 25-40 and 57-72 in the case of a saddle stitch imposition.
• the result of this calculation according to the described method will yield the following results:
• the calculated layout 400 comprises 4 flats: front side sheet 6 (410), back side sheet 6 (420), front side sheet 7 (430) and back side sheet 7 (440).
• the resolved pages to be processed for sheet 6-7 are 81-112 in the case of a perfect bound imposition. The result of this calculation according to the described method will yield the following results:
• Figure 5 describes a flowchart for page rules calculation 500.
• the rules which might represent a set of parameters which is required for processing of selected pages out of a print job.
• a list of such parameters may include, but not be limited to, the following list: page orientation, size, resolution, sheet side, destination profile, color space.
• Derived rules information might include information such as page orientation or color handling parameters required for pages in a job given the imposition scheme that will be used for the job.
• the processing stage 120 needs to process a resolved page range calculated by the page resolve method described above, hi order to process the requested page range page rules information should be calculated.
• the processing stage 120 initiate a request for page rules 510 information.
• Job rules stage 130 and the imposition stage 140 will return the pages rules parameters 512 to processing stage 120 in such as page orientation and color handling parameters 514.
• the method for calculating process rules for resolved pages participating a given print job might differ as well between different imposition schemes.
• the examples below explain process rules calculation for resolved pages in the cases of saddle stitch, perfect bound and step, and continue imposition schemes. Calculating process rules without calculation of imposition layout will yield the required individual page orientation degree (0/90/180/270).
• processing stage 120 will rotate the pages by 0 or 90 degrees, which will be complemented by 180 degrees in hardware rotation to reach 180 and 270 degrees rotation when needed.
• a method for process rules calculation for a resolved page range given a saddle stitch imposition is described hereunder in a Meta language form.
• Figure 6 describes a saddle stitch and perfect bound imposition template 600.
• Template 600 comprises a front side sheets template 610 and a back side sheets template 620. Template 600 is used for process rules calculation a given resolved pages for saddle stitch imposition.
• FIG. 7 describes a saddle stitch imposition layout 700 of sheets 1-2 for the 1,000 page job.
• Layout 700 comprises the layouts of sheet 1 front 710, sheet 1 back 720, sheet 2 front 730 and sheet 2 back 740.
• the calculated results for the process rules according the described calculation method given a 1,000 page job, saddle stitch imposition for sheets 1-2 is as follows: Process layout for pages 1-8
• Page 2 orientation 0 side Back Sheet number 1 Page 3 orientation 180 side Back Sheet number 1
• Figure 8 describes a perfect bound imposition layout 800 of sheets 1-2 for the 350 page job.
• Layout 800 comprises the layouts of sheet 1 front 810, sheet 1 back 820, sheet 2 front 830 and sheet 2 back 840.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Quality & Reliability (AREA)
• Record Information Processing For Printing (AREA)
• Document Processing Apparatus (AREA)

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Publications (1)

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Cited By (2)

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Citations (3)

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• 2008
  • 2008-05-27 US US12/127,140 patent/US20090296132A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2009
  • 2009-05-21 CN CN200980119271.6A patent/CN102047216A/zh active Pending
  • 2009-05-21 JP JP2011511619A patent/JP2011522321A/ja not_active Withdrawn
  • 2009-05-21 WO PCT/US2009/003139 patent/WO2009145878A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2009-05-21 EP EP09755241A patent/EP2283414A1/en not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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