MANAGING FONT DATA IN A PRINT JOB

• US 20020181001A1
• Filed: 05/04/1999
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: GUNNING, CHRIS R., KONSELLA, SHANE, KLOSTERMAN, ELLIOT LEE, ROSENBAUM, NOLAN GLEN
• Granted Patent: US 6,574,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1204 resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/122 with regard to computing resources, e.g. memory, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1225 Software update, e.g. print driver, modules, plug-ins, fonts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1284 Local printer device

Abstract

A method and a system are used to manage fonts in print jobs with more than one context where at least some of the contexts include text strings. Print jobs may be divided into portions, called contexts, so that they are easier for a print manager to manage. These larger contexts are called graphic sets. Each of these graphic sets is sent to the printer driver consecutively. Each text string has a font associated with it. The font data for each text string is read from the operating system and cached into memory at the time each string is received by the printer driver. After all individual text strings elements of a given graphic set have been received by the printer driver, the context is stored and the cached fonts are stored with the context. After all of the contexts of the print job have been received by the printer and stored, each context is restored and rendered. The graphics sets may be restored in any order. The fonts stored with a context are also restored when the context is restored.

Claims

1. A method for managing fonts in a print job having a plurality of contexts, the method comprising:

(a) storing each text string of the print job;

(b) storing a font for each text string; and

,

(c) for each context, restoring each stored font and each text string.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein storing each font includes:

(a) storing a font reference with each text string;

(b) caching font data for each font reference;

(c) caching a handle for a font implementation of the font reference;

(d) adding a reference to the font implementation of the font into a persistent font database; and

,

(e) for each context, storing the cached font data.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein storing the cached font data further includes:

(a) discovering the quantity of unique font file representations used in the context;

(b) storing table and glyph data associated with each unique font file representation; and

,

(c) storing a handle associated with the font data.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein each font file representation is associated with at least one font implementation and wherein storing the cached font data includes:

(a) discovering a quantity of unique font implementations used in the context;

(b) storing a copy of each unique font implementation; and

,

(c) storing a handle assigned to the font file representation associated with the font implementation and a handle assigned to the font implementation.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein restoring each stored font includes:

(a) restoring the stored font data;

(b) restoring the font file representations and each handle associated with the font data;

(c) restoring the font implementations and the handles assigned to the font file representations and the handles assigned to the font implementations; and

,

(d) using the restored handles assigned to the font file representations, the handles assigned to the font implementations, and the handle associated with the font data to link each restored font to each font implementation and the restored font data.

6. The method of claim 1 further including, after storing the cached fonts, purging selected cached fonts.

7. The method of claim 1 further including, after storing each of the cached fonts, determining an order for restoring the contexts, and wherein restoring each context includes restoring each context in the determined order.

8. A system for managing fonts in a print job having a plurality of contexts, the system comprising:

(a) means for storing each text string of the print job;

(b) means for storing a font for each text string; and

,

(c) means for restoring each stored font and each text string for each context.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the means for storing the font includes:

(a) means for storing a font reference with each text string;

(b) means for caching font data for each font reference;

(c) means for caching a handle for a font implementation of the font reference;

(d) means for adding a reference to the font implementation of the font into a persistent font database; and

,

(e) means for storing the cached font data for each context.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the means for storing the cached font data further includes:

(a) means for discovering the quantity of unique font file representations used in the context;

(b) means for storing table and glyph data associated with each unique font file representation; and

,

(c) means for storing a handle associated with the font data.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein each font file representation is associated with at least one font implementation and wherein the means for storing the cached font data includes:

(a) means for discovering a quantity of unique font implementations used in the context;

(b) means for storing a copy of each unique font implementation; and

,

(c) means for storing a handle assigned to the font file representation associated with the font implementation and a handle assigned to the font implementation.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the means for restoring each stored font includes:

(a) means for restoring the stored font data;

(b) means for restoring the font file representations and each handle associated with the font data;

(c) means for restoring the font implementations and the handles assigned to the font file representations and the handles assigned to the font implementations; and

,

(d) means for using the restored handles assigned to the font file representations, the handles assigned to the font implementations, and the handle associated with the font data to link each restored font to each font implementation and the restored font data.

13. The system of claim 8 further including means for purging selected cached fonts.

14. The system of claim 8 further including means for determining an order for restoring the contexts, and wherein the means for restoring the contexts includes means for restoring contexts in the determined order.

16. The program storage device of claim 15 wherein the method step of storing the font includes:

(a) storing a font reference with each text string;

(b) caching font data for each font reference;

(c) caching a handle for a font implementation of the font reference;

(d) adding a reference to the font implementation of the font into a persistent font database; and

,

(e) for each context, storing the cached font data.

17. The program storage device of claim 15 wherein the method step of storing each cached font further includes:

(a) discovering the quantity of unique font file representations used in the context;

(b) storing table and glyph data associated with each unique font file representation; and

,

(c) storing a handle associated with the font data.

18. The program storage device of claim 17 wherein each font file representation is associated with at least one font implementation and wherein the method step of storing the cached font data includes:

(a) discovering a quantity of unique font implementations used in the context;

(b) storing a copy of each unique font implementation; and

,

(c) storing a handle assigned to the font file representation associated with the font implementation and a handle assigned to the font implementation.

19. The program storage device of claim 15 wherein the method steps of restoring each stored font includes:

(a) restoring the stored font data;

(b) restoring the font file representations and each handle associated with the font data;

(c) restoring the font implementations and the handles assigned to the font file representations and the handles assigned to the font implementations; and

,

(d) using the restored handles assigned to the font file representations, the handles assigned to the font implementations, and the handle associated with the font data to link each restored font to each font implementation and the restored font data.

20. The program storage device of claim 15 wherein the method step of caching each font includes storing each font to a location in a memory device and wherein the method step of purging the selected cached fonts includes removing the selected fonts from their location in the memory device.

15. A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program, applet, or instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for managing fonts in a print job having a plurality of contexts, the method steps comprising:

(a) storing each text string of the print job;

(b) storing a font for each text string; and

,

(c) for each context, restoring each stored font and each text string.