N-up printing
First Claim
1. A method of preparing a plurality of printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, each printed unit having a page type, a binding type and a page count, comprising:
- grouping the plurality of printed units based on page type and binding type, the plurality of printed units including at least two different print units;
sorting the plurality of printed units within a group of similar page type and binding type by page count;
combining N printed units with similar page counts, and adding pad pages to any of the N printed units as necessary to form N print columns each having the same number of pages; and
, processing the N print columns into a batch for printing.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and a computer data signal including instructions for processing printed unit orders for printing on printers adapted for printing N pages across a print web. The orders are grouped based on page type (e.g., size, thickness, color) and binding type into print batches. These print batches are sorted, processed and then sent to the printer. Printed units may be organized with N single printed units printed in parallel across the web, a single printed unit sorted into N sections printed in parallel across all of the webs, or in super batches including multiple printed units, with N super batches printed in parallel across the web.
23 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method of preparing a plurality of printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, each printed unit having a page type, a binding type and a page count, comprising:
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grouping the plurality of printed units based on page type and binding type, the plurality of printed units including at least two different print units;
sorting the plurality of printed units within a group of similar page type and binding type by page count;
combining N printed units with similar page counts, and adding pad pages to any of the N printed units as necessary to form N print columns each having the same number of pages; and
,processing the N print columns into a batch for printing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of preparing a plurality of printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, each printed unit having a page type, a binding type and a page count, comprising:
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grouping the printed units based on page type and binding type;
combining the printed units into N batches with each batch including one or more printed units to minimize the difference in the total number of pages of the printed units in each of the N batches;
adding pad pages to equalize the number of pages within each of the N batches; and
,processing each of the N batches into a super batch to print on the printer so that a first batch prints in a first page on the web, each successive batch prints in a successive page on the web, and the N batch prints on an Nth page of the web. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of preparing printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web comprising:
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providing a plurality of printed units, the plurality of printed units including two or more different print units, each printed unit including a plurality of pages;
dividing a first printed unit into N sections and adding pages to any of the N sections for first printed unit to equalize the number of pages within each section;
dividing each successive printed unit into N sections;
adding pages to any section of each printed unit to make the number of pages in each of the sections within a printed unit are equal; and
,processing each of the N sections of each printed unit into a printing batch with N print columns, with the first section of the first printed unit at a top of the first print column, followed by the first section of each of the successive printed units in the first print column, each successive section of the first printed unit at a top of each of the successive print columns followed by the successive sections of the successive printed units in those print columns. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer data signal readable by a computing system and encoding instructions for executing a computer process for preparing a plurality of printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, each printed unit having a page type, a binding type and a page count, the computer process comprising:
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grouping the printed units based on page type and binding type;
sorting the printed units within a group of similar page type and binding type by page count;
combining N printed units with similar page counts, and adding pad pages to any of the N printed units as necessary to form N print columns each having the same number of pages; and
,processing the N print columns into a batch for printing.
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28. A computer data signal readable by a computing system and encoding instructions for executing a computer process for preparing a plurality of printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, the plurality of printed units including two or more different printed units, each printed unit having a page type, a binding type and a page count, the computer process comprising:
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grouping the printed units based on page type and binding type;
combining the printed units into N batches with each batch including one or more printed units to minimize the difference in the total number of pages of the printed units in each of the N batches;
adding pad pages to equalize the number of pages within each of the N batches; and
,processing each of the N batches into a super batch to print on the printer so that a first batch prints in a first page on the web, each successive batch prints in a successive page on the web, and the N batch prints on an Nth page of the web.
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29. A computer data signal readable by a computing system and encoding instructions for executing a computer process for preparing printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, the computer process comprising:
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providing a plurality of printed units, the plurality of printed units including two or more different printed units, each printed unit including a plurality of pages;
dividing a first printed unit into N sections and adding pages to any of the N sections for first printed unit to equalize the number of pages within each section;
dividing each successive printed unit into N sections;
adding pages to any section of each printed unit to make the number of pages in each of the sections within a printed unit are equal; and
,processing each of the N sections of each printed unit into a printing batch with N print columns, with the first section of the first printed unit at a top of the first print column, followed by the first section of each of the successive printed units in the first print column, each successive section of the first printed unit at a top of each of the successive print columns followed by the successive sections of the successive printed units in those print columns.
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30. A print processing system for preparing printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, the print processing system comprising:
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a digital storage containing digital copies of a plurality of printed units, the plurality of printed units including two or more different printed units; and
,a processor in data communication with the digital storage, the processor including a print queue, the processor configured to retrieve digital copies of printed units from the database and prepare the printed units for printing, including sorting the digital copies of printed units into groups for printing based on page type and bind type, sorting the digital copies of printed units within each group based on page count, processing each group into digital print batch for printing by combining N printed units of the group having similar page counts, adding pages to any of the N printed units as needed to form N print columns each having the same number of pages and creating a digital print batch from the N print columns and sending the digital print batch to the print queue. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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33. A print processing system for preparing printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, the print processing system comprising:
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a database containing digital copies of a plurality of printed units, the plurality of printed units including two or more different printed units; and
,a processor in data communication with the database, the processor including a print queue, the processor configured to retrieve digital copies of printed units from the database and prepare the digital copies of printed units for printing, including sorting the digital copies of printed units into groups for printing based on page type and bind type, sorting the digital copies of printed units within each group based on page count, processing each group into a digital print batch for printing including combining the digital copies of printed units into N batches with each batch including one or more printed units to minimize the difference in the total number of pages of the printed units in each of the N batches, adding pages to equalize the number of pages within each of the N batches, processing each of the N batches into a super batch to print on the printer so that a first batch prints in a first page on the web, each successive batch prints in a successive page on the web, and the N batch prints on an Nth page of the web and creating a digital print batch from each super batch, and sending the digital print batch to the print queue.
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- 34. The system of claim 34, wherein the system further comprises a printer in data communication with the processor, the printer capable of printing N pages across a print web, the print queue sends the digital print batches to the printer for printing, and the printer generates hardcopy prints of the pages of the digital print batch.
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36. A print processing system for preparing printed units for printing on a printer adapted for printing N pages across a web, the print processing system comprising:
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a database containing digital copies of a plurality of printed units the plurality of printed units including two or more different printed units; and
,a processor in data communication with the database, the processor including a print queue, the processor configured to retrieve digital copies of printed units from the database and prepare the digital copies of printed units for printing, including separating each printed units into N sections for printing, adding pages to any section of a printed unit as needed so that each section of a printed unit has the same number of pages, processing each of the N sections of each printed unit into a printing batch with N print columns, with the first section of the first printed unit at a top of the first print column, followed by the first section of each of the successive printed units in the first print column, each successive section of the first printed unit at a top of each of the successive print columns followed by the successive sections of the successive printed units in those print columns, with the Nth section of the first printed unit at the top of the Nth print column followed by the Nth section of each of the successive printed units in the Nth print column, and creating a digital print batch from each printing batch, and sending the digital print batch to the print queue. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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Specification