Spooling strategies using structured job information

• US 20050262134A1
• Filed: 09/24/2004
• Published: 11/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Foehr, Oliver H., Yue, Feng, Sedky, Khaled S., Trufinescu, Adina M., Singh, Harvinder P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1514 Sub-job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1203 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1244 Job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1246 by handling markup languages, e.g. XSL, XML, HTML
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1276 within a printer driver, e.g. driver resides either on a server or on a client
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

Spooling strategies are described for producing job information that conforms to a hierarchical structure, and then storing the job information in a spool storage. The job information is then retrieved from the spool storage and consumed. The structured job information includes a multi-level hierarchy of nodes, including a job level that represents the entire job, a document level that represents a document to be processed within the job; a rendition level that represents a rendition of the document to be processed; and a page level that represents a page associated with the rendition. The hierarchical structure can also include resource nodes and metadata nodes associated with any level of the hierarchy, respectively representing resources and metadata. The hierarchy can optionally be composed using one or more selection and sequence parts. Program logic implements the production and consumption of the job information by providing a collection of logic modules for selectively adding and retrieving elements to the hierarchically structure. The program logic also provides logic for enumerating the contents of the job information and for signaling the occurrence of various events associated with the processing of the job information.

Claims

1. A system for generating job information to be processed by a spooling module, the system comprising:

logic configured to produce a data structure that specifies the job information, wherein the data structure defines a plurality of nodes organized into a hierarchical arrangement representing different aspects of the job information; and

logic configured to store the data structure in a spool storage for later retrieval and processing by the spooling module.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one node job node representing an entire job to be processed by the spooling module.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one document node representing a document to be processed by the spooling module.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one rendition node representing a rendition of a document to be processed by the spooling module.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one page node representing a page to be processed by the spooling module.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the logic for producing at least one page node produces a fixed page node that defines a page subject to prescribed rules.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one resource node representing a resource to be processed by the spooling module.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising logic configured to determine at least one characteristic of the job information.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising logic configured to provide a notification upon the occurrence of an event associated with the processing of the job information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises a plurality of object modules respectively configured to add different nodes to the data structure.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one selector node that functions to select among at least two aspects of the job information.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one sequence node that functions to bind together at least two aspects of the job information.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to produce at least one fixed panel node that functions to bind together at least two pages of the job information in a manner subject to prescribed rules.

14. A method for producing job information to be processed by a spooling module, comprising:

producing a data structure that specifies the job information, wherein the data structure defines a plurality of nodes organized into a hierarchical arrangement representing different aspects of the job information; and

storing the data structure in a spool storage for later retrieval and processing by the spooling module.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising consuming the data structure from the spool storage by selectively retrieving the nodes of the data structure.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the producing comprises:

producing at least one job node representing an entire job to be processed by the spooling module;

producing at least one document node representing a document to be processed, within the job, by the spooling module;

producing at least one rendition node representing a rendition of the document to be processed by the spooling module; and

producing at least one page node representing a page associated with the rendition to be processed by the spooling module.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising consuming the job information from the spool storage, the consuming comprising:

consuming said at least one job node;

consuming said at least one document node;

consuming said at least one rendition node; and

consuming said at least one page node.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the producing further comprises:

to producing at least one selector node that functions to select among at least two aspects of the job information;

producing at least one sequence node that functions to bind together at least two aspects of the job information;

producing at least one fixed panel node that functions to bind together at least two pages of the job information in a manner subject to prescribed rules; and

producing at least one fixed page node that defines a page subject to prescribed rules.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising consuming the job information from the spool storage, the consuming comprising:

consuming said at least selector node;

consuming said at least one sequence node;

consuming said at least one fixed panel node; and

consuming said at least one fixed page node.

20. A processor readable medium including machine-readable instructions for implementing the producing of claim 14.

21. A system for consuming job information stored on a spool storage by a spooling module, the system comprising:

logic configured to consume a data structure that specifies the job information from the spool storage, wherein the data structure defines a plurality of nodes organized into a hierarchical arrangement representing different aspects of the job information.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one node job node representing an entire job to be processed by the spooling module.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one document node representing a document to be processed by the spooling module.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one rendition node representing a rendition of a document to be processed by the spooling module.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one page node representing a page to be processed by the spooling module.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the logic for consuming at least one page node consumes a fixed page node that defines a page subject to prescribed rules.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for producing comprises logic configured to consume at least one resource node representing a resource to be processed by the spooling module.

28. The system of claim 21, further comprising logic configured to determine at least one characteristic of the job information.

29. The system of claim 21, further comprising logic configured to provide a notification upon the occurrence of an event associated with the processing of the job information.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming is configured to consume the job information in a synchronous manner.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming is configured to consume the job information in an asynchronous manner.

32. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises a plurality of object modules respectively configured to retrieve different nodes of the data structure.

33. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one selector node that functions to select among at least two aspects of the job information.

34. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one sequence node that functions to bind together at least two aspects of the job information.

35. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic for consuming comprises logic configured to consume at least one fixed panel node that functions to bind together at least two pages of the job information in a manner subject to prescribed rules.

36. The system of claim 21, further comprising a spooling module including at least one filter module for consuming the job information, wherein the filter module is configured to process the job information in a format defined by the hierarchical arragement.

37. A method for consuming job information stored on a spool storage by a spooling module, comprising:

consuming a data structure that specifies the job information from the spool storage, wherein the data structure defines a plurality of nodes organized into a hierarchical arrangement representing different aspects of the job information.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the consuming comprises:

consuming at least one job node representing an entire job to be processed by the spooling module;

consuming at least one document node representing a document to be processed, within the job, by the spooling module;

consuming at least one rendition node representing a rendition of the document to be processed by the spooling module; and

consuming at least one page node representing a page associated with the rendition to be processed by the spooling module.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the consuming further comprises:

consuming at least one selector node that functions to select among at least two aspects of the job information;

consuming at least one sequence node that functions to bind together at least two aspects of the job information;

consuming at least one fixed panel node that functions to bind together at least two pages of the job information in a manner subject to prescribed rules; and

consuming at least one fixed page node that defines a page subject to prescribed rules.

40. A processor readable medium including machine-readable instructions for implementing the consuming of claim 37.