METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURING A FILTER PIPELINE FOR A PRINT DRIVER

• US 20120300248A1
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Smith, Glenn K., ROBERTSON, Alan Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 9,317,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• 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 3/1277 using filter pipeline, e.g. outside the driver, adding traps
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1282 High volume printer device

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing filters in a filter pipeline in a print driver used with an image production device. The method may include configuring a filter pipeline in a print driver with one or more proxy filters, each proxy filter including logic to invoke an associated processing filter to perform functions similar to a corresponding processing filter alone, and enabling the print driver to be at least one of certified and digitally signed with the proxy filter without the associated processing filter being known or present.

Claims

1. A method for managing filters in a filter pipeline in a print driver, the method comprising:

configuring a filter pipeline in a print driver with one or more proxy filters, each proxy filter including logic to invoke an associated processing filter to perform functions similar to a corresponding processing filter alone; and

enabling the print driver to be at least one of certified and digitally signed with the proxy filter without the associated processing filter being known or present.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy filter and its corresponding processing filter are defined in compliance with same specification for filters.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the print driver is developed based on Microsoft'"'"'s Extensible Markup Language (XML) Paper Specification (XPS).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the set of processing filters associated with the proxy filters; and

using the print driver with the proxy filter and its updated processing filters without having to at least one of re-certify and digitally re-sign the print driver.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the updating of the set of processing filters occurs at one of each processing device individually and a centralized server that forwards the updated set of processing filters to each processing device for installation, the updated set of processing filters including at least one of added, deleted, and reordered processing filters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter pipeline is configured to include multiple instances of the proxy filter, wherein all of the instances of the proxy filter share the same binary code of the proxy filter, and wherein each of the instances of the proxy filter is associated with a unique identification.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the instances of the proxy filter is associated with a different processing filter.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the print driver is at least one of certified and digitally signed with the filter pipeline having more instances of the proxy filter more than a number of set of filter codes shipped with the print driver.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one proxy filter in the filter pipeline is not associated with any set of filter codes during a first time period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein processing filters can be added, removed or reordered during a subsequent time periods without having to be at least one of re-certified and digitally re-signed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the print driver is associated with a copier, a printer, a facsimile device, and a multi-function device.

12. An image production device, comprising:

one or more print drivers that each includes a filter pipeline having a plurality of instances of a proxy filter; and

a print driver management unit that configures a filter pipeline in a print driver with one or more proxy filters, wherein each proxy filter includes logic to invoke an associated processing filter to perform functions similar to a corresponding processing filter alone, and enables the print driver to be at least one of certified and digitally signed with the proxy filter without the associated processing filter being known or present.

13. The image production device of claim 12, wherein the proxy filter and its corresponding processing filter are defined in compliance with same specification for filters.

14. The image production device of claim 13, wherein the proxy filter is developed based on Microsoft'"'"'s Extensible Markup Language (XML) Paper Specification (XPS).

15. The image production device of claim 12, wherein each of the instances of the proxy filter is associated with a unique identification, and wherein at least one instance of the proxy filter is not associated with any set of filter codes when the print driver is digitally signed.

16. The image production device of claim 15, wherein an update to the filter pipeline as related to any of the instances of the proxy filter does not require the print driver to be digitally signed a second time.

17. The image production device of claim 12, wherein the image production device is one of a copier, a printer, a facsimile device, and a multi-function device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a computing device for managing filters in a filter pipeline in a print driver, the instructions comprising:

configuring a filter pipeline in a print driver with a proxy filter, the proxy filter including logic to invoke an associated processing filter to perform functions similar to the corresponding processing filter alone;

enabling the print driver to be at least one of certified and digitally signed with the proxy filter instead of the corresponding processing filter during a first time period;

updating the set of processing filters during a second time period; and

enabling the print driver to be processed with the updated set of processing filters without the print driver having to be at least one of re-certified or digitally re-signed.

19. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the proxy filter and its corresponding processing filter are defined in compliance with same specification for filters.

20. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein there are multiple instances of the proxy filter sharing same code as the proxy filter, and wherein each of the instances of the proxy filter is registered with a configuration file associated with the filter pipeline with a unique identification.