METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SEQUENCING PRINT JOBS

• US 20160306595A1
• Filed: 04/20/2016
• Published: 10/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oce Printing Systems GmbH & Co KG (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oce Printing Systems GmbH & Co KG (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Has, Michael, Schmidt, Joerg, Stoderschnig, Albin
• Granted Patent: US 9,898,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1217 achieving reduced idle time at the output device or increased asset utilization
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1262 by grouping or ganging jobs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1282 High volume printer device
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/022 for printing on continuous media, e.g. tapes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/502 Reproducing the colour component signals dot-sequentially or simultaneously in a single or in adjacent picture-element positions

Abstract

In a method to administer, via a print job administrator, print jobs to be printed at a printing system, a plurality of print jobs are determined. A print job can indicate a specification of one or more print features. Different specifications of a print feature may require different configurations of the printing system. Change-over expenditures for the printing of at least two print jobs of the plurality of print jobs by the printing system can be determined based on the specification of the one or more print features of the plurality of print jobs. An order for the printing of the plurality of print jobs can be determined based on the change-over expenditures. The order of the plurality of print jobs can be indicated.

Claims

1. A method to administer, via a print job administrator, print jobs to be printed at a printing system, the method comprising:

determining of a plurality of print jobs, wherein a print job indicates a specification of one or more print features, wherein different specifications of a print feature may require different configurations of the printing system;

determining change-over expenditures for the printing of at least two print jobs of the plurality of print jobs by the printing system based on the specification of the one or more print features of the plurality of print jobs;

determining an order for the printing of the plurality of print jobs based on the change-over expenditures; and

indicating the order of the plurality of print jobs.

1-20. -20. (canceled)

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining of change-over expenditures comprises:

determining first specifications of one or more first print features of a first print job;

determining second specifications of one or more second print features of a second print job;

provisioning change-over data that indicates change-over expenditures for different combinations of specifications of one or more print features before a change-over of the printing system and of specifications of one or more print features after a change-over of the printing system; and

determining change-over expenditures, if the second print job follows the first print job, based on a basis of the first specifications of one or more first print features, on a basis of the second specifications of one or more second print features, and on a basis of the change-over data.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining of the order comprises:

determining accumulated change-over expenditures for the plurality of print jobs arranged in order.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the order comprises:

determining similar print jobs of the plurality of print jobs, wherein the similar print jobs have a same specification of one or more features; and

grouping of the similar print jobs into sub-groups such that similar print jobs are arranged in direct succession.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining of the order further comprises:

determining an order of the sub-groups of similar print jobs such that a sum of change-over expenditures between the sub-groups is reduced.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change-over expenditures comprise at least one of:

a change-over time from a first configuration to a second configuration of the printing system;

a quantity of spoilage which is created in a change-over from the first configuration to the second configuration of the printing system; and

change-over costs for the change-over from the first configuration to the second configuration of the printing system.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the print features comprise at least one of:

a type of recording medium to be used for a print job;

a dimension of the recording medium;

a print color to be used for the print job;

a varnish that is to be used for the print job;

a duration of the print job;

a completion time requirement of the print job; and

a post-processing of a printed recording medium that is to be implemented for the print job.

8. A print job administrator for a printing system, the print job administrator being configured to:

determine a plurality of print jobs, wherein a print job indicates a specification of one or more print features, wherein different specifications of a print feature may require different configurations of the printing system;

determine change-over expenditures of the printing system for the printing of at least two print jobs of the plurality of print jobs based on the specifications of one or more print features of the print jobs from the plurality of print jobs;

determine an order for the printing of the plurality of print jobs based on the change-over expenditures; and

indicate the plurality of print jobs according to the determined order at an output module of the print job administrator.

9. The print job administrator according to claim 8, wherein the print job administrator is further configured to:

arrange the plurality of print jobs in a wait queue according to the determined order;

indicate the wait queue with the plurality of print jobs at the output module;

detect a change of a position of a first print job within the wait queue via an input module of the print job administrator; and

indicate the first print job at the modified position in the wait queue at the output module.

10. The print job administrator according to claim 9, wherein the print job administrator is further configured to:

determine a modified order for the printing of the different print jobs of the plurality of print jobs on the basis of the change-over expenditures; and

indicate the plurality of print jobs in the wait queue at the output module according to the modified order.

11. The print job administrator according to claim 8, wherein the print job administrator comprises:

a memory that is configured to store change-over data that indicates change-over expenditures for different combinations of specifications of one or more print features before a change-over of the printing system, and of specifications of one or more print features after a change-over of the printing system.

12. The print job administrator according to claim 8, wherein the print job administrator is configured to:

assign print jobs to different classes, wherein the different classes indicate different processing states of the print jobs; and

indicate the different classes with the assigned print jobs at the output module of the print job administrator.

13. A method for administration of print jobs to be printed at one or more printing systems, the method being executed by a print job administrator, wherein the method comprises:

determining a plurality of print jobs, wherein a print job indicates a specification of one or more print features, wherein different specifications of a print feature may require different configurations of one of the one or more printing systems;

determining an assignment function that is configured to assign a combination of specifications of the one or more print features to a job group from a plurality of job groups;

assigning, using the assignment function, the plurality of print jobs with a respective job group of the plurality of job groups; and

inducing a first print job of the plurality of print jobs to be printed by a first printing system of the one or more printing systems depending on the assigned job group.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the assignment function is configured to assign the first print job to a first job group such that a predefined cost function is statistically reduced; and

the cost function depends on change-over expenditures of at least one of;

the first printing system for the printing and the processing of the first print job.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the assignment function comprises at least one of:

a classifier with the plurality of job groups as different classes and with the one or more print features as a feature vector;

a neural network that in particular has pattern associators; and

a support vector machine.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the assignment function indicates machine-learned patterns given a manual assignment of print jobs with job groups.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the assignment function has been trained using training data;

the training data includes a plurality of training data sets;

a specific training data set of the training data indicates a specific print job with a specific combination of specifications of the one or more print features and a correspondingly determined job group; and

the association of the specific print job with the specific job group has been performed manually.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein a job group of the plurality of job groups comprises at least one of:

print jobs that may be printed at a printing system without changing the configuration;

print jobs that require only one or multiple software changes to the configuration of a printing system; and

print jobs that may be printed by the first printing system with change-over expenditures that are equal to or less than a predefined expenditure threshold.

19. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the print jobs should be printed at a respective printing system of M printing systems, with M>

1;

the M printing systems have different configurations; and

the plurality of job groups includes M job groups for the corresponding M printing systems.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein the configuration of a printing system comprises at least one of:

a number of available print groups;

a type of recording medium that may be printed to by the printing system;

a grammage or thickness of a recording medium that may be printed to by the printing system;

one or more dimensions of the recording medium that may be printed to by the printing system;

an availability of duplex printing;

one or more print colors that may be printed by the printing system;

one or more post-processing steps that may be produced by the printing system; and

one or more pre-processing steps that may be produced by the printing system.