Systems, methods and graphical user interfaces for printing object optimized images using virtual printers

• US 6,798,530 B1
• Filed: 12/07/1999
• Issued: 09/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Handley, John C., Buckley, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coles, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHIMI, IRAJ A
• Application Number:
  US09/455,780
• Time in Patent Office: 1,757 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15, 358/1.13, 358/1.18, 358/1.1, 719/321-327
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• 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 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1208 resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1253 Configuration of print job parameters, e.g. using UI at the client
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server

Abstract

Rather than implementing a printer as a single set of rendering parameters, a printer can be implemented as a “meta-printer” that comprises one or more virtual printers. The virtual printers define different sets of rendering parameters. Each virtual printer is accessed through a page description language or through a user interface presiding in a print driver or server. In particular, each virtual printer of the meta-printer has an associated set of rendering parameters. One virtual printer of this meta-printer may be set up to print a first type of content using a first set of selected rendering parameters. This same virtual printer may be set up to print a different type of content using a different set of selected rendering parameters. This may be repeated for any number of additional content types. A user can access these virtual printers to print a document containing a variety of different content types. A user may select one virtual printer of the meta-printer to render an entire document. In this case, if the selected virtual printer defines only a single selected rendering parameter option for each rendering parameter, that rendering parameter option will be used to render all of the different various content types in that document. In contrast, if the selected virtual printer defines different selected rendering parameter options for different content types for various rendering parameters, the different content types will be rendered differently using the particular rendering parameter options selected for each content type.

Claims

1. A method for associating a plurality of sets of rendering parameters with at least one document to be printed, comprising:

providing a list of at least one virtual printer, each virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters for rendering a document on a corresponding image output device;

receiving at least one user input selecting at least one virtual printer desired by the user from the list of at least one virtual printer, different portions of the at least one document to be printed being printed using different ones of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters; and

associating the plurality of sets of rendering parameters for the at least one selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at least one input selecting at least one virtual printer comprises receiving an input selecting a single virtual printer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, when a single virtual printer is selected, associating the plurality of sets of rendering parameters for the at least one selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed comprises associating the single selected virtual printer with at least one different content type of the at least one document to be printed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each at least one document includes a plurality of different content types.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of different content types comprises at least one of object types and mixed raster content layers.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a list of at least one image output device usable to print the at least one document; and

receiving an input selecting an image output device to be used to print the at least one document from the list of at least one image output device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising printing the different portions of the at least one document on the selected image output device using the different ones of the plurality of associated rendering parameters for each selected virtual printer.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein providing the list of at least one virtual printer comprises providing, for each image output device, a list of at least one virtual printer associated with that image output device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one input selecting at least one virtual printer selects the at least one virtual printer from the list of at least one virtual printer for the selected image output device.

6. A method for associating at least one set of rendering parameters with at least one document to be printed, comprising:

providing a list of at least virtual printer, each virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters for rendering a document on a corresponding image output device;

receiving at least one user input selecting at least one virtual printer desired by the user from the list of at least one virtual printer; and

associating at least one set of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters for each selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed, wherein;

receiving at least one user input selecting at least one virtual printer comprises receiving a plurality of user inputs selecting a plurality of the virtual printers; and

associating the at least one set of rendering parameters for each selected virtual printer with the at least one document to be printed comprises associating each selected virtual printer with at least one different content type of the at least one document to be printed.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, when each selected virtual printer comprises a single set of rendering parameters, each content type associated with that selected virtual printer is printed using that single set of rendering parameters.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein, when each selected virtual printer comprises a plurality of sets of rendering parameters, each content type associated with that selected virtual printer is printed using a different one of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein each at least one document includes a plurality of different content types.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of different content types comprises at least one of object types and mixed raster content layers.

15. A method for defining a virtual printer associated with an image output device, comprising:

providing a list of rendering parameters of the image output device;

providing a list of rendering parameter options for each rendering parameter of the list of rendering parameters;

receiving a user input selecting a rendering parameter option for a plurality of rendering parameters of the list of rendering parameters; and

associating, for each at least one rendering parameter, the selected rendering parameter option with that rendering parameter for the virtual printer, wherein different portions of at least one document to be printed are printed using different rendering parameters.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, for any rendering parameter for which an input was not received, associating a default rendering parameter option with each such rendering parameter for that virtual printer.

17. A graphical user interface usable to associate at least one virtual printer with an image output device usable to output an image of a document, comprising:

an image output device selection portion usable to select an image output device to be used to output images of documents; and

a virtual printer selection portion usable to select at least one virtual printer associated with the selected image output device, each selected virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters for rendering a document on a corresponding image output device and each selected virtual printer to be used to render at least a portion of the document to be output using the selected image output device.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 17, wherein the virtual printer selection portion comprises a plurality of content portions corresponding to different content types of documents that can be rendered using the selected image output device, each content portion comprising a virtual printer selection subportion for selecting a virtual printer to be used to render the content type corresponding to that content portion.

19. A graphical user interface usable to associate various rendering parameter options for various rendering parameters with a virtual printer of an image output device, comprising:

a virtual printer portion identifying a particular virtual printer of the image output device for which a plurality of rendering parameter options is to be associated;

at least one rendering parameter portion that indicates a plurality of rendering parameters of the image output device; and

at least one rendering parameter option portion that indicates a plurality of rendering parameter options for at least one of the plurality of rendering parameters indicated in the rendering parameter portion;

wherein;

each rendering parameter of the at least one rendering parameter portion is selectable to display the corresponding rendering parameter options; and

each rendering parameter option of the at least one rendering parameter option portion is selectable to associate that rendering parameter option with the particular virtual printer identified in the virtual printer portion.

20. The graphical user interface of claim 19, further comprising a plurality of document content portions, each document content portion comprising at least one of the at least one rendering parameter portion and at least one rendering parameter option portion corresponding to the at least one rendering parameter portion.

21. A method for determining the rendering parameters of a print engine of an image output device, comprising:

providing at least one virtual printer, each virtual printer defining a plurality of sets of rendering parameters;

receiving at least one user input for a document, selecting one of the at least one virtual printer; and

associating at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters of the selected virtual printer with the image output device;

wherein a first portion of the document will be output using one of the at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters, a second portion of the document will be output using another of the at least two of the plurality of sets of rendering parameters, and the first and second portions will be output on the print engine.

22. A method for defining a virtual printer associated with a print engine of an image output device, comprising:

providing the rendering parameters supported by the print engine;

providing the rendering parameter options for each supported rendering parameter,

receiving a user input selecting a plurality of rendering parameter option for a plurality of the supported rendering parameters; and

associating the plurality of rendering parameter options with the print engine;

wherein whenever the virtual printer is selected, the document will be output on the print engine according to the plurality of rendering parameter options.

23. A graphical user interface usable to associate at least one virtual printer with an image output device usable to output an image of a document, comprising:

an image output device selection portion usable to select a print engine to be used to output images; and

a virtual printer selection portion usable to select at least one virtual printer associated with the selected print engine, each selected virtual printer associates a first portion of the document with a first set of rendering parameters and associates a second portion of the document with a second of rendering parameters.

24. A graphical user interface usable to associate various rendering parameter options for various rendering parameters with a virtual printer of an image output device, comprising:

a virtual printer portion identifying a particular virtual printer of the image output device for which at least one rendering parameter option is to be associated;

at least one rendering parameter portion that indicates at least one rendering parameter of a print engine; and

at least one rendering parameter option portion that indicates at least one rendering parameter option for at least one of the rendering parameters of the print engine indicated in the rendering parameter portion;

wherein;

each at least one rendering parameter of the at least one rendering parameter portion is selectable to display the corresponding rendering parameter options; and

each at least one rendering parameter option of the at least one rendering parameter option portion is selectable to associate that rendering parameter option of the print engine with the particular virtual printer identified in the virtual printer portion; and

each identified virtual printer is to be used to output a portion of a document according to a first set of rendering parameters and another portion of the document to be output using a second set of rendering parameters on the print engine.