Printshop resource optimization via the use of autonomous cells

• US 7,079,266 B1
• Filed: 11/03/2000
• Issued: 07/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Williams, Guy H., Duke, Charles B., Rai, Sudhendu, Godambe, Ashok V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garcia, Gabriel
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, THIERRY L
• Application Number:
  US09/706,430
• Time in Patent Office: 2,083 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.13, 358/1.15, 358/1.1, 358/1.14, 358/1.16, 358/1.11, 358/1.9, 358/1.12, 705/8, 705/9, 718/102, 718/104, 718/106
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1211 Improving printing performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1218 Reducing or saving of used resources, e.g. avoiding waste of consumables or improving usage of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/124 Parallel printing or parallel ripping
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/126 Job scheduling, e.g. queuing, determine appropriate device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1282 High volume printer device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations

Abstract

A printshop contains resources that are utilized to complete print jobs. The resources are partitioned into autonomous cells. Each autonomous cell is capable of completing at least one class of print job. Print jobs are assigned to the autonomous cells for completion. An autonomous cell may subdivide a print job into smaller sized lots and process the smaller size lots in parallel. This approach enhances the efficiency of the shop, decreases the work in progress, labor and inventory costs associated with running the print jobs and increases the utilization of the printing equipment in the printshop.

Claims

1. In a printshop having resources for performing various tasks to process print jobs, a method for optimizing the performance of the printshop, the method comprising the steps of:

partitioning the printshop into virtual autonomous cells, representing physical autonomous cells capable of receiving and processing print jobs;

dividing the resources of the printshop between the virtual autonomous cells, wherein each virtual autonomous cell contains representations of sufficient resources to complete at least one class of print job, and wherein the virtual autonomous cells each contain a combination of resources, at least two of the resources of the combination of resources being necessary to complete the at least one class of print job;

assigning each print job to a selected one of the virtual autonomous cells when the selected one of the virtual autonomous cells contains representations of a combination of resources capable of independently completing the print job; and

mapping the print job onto a new mapping of the existing virtual autonomous cells when no existing virtual autonomous cell contains representations of a combination of resources capable of independently completing the print job.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the resources include equipment for performing printing tasks and the resources include at least one of printers, copiers, rollers, shrink wrappers, cutters, sealers and manual resources, and each virtual autonomous cell includes a combination of at least two of the resources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of assigning print jobs comprises, for each given print job, determining what tasks need to be performed to complete the given print job and assigning the given print job to one of the virtual autonomous cells that contains sufficient representations of resources for performing the tasks that need to be completed to fully process the given print job.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of assigning print jobs comprises, for each given print job, determining which of the virtual autonomous cells has sufficient available capacity to completely process the given print job.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the virtual autonomous cells includes representations of more than one machine for performing a same operation.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining classes of print jobs; and

assigning each print job to one of the classes.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the determination of the class of print job is done based on collecting and analyzing print job data and on the tasks required to process the print job.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of assigning each print job to a selected one of the virtual autonomous cells for processing is based in part on the classes to which the print jobs are assigned.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein a selected one of the virtual autonomous cells is assigned multiple print jobs for concurrently processing the multiple print jobs.

23. The method of claim 1, further including constructing scheduling algorithms for the printshop based on the virtual autonomous cells.

24. The method of claim 1, further including altering a physical layout of the printshop in accordance with the virtual autonomous cells.

10. A method for optimizing the performance of a printshop, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a printshop that is partitioned into existing virtual autonomous cells, each virtual autonomous cell representing an autonomous cell, containing representations of sufficient resources to complete a print job;

receiving a print job for processing at the printshop;

determining if the print job fits at least one of the existing virtual autonomous cells, the fitted virtual autonomous cell including a combination of resources capable of completing the print job;

based on the determining, generating a new mapping of the virtual autonomous cells such that the print job fits at least one of the virtual autonomous cells of the new mapping;

sending the print job to a selected one of the virtual autonomous cells having the combination of resources capable of completing the print job, the selected one of the virtual autonomous cells being selected from one of the existing virtual autonomous cells or one of the virtual autonomous cells of the new mapping; and

at the selected virtual autonomous cell, dividing the print job into lots and concurrently processing the lots using the resources of the selected virtual autonomous cell.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein each virtual autonomous cell contains multiple resources for completing a print job.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the printshop has more than two virtual autonomous cells.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the lots are roughly equal sized.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the dividing step is performed automatically by a machine.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the machine is a computer system.

16. A method of partitioning a printshop, comprising the steps of:

identifying products produced by the printshop;

identifying operations required for producing each of the identified products;

determining printshop resources that are required for completing the identified operations;

determining a number of printshop resources required for operations to produce the products based on customer demand for products;

partitioning printshop resources into virtual autonomous cells based on the determined number of printshop resources required for operations to produce products based on customer demand for products, wherein each virtual autonomous cell represents autonomous cells, independently capable of producing at least one of the identified products, and wherein the virtual autonomous cells each contain a combination of printshop resources, at least two of the resources of the combination of printshop resources being necessary to produce at least one of the products; and

generating a new mapping of the virtual autonomous cells such that a new product fits at least one of the virtual autonomous cells of the new mapping based on the determined number of printshop resources required for the new product.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein throughput of each virtual autonomous cell is determined as a function of the printshop resources allocated to the autonomous cell, and wherein representations of the printshop resources are allocated to each virtual autonomous cell based on customer demand.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of identifying products comprises identifying classes of print jobs produced by the printshop, wherein each class includes a sequence of operations that is performed to process the print jobs of the class that differs from the sequence of operations performed to process each of the other classes.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein customer demand is estimated based on empirical data.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of assigning a print job to a selected one of the autonomous cells for completion by the selected autonomous cell.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of dividing the print job into smaller sized lots and concurrently processing the smaller sized lots using the resources of the selected virtual autonomous cell.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the assigning step is performed by a computer system.

25. The method of claim 16, further including constructing scheduling algorithms for the printshop based on the virtual autonomous cells.

26. The method of claim 16, further including altering a physical layout of the printshop in accordance with the virtual autonomous cells.