Sharing of downloaded resources

• US 7,634,775 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Singh, Harvinder P, Foehr, Oliver H., Stokes, Michael, Yue, Feng, Sedky, Khaled S., McLuckie, Craig I.
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Arcos; Caroline
• Application Number:
  US10/938,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20050246710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• Field of Search: 718/100, 718/102, 718/104, 358/1.13, 358/1.15, 358/1.16, 707/104.1, 709/246
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1211 Improving printing performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1244 Job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1296 Printer job scheduling or printer resource handling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4484 Executing subprograms

Abstract

In a described implementation, a production device, such as a computer, produces a shared resources container that includes shareable resources. Each resource of the shared resources container includes a part name and corresponding data. The production device downloads the shared resources container to a utilization device. The production device also formulates a job container, such as a print job. The production device analyzes resource usage of the job container during processing thereof. If a resource relevant to the job container is included in the shared resources container, the resource is excluded from the job container in lieu of a resource reference that is insert therefor. The production device also downloads the job container to the utilization device. At the utilization device, the job container is processed using the resource reference. Specifically, the resource reference is used to retrieve the associated resource from the shared resources container.

Claims

1. One or more storage media comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform actions comprising:

Ascertaining current resources for a current job container of a current job has been previously downloaded into a shared resources container at a production device;

if the current resources for the current job container has been previously downloaded into the shared resources container, inserting a plurality of resource references into the current job container, each resource reference pointing to one corresponding resource previously downloaded into the shared resources container;

If at least one of the current resources for the current job container has not been previously downloaded into the shared resources container, determining if the at least one current resource is to be reused in a subsequent job container based on at least one user-stipulated input, and embed the at least one current resource in the current job container if the at least one current resource is not to be reused in a subsequent job container;

downloading the shared resources container that includes previously downloaded resources for a plurality of jobs from the production device to a utilization device, the utilization device including one or more of a resource displaying device, a resource archiving device, a resource distribution device, or a resource printing device, the plurality of jobs including the current job;

downloading the current job container from the production device to the utilization device; and

if the current job container includes resource references to the previously downloaded resources included in the shared resources container, processing the current job container at the utilization device using at least the shared resources container,

If the current job container does not include resource references to the previously downloaded resources included in the shared resources container, processing current job container at the utilization device using one or more embedded resources included in the current job container,

wherein the processing includes at least one of printing, distributing, displaying, or archiving the current job container, and

the one or more embedded resources include one or more of an image, a color table, a background, a clip art, a font, a letterhead, a catalog item, a company logo, a header, a footer, at least a portion of a graphic, a color separation, a document page, or a watermark.

2. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the resource reference comprises a uniform resource identifier (URI).

3. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform a further action comprising:

excluding the current resources from the current job container if the current resources have been previously downloaded into the shared resources container.

4. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 3, wherein the action of excluding comprises at least one action selected from the group comprising:

omitting an embedding of the current resources into the current job container; and

removing the current resources from the current job container, wherein the omitting and removing occurs if the current resources have been previously downloaded into the shared resources container.

5. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform further actions comprising:

checking if the current job container has additional resources to be analyzed; and

if the current job container does have additional resources to be analyzed, repeating the action of ascertaining with another resource for the current job container.

6. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform further actions comprising:

checking if the current job container has additional resources to be analyzed; and

if the current job container does not have additional resources to be analyzed, managing a memory capacity of a utilization device by instructing the utilization device to discard at least one resource previously downloaded as part of a previous shared resources container.

7. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the action of inserting the plurality of resource references into the current job container includes inserting a resource reference that points to a corresponding resource in a manner that is independent of resource type.

8. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 7, wherein the action of downloading includes an action of:

downloading an updated shared resources container using a job control mechanism including a shared resources indicator that instructs the utilization device to retain the contents of the updated shared resource container.

9. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the device to perform a further action comprising:

retaining a database of shared resources, which have been sent to the utilization device, for resource usage analysis with subsequent job containers.

10. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform further actions comprising:

ascertaining if another current resource for the current job container has been previously downloaded in the shared resources container; and

if the another current resource for the current job container has not been previously downloaded, determining if the another current resource is to be reused in a subsequent job container based on at least one user-stipulated input.

11. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform a further action comprising:

if the another current resource is determined to be to be reused, adding the another current resource to the shared resources container.

12. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processor to perform a further action comprising:

if the another current resource downloaded into the shared resources container is determined to be to be reused, marking the another current resource as a shareable resource.

13. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform a further action comprising:

inserting another resource reference into the current job container, the another resource reference pointing to the another current resource added to the shared resources container.

14. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the one or more processors to perform a further action comprising:

if the another current resource is not determined to be to be reused, including the another current resource in the current job container.

15. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 14, wherein the action of including comprises at least one action selected from a group comprising:

embedding the another current resource into the current job container; and

omitting removal of the another current resource from the current job container, wherein the omitting and removing occurs if the another resource has been previously downloaded into the shared resources container.

16. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the processor-executable instructions comprise at least part of a printer driver program.

17. One or more storage media comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a utilization device to perform actions comprising:

determining if at least one resource is to be reused in a subsequent job container based on at least one user-stipulated input, and embed the at least one resource in a current job container if the at least one resource is not to be reused in a subsequent job container;

receiving a downloaded container at the utilization device, the downloaded container comprises a shared resources container or the current job container, the utilization device including one or more of a resource displaying device, a resource archiving device, a resource distribution device, or a resource printing device;

determining if the downloaded container comprises a shared resources container or the current job container based on job control information; and

if the downloaded container comprises the shared resources container, storing the shared resources container in the utilization device for subsequent use;

if the downloaded container comprises the current job container, processing the current job container using (1) the at least one resource embedded in the current job container, and (2) one or more resources referenced in the current job container, the one or more resources being included in a shared resources container that is stored in the utilization device and not embedded in the current job container,

wherein the at least one resource embedded in the current job container includes one or more of an image, a color table, a background, a clip art, a font, a letterhead, a catalog item, a company logo, a header, a footer, at least a portion of a graphic, a color separation, a document page, or a watermark.

18. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the action of the determining if the downloaded container comprises a shared resources container includes an action of:

Reviewing additional job control information included in and/or accompanying the downloaded container to determine if the downloaded container comprises the shared resources container.

19. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 18, wherein the action of reviewing includes an action of:

inspecting the additional job control information to detect if a shared resources indicator is included as at least a part thereof.

20. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the device to perform further actions comprising:

storing an initial shared resources container;

storing an additional shared resources container along with at least one other previously-received shared resources container; and

adding resources of the additional shared resources container to those of the stored shared resources container.

21. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, direct the device to perform a further action comprising:

if the downloaded container is determined to comprise a shared resources container, performing device-specific pre-processing of at least a portion of resources included in the shared resources container to facilitate resource representation.

22. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the action of processing the current job container includes at least one of displaying, printing, distributing, or archiving the at least one resource embedded in the current job container or the one or more resources included in the shared resources container and not embedded in the current job container.

23. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the action of processing the current job container includes ascertaining if the at least one resource is embedded in the current job container.

24. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein each of(1) the at least one resource embedded in the current job container and (2) the one or more resources referenced in the current job container and included in the shared resources container comprises:

one or more of images, color tables, backgrounds, clip art, fonts, letterheads, catalog items, company logos, headers/footers, all or a portion of a graphic, a color separation, an entire page for multi-page documents, watermarks, or a combination thereof.

25. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein the action of processing the current job container includes retrieving a resource from the shared resources container using a resource reference included in the current job container and processing the current job container with the retrieved resource.

26. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 25, wherein the action of retrieving includes an action of:

retrieving the resource from the shared resources container, the shared resources container stored by at least one of the device, a network server, or a storage device.

27. A production device comprising:

a shared resources container including a particular resource of a plurality of resources, the plurality of resources being not embedded in any job container; and

a job container including (1) a particular resource reference that points to the particular resource of the shared resources container and (2) one or more embedded resources that are not reused in a subsequent job container, the one or more embedded resources comprise one or more of an image, a color table, a background, a clip art, a font, a letterhead, a catalog item, a company logo, a header, a footer, at least a portion of a graphic, a color separation, a document page, or a watermark;

wherein the particular resource reference of the job container points to the particular resource of the shared resources container in a manner independent of resource type, and wherein the shared resources container and the job container are downloadable from the production device to an utilization device.

28. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the plurality of resources comprise one or more of images, color tables, backgrounds, clip art, fonts, letterheads, catalog items, company Logos, headers/footers, all or a portion of a graphic, a color separation, an entire page for multi-page documents, watermarks, or a combination thereof.

29. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the particular resource of the shared resources container includes a part name, content type, and corresponding data.

30. The production device as recited in claim 29, wherein the part name of the particular resource and the particular resource reference comprise a uniform resource identifier (URI).

31. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the job container is organized by pages.

32. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the job container includes a plurality of embedded resources.

33. The production device as recited in claim 27, further comprising:

a database of downloaded shared resources that lists resources that have been sent to the utilization device, the utilization device including one or more of a resource displaying device, a resource archiving device, a resource distribution device, or a resource printing device.

34. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the utilization device uses the particular resource reference of the job container to retrieve the particular resource from the shared resources container when processing the job container.

35. The production device as recited in claim 27, wherein the job container includes a given resource that is marked as a shareable resource by a shareable resource marking, and wherein the shareable resource marking enables the utilization device to extract the given resource from the job container and to add the given resource to the shared resources container.

36. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory to store components for execution by the processor, the components including;

a sharing component for sharing resources among utilization jobs, the sharing component including a plurality of resources;

a container component for storing a utilization job, the container component including (1) a plurality of references for referencing the plurality of resources, and (2) one or more embedded resources that are not reused in a subsequent container component, wherein the plurality of references uniformly reference the plurality of resources independently of resource type; and

a processing component to process the utilization job using the plurality of resources in the sharing component and the one or more embedded resources in the container component, the plurality of resources not being embedded in the container component,

wherein the one or more embedded resources includes an image.

37. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein the system comprises at least one of a production device or a utilization device or one or more storage media.

38. A method comprising:

downloading to a utilization device a shared resources container having a plurality of resources of different resource types;

formulating a job container that includes (1) a plurality of resource references pointing to the plurality of resources of different resource types in a uniform manner, and (2) a plurality of embedded resources of different resource types, the plurality of embedded resources being determined to not be reused in a subsequent job container;

downloading the job container that includes (1) the plurality of resource references, and (2) the plurality of embedded resources to the utilization device; and

processing the job container using (1) the plurality of embedded resources of different resource types in the job container, and (2) the plurality of resources of different resource types in the shared resources container that is referenced by the plurality of resource references included in the job container;

wherein the plurality of embedded resources includes an image.