Systems and methods for support of various processing capabilities

• US 7,755,786 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2004
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McLuckie, Craig I., Foehr, Oliver H., Emerson, Daniel F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Haskins; Twyler L
• Assistant Examiner(s): REINIER, BARBARA DIANE
• Application Number:
  US10/935,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20050243355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1514 Sub-job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/122 with regard to computing resources, e.g. memory, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1228 Printing driverless or using generic drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1245 by conversion to intermediate or common format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1247 by conversion to printer ready format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1276 within a printer driver, e.g. driver resides either on a server or on a client

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for support of various computing device and target entity capabilities. In an implementation, a method includes determining one or more processing capabilities of a computing device to process data for rendering by a rendering device. A selection is made, based on the determining, of one or more filters to provide data configured for rendering by the rendering device and that provides at least one processing capability that is not included in the one or more processing capabilities of the computing device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first rendering device having a first set of filters that is executable thereon to process data for rendering, wherein a filter corresponds to a respective processing capability for processing data being rendered and the first set of filters are included on the first rendering device having a first filter selection module, wherein the first filter selection module determines what processing should be performed and selects one or more of the filters in the first set of filters based on the determination;

a second rendering device having a second set of filters that is executable thereon to process data for rendering, wherein the second set of filters are included on the second rendering device having a second filter selection module, wherein the second filter selection module determines what processing should be performed and selects one or more of the filters in the second set of filters based on the determination;

a computing device that is communicatively coupled to the first and the second rendering devices, and has a third set of filters and a third filter selection module, wherein the third filter selection module is executable on the computing device to;

select a first collection of the third set of filters to process data for communication to and processing by the first set of filters of the first rendering device; and

select a second collection of the third set of filters to process data for communication to and processing by the second set of filters of the second rendering device, wherein the second collection of the third set of filters comprises a subset of the first collection of the third set of filters; and

wherein each of the first, second and third filter selection modules operates independent of another filter selection module.

2. A system as described in claim 1, wherein the first and the second rendering devices are printers.

3. A system as described in claim 1, wherein:

the first collection forms a first device driver that corresponds to the first rendering device; and

the second collection forms a second device driver that corresponds to the second rendering device.

4. A system as described in claim 1, wherein the data is included in a package having a hierarchical structure of a plurality of levels, wherein:

at least one said level specifies a job for being rendered;

at least one said level specifies one or more documents associated with the job;

at least one said level specifies one or more versions associated with the one or more documents; and

at least one said level specifies one or more pages associated with the one or more versions.

5. A rendering device comprising:

a rendering mechanism;

a processor communicatively coupled to the rendering mechanism; and

memory configured to maintain;

a plurality of filters, each of which being executable on the processor to provide a corresponding processing capability; and

a processing module that is executable on the processor to;

determine one or more processing capabilities of a computing device to process data, wherein the data is included in a package having a hierarchical structure of a plurality of levels, wherein;

a first level specifies a job for being rendered on the rendering device;

a second level specifies one or more document types associated with the job, wherein each respective document type is determined by an originating application;

a third level specifies one or more versions associated with the one or more documents; and

a fourth level specifies one or more pages associated with the one or more versions;

metadata associated with each level identifies information pertaining to the job being rendered, wherein the information comprises an author who created the job and a time the document contained in the job as created;

select one or more said filters based on the determined processing capabilities of the computing device; and

arrange the selected one or more said filters to form an interpreter module that is executable on the processor to convert the data processed by and received from the computing device such that it is capable of being rendered by the rendering mechanism;

wherein the processing module includes a filter selection module that is executable on the processor to;

select a first collection of said filters based on one or more processing capabilities of a first said computing device such that data processed by the first collection of said filters is suitable for being rendered by the rendering mechanism; and

select a second collection of said filters based on one or more processing capabilities of a second said computing device such that data processed by the second collection of said filters is suitable for being rendered by the rendering mechanism, wherein the second collection of said filters comprises a subset of the first collection of said filters.

6. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein the rendering mechanism is a printing mechanism.

7. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein the rendering mechanism is a screen of a display device.

8. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein the one or more processing capabilities of the computing device are provided by a plurality of said filters arranged to form a device driver that is executable on the computing device.

9. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein the processing module is executable to determine the one or more processing capabilities by examining the computing device.

10. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein the processing module is executable to determine the one or more processing capabilities by receiving an announcement of the one or more processing capabilities of the computing device at the rendering device.

11. A rendering device as described in claim 5, wherein:

each said filter in the interpreter module is combinable to create one or more collections; and

each said collection supports one of a plurality of differing said processing capabilities of respective said computing devices.