Automatic review of variable imaging jobs

• US 8,390,836 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2007
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Austin, Paul R., Rose, Philip C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poon, King
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cammack, David S
• Application Number:
  US11/796,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20080267512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,140 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.14, 358/1.9, 358/1.12, 358/1.13, 358/1.15, 358/1.18, 235/375, 345/600, 355/52, 382/101, 382/103, 382/112, 382/144, 382/217, 382/286, 700/103, 705/1.1
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/02 using printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/025 Simulating output on another printing arrangement, e.g. proof output matching two or more picture signal generators or two or more picture reproducers H04N1/6052

Abstract

A VI production system and method for automatic review of variable imaging job output includes a VI interpreter includes raster image processing for producing electronic output document images based on a variable imaging job included in a VI job stream. A proofing process includes obtaining sample document images from the output document images, and for each obtained sample document image, performing a review procedure. The review procedure includes comparing the obtained sample document image to a corresponding expected document image selected from the expected database to determine differences between the obtained sample document image and the corresponding expected document image. Based on at least one difference being determined, the differences are resolved by displaying the obtained sample document image on the user interface, indicating in the displayed sample document image each of the differences, and performing a difference procedure based on an operator input.

Claims

1. A method for automatic review of a variable information job, the method comprising:

creating an expected document database containing expected images of variable information documents;

providing a data record in a data records database, the data record including information pertaining to a variable information document;

providing a template representing a designed document;

providing at least one data asset in a digital assets database for use on the variable information document;

merging the data record from the data records database with a digital asset from the digital assets database using the template to form merged content defining the variable information job;

performing raster image processing on the merged content to produce an electronic output document;

performing a proofing procedure for the electronic output document, the proofing procedure comprising;

obtaining a sample document from the variable information job,

comparing the sample document to a selected one of the expected images for determining a difference between the sample document and the one expected image,

determining if the difference is a first-encountered or a previously-encountered difference,

in response to the difference being a first-encountered difference, presenting in the sample document the difference between the sample document and the expected image,

receiving an operator response specifying a corrective procedure for handling the difference, and

storing the operator response for future handling of the difference as a previously-encountered difference; and

,

after the proofing, producing a final product.

2. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the corrective procedure is selected from a list comprising:

ignoring the difference for the variable information job;

ignoring the difference for the variable information job and future variable information jobs;

performing an OCR process on the difference;

comparing a region of the sample document corresponding to the difference to an operator specified area of the expected image; and

,

a combination of the above.

3. The method set forth in claim 2, the OCR process including:

computing an OCR output for the region of the sample document corresponding to the difference to at least one of a constant and a text database entry.

4. The method set forth in claim 2, the step of ignoring the difference for the variable information job and future variable information jobs including:

obtaining a stored operator response requesting future ignoring of the difference.

5. The method set forth in claim 4, the step of ignoring the difference for the variable information job and future variable information jobs including:

storing the operator response requesting future ignoring of the difference.

6. The method set forth in claim 1, the method further comprising:

maintaining an after-image database, the after-image database containing a plurality of after-images, each after-image corresponding to an intended image in an image region of a corresponding output document image; and

maintaining control data associated with each after-image, the control data defining the location and size of the image region of the corresponding output document image.

7. The method set forth in claim 6, the proofing procedure further comprising:

for each after-image associated with the obtained sample document, locating the corresponding image region in the obtained sample document based on the control data; and

comparing the located corresponding image region to the after-image.

8. The method set forth in claim 7, the proofing procedure further comprising:

resizing the after-image to match the size of the located corresponding image region prior to the step of comparing.

9. A method for proofing a variable information document, the method comprising:

providing an electronic output document, the providing including;

merging a data record provided by a data records database with a digital asset provided by a digital assets database according to a template representing a designed document to generate a variable data job, and,

performing raster image processing on the variable data job to generate an electronic output document image; and

,

verifying a correctness of the electronic output document, the verifying including;

obtaining a sample document from the variable data job,

comparing the sample document to an expected document image obtained from an expected document database of expected document images of variable information documents to determine at least one difference between the sample document and the expected document image,

determining if the difference is a first-encountered or a previously-encountered difference,

in response to the difference being a first-encountered difference, presenting in the sample document a first-encountered difference between the sample document and the expected document image,

receiving an operator response specifying a corrective procedure for handling the difference, and

storing the operator response for future handling of the difference as a previously-encountered difference; and

,

after the verifying, producing a final product based on the electronic output document image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the comparing includes:

in response to the difference being determined as the first-encountered difference, highlighting the difference on a display; and

,

in response to the difference being determined as being the previously-encountered difference, obtaining a previously input user-instruction for handling the previously-encountered difference.

11. The method of claim 9, further including ignoring the difference for a selected run of the variable information job.

12. The method of claim 9, further including

resolving the difference, the resolving including:

displaying the sample document, and

indicating in the displayed sample document each of the at least one differences.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the comparing further includes:

performing optical character recognition (OCR) on the electronic output document; and

,

comparing the OCRed sample document to an after-image provided by an after image database.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein comparing includes:

obtaining from a control file a location information for the sample document in a control file;

using the location information in the control file to locate a region for the sample document; and

,

comparing the sample document image to the expected image corresponding to the region.