Methods and systems for preflighting using multiple preflight profiles

• US 8,489,989 B1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Phillips, Matthew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton, Jr., Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): DYER, ANDREW R
• Application Number:
  US12/173,761
• Time in Patent Office: 1,827 Days
• Field of Search: 715/277
• US Class Current: 715/277
• 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 3/1244 Job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1256 User feedback, e.g. print preview, test print, proofing, pre-flight checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server

Abstract

A method includes using rules included in two or more preflight profiles to apply to a document. The preflight profiles may be selected to reduce possibilities of conflicts. The preflight profiles may be selected based on global settings or local settings. The preflight profiles may also be selected based on priority. When there are conflicts, conflict resolution techniques may be applied.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

enabling a user to select two or more preflight profiles;

identifying a conflicted rule that is enabled by multiple preflight profiles of the two or more preflight profiles, the conflicted rule including a setting specific to each of the multiple preflight profiles, each setting including a range, the ranges not being identical;

determining an intersection of the ranges;

creating an amended rule based on the conflicted rule and the intersection of the ranges;

performing, using a processor of a machine, a preflight on a document, the preflight including the amended rule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the multiple preflight profiles, generating conflict information; and

enabling the user to view the conflict information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said enabling the user to view the conflict information comprises generating a conflict report.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more preflight profiles are selected from preflight profile categories that are mutually exclusive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the two or more preflight profiles is selected based on characteristics of the document.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristics of the document includes one or more of attributes and metadata included in the document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the two or more preflight profiles is selected based on global settings.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the two or more preflight profiles is selected based on document settings.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a priority of each of the two or more preflight profiles;

identifying a second conflicted rule that is enabled by multiple preflight profiles of the two or more preflight profiles, the conflicted rule including a setting specific to each of the multiple preflight profiles; and

enabling the second conflicted rule based on the setting of the second conflicted rule specific to a preflight profile having higher priority.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a second conflicted rule that is enabled by multiple preflight profiles of the two or more preflight profiles, the conflicted rule including a setting specific to each of the multiple preflight profiles; and

disabling the second conflicted rule.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said performing the preflight on the document further comprises:

forming a super profile, wherein the super profile includes at least one rule from each of the two or more preflight profiles; and

using the super profile to perform the preflight.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the super profile includes a first rule that is in only one of the two or more preflight profiles.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the super profile includes a rule of the at least one rule that is in the two or more preflight profiles, wherein the rule is associated with a range.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the super profile includes a rule of the at least one rule that is in the two or more preflight profiles, wherein the rule is associated with a value, and wherein the same value is used in the two or more preflight profiles.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a preflight engine coupled to the processor; and

a merging module coupled to the preflight engine and configured to;

form a super profile using rules selected from two or more user-selected preflight profiles,

identify a conflicted rule that is enabled by multiple preflight profiles of the two or more preflight profiles, the rule including a setting specific to each of the multiple preflight profiles, each setting including a range, the ranges not being identical;

determine an intersection of the ranges;

create an amended rule based on the conflicted rule and the intersection of the ranges;

add the amended rule to the super profile;

the preflight engine further configured to use rules of the super profile to preflight a document.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the rules selected from the two or more preflight profiles include at least one rule that is in only one of the two or more preflight profiles.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the rules selected from the two or more preflight profiles includes rules that relate to a value, and wherein a value associated with a rule of a third preflight profile is the same as a value associated with a rule of a fourth preflight profile.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein a priority scheme is used to select the rules to be included in the super profile.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the preflight profiles from which the rules are selected are embedded preflight profiles.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the preflight profiles from which the rules are selected are determined based on one or more of global settings of a workstation and local settings in the document.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations including:

forming a combined set of rules using rules associated with a first preflight profile selected by a user and rules associated with a second preflight profile selected by the user;

identifying a conflicted rule that is enabled by both the first preflight profile and the second preflight profile, the conflicted rule including a setting specific to each of the first and second preflight profiles, each setting including a range, the ranges not being identical;

determining an intersection of the ranges;

creating an amended rule based on the conflicted rule and the section of the ranges;

forming a super profile based on non-conflicting rules in the combined set of rules and the amended rule; and

performing preflight on a document using the super profile.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the first preflight profile and the second preflight profile are selected based on one or more of embedded preflight profiles, global settings, and local settings.

23. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the first preflight profile and the second preflight profile are selected based on their rules being mutually exclusive.