Abstract: A method and apparatus for setting up a printer driver for a networked printer by providing a dedicated configuration button on the printer. During printer driver setup, the user pushes the configuration button on the printer to cause the printer to broadcast a configuration event over the network the printer is connected to. The configuration event contains information regarding the printer's network address. The host computer that is performing a printer driver setup process will receive the event, which allows the host computer to automatically perform printer driver installation. This process eliminates the need to manually find out the printer's network address or type the network address on the host during printer driver setup.

Abstract: A printing system includes a print device having a paper tray and a sensor disposed adjacent to the paper tray, the sensor being configured to sense a feature formed on a paper that resides in the paper tray; and a computer connected to the print device, the computer including a printer driver for driving the print device, the printer driver processing data provided from the sensor and generating positional information indicating a position of the feature on the paper, the computer system further including a display monitor to display the position of the feature on the paper so that the position of the feature on the paper can be discerned before printing operation.

Abstract: A document authentication method uses a watermark added in a printed document to detection possible alterations made to the document after it was printed. First, a visible watermark in the form of a dot pattern is overlapped with an original digital image. The watermarked image is printed out as a halftone image at a first resolution. The watermark in the printed document appears as a light gray shade. Later, the printed document is scanned back using a grayscale scan at a resolution higher than the first resolution. In the scanned image, altered areas would appear flat (lacking intensity variation) whereas unaltered areas will have relatively large density variations due to the watermark dots and the fact that the image was halftone printed at a lower resolution. Alternations are detected by identifying flat areas within the image using a combination of flat block detection and a multiple thresholds method.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for deskewing a scanned printed document is described. The original printed document is scanned with the scanner to obtain a first digital image, which contains skew (rotation) with respect to the original printed document. The first digital image is digitally flipped around a centerline to obtain a second digital image, which is printed to generate a second printed document. The second printed document is scanned using the same scanner to obtain a third digital image, which contains skew errors with respect to the second printed document. The third digital image is digitally flipped around the centerline to obtain a final digital image, which is substantially free of the skew introduced by the scanner.

Abstract: A two-dimensional color barcode using gradations of color is disclosed. The barcode includes a black and white configuration block that encodes configuration information about the barcode and a plurality of color data blocks that encodes data. Each tile in the data blocks has one of the-predefined recoverable gradation values of the RGB, CMY or other color sets. The number of recoverable gradation values for each color used in the color data block is specified in the configuration block. The barcode also includes a corner marker consist of a column and a row of black abutting the configuration block which is located in the top left corner, three additional corner markers and a plurality of block separators along the sides of barcode. Also described are methods for generating and decoding such a 2d color barcode. The methods include transforming data values to be encoded into the color space and vise versa.

Abstract: A printing method that allows a user to initiate printing of files on a host computer from the printer side with one or more button touches. The user initiates printing from the printer using one or more buttons, such as a dedicated easy print button. The printer sends a data request to the host computer. A printer monitoring program on the host computer receives and responds to printer requests. Upon receiving the data request from the printer, the host computer finds the most active application window (the window on top of all other windows), calls the application's default printing setting, generates a printing task for the most active opened file, and sends it to the printer. The printer prints the file received from the host computer. Other printing modes are also possible, such as printing all opened files in the most active application, etc.

Abstract: The present application relates to a method and an apparatus of encrypting and/or decrypting password to secure secrecy of the password.

Abstract: A content-based accounting method is implemented in a management section for a copier, scanner, printer or multifunction device (referred to as MFP), or on a networked server accessible by the copier, scanner, printer or MFP. When copying, scanning or printing a document, the management section automatically extracts content information from the documents being copied, scanned or printed, groups the documents based on the content, and updates an accounting database. The accounting database contains user accounts that store usage information according to content groups. For copied and scanned documents, textual content is extracted from the document image using OCR techniques. For printed documents, textual information is extracted from the digital data used to print the document.

Abstract: A method for processing XML documents using a SAX parser, implemented in a two-thread architecture having a main thread and a parsing thread. The parsing procedure is located in a parsing thread, which implements callback functions of a SAX parser and creates and executes the SAX parser. The main thread controls the parsing thread by sending target content to be searched for and wakeup signals to the parsing thread, and receives the content found by the parsing thread for further processing. In the parsing thread, each time a callback function is invoked by the SAX parser, it is determined whether the target content has been found. If it has, the parsing thread sends the found content to the main thread with a wakeup signal, and enters a sleep mode, whereby further parsing is halted until a wakeup signal with additional target content is received from the main thread.

Abstract: A method is described for electronically storing images of previously copied documents and recalling them for reprinting later. When a user uses a copier to make a physical copy of a physical document, the document image is stored by the copier, and certain document management information is captured and stored in a document management database to facilitate later recall and reprint of the document images. A document management section, which resides either on the copier or on a server connected to the copier by a network, performs document management functions that allow a user to select a previously copied and stored document for reprinting.

Abstract: A method is described for automatically predicting user-preferred copy or scan settings based on past user behavior. The method is implemented in a management section of a copier, scanner, or multifunction devices that combine copy, scan and print functions, or on a server connected with such a device. The management section maintains a copy/scan/user (CSU) settings database that stores copy and/or scan settings associated with user IDs. Each time a copy or scan job is initiated, the management section analyzes the CSU database to determine a predicted user-preferred setting. The user may manually change the setting and confirm it, and the management section stores the user confirmed setting in the CSU database for future use. The CSU database may be transferred from one copier/scanner/multifunction device to another.

Abstract: In a PDF direct printing method, the printer controller stores PDF direct print data received from a client on a RAM of the printer controller, or partly on the RAM according to a printing order and/or frequency of use if there is insufficient space to stored all the received PDF data. A PDF parser on the client generates a tag for each block of data being transferred based on the content of the block, and transfers the tag with the block. Based on the tag, the printer controller stores each block either on RAM or on disk. The printer controller maintains a memory allocation database to record the memory location where each block is stored on the printer controller. During rendering, the database is accessed to determine the memory location for blocks of data, and the blocks are retrieved from the memory locations for processing.

Abstract: The methods and systems presented herein use well-known logic devices in combination with one or more pulse-width-modulation (PWM) devices in order to create left- and right-justified width-modulated pulses. In some embodiments, justification ability is added without the need to alter an existing PWM device. In some embodiments, the generation of justified pulses is accomplished by a logic circuit in combination with an inherently left- or right-justified PWM device. Some embodiments of the present invention may include, for example, any combination of logical selectors, inverters, and flip-flops. In some embodiments, a justification circuit may receive as input any combination of one or more bits of pixel data, one or more bits of justification selection data, and one or more clock signal. In some embodiments, a justification circuit may output one more signals representing left or right-justified pulses.

Abstract: A raster image processor (RIP) using a self-tuning banding mode is disclosed. The RIP automatically and continuously adjusts the band size used for generating the raster image based on past performance (i.e. past data throughput values) and corresponding band sizes. At the start of each page of image, or after a certain number of pages has been processed or certain amount of time has elapsed, the RIP determines whether performance has worsened since the last band size adjustment. If it has worsened, the band size is reverted to a previous best performing value. If the performance has improved, then the band size is changed in the same direction as the last change.

Abstract: In a PDF direct printing method, an intelligent parser is provided on the client computer to parse out and transfer to the printer blocks of PDF data in an order in which the data will be used by the PDF rendering process of the printer. The directory information block of the PDF file is transferred first, and the printer can start the rendering process soon after the directory information block is received, before the entire PDF file is transferred to the printer. The blocks of PDF data are stored on the printer, and the memory locations of the blocks of data stored on the printer are recorded in a memory allocation database. The PDF rendering process of the printer accesses the memory allocation database to obtain the memory location of the block of PDF data it will need next for rendering, and retrieves that block of data for processing.

Abstract: In a PDF direct printing method, a client computer transfers PDF direct print data to a printer controller for direct printing. The client is provided with page printing order information which specifies which pages of the PDF file are to be printed, and preferably also the order in which the pages are to be printed. Based on this information, a PDF parser on the client parsers out the PDF data and transfers to the printer controller only the pages of data as specified by the page printing order. The page printing order information is either transmitted to the client from the printer controller, or supplied by a program on the client that initiated the PDF direct printing process. The printer controller stores the PDF direct print data transferred from the client, and maintains a memory allocation database to record the memory locations where pieces of the PDF data are stored.

Abstract: A method is described for automatically predicting user-preferred printer settings based on past user behavior. A driver service module maintains an application/driver/user (ADU) settings database that stores printer settings associated with the application that initiated the print job, the printer driver and versions thereof, and (in a multiple user environment) the user's identity. Each time a print job is initiated, the driver service module analyzes the ADU database to determine a predicted user-preferred setting. The user may manually change the setting and confirm it, and the driver service module stores the user confirmed setting in the ADU database for future use. The method can transfer user-preferred settings associated with one application or one printer driver (or a version thereof) to another application or another printer driver (or another version thereof). It further allows user preference information to be accessed or transferred over a network.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for direct printing of multiple views of 3-D objects in a PDF file is described. When a PDF file containing 3-D object data is sent to a printer, without using an application or print driver, the controller of a printer generates and prints a plurality of views of the 3-D object based on pre-defined viewing angle settings. The printer controller opens the PDF file, converts the 3-D PDF data to PS data based on the viewing angle, performs raster image processing, prints the bitmap images corresponding to the viewing angle, and repeats the process for all viewing angles. The plurality of views may be printed on separate pages, or on one page in an N-in-1 format. More generally, the method applies to direct printing of files containing objects that are capable of providing multiple appearances, where multiple or desired appearances of the objects are automatically printed.

Abstract: A method is described for managing a print shop system in which a plurality of printers are connected to and managed by a server. The server receives a print job including a job ticket and source document to be printed, and generates two or more sub-jobs each including a sub-job ticket and a sub-document by analyzing the job ticket and the content of the source document. The two or more sub-jobs are submitted to a plurality of printers and/or finishing devices in accordance with the sub-job tickets. One particular example is color split printing where black and white pages and color pages of a source document are split into two sub-jobs to be printed by a black and white printer and a color printer, respectively.