Patents Examined by Arthur G. Evans
  • Patent number: 6529285
    Abstract: A processor is provided with a first set of digital information that includes a first structured representation of a document. From the first set of digital information, the processor produces a second set of digital information that includes a second structured representation of the document. The second structured representation is a lossless representation and includes a set of tokens and a set of positions. At least one token in the plurality of tokens has an associated semantic label which may be a character code associated with various font types in the second structured representation of the document. The semantic label may be obtained and stored in the second structured representation of the document by a computer program. The first and second representations may be resolution dependent structured representations and have, respectively, first and second characteristic resolutions. The first representation, but not the second, is provided in digital form to an untrusted recipient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel G. Bobrow, Daniel P. Huttenlocher, William J. Rucklidge, John Seely Brown
  • Patent number: 6529289
    Abstract: There will be provided an image processing apparatus made available irrespective of the mechanism and the like of an output device to be connected thereto. A configuration control unit sets connection patterns and output systems of a first to a fourth output control units depending upon configuration, a connecting method and image data to be inputted of an output device. Also, a processing order control unit is interlocked with this configuration control unit, and constitutes data for each band from image data inputted so as to have sequence responsive to configuration of a first to a fourth rendering processors controlled by the configuration control unit. Thus, data for each band is controlled so as to be inputted into the first to fourth rendering processors in accordance with the processing order. In this way, it is possible to cope with any case where various output devices are connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhito Konno, Kenji Takeuchi, Yukio Masubuchi
  • Patent number: 6525833
    Abstract: An information processing method is constructed by a converting step of converting information described by a predetermined language into information described by an intermediate language, a developing step of developing the information described by the intermediate language into raster image information, a discriminating step of, in the case where information should be stored into a memory, discriminating which one of at least two of the information described by the predetermined description language, the information described by the intermediate language, and the raster image information is stored, and a control step of controlling so as to store the information determined in the discriminating step to be stored into the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tetsuya Onishi
  • Patent number: 6522423
    Abstract: A method and apparatus in a data processing system for generating a metadata stream. Calls are received calls from an application, wherein the calls are received calls. The current application attributes in the received calls are tracked. The received calls are monitored for a new page call. When a new page call is identified in the received calls, the new page call is placed within the metadata stream to identify a new page in the metadata stream. Current application attributes are placed in the metadata stream within the new page identified by the new page call, wherein the new page within the metadata stream may be outputted/printed or reprocessed using the current application attributes located within new page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Marc L. Cohen, Michael R. Cooper, Patrick Edward Nogay, Mark Wayne Vanderwiele
  • Patent number: 6522422
    Abstract: A computer controlled sheet-fed offset printing machine is described which includes an Interpreter-program for obtaining an image of the signal-state of specified interfaces of the many interfaces that are needed for the operation of the computerized printing press. The Interpreter-program has access to a reserved region of memory for storing and manipulating, if desired, the image of the signal-state. Furthermore, the Interpreter-program has very limited and defined access to the inputs and resources used by the control programs used to operate the computerized printing press. This ensures that the control programs can execute in real-time unaffected by the execution of the Interpreter-program while data is acquired by the Interpreter-program while the computerized printing press is in operation. The Interpreter-program can execute diagnostic routines and provide data for detecting and correcting errors that are otherwise hard to localize in a complex system with complex software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Horst Klingler, Hans-Martin Reinert, Johannes Tenfelde, Karsten Wendt, Matthias Zoll, Sven Olaf Cabus, Gerold Wende, Michael Hess, Heiner Sirowitzki, Heiner Schilling
  • Patent number: 6519048
    Abstract: In a job issuer of a print or the like, to enable an output result of the print or the like to be promptly, easily, visually confirmed, to enable error information contents of the print or the like to be easily referred, and to enable a management and a maintenance of an output device such as a printer or the like to be also promptly and accurately performed, when a network printer executes a print job, a communication server on the network printer opens image data to display a print result and notifies a host computer on the print job issuer side of a result of the print job including a network resource ID showing the image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tetsuo Tanaka
  • Patent number: 6515761
    Abstract: An electronic camera having a printer with a portable printing function and a sheet feed device suitable for use with the printer. The electronic camera includes an image storage device it photoelectrically convert an optical image to picture data, a first memory to store picture data, and a printer unit to print the picture data. The printed picture data may be fed by a sheet drive mechanism having vibration member and a piezoelectric element fixed to the vibration member and expanding and contracting according to an applied voltage, and a driver which applies to the piezoelectric element a voltage including an alternating component, and at least one projection formed on the vibration member in a position in the neighborhood of a peak of the standing wave, and a sheet separation unit formed on the vibration member, outside the range of the standing wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuaki Aoto, Shigeyoshi Fujie
  • Patent number: 6512592
    Abstract: Disclosed is a printer for receiving a print job from a document processing device The print job including a preamble section, print data describing a single copy of a document and a trailer section. The trailer section including a command indicating the number of copies that are to be printed. The printer is adapted to receive the print job and operates to print the copies indicated by the command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Shell S. Simpson, Richard Detweiler, Gerald A. Loyd
  • Patent number: 6512595
    Abstract: A printer driver capable of converting color data into monochrome image data to be outputted to a high-quality monochrome image printer. Source data colors (red, green, blue) are converted by a printer driver to gray values using equation (1). A palette number which is closest to the obtained gray value is transferred to the system I/F. The system performs rendering by filling the rendering area with the palette number. When the data stored in the 8 bit-per-pixel (BPP) memory space in rendering process is transferred to the driver I/F, the printer driver performs binarization on the black value (8 bits) of the palette number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masanari Toda
  • Patent number: 6509977
    Abstract: In a case where printing control is configured using a unified user interface and bookbinding printing has been set, bookbinding format conditions are judged and functions possessed redundantly by first and second information processing units are controlled to make appropriate printing control possible in conformity with settings made by a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Kujirai, Koji Nakagiri, Satoshi Nishikawa, Yasuo Mori
  • Patent number: 6507411
    Abstract: When an original image is to be printed as a poster composed of an array of 4×4 output images, an image is generated by enlarging the original image fourfold in the vertical and horizontal directions and dividing the enlarged image into 16 parts. These 16 partial images are output successively starting from the upper left or lower right of the 4×4 array, depending upon the designation. If there is a blank page, the blank page is output as is even if the printer possesses a blank-paper economizing function. Thus, when a poster printing function is used, the user designates the manner in which the enlarged image is divided up and the order in which the divided images are printed. Even if the printer is equipped with the blank-paper economizing function, normal printed results can be obtained merely by joining the output sheets together in the order that conforms to the manner in which the enlarged image was divided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Nishikawa, Koji Nakagiri, Yasuo Mori, Yasuhiro Kujirai
  • Patent number: 6507412
    Abstract: An image recording/reproducing apparatus includes an image signal processing unit which transforms original image data with a first resolution, supplied from an image input device, into a processed image signal with a second resolution. A recording signal generating unit transforms at least one of the original image data and the processed image signal produced by the image signal processing unit, into a recording form. An image recording device stores the processed image signal in the recording form, produced by the recording signal generating unit, into a storage unit, the recording form of the processed image signal being suited to a predetermined data format on the storage unit. An image reproducing device transforms the processed image signal in the recording form, read from the storage unit, into an output-form signal, and displays an image on a display monitor in accordance with the output-form signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2003
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryoichi Suzuki, Tomoharu Saito
  • Patent number: 6504621
    Abstract: A queue management system for managing a queue in a printing system is provided. The printing system is provided with a first set of resources for processing jobs and a job including a second set of resources required to process the job is introduced to the printing system. Additionally, a policy indicating how resource deficient jobs are to be handled by the queue management system is provided. For the situation in which the first set of resources does not correspond with the second set of resources, so that a resource mismatch exists between the first and second resource sets, the policy is used for causing the job to be either held until a preselected condition is met or discarded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: David L. Salgado
  • Patent number: 6501560
    Abstract: The invention provides an image duplicating apparatus capable of performing duplicating operations with its whole operation time shortened by the simple speed adjustments, without increasing the size of the memory as much as possible and its costs. When images are duplicated, for example, at full scale, a CPU starts executing the input/output processing of the image line data. The image line data is written into a line buffer memory and at least one line of the image line data written in the line buffer memory is retained. Upon the receipt of the data output request from the printing unit, the CPU reads out the image line data retained in the line buffer memory and outputs it to the printing unit. The CPU repeatedly performs the above-described steps. The duplicating operations may be performed with the space for storing at least two lines of the image line data secured in the line buffer memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2002
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toshihiro Takayanagi
  • Patent number: 6496277
    Abstract: An image data flow control and storage facility having a secondary storage, a secondary storage controller, an image input controller, an image output controller and an optional loop-back controller. According to one embodiment, the image input controller, the image output controller and the loop-back controller communicate with the secondary storage controller by way of a PCI-type bus. The secondary storage controller communicates with the secondary storage by way of an SCSI interface. Preferably, the secondary storage controller operates in master mode to transfer blocks of image data directly between the secondary storage and the image output, image input and loop-back controllers. By performing direct image data transfers, the facility of the invention avoids intermediately storing image data in costly DRAM page buffers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Michael Chapin, Gordon Francis Lupien, Jr., Anthony Michael Frumusa
  • Patent number: 6496274
    Abstract: A scanning device includes an automatic document handler for stream feeding in serial fashion hard copy original pages to a platen or scanning station to be automatically read by the image scanner into electrical signals or data. The raw image data is stored in a memory buffer. An operator may use the data in this buffer to manipulate the image electronically before using the image for further processing, such as printing or publishing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Lawrence B. Telle
  • Patent number: 6493109
    Abstract: A print head driving apparatus is provided with an input terminal for inputting serial data which includes printing data and timing data put in the printing data, a printing data number control circuit for detecting the timing data, a shift register and a latch circuit for extracting the printing data from the serial data with the timing data used as a starting point, and a driving waveform selecting circuit for outputting a driving signal based on the printing data extracted from the shift register and latch circuit. With this constitution, no control signal for latching is needed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Jun Takamura, Noboru Nitta, Shunichi Ono
  • Patent number: 6480291
    Abstract: A font synchronization system ensures that fonts which are specified in the creation of a document are the same as those that are employed in the subsequent handling and printing of the document. Each font that is utilized within a document, or available in a printing system, is characterized by a font reference that unambiguously identifies significant features of the font. Font references associated with a document are compared with those available on a computer resource, to see if two fonts are the same in all significant respects. If the fonts are not the same, the comparison process identifies the areas of difference between them, so that a determination can be made whether such differences are critical to the appearance of the document. A number of font references are encapsulated within a font profile, to identify the fonts that are available for use within a particular environment, such as a service bureau.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Apple Computer, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew M. Daniels, David Opstad, Deborah Goldsmith
  • Patent number: 6480297
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image reading device for reading an image of a document to obtain image data; a data communication device connected with a computer for receiving an image data from the computer; a facsimile device connected with a telephone line for receiving an image data through the telephone line; an image memory for storing the image data obtained through the image reading device, the image data obtained through the data communication device, and the image data obtained through the facsimile device; an image memory controller for mediating an access to the image memory in a predetermined priority order for storing and reading the image data among the image reading device, the data communication device, and the facsimile device; and an image forming device for forming the image according to the image data controlled by the image memory controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiro Suzuki, Kunio Shijo, Seiichi Watanabe, Hirohiko Yamazaki, Masaki Kakutani, Kensaku Ogiwara, Satoru Kashiwada, Takayuki Suzuki, Koichi Kitamoto, Kazuo Izumi, Yasuhiko Yamaguchi, Akihiko Oda, Toru Ichiki, Kenji Okuyama
  • Patent number: 6480293
    Abstract: A digital printing system (10) includes a method to request and receive customized job status information. A document assembly tree (300) is extended to include the ability to enter status report frequency specifications at a compilation node (310), or at any other node, such as an intermediate sheet node (330) or sub-compilation node (342). The method consumes less control bus (31) bandwidth than other systems by providing only the required information at a configurable interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Gregg A. Bonikowski, Patrick T. Igoe, Michael P. Kirby