Patents by Inventor Mark Andrew Stephens
Mark Andrew Stephens has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 7095523Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention final status associated with a presentation job (e.g., a fax job or a print job) is made available to an output server. One or more host processing threads or processes are spawned for each new presentation job received by the output server. Then, the presentation job is submitted to a presentation device for which the presentation job is destined by way of an instance of a wrapper process that is capable of communicating bi-directionally with the presentation device. After submitting the presentation job, a host job status thread or process waits for status pertaining to the presentation job. Ultimately, a final status associated with the presentation job is received by the wrapper process and the wrapper process reports the final status to the host job status thread or process. According to another aspect of the present invention, job and device status may be reported asynchronously.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2002Date of Patent: August 22, 2006Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianné Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Patent number: 6897971Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for electronically distributing facsimile messages directly to users according to recipient preferences. The method comprises the steps of receiving a message from a transmitting facsimile via a telephone network, automatically parsing the message to extract a recipient direct dial telephone number from the message, receiving a fax payload from the transmitting facsimile in a fax server, determining an e-mail address and at least one recipient fax preference from the direct dial telephone number, processing the fax payload in the fax server according to the recipient fax preference, and directing the processed fax message according to the recipient fax preference. In one embodiment of the present invention, method further comprises the steps of reading a grayscale transform from a memory accessible to the fax server, and applying the grayscale transform to the fax payload.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1999Date of Patent: May 24, 2005Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Keith Alan Marshall, Mark Andrew Stephens
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Patent number: 6864993Abstract: Disclosed is a method, system, and program for checking an electronic representation of a print job. Information on a set of attributes of a print job indicated in a first computer readable file is compared with a set of same attributes of the print job indicated in a second computer readable file. A determination is made as to whether the information on the same set of attributes of the print job in the first and second computer readable files are inconsistent and each inconsistency is indicated.Type: GrantFiled: September 21, 1999Date of Patent: March 8, 2005Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Arthur Ray Roberts, Mark Andrew Stephens, Adam Alvin Swartz
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Patent number: 6829707Abstract: A method and system for downloading encrypted double-byte font scripts to a print server. A communication element is interposed between a data processing system and a print server, where the print server does not support a bi-directional communication protocol utilized by the data processing system to download encrypted double-byte font scripts. The communication element supports data transmissions in both the bi-directional communication protocol and with the print server. To download a double-byte font script, the data processing system transmits a request to the print server through the communication element for an identifier from the print server. The print server transmits the identifier to the data processing system through the communication element. A decryption key for the double-byte font script is produced by the data processing system utilizing the identifier and downloaded with the encrypted double-byte font script to the print server through the communication element.Type: GrantFiled: February 11, 2000Date of Patent: December 7, 2004Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Keith Alan Marshall, Arthur Ray Roberts, Mark Andrew Stephens
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Patent number: 6678699Abstract: A displayable digital document such as a .PDF document is indexed by displaying it on a viewer. A database field is provided in a relational database. A user selects a field in the digital document for indexing using a pointing device and defines a bounding rectangle for this field. Offsets are recorded and compared to other bounding rectangles. Comparisons are recorded in a parameter file for each document. An indexer is run to insert the offsets and other data into the relational database and also store the digital image in the relational database. A query is made of the database and part or all of the digital document is displayed based on the results of the query.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2001Date of Patent: January 13, 2004Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Mark Andrew Stephens, Debra Kathleen Wagner
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Publication number: 20030123084Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention final status associated with a presentation job (e.g., a fax job or a print job) is made available to an output server. One or more host processing threads or processes are spawned for each new presentation job received by the output server. Then, the presentation job is submitted to a presentation device for which the presentation job is destined by way of an instance of a wrapper process that is capable of communicating bi-directionally with the presentation device. After submitting the presentation job, a host job status thread or process waits for status pertaining to the presentation job. Ultimately, a final status associated with the presentation job is received by the wrapper process and the wrapper process reports the final status to the host job status thread or process. According to another aspect of the present invention, job and device status may be reported asynchronously.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 12, 2002Publication date: July 3, 2003Inventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Publication number: 20030069895Abstract: A displayable digital document such as a .PDF document is indexed by displaying it on a viewer. A database field is provided in a relational database. A user selects a field in the digital document for indexing using a pointing device and defines a bounding rectangle for this field. Offsets are recorded and compared to other bounding rectangles. Comparisons are recorded in a parameter file for each document. An indexer is run to insert the offsets and other data into the relational database and also store the digital image in the relational database.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 9, 2001Publication date: April 10, 2003Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Mark Andrew Stephens, Debra Kathleen Wagner
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Patent number: 6542252Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one embodiment, a mechanism is provided for driving multiple heterogeneous presentation devices. A presentation job is received on behalf of a presentation device, the presentation job includes a data stream which contains source data in the form of text, image, graphics, and/or other embedded objects. The source data is then reduced to an intermediate format. Based upon the intermediate format and control information associated with the data stream, device-specific data and device-specific control information are generated for the presentation device. Finally, the presentation device is driven by providing the device-specific data and device-specific control information to the presentation device.Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2001Date of Patent: April 1, 2003Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Patent number: 6538773Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture, for transmitting data to facsimile presentation device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving a presentation job comprising input data associable with at least one input grayscale value, retrieving one of a plurality of stored transforms, each transform for modifying grayscale commands to control a grayscale rendering characteristic of a presentation device associated with the transform, applying the transform to the input grayscale value to produce calibrated grayscale values, and transmitting data representing the calibrated grayscale value to the facsimile presentation device.Type: GrantFiled: March 26, 1999Date of Patent: March 25, 2003Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mikel J. Stanich, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Patent number: 6535295Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention final status associated with a presentation job (e.g., a fax job or a print job) is made available to an output server. One or more host processing threads or processes are spawned for each new presentation job received by the output server. Then, the presentation job is submitted to a presentation device for which the presentation job is destined by way of an instance of a wrapper process that is capable of communicating bi-directionally with the presentation device. After submitting the presentation job, a host job status thread or process waits for status pertaining to the presentation job. Ultimately, a final status associated with the presentation job is received by the wrapper process and the wrapper process reports the final status to the host job status thread or process. According to another aspect of the present invention, job and device status may be reported asynchronously.Type: GrantFiled: August 24, 1998Date of Patent: March 18, 2003Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Patent number: 6498661Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture for transmitting data to a facsimile presentation device is disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, the method comprises the steps of receiving a presentation job comprising input data associable with at least one input grayscale value, retrieving at least one of a plurality of threshold matrices, each threshold matrix selected to control a grayscale rendering characteristic of the facsimile presentation device associated with the threshold matrix, applying the grayscale values to the retrieved threshold matrix to rasterize the input data, and transmitting the rasterized input data to the facsimile presentation device. This invention can be practiced in several embodiments, and permits the user to select the threshold matrix according to the presentation device and/or a selected presentation quality.Type: GrantFiled: March 26, 1999Date of Patent: December 24, 2002Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mikel J. Stanich, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Publication number: 20010043352Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, a mechanism is provided for driving multiple heterogeneous presentation devices. A presentation job is received on behalf of a presentation device, the presentation job includes a data stream which contains source data in the form of text, image, graphics, and/or other embedded objects. The source data is then reduced to an intermediate format. Based upon the intermediate format and control information associated with the data stream, device-specific data and device-specific control information are generated for the presentation device. Finally, the presentation device is driven by providing the device-specific data and device-specific control information to the presentation device.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 13, 2001Publication date: November 22, 2001Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell
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Patent number: 6266150Abstract: A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, a mechanism is provided for driving multiple heterogeneous presentation devices. A presentation job is received on behalf of a presentation device, the presentation job includes a data stream which contains source data in the form of text, image, graphics, and/or other embedded objects. The source data is then reduced to an intermediate format. Based upon the intermediate format and control information associated with the data stream, device-specific data and device-specific control information are generated for the presentation device. Finally, the presentation device is driven by providing the device-specific data and device-specific control information to the presentation device.Type: GrantFiled: August 24, 1998Date of Patent: July 24, 2001Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Craig Duray Brossman, Arianne Therese Hinds, Nenad Rijavec, Mark Andrew Stephens, Raymond Glenn Wardell