Patents by Inventor Michael Donald Bender

Michael Donald Bender 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).

  • Patent number: 8194258
    Abstract: Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Raymond Edward Clark, Robert Laurence Cook, Ning Ren, Martin Geoffrey Rivers
  • Patent number: 7990578
    Abstract: Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Raymond Edward Clark, Robert Laurence Cook, Ning Ren, Martin Geoffrey Rivers
  • Publication number: 20110116130
    Abstract: Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2010
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Raymond Edward Clark, Robert Laurence Cook, Ning Ren, Martin Geoffrey Rivers
  • Patent number: 7835030
    Abstract: Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Raymond Edward Clark, Robert Laurence Cook, Ning Ren, Martin Geoffrey Rivers
  • Publication number: 20090109459
    Abstract: Methods for processing print jobs include flagging, or not, to-be-printed objects having PDL-specified math or logic functions requiring hard processing operations, such as two or more inputs. The math or logic functions preferably reside in ink attributes of display list objects corresponding to the to-be-printed objects. To-be-printed pages of the print job become divided into bands. Bands with to-be-printed objects therein have band display lists constructed in the event the to-be-printed objects become flagged. On a band-by-band basis, if bands have band display lists flagged with hard processing operations, contone bands become constructed. The contone bands result from color information blending between overlapping pixels of to-be-printed objects or an object and a contone page. A contone page includes color information of the to-be-printed page in a first color space. To-be-printed objects are rendered in a second color space in device specific page(s) of memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Raymond Edward Clark, Robert Laurence Cook, Ning Ren, Martin Geoffrey Rivers
  • Patent number: 6038033
    Abstract: An improved printer is provided which includes a separate hardware compression module and hardware decompression module contained within the ASIC of the print engine. A "Request Counter" register is decremented each time memory is requested to store a block of bitmap image data. When the Request Counter decreases to a predetermined value, the current size of the remaining "free memory" space is evaluated. If this free memory is less than another predetermined value (a "low water mark"), then blocks of data that have already been stored in the printer's memory are sent to the compression module to be compressed before the printer literally runs out of free memory, and the printer can continue storing and processing more incoming print job data. By thus preserving some of the free memory, the printer can continue to process or rasterize more print data while the compression hardware simultaneously operates independently to compress one or more blocks of data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Christopher Mark Songer
  • Patent number: 6006015
    Abstract: Method and apparatus facilitate alignment of a print image to a desired position. The print image includes a set of original linear groupings of pixels. A distortion of the print image is determined as compared to the desired position. Based on the determined distortion, a set of original linear groupings of pixels to warp is identified. A set of warped linear groupings of pixels is then generated, which correspond to the set of original groupings of pixels. A placement location in the print image for the warped linear groupings of pixels so generated is identified, and the print image is printed with the set of warped linear groupings of pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Allen Patrick Johnson, Gregory John Sherwood, Aaron Charles Yoder
  • Patent number: 5987229
    Abstract: For a multiprocess application including a plurality of work stations at which the application processes proceed simultaneously, such as a printer including serially aligned laser and inkjet print engines, a method of controlling job throughput includes providing a queue for each work station, providing job data to the queues for a plurality of jobs, and consecutively tracking for the jobs the progress of the process corresponding to the rate-determining step for the application for each of the jobs so that as each job is completed at a particular work station the work station begins the process of the work station for the next job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, Cuong Manh Hoang, Allen Patrick Johnson, Gregory John Sherwood, Aaron Charles Yoder
  • Patent number: 5791790
    Abstract: An improved printer is provided that improves the response time before jobs are printer by providing a "fast data path" for certain print jobs while also storing on a hard disk all incoming print job data. This "fast data path" is especially useful in situations where the incoming print job lacks an "end of file" code, which could otherwise hold up the processing of either this print job or later print jobs. Once the printer becomes relatively busy, and begins to accumulate a "queue" of print jobs waiting to be processed and printed, the printer will automatically store all of the print job data on the non-volatile memory (e.g., a hard disk) before that same data is sent to the processing circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Donald Bender, John Knox Brown, III, Matthew Scott Keith, Martin Geoffrey Rivers, Christopher Mark Songer, Gail Marie Songer