Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-03
2004-09-14
Garcia, Gabriel (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C358S001100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06791707
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a computer system for quickly and consistently producing printed materials. More specifically, the present invention relates to hosting prepress applications in a printing system that allows automation of printing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The existing methods of procuring printed business materials are characterized by cumbersome and labor-intensive procedures. These procedures carry with them certain inefficiencies and are often prone to error. For the majority of small to medium sized printers, the printing of business cards and stationery entails a time-consuming series of steps which generally must be repeated every time a new order is placed.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a representative block diagram
100
is shown of certain steps that might be used to procure an order by a customer. While the order might consist of any textual or graphical material, a business card example is used throughout to facilitate discussion. In general, an administrator in an organization first collects data from the employee who desires the business cards. Such data includes name, title, telephone and facsimile numbers, mobile telephone number, e-mail address, etc. This data then gets sent via telephone or facsimile to the printer as shown in step
102
. The printer typesets the information in step
104
, and then sends back a proof to the administrator in step
106
. The administrator then typically sends the proof to the employee for verification, and receives the returned proof with marked-up corrections. The proof is then sent back to the printer in step
108
. The printer typesets the corrections in step
110
and sends the proof back to the customer in step
112
. Steps
108
-
112
might be repeated several times until the customer approves the proof in step
114
. After the order is final, the printer must go through several additional steps before the order is printed. For instance, the customer service department might enter the job into the printer's internal tracking and billing system. The job then goes to the prepress department in step
116
which reproduces the content into a format so that it is ready to print. The manufacturing process is applied in step
118
and the order is printed.
Getting through this series of steps with the printer usually takes several days. Seven to ten days after this process is completed, the cards are received by the employee who ordered them. Because each job is entered manually, a new order for a similar customer may not look precisely like the last one. Add the complexities of a multi-location organization (with many employees) and a relatively simple product purchase can become very complex.
Moreover, the printing of more complex items, such as full color pamphlets and brochures, results in many more iterations between the design agency, the customer and the prepress department. The iterations due to color correction and perfection of all design elements likely results in even more time required to complete the product. Despite the iterative steps described above, it is estimated that 15% to 30% of print jobs for traditional business materials arrive at the customer with errors. The propensity for errors and the general lack of consistency produced using the traditional process is due in large part to the manual nature of the task. At each step in the process the file may be opened and manipulated repeatedly, which introduces new opportunities for errors and inconsistencies.
FIG. 2
illustrates a prior art block diagram
200
of representative steps in the process and describes potential problems that may occur.
Preview
The process begins with a customer providing the print vendor with the information on the product to be composed. The customer will typically provide the information on an order form, make annotations to a physical sample, and/or communicate the data verbally. The print vendor's job is to create a layout of the sprint product for the customer to preview and approve. The print vendor will typically interpret the customer's information and compose a preview layout of the product in a publishing tool such as Pagemaker or Quark Xpress. In
FIG. 2
this is shown by the print vendor computer
202
creating a preview layout file
206
.
Unfortunately, this task is made more complicated by a common practice called “mastering”. To control costs in printing, it is common to pre-print or “master” stock in bulk with certain static elements. In many cases the static elements are “spot color” or “process color” graphics (while the variable information is usually in a single color, often black). In order to provide a preview of what the printed product will actually look like, the preview layout must contain both the variable information and the mastered elements. Once the preview layout is completed, it is then printed and sent to the customer for their approval.
The customer then reviews the facsimile of the proof, annotates any changes, sends the proof back to the vendor via facsimile and/or communicates the changes to the vendor verbally. Once the customer approves the preview layout, the vendor begins the prepress process. It is important to note that the “preview” that the customer is approving is a facsimile copy of a low-quality printout. Because the quality is so low, it is possible (even under the best of conditions) that the final printed product may look slightly different from the proof that the customer approved. If the customer is very demanding, these differences may not be acceptable and will require that the vendor re-print the order.
A number of available software tools can be used by a human operator to create, review, and edit EPS files. However, EPS files that ultimately are output from products such as Illustrator, Quark, Pagemaker, or Photoshop all have certain differences, or eccentricities, which are difficult to account for and process on a consistent basis. Also, they do not ensure referential integrity or consistent settings for color in such files. Some checking may be done to analyze and detect problems in EPS files, however, such checking does nothing to fix or standardize an output EPS file. In addition, as described below, each time a human operator must open a file manually and review it using a particular software program there is the potential for errors to be introduced into the file.
Composition
Step
208
in
FIG. 2
shows the next process step of composition. In particular, now that the customer has approved the item, the vendor must create a layout that is suitable for printing. To do this, all of the mastered elements that were included in the preview layout must be removed. This means that the vendor must open the preview layout file and manipulate the file data manually by hand. This is problematic, however, because the vendor is changing a file (or data structure) that the customer has already approved. It is possible that alterations will be made, either intentionally or accidentally, that will change the content or appearance of the product when it is finally printed. The result is the print layout file
210
, as so modified.
The errors that can occur are numerous and varied. Even simple procedures can result in major problems. One simple example is the use of “keyboard shortcuts”. Many professionals use a series of keyboard shortcuts (as offered by various programs) instead of a mouse to save time in performing simple tasks. These shortcuts typically require the user to press a modifier key (such as “ALT” or “CTRL”) and then press the desired shortcut key. Sometimes, however, the user will mistype and accidentally end up inserting text into a document inadvertently. For example, if the user is trying to cut a graphic or piece of text from a document, the user might use the keyboard shortcut for “cut” (CRTL-X). If the user fails to fully depress the CTRL key, the letter “x” will be inserted into the document. While this a relatively straightforward problem, such mistakes might not be detected until late in the process
Klatt Cory E.
Krum Brent A.
Laverty Timothy A.
Roy Larry G.
Garcia Gabriel
ImageX, Inc.
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