Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Character or font
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2002-04-30
Garcia, Gabriel (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Character or font
C358S001180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06381028
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the high-speed printing industry, and more particularly, to a method for printing variable data using a page description language in a high-speed printing environment.
Application programs, such as Adobe Illustrator®, typically include a program which generates a specification of a screen or page's contents in a page description language. The specification, or page description code, provides instructions as to how to generate the image in a printer. The page description code is transferred from the application program to a printer, where it is executed to generate a bit map of the page. The most commonly used page description language is PostScript®, which is a machine independent language produced by Adobe Systems, Inc.
An application program page typically contains a number of data areas with either graphic or alphanumeric data. The PostScript language includes commands that define or build “graphics states” for each of the data areas on the page. These graphics states are sets of default attributes such as angle, scale factor, type-font, location, etc., which define how data is to appear on the page. Often, multiple graphics states are defined for a single page, with the different graphic states corresponding to different data areas on the page. Examples of commands that are used in PostScript to build a graphics state are: 20 rotate, /Times-Roman findfont, 14 scalefont, and setfont. In addition to commands which build graphics states, PostScript specifications also include the graphic or alphanumeric data which is displayed in the data areas, as well as a print command such as “SHOW”, which causes a bit map to be generated for the data.
In the past, page description languages, including PostScript, have only been used to print static data pages, because page description languages lack the functionality required for variable data printing. In variable data printing, each page shares a common background, and the displayed data in at least one data field changes for each page. Up until now, it has not been possible to print pages of variable data with page description languages such as PostScript, because the page description languages are unable to save page backgrounds and graphics states from a page specification, and are thus unable reuse the same background and graphics states when printing subsequent pages. Thus, with page description languages such as PostScript, whether the entire page is changed, or only a single item of data on the page is changed, a new page description language specification is generated to print each separate page.
For example, if thousands of copies of a mass mailing advertisement were to be printed, each copy being identical except for the recipient's name and address, it would be necessary to generate a new PostScript specification defining the page background, and the graphics states for the name and address fields, for each new name and address that is printed. Hence, to print 50 advertisements, it would be necessary to generate 50 PostScript specifications which each define virtually the same image.
In general, PostScript specifications are very complex and require extensive processing to generate and execute. Thus, generating a new PostScript specification each time a page of variable data is printed consumes an immense amount of processing time. In high-speed printing systems, it is typically the processing time, not the printer hardware, which determines the speed at which pages can be printed. Therefore, the processing required to repetitively redefine the same background and graphics states for each page of variable data significantly slows the entire printing system.
Due to the amount of processing time consumed in redefining the page template and graphics states for each new page of data that is printed, as well as the resultant effect on printing speed, it is desirable to have a method for processing variable data wherein once defined, the template and graphics states for a page can be stored and reused for printing subsequent pages. Further, it is desirable to have a method for printing variable data which is compatible with existing printing systems and page description languages, such as PostScript, and which is capable of processing variable data in a high-speed industrial printing system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for utilizing variable data with a page description language, which enables the template and graphics states for a page of variable data to be defined and stored; and which enables the stored graphics states to be associated with multiple items of variable data from a database or merge file; so that once stored, the graphics states can be repeatedly applied to the items of variable data to print multiple pages of variable data or multiple variable data bitmaps. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a method which is compatible with existing page description languages, and which can be used in a high-speed industrial printing system.
The method of the present invention is implemented by means of a control task which executes in conjunction with a page description code interpretive program, such as a PostScript program, to identify variable data areas in the page description code specification, and reserve the graphics states for the variable data areas as they are defined by the specification. After the interpreter program has executed, a merge task is initiated. The merge task associates items of variable data from a data file with the reserved graphics states, generates a bit map for each variable data area, merges the bit maps with the page template, and outputs a complete bit map for the page. Accordingly, in the method of the present invention, bit maps for multiple pages of variable data are generated from a single page description language specification.
The present invention assumes the generation of a page specification in PostScript, or another similar page description language, by the application program, and the transfer of this specification to a printer. According to the present invention, a control task activates and monitors the PostScript interpreter program in the printer. As the interpreter executes, it defines graphics states for the data areas on the page. The PostScript attributes for a graphics state are stored in a stack as they are defined, so that at any given point in the code, the stack represents all of the PostScript attributes for the current graphics state.
When the control task identifies a print command in the code, the control task interrupts the interpreter to determine whether the data to be printed is variable data. If the data is variable, the current graphics state, consisting of the attributes then existing in the stack and job specific attributes which are defined in a job file, is linked to the data area and reserved in an internal database. Further, character bit maps are generated in accordance with the graphics state, and linked to and reserved with the graphics state. After the graphics state and character bit maps have been reserved, the PostScript interpreter is resumed at the line of code following the print command.
The interpreter continues executing until either the control task detects another print command, or the last line of code is reached. If a second print command is detected, the interpreter is interrupted again and the above steps repeated, to reserve the stack contents and job attributes for the second data area, and to generate and store a second set of character bit maps. The control task continues in this manner monitoring and interrupting the interpreter program, until all of the variable data areas on the page have been detected, and graphics states and possibly character bit maps for the variable data areas have been reserved in the database.
As the PostScript interpreter executes, a bit map of the non-variable background graphics and text, otherwise referred to as a “template”, is generated fo
Garcia Gabriel
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Tesseron Ltd.
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