Patent ID: 6476930
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
A method for printing an electronic document that comprises a first set of pages having a first characteristic and a second set of pages having a second characteristic, the method comprising:identifying the first set of pages and the second set of pages within the electronic document based on contents of the electronic document; selecting first and second output devices that are respectively compatible with the first and second characteristics; removing, from the first set of pages that is to be sent to the second output device, one or more PDL commands that causes printing, so that the first set of pages will be printed by only the first output device; routing each page in the first set of pages and the second sets of pages to both the first output device and the second output device, respectively, based on such identification and selection; generating identifying data that specifies a relative position of each page in the first set of pages within the electronic document; providing the identifying data to the first output device; and after the first and second sets of pages have been output, providing the identifying data to a merge station to allow the merge station to automatically merge the first and second sets of pages into a merged document by processing the identifying data.