Mechanism for generating index separator pages

A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a storage device and a print job manager that stores received print jobs in the storage device and facilitates the printing of multiple selected print jobs as a batch of print jobs. The print job manager includes a page generator to generate an index separator page including information for each of the selected print jobs with the batch of print jobs.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of printing systems, and in particular, to the management of print jobs produced at a printing system.

BACKGROUND

Computing centers that employ one or more printers to serve a group of users, such as a networked group or other work group, typically rely on the printers to batch process print jobs (e.g., print-out a series of different print jobs in succession). Such printers produce separator pages which are used for identification and segregation of print jobs in an office, departmental or other shared or multi-user printing environment. Separator pages generated at the beginning of a print job are commonly referred to as headers, while pages generated after a print job are referred to as trailers. Such separator pages include one or two lines of text that identify the requesting party and identify the job number.

Separator pages have an undesirable characteristic in that they are printed with associated printing costs, and are not environmentally friendly. For example, separator pages have very little value after the user retrieves their print job, and are in many instances not recycled. Since there is typically one per print job, separator pages are particularly wasteful for smaller print jobs on a per print job page basis.

An additional problem is that separator pages may be generated or controlled by host software, a printer object or the printer itself. Thus, a lack of coordination between these different separator page generation methods may result in multiple separator pages being generated for certain print jobs.

Accordingly, a mechanism to manage generation of separator pages is desired.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment a printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes a storage device and a print job manager that stores received print jobs in the storage device and facilitates the printing of multiple selected print jobs as a batch of print jobs. The print job manager includes a page generator to generate an index separator page including information for each of the selected print jobs with the batch of print jobs

In another embodiment, a method discloses selecting two or more print jobs to be printed as a batch of print jobs, generating an index separator page including information for each of the selected print jobs with the batch of print jobs and printing the index separator page with the batch of print jobs.

In a further embodiment, a multifunction printer is disclosed that includes a controller and a print engine. The controller includes a storage device, a print job manager to store received print jobs in the storage device and to facilitate the printing of multiple selected print jobs as a batch of print jobs and a page generator to generate an index separator page including information for each of the selected print jobs with the batch of print jobs. The print engine prints the index separator page and at least one of the selected print jobs in the batch of print jobs

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a printing system100. Printing system100is a system used to provide marks on a media, such as a continuous forms printer or a cut sheet page printer. Printing system100may include any digital hardcopy output device, such as printers, copiers, multifunction printers (MFP's) and facsimiles.

In one embodiment, printing system100is shared by multiple users. In such an embodiment, printing system100includes a print controller102and one or more print engines104. Print controller102includes any system, server, or components operable to interface one or more host systems107and108, and a printer109, via network110with one or more print engines104, and to control the printing of print jobs136-138received from the host systems107and108, and a printer109, respectively, on print engine104. Print engine104provides an imaging process to mark a printable medium, such as paper.

According to one embodiment, print controller102includes memory103and a print job manager112. Memory103includes any storage system operable to store data. In one embodiment, print job manager112manages the printing of documents at printing system100. Particularly, print job manager112controls print jobs as they wait to print, arranges the priority of the print jobs, generates separator pages and distributes jobs to the destination print engine104. In one embodiment, print job manager112may be implemented using either InfoPrint Manager (IPM) or InfoPrint ProcessDirector (IPPD), although other types of print job managers may be used instead.

In one embodiment, print job manager112holds received print jobs in memory103before processing the print job. In such an embodiment, memory103stores the print jobs as either a data file or rastorized file. For example, print jobs stored as rastorized files reduce print time for the held jobs versus those stored as data files. Once stored, each print job may be held until the user that generated the print job retrieves the corresponding document from printing system100, at which time the print job is processed and printed.

In a further embodiment, a user may release a selected job for printing at printing system100via user input106. Printing system100thereby processes the print job by printing via print engine104. In still a further embodiment, multiple selected print jobs being held for a particular user may be simultaneously processed and printed at print engine104. Therefore, all print jobs for the same user are printed together when multiple print jobs are released to print.

According to one embodiment, print job manager112includes a separator page generator120that is implemented to control the generation of print job separator pages for jobs stored in memory103. In a further embodiment, print job manager112instructs separator page generator120to produce an index separator page. An index separator page is one or more physical printed pages that include information content for the multiple selected (or batched) print jobs that are simultaneously processed and printed. Thus, the index separator page consolidates all information content gathered for selected print jobs onto one separator page that prints once per batched jobs, thereby separating the selected print jobs from other users' print jobs.

In one embodiment, page generator120generates only an index separator page, with no separator pages for the individual jobs included in the batch. However in other embodiments, page generator120may also generate one separator page per printed job in addition to, or instead of, the index separator page, based on a desired configuration.

FIG. 2is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of managing print jobs at printing system100. At processing block210, separator page settings are loaded at page generator120. According to one embodiment, separator page settings may include the format of index separator pages. For example, index separator page content may be configured to be included on one page only. However, the content may be extended beyond one page if necessary to include the information for all of the selected jobs. Additionally, a setting may indicate that an index separator page be placed before the first of the batched job, although other configurations may indicate that the index separator page to be placed either after the last printed job.

At processing block220, the print jobs to print are selected at user input106. However in other embodiments, the print jobs may be selected from a host. At processing block230, page generator120selects a type of separator page. In one embodiment, page generator120is configured to generate only an index separator page, with no separator pages for the individual jobs included in the batch. However in other embodiments, page generator120may be configured to generate one separator page per printed job in addition to, or instead of, the index separator page.

At processing block240, content from selected print jobs is loaded for generation of a separator page. According to one embodiment, index separator page content may include print job header information for all selected jobs, where print job header information includes one or more of: User Name, Print Job Name, Host Name, Queue Name, Originating IP address, Print job creation date, Print job creation time, etc.

In another embodiment, the index separator page content may include other print job information determined by further processing. For example, further processing information may include one or more of: Number of pages, Resources consumed (e.g., toner or ink coverage usage, sheets used, type of media used etc.), Print format parameters (duplex, n-up, toner darkness, number of copies), Disposition action (print, store, forward, email, facsimile transmission or delete), Disposition Result (e.g. success, or error), Disposition date, Disposition time, etc. By including this content the index separator page may include information about selected print jobs that did not actually print with the index separator page.

In a further embodiment, the index separator page content may include the above-described information in a tallied format for selected print jobs. For example, the index separator page may present the total number of pages printed, total resources consumed or total number of jobs for the total of all of the selected print jobs. Further, the index separator page content may be presented in various sorted presentations. For example, the content may be presented in an ascending order according to job received date and time, user names or print job names.

At processing block250, the separator page is generated. At processing block260, the print jobs and separator page are processed for printing.FIG. 3illustrates one embodiment of an index separator page generated using the above-described process. As shown inFIG. 3, index separator page lists the print jobs processed for a user John Doe. Additionally, the index separator page includes summary information indicating the number of jobs processed (5), the number of jobs (2) actually printed, and the total number of printed pages (31) that follow the index separator page.

Although described as being an internal component of printing system100, other embodiments may feature print job manager112and/or page generator120being implemented in other systems components, e.g., a host, PC, print spooler or print server.

FIG. 4illustrates a computer system400on which printing system100may be implemented. Computer system400includes a system bus420for communicating information, and a processor410coupled to bus420for processing information.

Computer system400further comprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device425(referred to herein as main memory), coupled to bus420for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor410. Main memory425also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor410. Computer system400also may include a read only memory (ROM) and or other static storage device426coupled to bus420for storing static information and instructions used by processor410.

A data storage device425such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system400for storing information and instructions. Computer system400can also be coupled to a second I/O bus450via an I/O interface430. A plurality of I/O devices may be coupled to I/O bus450, including a display device424, an input device (e.g., an alphanumeric input device423and or a cursor control device422). The communication device421is for accessing other computers (servers or clients). The communication device421may comprise a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface device, such as those used for coupling to Ethernet, token ring, or other types of networks.

The above-described mechanism generates and controls index separator pages that include information content about multiple print jobs, rather than a single print job as conventionally implemented. The index separator pages decrease the number of printed separator pages since only one index separator page is needed per print batch of selected print jobs. Additionally, the index separator pages include information about print jobs that were previously processed, but not printed.

Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.