Patent Description:
Screen-based graphic user interfaces are frequently used for operating electronically controlled apparatus or systems such as, for example, a document processing system or a digital printing system. Depending upon the complexity of the system, the user interface may be utilized by an operator of a digital printer. The digital printer may be able to combine print jobs to be printed on a single media entity such as a roll or a rigid. Configuration options are provided to select a preferred way the printer will do a position proposal, for example from left to right, or from top to bottom.

Patent application <CIT> describes a print control apparatus including a display image processing unit and a printing process unit so as to execute a printing process, wherein the display processing unit includes a unit arranging a plurality of images in a predetermined layout and acquiring an arrangement printing instruction for executing printing.

Patent application <CIT> describes a client PC acquiring a print job attribute of an existing print job compositable with a print job of interest that the client PC is going to submit to a server PC. The client PC displays the preview of the print job on the basis of the acquired print job attribute.

In an image editing or paint program, the canvas is a window in which a picture or an image is dropped, copied, created and/or edited. It is the on-screen counterpart of the cloth canvas used by an artist. Instead of a canvas, the term canvas item may be used hereinafter.

The term corner indication may also be called corner indicator hereinafter. A corner is defined as a place where lines or sides join together to form an angle, or a remote or secluded place. An example of a corner is where two perpendicular lines on a virtual representation of an image receiving medium come together. An example of a corner indication are two perpendicular crossing lines that are parallel to a width and a length of the image receiving medium respectively.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method by which a clear indication on the virtual representation of the image receiving medium is provided where the digital image of the print job will be positioned.

In order to achieve that object, the method according to the invention comprises the steps of claim <NUM>.

The invention is based on the consideration that an operator who is particularly interested in nesting images on a roll or rigid wants to know in advance how the images will be positioned on the image receiving medium. The separate showing of the canvas item and the preview image in the second window in two separate steps of the method according to the present invention is advantageous. The main advantage is namely that the selection of a print job in the waiting room results in showing the canvas item on the second window and does not yet result in a concrete action of the printing system like moving the image(s) of the print job to the print queue for actually printing the image(s) on the image receiving medium. This way of selecting the print job leaves room for other actions than a move or a copy from the waiting room to the second window, such as a delete action or a reset action.

The print job is actually moved or copied from the waiting room to the second window by a move or copy action respectively which is different from the selection action. By showing an outline at the selection action, and showing a preview image later after the move or copy action, said difference is emphasized and increased. The shown outline of the canvas item helps the operator beforehand to decide whether or not to move or copy the print job from the waiting room to the first window.

Another advantage of the method is that the selection step is fast in time since not a preview of the image is initially displayed but only an outline of the image is displayed.

Moreover, a selection of multiple images to be printed works relatively fast for the operator or user.

According to an embodiment the step of moving the corner indication to a location on the virtual representation, occurs upon selection of the print job in the first window.

According to an alternative embodiment the step of moving the corner indication to a location on the virtual representation, occurs upon moving or copying the selected print job from the first window to the second window.

According to an embodiment the method comprises the step of subsequently selecting a plurality of print jobs, and, upon replacing the corner indication by the canvas item, giving feedback on issues originating from different print modes of the plurality of selected print jobs or a misfit of any of digital images of the plurality of print jobs on the virtual representation of the image receiving medium.

The present invention gives upfront information to the operator what a targeted action will result in. The present invention is a means to already provide extra information to the operator on the result, e.g. the exact image size on the image receiving medium and possible conflicts.

The invention also relates to a user interface device according to claim <NUM>. The user interface screen comprises both the first and the second window, i.e. on a same screen.

The invention also relates to a digital printer for printing print jobs comprising a digital image to be printed on an image receiving medium, wherein the digital printer comprises a user interface device according to the present invention.

The invention also relates to a software product comprising program code on a machine-readable medium, which program code, when loaded into a print controller of a digital printer, causes the print controller to control a user interface device of the digital printer in accordance with a method of the present invention.

Embodiment examples will now be described in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:.

<FIG> is a block diagram in which a system to be controlled, the system being a printing system <NUM> in this example, has been represented by a single block. An associated user interface <NUM> comprises an interface controller <NUM>, also represented by a single block, and an editor screen <NUM> which has been shown in greater detail in <FIG>. The editor screen <NUM> serves as a graphical output device of the user interface <NUM> but may also be configured as a touch-sensitive screen, so that it can serve as an input/output device for entering commands and for displaying messages to be output to a user. In another embodiment, a separate input device may be provided, e.g. in the form of a keyboard and a mouse.

The editor screen <NUM> is controlled by the interface controller <NUM> which is configured for wireless or wired communication with electronic controllers of various components of the printing system <NUM>.

It will be noted that the user interface <NUM> may for example be formed by a wireless mobile device such a smartphone with a suitable software application loaded therein and configured for wireless communication with the printing system <NUM>.

In the example shown in <FIG>, the display area of the editor screen <NUM> is divided into a control bar <NUM> at the top margin and a number of windows <NUM>, <NUM>. The display area of the editor screen <NUM> is reserved for displaying various display items <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The control bar <NUM> at the top margin comprises a first tile <NUM> for showing the number of jobs in the waiting room and the number of jobs in the print queue, and a second tile <NUM> for showing the kind of image receiving medium which is currently being used by the printer. In a sub-control bar <NUM> a first button <NUM> is configured to define the image receiving medium and a second button <NUM> is configured to control the canvas settings for the second window <NUM>. The first window <NUM> represents a waiting room for print jobs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The print jobs are provided with print job settings like size, for example <NUM> x <NUM>, a media type, for example "Forex", and a print mode, for example "Print Strategy <NUM>" and "Print Strategy <NUM>". A sub-control bar <NUM> of the window <NUM> comprises a first button <NUM> for moving a selected print job to the second window <NUM>, a second button <NUM> for copying a print job to the second window <NUM> and a third button <NUM> for filtering the number of jobs by means of a filter criterion (not shown). In the bottom margin three buttons <NUM> - <NUM> are provided. A first button <NUM> is configured to reset the second window <NUM> to its original configuration. A second button <NUM> is configured to save the configuration as it is displayed at the second window <NUM>. A third button <NUM> is configured to move the canvas configuration established in the second window <NUM> to a print queue of the printing system <NUM>.

The second window <NUM> is a virtual area comprising a representation of the image receiving medium to be printed upon. The second window <NUM> initially comprises a corner indicator <NUM> for indicating in which corner of the image receiving medium the first image to be printed will be positioned. In the example of <FIG> the top left corner is indicated by the corner indication <NUM>. The corner indicator <NUM> is visible on the editor screen <NUM> without any print job being selected.

By means of the second window <NUM> the operator is able to combine print jobs on a single media-entity such as a roll or a rigid. Configuration options may be present to select a preferred way the user interface will do the position proposal, e.g. from left to right, or from top to bottom.

<FIG> shows a next action of the operator, namely a selection of a print job from the waiting room <NUM>. In <FIG> the print job <NUM> labeled "Job <NUM>" is selected as indicated by a grey colour of a row of print job <NUM>. When the print job <NUM> is selected, immediately a clear indication is given on the virtual image receiving medium in the second window <NUM>, where the selected image will be positioned on the image receiving medium. The clear indication is a canvas item. The canvas item may be in a form of a rectangle <NUM> representing the print job <NUM> conform its size of <NUM> by <NUM>.

The corner indicator <NUM> on the second window <NUM> is replaced by the canvas item <NUM> which has an outline with a size of a layout of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM>.

At the same time the corner indicator <NUM> is moved to a location 108A on the second window <NUM> where a next to be selected print job will originate.

It is concluded that when a print job is selected in the waiting room <NUM> the user interface system immediately gives a layout indication of where the image of the print job will be located on the image receiving medium even before actually moving or copying the print job to the second window <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a next action of the operator, namely a move or copy action of a print job from the waiting room <NUM> to the second window <NUM>. In <FIG> the print job <NUM> labeled "Job <NUM>" is selected as indicated by the grey colour of the row of print job <NUM>. The operator may press the first button <NUM> in the sub-control bar <NUM> in order to move the selected print job <NUM> to the virtual representation of the image receiving medium in the second window <NUM>. At the same time the canvas item <NUM> is immediately replaced by a preview image <NUM> of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM>. In a touch screen variant the operator may drag the print job into the area of the second window <NUM>. As soon as the drag action is completed the canvas item <NUM> is replaced by the preview image <NUM>.

The size of the preview image <NUM> is of the same size as the canvas item <NUM>. The picture of the preview image <NUM> shows the result of the visualization when the print job is actually moved or copied to the second window <NUM> representing the image receiving medium.

In case of a move action by means of the button <NUM> or a drag action the job entry <NUM> of "Job <NUM>" will disappear from the list of print jobs in the waiting room <NUM> such that only the remaining print jobs <NUM>, <NUM> are still visible as shown in <FIG>.

In case of a copy action by means of the button <NUM> the job entry <NUM> of "Job <NUM>" will stay in the list of print jobs in the waiting room <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a next action of the operator, namely a selection of a next print job from the waiting room <NUM>. In <FIG> the print job <NUM> labeled "Job <NUM>" is selected as indicated by a grey colour of a row of print job <NUM>. When the print job <NUM> is selected, immediately a clear indication is given on the virtual media in the second window <NUM>, where the selected image will be positioned on the image receiving medium. The clear indication may be a canvas item in a form of a grey rectangle <NUM> representing the print job <NUM> conform its size <NUM> by <NUM>.

The corner indicator 108A on the second window <NUM> in <FIG> is replaced in <FIG> by the canvas item <NUM> which has an outline with a size of a layout of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM>.

At the same time the corner indicator 108A as shown in <FIG> is moved to a location 108B on second window <NUM> where a next to be selected print job will originate.

The print mode setting of the firstly selected print job <NUM> and the secondly selected print job <NUM> are different as indicated in the print job list shown in the first window <NUM>. As already shown in <FIG> the print mode of the firstly selected print job <NUM> is according to a print strategy named "Print Strategy <NUM>", while the print mode of the secondly selected print job <NUM> is according to a print strategy named "Print Strategy <NUM>". The fact that the images of the print job <NUM> and the print job <NUM> are intended to be printed aside of each other on the image receiving medium as indicated by the virtual representation of the image receiving medium on the second window <NUM>, will generate a conflict situation. Therefore a warning indicator <NUM> and a warning text <NUM> will be displayed in the gray rectangle <NUM> in order to warn the operator and let him solve this issue.

It is concluded that when a print job is selected in the waiting room <NUM> the user interface system immediately gives a layout indication of where the image of the print job will be located on the image receiving medium even before actually moving or copying the print job to the second window <NUM>. In case of a conflict, the operator is warned by a message in the appropriate area of the second window <NUM>. The message contains feedback on issues like mismatching print modes and images that do not fit on the image receiving medium.

<FIG> shows an example of a situation wherein the operator also selects the print job <NUM> labeled "Job <NUM>". In <FIG> the print job <NUM> labeled "Job <NUM>" is also selected as indicated by the grey colour of the row of print job <NUM>. When the print job <NUM> is selected, immediately a clear indication is given on the virtual image receiving medium in the second window <NUM>, where the selected image will be positioned on the image receiving medium. The clear indication may be a canvas item in a form of a grey rectangle <NUM> representing the print job <NUM> conform its size <NUM> by <NUM>.

The corner indicator 108B (see <FIG>) on the second window <NUM> is replaced by the canvas item <NUM> which has an outline with a size of a layout of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM>.

The corner indicator 108B as shown in <FIG> is not moved to a location on the second window <NUM> where a next to be selected print job will originate, since the image receiving medium has been fully occupied by the images resulting from selecting the plurality of print jobs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Instead of a move of the corner indication 108B, the corner indication 108B is disappeared.

Moreover, the image of the print job <NUM> does not completely fit on the virtual image receiving medium, i.e. the image of the print job <NUM> will not fit on the image receiving medium when printed. Therefore the canvas item <NUM> which protrudes from the second window <NUM> is marked, for example by means of a deviating colour of the interior of the rectangle of canvas item <NUM> and/or another warning message (not shown) at the canvas item <NUM>.

In the shown examples in <FIG> the sizes of the images of the print jobs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are the same. However, while nesting print jobs on the editor screen <NUM> as shown in <FIG>, images of different sizes may be envisioned.

In <FIG> one print job has been selected at a time. However, according to an embodiment of the invention multiple print jobs are selected simultaneously by a multi-select option configured for the window <NUM> of the waiting room of the print jobs. and for each selected print job a canvas item will be shown at selection, and also feedback on issues like mismatching print modes and images that do not fit on the image receiving medium. The feedback is given at selection of a print job or a plurality of print jobs before actually moving or copying the print job(s) to the second window <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method according to the invention. The method is suitable for controlling a user interface of a printing system for printing images on an image receiving medium. The printing system comprises a print engine and a print controller for managing the printing of digital images on the image receiving medium like a roll or rigid. The method starts in a starting point A and leads to a first step S1.

In the first step S1 a corner indication <NUM> is displayed on the second window <NUM>. The corner indication <NUM> indicates a location where a top left corner of the digital image of the print job <NUM> will be placed on the image receiving medium.

In a second step S2 the print job <NUM> is selected in the first window <NUM> representing the waiting room.

In a third step S3, upon selection of the print job <NUM> in the first window <NUM>, the corner indication <NUM> is replaced by a canvas item <NUM> with a size of a layout of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM>.

In a fourth step S4, upon selection of the print job <NUM> in the first window <NUM>, the corner indication <NUM> is moved to a location 108A on the virtual representation where a next to be selected print job will originate.

In a fifth step S5 the selected print job <NUM> is moved or copied from the first window <NUM> to the second window <NUM> being a virtual representation of the image receiving medium.

In a sixth step S6, upon moving or copying the selected print job <NUM> from the first window <NUM> to the second window <NUM>, the canvas item <NUM> is replaced by a preview image <NUM> of the digital image of the selected print job <NUM> of the same size as the layout.

According to an alternative embodiment the fourth step S4 is left out of the method as described here-above, and a seventh step is added to the method after the sixth step S6. In the seventh step, upon moving or copying the selected print job <NUM> from the first window <NUM> to the second window <NUM> in the fifth step S5, the corner indication <NUM> is moved to a location 108A on the virtual representation where a next to be selected print job will originate. In this embodiment the sixth step S6 and the seventh step are interchangeable with respect to its execution order.

<FIG> schematically shows a non-transitory software medium <NUM> according to the invention. The software medium <NUM> comprises executable code <NUM> configured to, when executed, perform the method according to the invention, e.g. as described with respect to either the printing system <NUM> shown in <FIG> or the method of controlling the user interface of the printing system <NUM> according to any or all of the <FIG> and/or according to any of the variants and modifications of the printing system <NUM> and/or of the method described herein.

The non-transitory software medium <NUM> may, specifically, be formed as a CD or a CD-ROM, a DVD or a DVD-ROM, a BluRay disc or a BluRay-ROM disc, a magnetic hard drive, a solid state disk (SSD) hard drive, a USB memory device and so on.

While detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims.

Claim 1:
A method for selecting a print job (<NUM>) and displaying the print job (<NUM>) on a second window (<NUM>), the print job (<NUM>) comprising a digital image to be printed on an image receiving medium by means of a digital printer having a user interface (<NUM>) comprising the second window (<NUM>) and a first window (<NUM>), the first window (<NUM>) representing a waiting room for the print job (<NUM>) which is selectable to be printed, and the second window (<NUM>) being for displaying a virtual representation of the image receiving medium, the method comprising the steps of
- displaying a corner indication (<NUM>) on the second window (<NUM>), the corner indication (<NUM>) indicating a location where a top left corner of the digital image of the print job (<NUM>) will be placed on the image receiving medium,
- selecting the print job (<NUM>) in the first window (<NUM>),
- upon selection of the print job (<NUM>) in the first window (<NUM>), replacing the corner indication (<NUM>) by a canvas item (<NUM>) with a size of a layout of the digital image of the selected print job (<NUM>),
- receiving a user selection at the user interface (<NUM>), the user selection being to either copy or move the selected print job (<NUM>) from the first window (<NUM>) to the second window (<NUM>),
- upon receiving the user selection replacing the canvas item (<NUM>) by a preview image (<NUM>) of the digital image of the selected print job (<NUM>) of the same size as the layout, and
- moving the corner indication (<NUM>) to a location (108A) on the virtual representation where a next to be selected print job (<NUM>) will originate.