Patent ID: 7239412

Claim:
A user method utilizing the printer controller in a printer for producing a true print-preview display in the setting of computer structure which is operatively associated both with a screen-display device, and with a printer having a printer controller that is operatively connected to the computer structure, said method comprising from a document-creating application in the computer structure creating a document, and with reference to the created document, sending a set of related document-printing instructions from the computer to the printer, in association with said sending, enabling user requesting from the printer of a print-preview display, implementing said requesting via a path which enables user selection of selectable printing look and format options relating to print aesthetic appearance, spatial and positional page-appearance relationships, and protocol, wherein the enabled options are selectable from the list including (a) asking for document rendition in a selected one of different color formats, in a grey-scale format, or in a bi-tonal format, (b) instructing the printer to handle related document data in a selected state of data compression and/or bit depth, (c) instructing the printer to handle related document data at a selected level of resolution, and (d) asking that all or some selected portion of a requested print-preview display be presented in thumbnail fashion, enabling user selection of one or more of such options to be included in the print preview request in association with such sent instructions, in the printer, on the basis of such sent instructions, generating, via operation of the printer's printer controller, a collection of document print-control data which the printer will directly use to print the created document, and in response to the print-preview display request, sending back to the computer structure a print-preview data stream based exactly upon the generated print-control data collection as affected by any such user-selected options, and through cooperative interaction between the computer structure and the screen-display device, creating on the screen-display device from that sent back data stream a true print-preview display which exactly shows what the printer will print from the associated, underlying print-control data collection, with such display being affected by any such user-selected options.