Patent ID: 8164782

Claim:
A system of non-transitory media executed by a computer comprising: a multiplicity of predefined characteristics describing print products wherein the predefined characteristics comprise at least one of binding, folding, finishing dimension, and cover; at least one file comprising at least one page description language (PDL) file comprising product content data wherein at least one of the at least one file comprises at least one partially specified processing instruction, and at least one JDF Digital Printing Graybox file; an extraction module that extracts product description data from the files; a multiplicity of extraction rules wherein each extraction rule is associated with at least one of the file types and wherein the extraction module applies the extraction rule set to the files to thereby produce product description data; wherein at least one of the at least one page description language (PDL) file comprises embedded print production metadata that is extracted as product description data by the extraction module and wherein at least one of the at least one page description language (PDL) file comprises a postscript file comprising embedded Document Structuring Conventions comments that are extracted as product description data by the extraction module; a knowledge based reasoning module that transforms the product description data and the predefined characteristics into a formal product description, wherein the knowledge based reasoning module is a rule based system comprising at least one assembly rule; and a process generation module that produces a process network from the formal product description, the at least one partially specified processing instruction, and the at least one page description language (PDL) file wherein the process generation module is a rule based system and wherein the process network comprises a complete set of processing instructions for directing an automatic publishing system to produce complete printed publications.