Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
     Many current reprographic and printing systems currently include finishing options such as, for example, stapling, hole punching and folding options such as V-folding, C-folding and Z-folding. Manufacturers of such systems typically provide a user interface including a means for selecting desired finishing options. Finishing parameters are normally presented via a combination of icon and/or text labels describing each provided finishing option so that the user may select particular finishing options. For example, by selecting “One staple, portrait left”, the user indicates that a staple is to be placed in the top left corner of a portrait oriented output document. Of course, each finishing option that the particular system is capable of producing is normally displayed on the user interface, either in a summary window or on separate windows. 
     There are at least three significant problems with current methods of selecting finishing parameter options. For one, the finishing option programming method is indirect. That is, the user is required to make selections by way of textual or GUI components such as, e.g., radio option buttons or combo box selections. For another, since all parameters a system is capable of acting upon should be presented in some manner, the user must comprehend what each icon and/or text label means in an oftentimes large list of optional parameters. Then the user needs to correlate that understanding with a mental picture of how the final output document should appear. When the user finds the desired correlation, the user then selects and applies the respective parameter. Unfortunately, the user necessarily parses through many finishing options and therefore makes many comparisons and decisions in order to achieve the one desired outcome. 
     Yet another problem arises due to the fact that a finishing module has physical limits with respect to capabilities and how it can apply a particular finishing parameter. Therefore, conflict error checking is required to disallow the user from programming a combination of parameters that is not possible for the particular finishing system. Typically, the special behaviors and conflicts of the finishing system are confusing and awkward to the user, and difficult to understand. For these reasons, an improved method of communicating finishing options to a user for selection by the user of a reprographic or printing system is desirable. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     A method of programming finishing options in a printing system is provided for a system having a user interface with a graphical display screen, and having a finishing subsystem for applying user-specified finishing options to a finished output document. The method includes displaying a finishing window on the user interface display screen, displaying a document mimic in the finishing window, and displaying finishing tool selection regions in the finishing window for enabling the user to activate a particular finishing tool. Finishing location identifiers are displayed overlaid on portions of the document mimic, each displayed location identifier being associated with the currently activated finishing tool, and each displayed location identifier identifying a region of the output document by its location on the document mimic. In accordance with user selection of a displayed finishing location identifier, a graphical representation of operation of the activated finishing tool is performed in the portion of the document mimic identified by the selected finishing location identifier. The user selections are stored, and the finishing tool feature associated with the stored selections is activated when producing the finished document. 
     Another method is provided in a reprographic system for applying user-specified finishing options to a printed output document. The method includes displaying a finishing window on a user interface display screen, displaying a document mimic in the finishing window, and displaying finishing tool selection regions in the finishing window for enabling the user to activate one of the finishing tools. Displaying finishing tool selection regions may include displaying a button for each of the finishing tools, displaying a text box for each of the finishing tools, and displaying an iconic representation of each of the finishing tools. Finishing location identifiers are displayed on portions of the document mimic, each displayed location identifier being associated with the currently activated finishing tool, and each displayed location identifier identifying a region of the printed output document by its location on the document mimic. WYSIWYG representations of user-selected finishing tool operations are performed in the portion of the document mimic identified by the selected finishing location identifier. The WYSIWYG operations include, but are not limited to, stapling, hole-punching, V-folding, C-folding, Z-folding, and binding. Also included are WYSIWYG operations for undoing each of the aforementioned operations. The user-selected operations are stored and ultimately performed by the respective finishing tool feature when the printed output document is produced. 
     A printing system is provided including a user interface, a graphical display screen, a user input/output device, and a pointing device. A processor is included for receiving and processing digital documents from a scanning system or a network, receiving user instructions from the user interface, and displaying instructions and graphical images on the display screen. A storage system is connected to the processor, and a finishing system is included for receiving digital documents and finishing options from the processor and for producing finished documents. The processor is configured to display a finishing window on the user interface display screen, display a document mimic in the finishing window, and display finishing tool selection regions in the finishing window for enabling the user to activate selected finishing tools. The finishing tool selection regions may be displayed as buttons corresponding to respective finishing tools, text boxes, and iconic representation of respective finishing tools. Finishing location identifiers are overlaid on portions of the document mimic, each displayed location identifier being associated with the currently activated finishing tool, and each displayed location identifier identifying a region of the printed output document by its location on the document mimic. WYSIWYG representation of operations of user-selected, activated finishing tools are displayed in the portion of the document mimic identified by the selected finishing location identifier, including, but not limited to, stapling, hole-punching, V-folding, C-folding, Z-folding, and binding. WYSIWYG representations are also provided for undoing each of the aforementioned operations. Finishing location identifiers are removed from the finishing window if operation of the activated finishing tool at the respective location conflicts with operation of the finishing tool associated with a previously selected finishing location identifier. The status of each finishing option is stored based on the performed representations of an operation and the performed representations of undoing an operation, and the stored digital document and each stored status is sent to the finishing system, wherein the finishing system is configured to perform each finishing tool feature based on the finishing option status received from the processor. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment suitable for performing concepts of the present application; 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplary embodiment of a finishing option window; 
         FIG. 3  shows a finishing option window during selection of a stapling option; 
         FIG. 4  shows a finishing option window after selection of a stapling option; 
         FIG. 5  shows a finishing option window during selection of a second stapling option; 
         FIG. 6  shows a finishing option window after selection of a second stapling option; 
         FIG. 7  shows a finishing option window during selection of undoing a stapling option selection; 
         FIG. 8  shows a finishing option window after undoing all selected finishing options; and 
         FIG. 9  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for implementing tool selections. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , portions of a printing system or reprographic system suitable for incorporating concepts of the present application are shown. Only portions of the reprographic system that facilitate an understanding of the present application are shown. It is to be understood that although the present application is described in terms of a reprographic system, the concepts described herein are equally suitable for printing systems and other systems having a finishing system. As shown, the exemplary system includes a scanner  10  which may be any of a variety of scanners known in the art such as, e.g., a flathead scanner. The scanner  10  scans input documents  12  to produce digital documents which are then input to a processor  14 . The processor  14  also includes a network connection  16  for receiving electronic documents  18  over the network. 
     A user interface  19  is provided for interacting with a user of the system, i.e., receiving commands from the user, such as finishing options, and displaying job status and system status information to the user on a display screen  20 . In some embodiments, a pointing device  21 , such as, e.g. a mouse or a touchpad, is provided. Also included in the reprographic system is a main storage system  22  including, e.g., one or more disk storage units  24  and random access memory (RAM)  26 . The disk storage units include, but are not limited to, hard drives, optical drives such as, e.g., CD and DVD drives, and floppy drives. The disk storage units may be either locally or remotely connected. The processor  14  provides digital documents and user-programmed finishing system options to a finishing system  28  for final processing. The finishing system includes several subsystems including, but not limited to, a stapling subsystem  30 , a hole-punch subsystem  32 , and other finishing system subsystems  34  such as, e.g., a saddle-stitching subsystem and a folding subsystem for providing V-folding, C-folding, and Z-folding capabilities to the finishing system  28 . The finishing system  28  produces finished documents  36  which are finished in accordance with the user-programmed finishing parameters. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 2 , a finishing option window  40  is shown on the user interface  19  in accordance with concepts of the present application. The exemplary finishing window  40  includes a tool mode selection area  42 , a document mimic  44  and finishing parameter location area identifiers  46 - 56 . Also shown, but not necessary for embodiments of the present application, is a text summary  58  for providing a textual description of current finishing parameter settings. The tool mode selection area  42  includes text and/or icons representing various finishing options appropriate for the particular finishing system  28 . For example, in the figure, a staple tool  60  is shown outlined in bold indicating that the staple tool is currently selected. Of course, the staple tool  60  could also be represented as an iconic view of a stapler. Other tool selections shown, include, without limitation, a punch tool  62 , a V-fold tool  64 , a C-fold tool  66 , and a Z-fold tool  68 . Alternately, tool selections can be made by other means such as, e.g., a drop-down menu selected by the user. 
     As shown in the figure, each of the aforementioned non-selected tools is shown with a light gray outline indicative of not being currently selected or interactive. In the embodiment described, only one tool mode may be active at a given time. The document mimic  44  is an abstract representation of the user&#39;s job, and reflects any finishing parameters set from any current tool mode selections as described in further detail below. Finally, as shown in the figure, a pointer  70  is provided for selecting various of the finishing options  42  and/or finishing location identifiers  46 - 56 . The pointer  70  is shown as a standard arrow pointer indicating that the pointer  70  does not presently overlap any of the tool mode selections or location identifiers  46 - 56 . It is to be understood that the pointer  70  may be controlled in various embodiments by any of a number of means known in the art, including the pointing device  21  and/or a touch-screen display device  20 . Although preferred embodiments include finishing parameter location area identifiers  46 - 56  in the finishing option window, alternate embodiments may operate without visible location area identifiers, or may display particular location area identifiers when the pointer  70  is in the vicinity of an operable and available location for the corresponding selected tool. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 3 , methods of the present application are illustrated with respect to the staple tool  60 . As shown, the user has placed the pointer  70  over the location indicator  52  and the pointer  70  has taken on the graphical appearance of a hand-operated stapler. Additionally, the location identifier  52  has been embellished, in this case by means of a bold dark border, to indicate that the system is prepared for the user to select a stapling option in the top left corner of the document mimic  44 , that is, the location identifier  52  is now active. The text summary area  58  correctly shows that no staple option has yet been selected. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 4 , and continuing reference to  FIG. 3 , the user has activated the indicated stapling option by, e.g., clicking a button on a mouse (not shown) which controls the position of pointer  70 . Of course, on systems including a touch-screen user interface, the user may activate options by making an appropriate selection on the display screen of the user interface. The user has further moved the pointer  70  away from the location identifier  52 , and the location identifier  52  is now embellished further by showing a graphical representation of a first staple  72  overlaid on the document mimic  44 . The text summary area  58  has been updated to indicate that the user has selected one staple at the top left corner of the document mimic  44 . It should be further noted that only location identifiers  46  and  56  remain in conjunction with the embellished location identifier  52 . The remaining location identifiers  48 - 50  and  54  have been removed from the display because stapling in these locations would be contradictory to the staple indicated in location identifier  52 . In this way, the user is relieved of any manual necessity to keep track of which options conflict with the user&#39;s initial selection of a stapling location identifier  52 . 
     Alternately, rather than removing the location identifiers from the display, any location identifiers which are to be disabled can be made unavailable by other means such as, e.g., graying out the appropriate location identifiers and making them non-selectable or otherwise altering the appearance of the location identifiers. Further, particularly with reference to the stapling tool, but not limited to the stapling tool, the graphical representations of the effects of respective tools are preferably shown in a direction or alignment which corresponds to the direction in which the particular machine will orient the respective tool operation. For example, the orientation of the graphical representation of each staple preferably corresponds to the orientation of the physical staple in the finished output document. 
     Continuing with  FIG. 5 , the user has placed the pointer  70  over the location identifier  46  in anticipation of selecting a staple option in the top right corner of the document mimic  44 . With reference now to  FIG. 6 , the user has activated the staple option for location identifier  46  and, therefore, a second staple  74  is shown in that location. It can be further seen in the figure that each of the first staple  72  and the second staple  74  have been rotated 90° because the system is now aware that a top stapling operation has been requested and the text summary  58  has been further updated to indicate that two staples have been selected at the top of the document. The rotation of the first and second staples  72 ,  74 , provides additional positive feedback to the user, showing graphically, in a WYSIWYG format, how the final output document is currently programmed to be finished. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 7 , a method of undoing a previous selection is shown. In the figure, it is assumed that the user has previously selected one staple in the top left corner of the document mimic  44  as previously shown in  FIG. 4 , and the user has now moved the pointer  70  over the location identifier  52  encompassing the previously selected first staple  72 . Because a staple has already been previously selected for the indicated location, the pointer  70 , rather than mimicking a hand stapler, now represents a hand operated staple remover. This provides graphical confirmation to the user that selecting this option, by means of a click of the mouse button for example, will undo the previous staple selection. In this manner, the user is provided with a convenient and easy method of undoing previously selected options because of the flip-flop nature of the options. 
     As shown now with reference to  FIG. 8 , the user has selected the unstaple operation and, therefore, the document mimic  44  has returned to its original state, and each of the location identifiers  46 - 56  is once again shown in the finishing window  40 . The text summary area  58  has also reverted to its original setting showing no staples in the document. 
     While operation of the staple tool of one embodiment of the present application is described above, with reference to  FIGS. 2-8 , it is to be appreciated that operation of other tools such as, e.g., the punch tool  62 , operate in a similar fashion and are, therefore, not described in detail herein. Further, it is to be appreciated that appropriate graphical representations of the document mimic  44  or representations within the document mimic  44  are shown for each of the available tool modes provided in the tool mode area  42 . For example, if one of the folding tool modes  64 - 68  is selected and active, the document mimic  44  may be morphed somewhat to represent a document in the process of being folded, or partially folded, in accordance with the folding option selected. Alternately, the pointer  70  may take on the representation of an appropriately folded document, with light gray or dashed lines presented in the document mimic at the corresponding fold locations. As another example, in the case of undoing a previously selected hole punching operation, the pointer may take on the appearance of a patch for performing a hole-patching operation. 
     In a preferred embodiment, regardless of which tool mode is selected, all presently selected tool modes can be shown in the document mimic  44 . For example, the document mimic  44  may show that the location identifiers on the left side of the document mimic include punched holes, even though the staple tool may be currently selected. In other words, one feature of the present application is a progressive disclosure and interactive behavior of the document mimic  44  so that the user, at any time, sees a WYSIWYG graphical representation of the final output document to be prepared by the finishing system  28 . 
     With reference now to  FIG. 9 , a flowchart is provided showing one method for implementing each of the tool functions  42 . It is to be appreciated that the flowchart shown in  FIG. 9  is generic with respect to the tools  60 - 68  shown in the tool modes  42 . Because each tool mode operates in essentially the same fashion as the remaining tool modes, each tool mode can function in a manner similar to that shown in the figure. It is to be further understood that the arrangement of decision steps and function steps as shown in the figure is arbitrary and presented here only for a further understanding of the present application. Alternate arrangements of the decision steps and function steps are included within the scope of the present application. 
     In a first step  80 , it is determined which tool mode has currently been selected by the user such as, e.g., the staple tool mode, the punch tool mode, or other tool mode. In step  82 , the page mimic  44  is displayed including all currently selected tool functions such as, e.g., staples and punched holes, if any, and available locations for the currently selected tool mode, if any. The text summary  58  is also displayed showing the current status of each of the tool modes  42 . In a step  84 , the location of the pointer  70  is determined and at step  86 , it is determined whether or not the pointer is currently within one of the location identifier areas  46 - 56  where a tool operation has previously been selected. If not, at step  88 , it is then determined if the pointer is over a location identifier that is available for selection of a tool function. If not, at step  90 , a normal pointer is displayed indicating that no action can be taken at the present location. 
     At this time, if either the user or system has indicated that the function should terminate, the routine is exited at step  94 . Otherwise, processing returns to the first step  80  in order to update the display status based on any user input. It is to be understood that while the method shown in  FIG. 9  is being described in terms of the decisions being made in a sequential, hierarchical fashion, this is only for purposes of explaining the present application. In many embodiments, for example, many of the functions shown in the flow chart will be activated based on events detected by the operating system, such as a mouse click for example, as is well known in the art. 
     Returning to step  86 , if it is determined that the pointer is over a location identifier where a previous operation has been selected, therefore, at step  96 , the pointer is displayed as an appropriate undue type of graphic such as, e.g., a hand operated stapler remover. If, however, at step  88  it was determined that the pointer is over an available location identifier, at step  98 , the pointer is displayed as a graphical representation of the appropriate tool, such as, e.g., a hand operated stapler. In either of the above two cases, processing continues at step  100  where it is determined if the user has selected an action by clicking, e.g., a button on a mouse pointer and, if so, at step  102 , the indicated function is performed and appropriate status indicators in the storage system  22  are updated to indicate the current state which should be shown in the document mimic  44 . 
     It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

Technology Category: g