Dynamic stapling
Contents
1. It is also assumed that the paper is long edge fed 0061 In FIG 4A there is shown on a Stapling tab 410A a reduced size representation 420A of one page of the selected object instance the first page of this patent appli cation On the representation 420A the printer driver preferably superimposes one or more check boxes 430A at each logical stapling position The representation 420 is a letter size portrait orientation document The representation 420A is preferably proportional to what will be printed and preferably appears top side up rather than up side down or otherwise rotated 0062 In FIG 4B there is shown a similar Stapling tab 410B with a reduced size representation 420B of one page of a landscape orientation document Check boxes 430B show the logical stapling positions 0063 Assuming that two documents are to be printed to the same printer using the same cassette and the same paper size but only their image orientations differ the logical stapling positions relative to the page should be the same This is shown in FIGS 4A and 4B In FIG 4A the logical stapling positions are three places on each of the long edges of the paper In FIG 4B the logical stapling positions are also three places on each of the long edges of the paper 0064 As mentioned the hypothetical printer of the example can put staples only in three places on the left side of a long edge fed letter size paper However the print2. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in any of a predefined range of positions along at least one edge of a sheet of paper printed by the printer
3. by hand into the printer A few models of printer provide an adjustable paper tray capable of taking a range of paper sizes either as standard or as an optional extra 0015 In addition to paper most printers will print on other materials including lightweight card adhesive labels and overhead projection transparencies Individual models of printer each have their limitations in handling these materials depending on the design of the printing mecha nism these limitations are normally specified by the printer manufacturer in the user manual Most printers will also print on envelopes using the manual feed facility Envelope feeders are also often available for holding and feeding a stack of envelopes US 2002 0085223 Al 0016 The number and capacity of paper input feeders on a printer varies enormously depending on the size and type of printer The majority of personal printers provide one input feeder holding about 100 sheets of standard paper and a manual feed facility Paper feeders on larger printers tend to be correspondingly larger office printers typically hold 250 sheets per tray and often allow two trays to be loaded at once Workgroup printers sometimes have special high capacity feeders motor driven paper feeders holding around 1 000 sheets Large production printers may have several motor driven feeders holding up to 2 500 sheets each a 90 p p m production printer can use 5 000 sheets in an hour 0017 Th
4. computer workstations such as computer workstations 150 there typically will be a number of application programs with which a user may create edit and print object instances by use of input output devices such as a display 150a a mouse and a keyboard not shown These application programs may be for word processing graphics spread sheets presentations and many other purposes 0041 The LAN 100 may also include hubs routers and other devices not shown Furthermore printers may be coupled directly to the file server 120 and computer work stations 150 Additional printers and other devices such as multifunction peripherals MFPs and fax devices may be coupled to the LAN 100 as described above 0042 Before proceeding further a few terms are defined By server it is meant hardware or software which pro vides network services By file server it is meant a computer which controls access to file and disk resources on a network and provides security and synchronization on the network through a network operating system By computer workstation it is meant a client computer which routes commands either to its local operating system or to a network interface adapter for processing and transmission on the network A computer workstation may function as a server by including appropriate software and may be for example a print server archive server or communication server Furthermore a computer workstation may be u
5. positions 10 A method of printing a document from a computer workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in any of a predefined range of positions along at least one edge of a sheet of paper printed by the printer 11 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page the printing system comprising a a computer workstation including a display a user input device and a printer driver and b a printer including a stapling unit capable of placing cinching devices in at least two positions wherein the printer driver includes instructions for i obtaining cinching device position capabilities paper size capabilities and feed orientation capabili ties of the printer ii obtaining a desired paper type and a desired image orientation of the object instance iii determining as logical staple positions where on the printed pages of the object instance the stapling unit could attach cinching devices iv displaying on the display a representation of at least one page of the object instance and the logical staple positions v accepting a user input from the input device indi cating which of the logical staple positions where the user wishes to have the printer place cinching devices on a printed copy of the object instance and Jul 4 2002 vi sending one or more commands to the printer indicating an amount of rotation for the obj
6. stapling positions unselectable This is preferably done by greying the affected check boxes 430A and not checking them if the user attempts to select them Alterna tively the check boxes 430A could be not displayed In the example of FIGS 4A and 4B selection of any logical stapling position 430A 430B will foreclose all of the logical stapling positions on the opposite side of the page 0067 Although the FIGS 4A and 4B show reduced size representations of one page of an object instance other representations are also within the scope of the invention Preferably a large letter e g T or A is used as the representation since this provides a simpler implementa tion Alternatively a graphic could be used The important feature of the representation is that it convey to the user the logical staple positions in relation to the printed appearance of the object instance 0068 The user then confirms his selections by clicking the mouse on an OK button 440A 440B or an Apply button 445A 445B Without any further user interaction the printer driver then determines whether for the stapling unit to put staples at the selected logical stapling positions the image of the object instance must be rotated and also the physical stapling positions which correspond to the selected logical stapling positions on the page as rotated or not 0069 The printer driver then in step 780 issues instruc tions to the printer
7. the printer to attach a bendable cinching device e g a staple to hard copy output of the printer 0045 Those of ordinary skill in the art are knowledgeable about the operation of object oriented operating systems Jul 4 2002 such as MS Windows and application programs designed to operate therewith Hence most of the matter appearing in the drawings including the functionality represented by objects shown in the drawings will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art with limited description Expla nation of the use of MS Windows and various applications programs are widely available in publications such as Win dows 95 For Dummies 2nd Edition and WordPerfect 8 For Windows For Dummies both published by IDG Books which are incorporated herein by reference 0046 The method of configuring a printer in accordance with the invention will now be explained with reference to FIG 7 showing a flowchart of the method and FIGS 2 6 showing representative screen shots and partial screen shots In the first step a user indicates an object instance for printing and activates a printer driver at one of the computer workstations 150 step 700 In MS Windows object instances may be selected for printing from within a par ticular application while editing the object instance such as a word processor or from views of lists of files such as the Windows Explorer The object instance may be for example a document or one or m
8. US 20020085223A1 a Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2002 0085223 A1 as United States BIGI 43 Pub Date Jul 4 2002 54 DYNAMIC STAPLING 76 Inventor MICHAEL J BIGI IRVINE CA US Correspondence Address ARTER amp HADDEN LLP 1100 HUNTINGTON BUILDING 925 EUCLID AVENUE CLEVELAND OH 44115 1475 US Notice This is a publication of a continued pros ecution application CPA filed under 37 CFR 1 53 d 21 Appl No 09 049 298 22 Filed Mar 27 1998 Publication Classification r DEC uaar Ras G06F 15 00 B41J 1 00 User activates 700 printer driver 710 Detect stapling paper size and feed direction capabilities Get user s selected paper type and image orientation 720 Driver determines 740 760 Driver provides logical bitmap of user s printed page 52 US CE sernir 358 1 13 358 1 5 57 ABSTRACT Methods and apparatus for selecting staple positions for printed documents are disclosed A system and method for printing documents is disclosed which provide a user with extended staple position options A user of a printer may specify where he wishes staples to be put into his document The user is provided with a view of a sheet of paper on his computer screen and can select with his mouse where he wants the staples to be put By knowing the paper size feed orientation and image orientation the printer driver can then map the user s se
9. ally to set the paper size and then the margins until these are set the line length is unknown When the line length is set the formatter can arrange the text Some computer programs send all the commands required to position the text on the page speci fying exactly where each character is placed so that the formatter has very little to do other programs send the minimum of commands and expect the printer to work out the details If for instance the formatter receives a com mand to justify the text between the margins it must using the font width information for each letter space out and calculate the exact position of each letter in the line so that the end of the line of text is both the end of a word and exactly flush with the right margin If the font requested by a command is not available in the printer the formatter must choose a substitute and use that instead Once the formatter has determined how much can be fitted on the line it inserts a new line command to start the next line The formatter lays out the text until it has reached the bottom of the page or the end of the data The formatter will also process any graphics on the page converting vector graphics command to bit maps and checking the validity of any bitmap graphics sent to the printer When the complete page is formatted the formatter passes it as a very detailed set of commands specifying the font and position of each letter and the position of each bitmap g
10. ce having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 the printer driver including instructions for displaying the representa tion of the object instance in the desired orientation 18 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in three fixed posi tions and the printer driver provides more than three logical stapling positions 19 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in any of a predefined range of positions along at least one edge of a sheet of paper printed by the printer 20 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation the computer workstation including a display and a user input device the printer driver including instructions for a obtaining cinching device position capabilities paper size capabilities and feed orientation capabilities of a printer the printer including a stapling unit capable of placing cinching devices in at least two positions b obtaining a desired paper type and a desired image orientation of the object instance c determining as logical staple positions where on the printed pages of the object instance the stapling uni
11. cument 0025 It has been suggested though to provide more flexible stapling options in a printer According to one proposed system the position of a stapler in a device is moveable with respect to a printed page In this system the finisher can place staples at any of the four corners of the document as well as at any of four angles horizontal vertical angled left or angled right Although it was speculated that the staple position and angle could be made selectable by a user from a computer attached to a printer devices and methods for actually achieving the suggested ends were not disclosed 0026 It is therefore the object of the invention to provide enhanced printer stapling capabilities It is a further object to increase the number of possible staple positions without adding additional staplers to the finisher It is a further object to make fully available the stapling capabilities of a printer across all paper types and feed directions It is a further object to provide enhanced printer stapling capabilities without requiring modification of the printer or finisher SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0027 The previously described objects are achieved in a system and method for printing documents which provide a user with extended staple position options In accordance with the invention a user of a printer may specify where he wishes staples to be put into his document The user is provided with a view of a sheet of paper on hi
12. e printer s controller is a dedicated computer which creates an image from commands it receives from the host computer sending the document A controller has to perform several tasks including communication talking to the host computer interpretation finding and understand ing the commands sent to it which are normally embedded in the data to be printed formatting preparing to create an image including setting the paper size margins selecting fonts etc rasterizing rasterizing is the creation of the image as an array of dots ready for the laser and finally passing the image to the print engine Different printer languages make different demands on the controller and different manufacturers use different approaches to the design of controllers so each make and model of printer controller operates in a slightly different way but each has the same effect The controller is typically integrated into the body of the printer but it may also be an adjunct to the printer s main body with a separate power supply too 0018 The communications function of a printer control ler talks to the computer which is sending the document to be printed It receives data from the computer through a communications port and tells the computer when to stop sending data so that it can process the data it has received and when to start sending data again This process is known as handshaking there are many different handshaking pro tocol
13. ect instance and where to place cinching devices to achieve the logical staple positions indicated by the user 12 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 the printer driver including instructions for obtaining the stapling paper size and feed orientation capabilities of the printer by interrogating the printer 13 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 the printer driver including instructions for obtaining the stapling paper size and feed orientation capabilities from a default source in the computer workstation 14 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 the printer driver including instructions for obtaining the desired paper type and image orientation of the object instance from an application program running on the computer workstation 15 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 14 where the desired paper type and image orientation of the object instance are either selected by the user through the applica tion program or are set to predefined defaults 16 A printing system for printing an object instance having at least one page as set forth in claim 11 the representation including a reduced image of at least one page of the object instance 17 A printing system for printing an object instan
14. entation capabilities of the printer d the printer driver obtaining a desired paper type and a desired image orientation of the object instance e the printer driver determining as logical staple posi tions where on the printed pages of the object instance the stapling unit could attach cinching devices f the printer driver displaying on the display a repre sentation of at least one page of the object instance and the logical staple positions g the user using the input device indicating to the printer driver which of the logical staple positions where the user wishes to have the printer place cinching devices on a printed copy of the object instance and h the printer driver sending one or more commands to the printer indicating an amount of rotation for the object instance and where to place cinching devices to achieve the logical staple positions indicated by the user 2 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where in step c the printer driver obtaining the stapling paper size and feed orientation capabilities of the printer by US 2002 0085223 Al interrogating the printer and the printer communicating the capabilities to the computer workstation 3 A method of printing a document from a computer workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where in step c the printer driver obtaining the stapling paper size and feed orientation ca
15. er driver has recognized that if the image were rotated 180 before printing a mirrored set of staple positions are obtain able along the right edge of the paper 0065 In FIG 4A check box 431A is shown checked This is preferably achieved by the user moving a mouse cursor over the check box 431A and clicking with the mouse US 2002 0085223 Al step 770 However other techniques for the user selecting stapling positions are also within the scope of the invention and may include the user moving logical staples onto the page at desired positions typing with a keyboard names of positions radio buttons etc In one embodiment when the mouse cursor is moved over the bitmap area representing the logical view of the page the pointer changes to a hand at any logical stapling position If the user pushes the left mouse button when over one of the logical stapling positions then that position is selected as well as the corresponding item in the radio button group 0066 In some embodiments selection of one logical stapling position might foreclose others For example the stapling unit may only be capable of putting staples on one edge of the page However if the page is rotated 180 the stapling unit could put staples on the opposite edge of the page In such instances preferably if the user selects a logical stapling position which forecloses other logical sta pling positions the printer driver makes the foreclosed logical
16. f the job spool is in printing multiple copies of a document The print job only needs to be sent to the printer once to store it in the job spool but it can be printed several times from the job spool which reduces the amount of time the computer needs to spend sending the data to the printer 0020 The interpretation function of the controller nor mally called the interpreter examines the data sent from the computer and identifies the command embedded in the data The commands will fall into several categories such as printer control page format font management text layout and graphics and must be arranged and submitted to the formatter in the correct order and priority incorrect or invalid commands must also be processed and signaled to the user The interpreter is usually responsible for imple menting the printer control commands these are commands which perform generic operations such as selecting duplex or simplex manual feed and other commands which have no impact on the formatting of the page In some printers this is all that the interpreter does in other printers the interpreter may also translate the commands into a shorthand or token ized form which the formatter can process more efficiently The interpreter passes the structured print data to the for matter 0021 The formatting function of the controller called the formatter takes the structured print data and arranges the page The first priority is norm
17. ich has legal size paper then the printer driver limits the user s choice of paper types to legal 0058 With the paper type and image orientation now selected and knowing the printer s capabilities with respect to paper types feed orientation and stapling the printer driver determines at what positions the stapling unit can put staples on a printed copy of the object instance step 740 These potential staple positions are referred to herein as logical staple positions If the user did not select a paper source then the printer driver preferably defaults to select ing a paper source with long edge feed stock The determi nation of logical staple positions may be either according to an algorithm or by looking up the logical staple positions in a table The table may for example be incorporated into the printer driver or in the printer and accessible to the printer driver 0059 Next the printer driver displays on the computer workstation s display 150a a representation of at least one page of the object instance step 760 and the logical staple positions step 765 Preferably only the first page is shown The printer driver in accordance with the invention may generate a dialog 400A 400B such as those shown in FIGS 4A and 4B 0060 For the sake of this example it is assumed that a letter size paper and source have been selected and that the printer can put staples in three places along the left edge of the paper
18. ium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 the printer driver including instructions for obtain ing the desired paper type and image orientation of the object instance from an application program running on the computer workstation Jul 4 2002 24 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 the representation including a reduced image of at least one page of the object instance 25 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 the printer driver including instructions for dis playing the representation of the object instance in the desired orientation 26 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in three fixed positions and the printer driver provides more than three logical stapling positions 27
19. le graph ics Most Escape Code languages do not offer sophisticated typographic features so while they may be able to use a range of different fonts most Escape Code languages can only print text in a limited number of sizes and cannot handle special effects such as printing text at an angle or on a curved line 0013 Laser printers are very attractive to anyone work ing with graphics because of their print quality As a result of this some laser printers have the ability to emulate other graphics output devices such as pen plotters The majority of pen plotters use a language called HPGL Hewlett Packard Graphics Language and it is common for a laser printer to offer the ability to use HPGL 0014 Printers normally use cut sheet stationery there are a very few high speed printers using continuous statio nery The page size used in most printers is fixed by the size of the paper input tray cassette the paper container which inserts into the paper feeder mechanism Most printers are supplied with single size paper trays for the standard busi ness stationery which in North America is Letter size 8 5 x11 and in the rest of the world is A4 210 mmx297 mm Other paper sizes can be handled using different paper trays which are normally optional extras or via a manual feed facility which allows individual sheets of odd sized paper to be used The manual feed process is cumbersome as each sheet of paper has to be fed
20. lected staple positions to the physical capabilities of the printer The printer driver instructs the printer controller of the stapling position for the job and how much rotation if any the controller should apply to the image before printing 765 Enable stapling positions that can be supported 770 User selects stapling positions 780 Driver issues instructions to controller with the physical stapling positions and rotation 790 Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 1 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 150a 150 li Oo 160 100 150 Figure 1 Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 2 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 Format Table Graphics Tools Window Help New Ctl T 240 Open Ctd O Ctd F 4 reproduction by any one of the paten Save As F3 Office patent files or records but othe Internet Publisher Document gt atsoever Print Publish to Send D OF THE INVENTION 638 appln wpd trademark pamphlet wpd trademark brochure wpd 322 resolution wpd 322 1001n 6 wpd 322 settle 1 wpd letterhead wpd patent smart wpd 373 mivaoni status wpd the Invention Psent invention relates generally to con lO 100 IN oo Ion I ICO IN I ption of Related Art m Ix Alt F4 osoft Windows like most contemporary o to any number of printers These printers may be atti or may be acce
21. ling positions to the user and once the user has selected stapling positions the printer driver sends appro priate instructions to the printer identifying the physical stapling positions and pre printing image rotation to achieve this 0073 Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes modifications or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made none of which depart from the spirit of the present invention All such changes modi fications and alterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the present invention For example although the invention is described with respect to LAN 100 features of the invention as defined by the claims could also be used to great benefit in a non networked environment It is claimed 1 A method of printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation to a printer the computer workstation including a display a user input device and a printer driver the printer including a stapling unit capable of placing cinching devices in at least two positions the method comprising the steps of a a user at the computer workstation indicating that the object instance is to be printed b invoking the printer driver c the printer driver obtaining cinching device position capabilities paper size capabilities and feed ori
22. llows the user to select different paper types fonts and many other print output characteris tics However these options are available irrespective of the capabilities of the selected printer or any printer which might be available Typically if the user has selected a particular output characteristic which the printer does not support the printer will attempt to match the selected characteristic with the selected printer s actual capabilities 0051 Once the printer driver has been invoked it gathers two types of information The first type relates to the capabilities of the selected printer The second type of information relates to the object instance to be printed US 2002 0085223 Al 0052 In step 710 the printer driver obtains the staple position capabilities paper size capabilities and feed orien tation capabilities of the selected printer There are well known techniques for printer drivers to obtain a printer s capabilities and no particular technique is meant to be excluded These include interrogation of the printer and reliance upon installation defaults or other defaults Since a printer with a stapling unit is necessary for performing the method it is presumed for the present purposes that the selected printer includes a stapling unit By staple position capabilities it is meant the locations on printed pages where the stapling unit can place staples and this may be paper size dependent By paper size ca
23. ntation of at least one page of the object instance and the logical staple positions the user using the input device indicating to the printer driver which of the logical staple positions where the user wishes to have the printer place cinching devices on a printed copy of the object instance and the printer driver sending one or more commands to the printer indicating an amount of rotation for the object instance and where to place cinching devices to achieve the logical staple positions indicated by the user 0029 Stil further objects and advantages attaching to the device and to its use and operation will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following particular description DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0030 Further objects of this invention together with additional features contributing thereto and advantages accruing therefrom will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the present inven tion which is shown in the accompanying drawings with like reference numerals indicating corresponding parts through out and which is to be read in conjunction with the following drawings wherein 0031 FIG 1 is a block diagram of a computer network for use in conjunction with the invention 0032 FIG 2 is a representative screen shot showing a step in selecting a printer configuration in accordance with the invention 0033 FIG 3 is a representative screen shot showing another step in
24. o the printer driver from within applications so that the user can select from the options and features available to the selected printer Jul 4 2002 0010 The language used by a printer is the set of com mands it obeys to format data sent from a computer These commands are embedded in the data by the computer and interpreted by the printer 0011 Printer languages generally fall into two categories Page Description Languages PDLs and Escape Code lan guages Page Description Languages are generally more versatile and sophisticated allowing more complex pages and graphics to be created and are suitable for typographi cally advanced documents such as presentation materials technical manuals catalogues advertising brochures etc Page Description Languages are normally used to produce sophisticated highly formatted output including graphics design programs advanced word processing packages spreadsheets with extensive charting capabilities and desk top publishing packages 0012 Escape Code languages are generally characterized by the structure of the commands they use each command is prefixed by a special code normally the Escape code 1B hexadecimal 27 decimal hence the name to signify that the following characters are a command and not data to be printed Escape Code languages do not offer the flexibility of PDLs and are suited to simple documents such as letters database printouts and documents containing simp
25. ore selected pages of a document 0047 FIG 2 shows a screen shot of a typical word processing application program WordPerfect WordPerfect is published by Corel Corporation Ottawa Canada In FIG 2 the editing of a document by WordPerfect is shown Like many MS Windows applications to print a document from WordPerfect the user selects File 210 from the menu bar at the top of the screen then Print 220 Short cuts are also typically provided and implemented through for example macros short cut keys and on screen icons but tons 0048 Once the user has selected the Print function WordPerfect like most MS Windows applications generates a dialog window 300 such as that shown in FIG 3 From this dialog box the user may select from a list 320 a particular printer to print to if more than one are available FIG 1 shows two printers 180a 180b accessible to com puter workstations 150 0049 The dialog window 300 typically allows the user to activate the printer driver of the selected printer to modify certain default properties for print jobs sent to the selected printer or to take advantage of certain capabilities of the printer This is typically achieved by pressing a Properties button 310 with the mouse 0050 This ability to modify the printer s properties from the printer driver should not be confused with the ability to modify an object instance s print characteristics For example WordPerfect a
26. pabilities it is meant the types and sizes of paper for which the printer is to configured to have available for printing An empty or improperly filled paper source could affect this By feed orientation it is meant the direction which the printer feeds out hard copy and is typically defined as long edge feed or short edge feed Long edge feed LE means that for example for letter size paper the paper feeds along the 11 edge and feeds out an 8 edge 0053 Next in step 720 the printer driver obtains a paper type selection and image orientation selection for the object instance Many application programs have means for allow ing the user to select paper type and image orientation Because some application programs lack such a feature most printer drivers provide a similar feature Typically selections made from the application program will override selections made through the printer driver Preferably the user or the printer driver insures that the application paper size settings and orientation are the same as that selected from the printer driver 0054 In typical application programs when a user cre ates a document the application program assigns a default paper type and default image orientation to the document and this is stored as part of the document The paper sizes typically offered by application programs include letter legal and A4 The image orientations typically offered by application
27. pabilities from a default source in the computer workstation 4 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where in step d the printer driver obtaining the desired paper type and image orientation of the object instance from an appli cation program running on the computer workstation 5 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 4 where the desired paper type and image orientation of the object instance are either selected by the user through the applica tions program or are set to predefined defaults 6 A method of printing a document from a computer workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where step d is performed prior to step c 7 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where in step f the representation including a reduced image of at least one page of the object instance 8 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 where in step f the representation of the object instance is displayed in the desired orientation 9 A method of printing an object instance from a com puter workstation to a printer as set forth in claim 1 wherein the stapling unit can put cinching devices in three fixed positions and the printer driver displays more than three logical staple
28. programs are portrait and landscape Image orientation should not be confused with feed orientation Whereas feed orientation refers to how the paper comes out of the printer the image orientation refers to how the object instance appears on the selected paper size 0055 Typical application programs include means for allowing the user to change the paper type and image orientation Even for non Windows operating systems there is usually a default paper size and image orientation 0056 Because a printer driver typically knows more about the capabilities of an associated printer though a printer driver typically allows a user to select settings which more closely conform to the physical capabilities of the associated printer Typical printer drivers present a user with a list of available paper sources such as cassettes and the user selects from the list Typical printer drivers also present a user with a list of available paper types and the user selects from this list Typical printer drivers also present a user with a list of available image orientations and the user selects from this list The preferred printer driver includes these capabilities 0057 Preferably if the user selects a paper source from the printer driver the printer driver limits the list of paper types to only those which the printer driver knows are Jul 4 2002 available from the selected paper source For example if the user selects a paper cassette wh
29. raphic to the rasterizer 0022 The rasterizer is the final stage in the process of preparing an image for printing and converts the commands received from the formatter into an array of dots It takes the bitmap for each character of text and places it at the specified position in the array then overlays the array with any bitmap graphics to form the pattern to be printed 0023 Typical printers do an adequate job of printing documents but few provide finishing capabilities such as collating and stapling With a newer generation of printers based upon digital copiers some of the features of the copier US 2002 0085223 Al are made available during printing Thus a number of printers now permit a user to quickly print multiple copies of his document have the copies collated or sorted and also have the copies stapled 0024 The finishers of such printers and of typical copiers allow stapling at only a single position typically the top left corner of the document Some special purpose or high end copiers also allow booklet stapling where two staples are placed along the left edge of the document a spaced distance apart In these copiers the sorter includes two staplers in fixed positions with one of the staplers being used in both the one and two staple modes Thus stapling options at best have been limited to two types a single staple at the top left corner of the document or two staples along the left edge of the do
30. s the protocol used depends on the type of computer and communications port used Many office and workgroup printers have several ports allowing simultaneous connec tion to several computers in which case the communications function has to talk to all of them concurrently without mixing up which data comes from which computer or ask the other computers to wait while it processes the current job 0019 As it receives the data from the computer the communications function either passes the data directly to the interpreter or stores it in a queue The queuing system is known as Job Spooling and is common on large work group and production printers The incoming data is stored normally on a hard disk built into the printer and can be held until the printer operator activates it for printing On pro duction printers this is the normal way of working as the computer can then send data at any time and the printer operator does not have to print it until he or she is ready On workgroup printers the normal way of working is for the data to be put in the job spool and held until the interpreter is ready when it has finished printing the current job at which point the job is automatically printed The main value of this feature is when several users are sharing a printer as they can all send their print jobs at the same time and the printer will store them in the job spool until it s ready to Jul 4 2002 print A secondary feature o
31. s computer screen and can select with his mouse where he wants the staples to be put By knowing the paper size feed orientation and image orientation the printer driver can then map the user s selected staple positions to the physical capabilities of the printer The printer driver instructs the printer controller of the stapling position for the job and how much rotation if any the controller should apply to the image before printing 0028 In accordance with the method of the invention there is provided an object instance having at least one page which is to be printed from a computer workstation to a printer The computer workstation includes a display a user input device and a printer driver The printer includes a stapling unit capable of placing cinching devices in at least two positions The method then comprises the steps of a user at the computer workstation indicating that the object instance is to be printed invoking the printer driver the printer driver obtaining staple or other cinching device position capabilities paper size capabilities and feed orien tation capabilities of the printer the printer driver obtaining Jul 4 2002 a desired paper type and a desired image orientation of the object instance the printer driver determining as logical staple positions where on the printed pages of the object instance the stapling unit could attach cinching devices the printer driver displaying on the display a represe
32. sed in non networked environments wherein for example a printer would be directed connected to the computer work station By software it is meant one or more computer interpretable programs and modules related and preferably integrated for performing a desired function By object instance it is meant an instance of that logical construct which a given application creates and manipulates e g the object instance of a word processing document is a docu ment the object instance of a spreadsheet program is a spreadsheet 0043 By printer driver it is meant 1 a program which takes into account the physical characteristics of a printer and which is used to convert graphics and text into device specific data at the time of printing or 2 a file which describes the physical characteristics of a printer and which is used by an operating system or other software to convert text and graphics into device specific data at the time of printing 0044 By printer it is meant an output device that produces a hard copy record of data typically on paper and includes laser printers ink jet printers and print capable multifunction peripherals A printer in accordance with the invention includes a stapling unit By stapling unit it is meant an electromechanical device which is integrated with a printer either internally or as an adjunct through e g a stapler sorter or finisher and is responsive to instructions sent to
33. selecting a printer configuration in accor dance with the invention 0034 FIGS 4A and 4B are representative partial screen shots showing stapling options in accordance with the invention 0035 FIGS 5A and 5B show possible physical staple positions for a rotated page 0036 FIGS 6A and 6B show possible physical staple positions for an unrotated page 0037 FIG 7 is a flow chart of a method of selecting staple positions for a printed document in accordance with the invention 0038 These and additional embodiments of the invention may now be better understood by turning to the following detailed description wherein an illustrated embodiment is described DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0039 Throughout this description the preferred embodi ment and examples shown should be considered as exem plars rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods of the present invention 0040 Referring now to FIG 1 there is shown a block diagram of a LAN 100 in accordance with the invention The US 2002 0085223 Al LAN 100 includes a file server 120 computer workstations 150 and printers 180a 1805 coupled to one another via network communications lines 160 The file server 120 and computer workstations 150 are preferably those well known in the art such as computers having Intel Corporation Santa Clara Calif microprocessors and running Microsoft Cor poration Redmond Wash Windows operating systems On
34. sitions and rotation Done US 2002 0085223 Al DYNAMIC STAPLING NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS 0001 A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection This patent document may show and or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 1 Field of the Invention 0003 The present invention relates generally to configu ration of printer drivers and particularly to providing enhanced stapling options for computer generated printed documents 0004 2 Description of Related Art 0005 Microsoft Windows like most contemporary oper ating systems permits a user to print to any number of printers These printers may be attached directly to the user s computer or may be accessible through a network For each brand and model of printer and for each operating system a printer driver is provided The printer driver aids the operating system in communicating with the corresponding printer 0006 A printer driver is a software program which resides on the computer typically on the computer s hard drive and run from memory e g RAM ra
35. ssible through a network For each brz 20 operating system a printer driver is provided The pt in communicating with the corresponding printer Most printers have numerous features and o Figure 2 Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 3 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 Print to Toshiba CH Status Ready Type Toshiba MFP Where Port LPT1 O Print to file 300 Comment C Print graphically Paper Feed Figure 3 Patent Application Publication Toshiba CM Properties Stapling 41 a APPLICATION FOR UNITED STATES PATENT IN THE NAME OF Michael J Bigi ASSIGNOR TO Toshiba America Information Systems Inc Dynamic Stapling Jul 4 2002 Sheet 4 of 10 FOR Prepared by Steven C Sereboff Esq Serebotf amp Buyan 2600 Michelson Drive Suite 770 Irvine California 92612 714 261 2252 x23 fax 714 261 2988 email ssereboff iplawexperts com DOCKET NO 0050 00646 Figure 4A General DJ US 2002 0085223 A1 Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 5 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 fea ES Toshiba CM Properties Figure 1 Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 6 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 APPLICATION FOR UNITED STATES PATENT IN THE NAME OF Michael J Bigi ASSIGNOR TO Toshiba America Information Systems Inc FOR Dynamic Stapling Prepared by Steven Sereboff Esq Sereboff amp Buyan 2600 Michelson Onve S
36. t could attach cinching devices d displaying on the display a representation of at least one page of the object instance and the logical staple positions US 2002 0085223 Al e accepting a user input from the input device indicating which of the logical staple positions where the user wishes to have the printer place cinching devices on a printed copy of the object instance and sending one or more commands to the printer indicat ing an amount of rotation for the object instance and where to place cinching devices to achieve the logical staple positions indicated by the user 21 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 the printer driver including instructions for obtain ing the stapling paper size and feed orientation capabilities of the printer by interrogating the printer 22 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable printer driver embodied therein for printing an object instance having at least one page from a computer workstation as set forth in claim 20 the printer driver including instructions for obtain ing the stapling paper size and feed orientation capabilities from a default source in the computer workstation 23 A computer program product comprising a computer usable med
37. ther than the printer itself The purpose of a printer driver is to give the computer an understanding of the capabilities of the printer so that all the printer features can be used Most operating systems are supplied with printer drivers for the popular models of printers but printer drivers may be provided separately In some operating systems the printer drivers are associated with particular application programs 0007 The printer driver will normally tell the computer what printer language the printer uses which fonts are built in how many paper feeders it has what sizes of paper it can support whether it can print duplex etc If a computer software package does not have this information it cannot make full use of the printer or send the commands required to control the features of the printer 0008 Most printers have numerous features and options available to the users These options may be physical or logical Physical options include paper size paper type paper source tray feeder and print resolution Logical options include layout landscape or portrait font mapping use of PCL or Postscript overlays watermarks number of copies of generate and graphics performance 0009 Under the Windows operating systems as in most operating systems from within any given application the user can select one of the available printers as the destination for print jobs from that application Windows also gives the user access t
38. to print the object instance as selected by the user including instructions of which physical stapling positions were selected and whether to rotate the image before printing 0070 As shown in FIG 5A the image 520A of the printed object instance was rotated 180 so that a staple 531 A could be placed at logical stapling position 431A FIG 4A Similarly as shown in FIG 5B the image 520B of the printed object instance was rotated 180 so that a staple 531B could be placed at logical stapling position 431B FIG 4B Such a result might be achieved for example by sending a printer command to rotate the image 180 and put a staple at position 3 0071 In contrast as shown in FIGS 6A and 6B if staples 631A 631B are to be placed on the opposite side of the pages from those shown in FIGS 5A and 5B then the image is printed without rotation and the staples are attached 631A 631B to the respective printed pages without rota tions Jul 4 2002 0072 There are many possible combinations of printer capabilities with respect to orientation paper type feed direction and physical stapling position Thus it should be appreciated that it may be necessary or preferable to rotate the image of the object instance at 90 180 270 or possibly even other amounts All of these rotations are within the scope of the invention The important feature is that the printer driver is able to make available all possible logical stap
39. uite 770 Irvine California 92612 714 261 2252 x23 531A fax 714 261 2988 email ssereboff iplawexperts com DOCKET NO 0050 00646 Paper Feed Figure 5A Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 7 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 Figure 1 Paper Feed Figure 5B Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 8 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 631A 9t900 0S00 ON 13X000 wood spadx mejdi yoqass ewa BB6Z 19U P LZ xe EZX ZSee 92 bl Z Z19Z26 Blu OJi eO u AJ OLL ttnS aAu UOS aYdIV 0092 uedng 9 J oq Jas bs3 yoqases O uenals Aq paredaig Budes oiweukg 620A dO4 QUI SLUSISAS uollguuojuj BOWOWIY EqIUSO L OL YONDISSV BIg r Peyon 3O JWYN 3HL NI 1N3LYd SALVLS GALINA YO4d NOILVONddV Paper Feed Figure 6A Patent Application Publication Jul 4 2002 Sheet 9 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 Figure 1 Paper Feed Figure 6B Patent Application Publication User activates printer driver Detect stapling paper size and feed direction capabilities Get user s selected paper type and image orientation Driver determines Driver provides logical bitmap of user s printed page 700 710 765 720 770 740 760 780 790 Figure 7 Jul 4 2002 Sheet 10 of 10 US 2002 0085223 A1 Enable stapling positions that can be supported User selects stapling positions Driver issues instructions to controller with the physical stapling po
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