DE102007036986B4 - Method for automatically preparing and separating document processing data contained in a document data stream - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of automatically rendering document processing data contained in a print data stream, wherein the print data stream is subjected to document data analysis comprising decomposing the print data stream into predetermined areas (B2) and analyzing the predetermined meta information extraction areas (B6), then automatically receiving job-in-order data are generated, which are assigned to the individual areas or groups of areas, wherein the pages to be printed on a sheet of print data stream each associated with a signature (B4) and summarized in the respective signature (B5), and associated with each signature order-related data.

Description

The invention relates to a method for the automatic preparation and separation of document processing data contained in a document data stream, which document data include as well as order accompanying data attached to the document. The job-related data can be used to automatically process the document data to control the corresponding processes or to use future devices. Document data can be coded in particular in a print data format. The document data stream may be a print data stream.

In the not yet published patent application DE 10 2006 047 436 A method and system for automatically rendering print data for a print job is described. In this method, automatic presentation parameters for print data are generated. Among other things, the generation of the presentation parameters takes place with the aid of an image analysis method, so that physical quantities are extracted from the print data which are assigned to the print data directly or after further analysis as display parameters. On the basis of the display parameters, output parameters can be developed according to known methods with which the printing process is controlled.

Furthermore, preflight programs are known with which digital print data for offset printing can be controlled. In offset printing, it is customary to first create a film on which the print image can be checked. With this film, a printing plate is exposed, which is used in the off-set machine. In digital offset printing, the print data is digitally generated and processed without the need to expose a film. Since the review on the film has been omitted here, preflight programs have been established with which a printed image on a computer can be checked for correctness. Well-known preflight programs are for example PreFlight Pro ^TM or FlightCheck. Such preflight programs can also be used in digital printing processes in which at least one printing unit for generating a printed image is activated digitally and point by point. Corresponding digital printing systems can, for. As electrographic printing devices, in particular electrophotographic printing devices, inkjet printing devices, ionographic or magnetographic printing devices. Other digital printing systems are z. In "Digital Printing, Technology and Printing Techniques of Océ Digital Printing Presses", 9th edition, February 2005 (ISBN 3-00-001081-5), Chapters 4 and 5.

Preflight programs have proven to be useful for checking a printed image in the area of offset printing. In digital printing processes, printing devices with very different performance and varying print quality are used so that the different print qualities also lead to a different conversion of the print images onto the print medium.

With digital printing devices in which typically the area coverage of the printed image is punctually and individually controllable for each subject, z. B. by printheads are individually controllable pointwise, frequently use documents such as invoices, advertising or the like are produced in large quantities, but in which each individually produced document usually differs from the other documents at least partially. The documents are often based on form templates such. B. an invoice form with the letterhead of the biller. The differences between the individual documents are z. B. in different addresses of bill recipients, in different amounts invoiced, etc. There is thus a great deal of variability. Therefore, for digital printing equipment, the preparation and assignment of the print data has a much greater importance than in offset printing, in which usually long runs of an identical document are produced. In addition, in digital printing processes, the printing devices are often controlled directly with print data from computers. Digital printing devices are z. As electrophotographic, magnetographic, ionographic, thermal transfer or inkjet printing devices. The printing devices can have speeds of, for example, 100 to over 1,000 pages per minute in DIN A4 format in high-performance digital printing. Another major difference to offset printing in digital printing is that the digital printing process allows for very different print qualities depending on the printing device and the selected setting. These print qualities differ mainly in the resolution and the color space (black and white printing, highlight color printing with one or more highlight color colors, full color printing). On the other hand, the workflows in digital printing methods and classic printing methods, such as offset printing, are approaching more and more. For example, in offset printing, there are already methods that handle all data digitally until the printing plate is exposed. Furthermore, in digital printing and offset printing increasingly the same print formats such. For example, the Portable Document Format (PDF) is used.

One of the causes of printing problems in digital printing is that the print data and thus the document processing data are often from different sources come, the most different programs use. The computer programs used for this purpose can, for. B. be provided on mainframe computer mainframes, with data being taken from large databases, but also usual, running on personal computers word processing programs or programs for the preparation of presentations, such. B. Microsoft PowerPoint ^® be. It can also be professional layout programs such as QuarkXPress ^®, Freehand or ^® PageMaker ^®.

In already o. G. The book "Digital Printing, Technology and Printing Techniques of Océ Digital Printing Presses", 9th edition, describes in Chapter 18.2 an Order Distribution System (ODS), also referred to as Workflow Manager. With this Order Distribution System, you can control the entire digital printing process, including a pre-press, a high-performance printer, and finishing. In pre-press, image and text files from different sources, such as scanners, digital cameras, data carriers or a computer network, are brought together and finalized at a layout station. Subsequently, a printer driver converts the data created on different platforms, for example, into postscript files. These files can then be forwarded to a print server for printing. Print servers convert the data into compressed bitmaps, which are fully automatically imposed and forwarded to the printing system. The print server controls the printing process. The finishing of the printed product includes, for example, the binding or insertion of release sheets.

The Order Distribution System is also responsible for the central administration of the production variants. This includes the printing service for intranet and internet users. The Order Distribution System informs users about approved production variants, accepts print jobs together with a digital job bag, initiates automatic processing until printing. The Order Distribution System also monitors the correct execution of the selected printing and finishing options.

The Order Distribution System processes job tickets which contain the control parameters for controlling the printout of a print job as files in a specific data format. A job ticket can be created by the user when creating the print job or automatically in a printing system. The job tickets have clear instructions that have to be implemented accordingly.

Document processing processes, in particular printing processes, are becoming increasingly extensive as more and more devices are integrated into the respective process, as a result of which the variety of functions increases. In addition, such processes are increasingly carried out regionally distributed through the Internet and intranet, z. B. assigned to a pool of printers that may be regionally distributed. In addition, devices from different manufacturers increasingly have to work together in one process. In order to meet these increased requirements, a uniform specification for the exchange of data formats has been agreed upon, which is referred to as the Job Definition Format (JDF). There is a corresponding job message format (Job Messaging Formats or JMF), which is specified accordingly. The specification of JDF can be downloaded from the website www.cip4.org, which is currently the current specification JDF Specification Release 1.3.

JDF is an XML-based format in which the process instructions are arranged in a tree structure. Each node of the tree structure includes an instruction or set of instructions. The topmost node is called the root. The end nodes at branches are called leaf nodes.

A special feature of JDF is that there can be so-called intent nodes, which contain a very general instruction for a process, which must be specified in order to be able to be executed on a device.

From the EP-A2-1 197 838 A method is known for processing print jobs in a network, in which a job ticket is used to check whether a print service provider has the resources required to process the print job.

From the WO 00/49489 A1 A printing system with several different stand-alone printing devices of different types and with at least one print server. The print server receives print data from a print data source and distributes it to the stand-alone print devices. If the printing system contains pre-processing and post-processing devices assigned to the printing devices, a page-accurate tracking of the printed pages is carried out. As a result, a page-precise setting of the printing operation can take place when a malfunction occurs in one of the devices.

In the WO 00/68877 A1 A method is described in which print data in a logical, one or more signatures corresponding page sequence are provided for printing. The deployment can be done within a production process for print material (workflow), for example in a host computer, in a printing device upstream computer (print server) or on another workstation (client computer). In particular, provision is made as an imposition pattern in a production control program.

From the US 2005/0185222 A1 is a system for printing hybrid documents. Hybrid documents are understood to mean documents that have areas to be printed both in color and in black and white. This system has a color printer and a black and white printer. With a print manager, the corresponding pages are separated and fed to the respective printing device. At the output of the system, the pages printed by the different printers are automatically sorted in the correct order. This sorting takes place in the black / white printer to which the color carrier printed on the recording medium are supplied. With this system is to be avoided that on a color printer, a plurality of record carriers are printed only with a monochrome print.

From the US Pat. No. 6,407,821 B1 It is known that in data streams of the print data languages Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) and Mixed Object Document Architecture (MO: DCA), whose command sets correspond to those of the print data language Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS), objects of other print data languages such as PostScript ( PS) or Portable Document Format (PDF) (so-called embedding). For this purpose, special maps, so-called object container identifiers, are provided in the data streams or the print data languages, which make it possible to reference the objects of the other printer languages as resources. As a result, z. For example, one or more PDF pages can be embedded as an object in an AFP print stream.

In the book Digital Printing Technology and Printing Techniques of Oce Digital Printing Presses (aaa O.) in Chapter 15 a designated by the trade name Oce PRISMAproduction ^® Server system is described that processes a wide range of data streams and converts, the then High Performance Digital printers can be printed, for example, in the print data format Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS). The Oce PRISMAproduction server system includes a printjob manager PJM (see chapters 15.2.4 and 18.2) with which print jobs can be created on any customer client and edited and managed in this server system. The print job manager is also referred to as a print job manager.

"Servers" are software modules that perform a central task. "Clients" are software modules which are connected to a server and receive data from or transmit to the server. One server can have several clients in contact at the same time.

For client / server systems, print jobs are typically generated by the clients. A print job includes the print data to be printed and a job ticket that includes control parameters for controlling the print data printout.

The incoming print jobs are checked and, if necessary, adjusted on the clients upstream of the print job manager. This adaptation may include data or information accompanying the print job, with the content of the job ticket being adapted to the print environment. It is also possible that for the first time a job ticket is created on the print job manager from the data accompanying the print job and a default ticket present on the print job. The format of any incoming job tickets is usually okay, but often contains parameters that are not usable or even lead to contradictions. To include job tickets u. U. Printer names that are not present in this printing system. To correct such erroneous job tickets computer programs are provided on the clients, which automatically control the job tickets and correct if necessary. These computer programs are programmed as scripts individually for the individual clients and their applications or the respective source of the print job. It is also customary for a number of such scripts to be provided on a client in order, for example, to revise different sources or job tickets with print data in different data formats. These scripts have been very well preserved, as they automatically control and adjust the incoming print jobs so that the entire printing process can run without delay.

In the non-prepublished patent application DE 10 2007 009 737 Methods are described to automatically process process data instructions in the form of job tickets in a print server.

The DE 697 15 083 T2 respectively. EP 806 751 B1 relates to a print control system and a method for print job management. With this print job management, it is possible to repeatedly use certain parts of a print job, whereby the individual parts can be used in different print jobs. The print jobs sent by a host system are received at a print control system. There they are subdivided by means of a job interpretation into a job description file (JDF) and a multiplicity of elements of page data (PD). The page data each include the print data for one every page. The job description file becomes a JDF ID (Identification) and each page data item is assigned a page ID (Identification). These JDF IDs and page IDs are used to manage each part of the print job so that it can be used repeatedly. The job description file contains attributes. The attributes of a job description file may be specified based on an analysis result of a print job. A configuration of a job description file may be modified according to the print control system functions. In a particular embodiment, a new job description file may be automatically created when establishing a variable content and a dummy page.

From the US 2004/0105129 A1 A method for editing print data emerges. If the original document contains both text and an image, the document is divided into sections that contain text only or image data only. The section containing only textual data is increased in resolution so that the entire image after screening has the same resolution.

The aforementioned publications and unpublished patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference into the present specification.

For a better understanding of the present invention, some terms are explained below: A complete order contains at least one document processing job, in particular a print job.

A print job contains at least one print file to be printed.

A total order ticket contains information about an entire order, such as: B. delivery address, order date, desired delivery date, etc.

A job ticket contains usable data for processing a print job. These data include control parameters that are relevant in a workflow for the job-workflow. The job ticket is coded in a corresponding ticket format.

A default job ticket contains standard data that is suitable for outputting a print job that contains no further processing information in an existing printing system or in an existing printing environment. Such data are control parameters and can, for. B. names or addresses of printing devices that are connected to the respective print server.

A data ticket is understood to mean information that is generated by a print job-generating system, for example, a MFS mainframe computer system, together with the print data. The scope of such data may be very limited due to the system and / or you u. The format may not be standardized, which is why they are not considered job tickets in the above sense.

The order-related data can include both a total order ticket, a job ticket and / or a data ticket or control parameters that are attached to a print job in a different form. Control parameters are often inserted in the file name of the print job. Although these job-related data can be available in many different forms (job ticket, file name, etc.). However, they are always available explicitly.

A template is a template that is characterized by content and layout information. Such templates are provided and used in popular word processing systems and desktop publishing systems, such as the widely used word processor Microsoft Word. By means of known templates, the layout and often also a part of the document content is provided or defined as a form.

In the broader sense, an image can be understood to mean, in a broader sense, in particular the image representation or reproduction of a data object, in particular a document page, and in the narrower sense a data object which is coded, rendered or reproduced in a screened format (image format, pixel format) or vector format ,

The invention is based on the object of enabling automatic processing of document processing data contained in a document data stream for the output of the document data, by means of which correct processing and output of the document is possible.

The object is achieved by the features specified in the independent claims of the invention. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the respective subclaims.

By decomposing and grouping the data flow components according to predetermined criteria, the corresponding data, adapted to their content, can be optimally processed. As a result, the output process of the documents, in particular in a printing environment with a plurality of printing devices, can be optimized in an environment-specific manner, so that the output process can be ensured can be done quickly and inexpensively. For example, the print data stream for a printing device having two different modes of operation for black and white printing and color printing can be decomposed and the print data can be sorted page by page into a first print group with black and white pages and a second print group with color pages. If the two groups are printed, then the printing device between the two print modes must advantageously be switched over only once in total. The pressure groups can preferably be provided and processed in particular as signatures.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a method is provided for automatically processing document processing data comprising document data with job-related data. In a document data analysis, in particular print data analysis, the document data are analyzed according to specifiable document data criteria, in particular print data criteria. In order-related data analysis, the order-related data are analyzed according to specified order-related data criteria. The two analysis results are then linked according to specifiable linkage criteria and resulting order-related data summarized. In particular, the meta-information represents only information implicit in the document data and / or job-related data, relevant to a subsequent document-editing process, and is used to control the subsequent document-editing process. In particular, the document data may be print data and the document processing process may be, in particular, an output process executed on an output device, such as a printer. B. an executed on a printing device printing process. The output process can be an even more complex process involving different output devices. For example, for a parallel output of the document in print and as an email, both an email server and a printing device may be involved in the publishing process.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, when linking the two analysis results of the document data and the order-related data or when using the meta information for controlling the subsequent document processing process, additional process data describing the subsequent document processing process are used and / or analyzed and the results of the analysis become converted into further explicit order-related data for controlling the subsequent document processing process and added to the document processing data.

According to the method of the invention, implicit meta information contained in the print data can be derived. This can, for example, with the from the DE 10 2006 047 436 known methods for automatically determining display parameters by means of image analysis method. On the DE 10 2006 047 436 will therefore be referred to in full again here. These implicit meta information include, for example, meaning contents of print data or of segments of the print data (text, images or photographic images).

In the method according to the invention, furthermore, meta information from the combined analysis of at least two types of data of the types "print data", "job-related data" and "process data" can be obtained, the "process data" describing the subsequent document processing process. The combined analysis uses predefinable rules to link the individual sub-analyzes. The analysis result of the combined analysis is determined in particular by a process logic which has predefinable parameters. The analyzes, combinations and control processes are carried out automatically in particular computer-assisted by means of software.

The process data include, for example, information about the available printing devices and post-processing devices or the available recording media and their properties, such as size, basis weight or paper quality. The meta-information is thus correlated with the document processing process or the possible document processing processes and from this, job-related data for controlling the document processing process is determined. The process data are preferably generated or updated automatically. There is thus communication from the individual devices of the printing environment, in particular the printing devices, to the computers to which the document processing data are prepared.

This communication can be implemented, for example, by means of MIBs (Management Information Bulletin). The MIBs are based on the SNMP protocol, which provides data in a standardized form on the document processing devices, which can be automatically queried by the print servers and / or client computers.

Another form of implementation of this communication is carried out by means of digital agents, which automatically collect the data of the individual document processing devices and forward them to the desired print server or client.

Since the document processing process in digital printing processes is dependent on a large number of very different parameters, the meta information contained in the print data is matched with these and converted into corresponding job-related data. Contain z. For example, if the print data is a full-color image that should be printed on a record carrier larger than DIN A4 due to its meaning content, then among the possible document editing processes those are selected that can print in full color on A3 size and larger size media. This considerably reduces the number of potential document processing processes or the number of potentially available printing devices. Further meta-information or further already existing order-accompanying data and print data can then be compared with the specific parameters of the different and possible document-processing processes and explicit order-related data can be generated.

Presentations are usually in a dedicated program, such. B. Microsoft Power Point ^® created. Individual slides of these presentations are then often to be printed in large color in order to use them in exhibitions as posters or the like. However, presentation programs are not intended to print large-format documents. Mostly they only have a resolution of 72 dpi. In the method according to the invention, it is automatically recognized that this is a presentation. It can also be automatically recognized which type of graphics this presentation contains. If the information is contained in the corresponding order accompanying data that a large-format print output is to be generated therefrom, then a document processing process can be controlled by generating corresponding order-accompanying data with the method according to the invention. This document processing process preferably includes digital pre-processing steps, such as, for example, prior to the actual printing process. Example, the conversion of the format into a pdf format with a predetermined resolution or the processing of the print data with special raster methods that allow a large-scale printout of the original images displayed with low resolution.

• – Prozessdaten, die die nachfolgenden Dokumentenbearbeitungsprozesse unterschiedlicher Ausgabegeräte, insbesondere Druckgeräte und/oder anderer Dokumentenbearbeitungsgeräte beschreiben, werden automatisch erzeugt oder aktualisiert und insbesondere analysiert,
• – die Prozessdaten werden mit Dokumentenbearbeitungsdaten, die Dokumentendaten, insbesondere Druckdaten, und Auftragsbegleitdaten umfassen, verglichen, um eine Gruppe von Ausgabegeräten auszuwählen, mit welcher die Dokumentendaten zu drucken sind, und
• – Auftragsbegleitdaten werden erzeugt, die im Hinblick auf die ausgewählten Ausgabe- und/oder Dokumentenbearbeitungsgeräte optimiert sind.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, which can also be seen independently of the first aspect of the invention, the following method steps are carried out consecutively:

• Process data describing the subsequent document processing processes of different output devices, in particular printing devices and / or other document processing devices, are automatically generated or updated and in particular analyzed,
• The process data are compared with document processing data comprising document data, in particular print data, and job-related data, in order to select a group of output devices with which the document data is to be printed, and
• Job-related data is generated which is optimized with respect to the selected output and / or document handlers.

With this method, a group of output devices, in particular printing devices, is selected on the basis of the automatically updated process data so that the job-related data can be generated very specifically automatically. This makes it possible, in an environment with many different output devices or even different devices of the same kind, eg. B. different printing devices (so-called. Heterogeneous printing environment), automatically generate job-related data that are very specific, since the selection of the output device is automatically based on the process data. This method is particularly suitable for digital printing methods, but also for other analog printing methods that provide the necessary process data for an automatic query on the corresponding devices.

In the context of the invention, it is also possible that, instead of a group of printing devices, a specific printing device is selected on which the printing data can be printed.

The job-related data can be generated directly from the process data here. However, it may also be appropriate to combine this method in conjunction with the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, so that the document data, in particular print data of a document data analysis and the order-related data, are subjected to order-related data analysis in order to generate further order-related data.

According to a third aspect of the invention, which may also be regarded as independent of the aforementioned aspects, a method for controlling document data, in particular print data, is provided, in which the document data are analyzed for meta information implicitly contained therein, which is relevant for a subsequent document processing process , This implicit meta information is translated into explicit order-related data for controlling a document editing process and added to the document data. On the basis of this added order-related data, a check is made for errors or completeness. If necessary, will a corresponding message is issued. By means of the explicit order-accompanying data, an output device for the document processing job can then be controlled in particular.

With this method, the document data can thus be checked automatically with regard to potential document processing processes, whereby a comprehensive check can be carried out by the order-related data derived from the implicitly contained meta information. In particular, meaning contents that are automatically determined can also be taken into account during the check. Thus, depending on the content of meaning determined, suitable document processing processes or document processing process classes can be defined and checked as to whether the already existing or added order-related data match or are complete for these document processing processes or classes. If this is not the case, either an error message is output or a message is issued requesting a manual addition of the order-related data. A corresponding suggestion list may be output in which a user may select one or more suitable job-tracking information to be added to the document data as job-accompanying information.

This check is particularly suitable for checking print data during or immediately after the completion of the same, since with consideration of the meta information contained therein the producer of the print data corresponding hints can be given by which order accompanying information to supplement the print data or if there are errors. The print data can thus be optimized with regard to suitable document processing processes. This also template documents can be generated, which are already provided with explicit order accompanying data. These template documents can, for. B. used in a particular company forms, templates for presentations or other templates for texts that are used repeatedly by different employees and are provided with optimized for the respective template document order-related data.

However, this check may also be performed at a layout station that merges data from different sources, an order distribution system, a generator, or a print server. The closer the computer on which the method is executed to the printing device and the post-processing devices in the document data processing workflow, the more precise the information available on the printing and post-processing environment, and the more accurate the information can be when checking the data Print data regarding the document processing processes are taken into account.

In the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, job accompanying data is generated for controlling the subsequent document processing process. These order-related data can be coupled to templates, in particular for controlling the subsequent document processing process. This can be done, for example, by storing the job-related data at least partially in a template file and / or by referencing the job-related data within the template file. A template is a template file that requires more data content to make the template file a complete document. The coupling of the job-related data to the template preferably takes place in that a job ticket containing the job-related data is assigned to the template. However, the job-related data can also be coupled to the template in another form, for example, integrated into the file name of the template. According to the invention, job-related data coupled to templates in the course of further processing of the template, for example when generating a document, when generating a print file and / or during processing of the files in accordance with the other aspects of the invention, can be processed.

The method according to the invention for the automatic preparation of document processing data and for checking print data can generate order-accompanying data of great importance for the machining process, above all, by combining a wide variety of information. So z. For example, for a document that combines graphics and text data, the meaning of the graphic data (business graphics, map, scientific diagram, company logo, etc.) and the size of the graphic in the document and the format of the document, the font type of the text and the font size of the text suitable Rasterverfahren for the graphics and the text are determined, on the one hand keep the processing time when screening low but on the other hand ensure a good print quality. The optimum raster method depends strongly on the resolution of the print format and the size of the individual elements (graphic, text) of the print data.

In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, which may also be seen independently of the other aspects, job-related data is macros in Encapsulated document data with a predetermined document data format, wherein the encapsulated order-related data are presented in a different document data format. The document data may in particular be print data and the document data formats in particular print data formats.

Macros are a sequence of commands in a particular programming language. These programming languages are in particular page description languages, such as postscript, with which print data can be defined. An encapsulated macro contains instructions in a first programming language or a first print data format that is encapsulated in a second programming language or a second print data format that is different from the first print data language or the first print data format, for which purpose a data structure is provided in the second programming language is, which leaves the processing of the second programming language, the contents of the macro and thus the instruction contained therein in the first programming language untouched. Only when the remaining area of the document has been converted into the first programming language and executed there, for example by means of a corresponding interpreter, are the commands contained in the macro in the first programming language executed.

Print data formats in digital printing usually represent a program language. Thus, the print data format PostScript is a Turing complete stack-oriented programming language with which virtually any programming task can be solved.

A first print data format representing the commands contained in a macro may be the print data format used at a print server or controller of a printing device to rasterize the print data stream in the form of bitmaps from the print data in that format implement the character generator of the printing device. As a result, order-related data can be added to the document processing job at an early stage of the document processing job, which on the one hand is not lost and on the other hand reliably drive the desired document editing processes, since they are not subject to conversion.

This is useful if the present in a particular data format document data such. B. the data formats of Microsoft Word ^® (. Doc) or Microsoft Power Point ^® (.ppt), etc., in the subsequent document processing process one or more times in other document data formats, especially in print data formats are converted. For example, document data, in particular print data for archiving, is often converted into PDF format.

When converting from one print data format to another print data format, often the job-related data or job tickets of the first print data format are lost. However, there are print data formats, such. B. PostScript, which survive as encapsulated files unchanged such conversions from a print data format to another print data format. If a corresponding postscript file is generated from the print data when printing on a printer, then the job-related data in the encapsulated postscript file are entered in the print file and taken into account during processing. The job-accompanying data can only consist of a form name, which is used in the printing process to print out the print data. On the other hand, it is also possible that the job-related data contain several specific instructions for the printing process, such as. As the edition, print format, the color space to be used, etc.

This aspect of the present invention also represents an independent idea of the invention, which can be applied independently of the use of the meta information implicitly contained in document data, in particular print data. The data format of the encapsulated file is z. B. a print data format that is not separated in the subsequent processing of the print data and automatically entered by the document processing processes in the print data and is activated hereby. Preferably, the format of the print data stream used in the particular printing device to be used is used from the data format of the encapsulated print data files, such as. Postscript, IPDS or PCL.

For certain file templates, corresponding macros can be prepared, which are copied into the file template in order to add suitable order-related data to the file template. With this procedure it is possible to provide print files with job-related data as provided in a professional printing environment, although the print data is created with programs that are not suitable or compatible with professional printing environments.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a document data stream containing document processing data is analyzed by document data analysis. In this case, areas, in particular pages, of the document data stream are automatically determined, which contain specific meta-information. Based These meta-information associated with the areas of the document data stream are automatically generated for job-related data for the area-wise different control of a subsequent document processing process. The document data stream may in particular be a print data stream and the document data formats may in particular be print data formats.

Preferably, the meta-information associated with individual areas or pages of the print data stream is the information whether monochrome printing, highlight color printing or full-color printing is carried out, in which case the corresponding job-related data are designed to execute the different printing processes, and the different printing processes in one printing device coincide following.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the areas to be printed by the same printing process are grouped together, each printing the areas of a group sequentially. The areas can be pages or signatures. They are sorted automatically after printing in the desired order. The collecting and sorting of the different printed areas is preferably carried out in suitable post-processing equipment.

With this method according to the invention, it is also possible in particular to automatically detect regions within individual files, to extract the corresponding meta-information therefrom and to generate order-related data.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, to generate a template defined by content and layout information, job-related data is associated with the template to control subsequent document-editing processes. The template not only provides the layout and / or data contents of a document, but also defines subordinate document processing steps that can extend far beyond the original generation of the document. For example, with such job-related data, it can be defined that a printer or printer tray containing DIN A4 paper is driven. This ensures that the print data contained in the document processing job is printed on a DIN A4 size medium. Such a control parameter would be advantageous for the tickets available online from the Deutsche Bundesbahn. Such tickets contain an instruction in the text "Please print on A4". When printing on a different format, especially a smaller format, the ticket containing a two-dimensional barcode may not be machine readable. If this ticket would be created with a template that would contain order-related data that would control the subsequent document handling process such that the ticket would be printed on a DIN A4 size record carrier, the user could not print the ticket incorrectly and could get the hint save in the text of the ticket. This example also shows the difference between layout information and job-related data. The online tickets produced so far by the German Federal Railways contain the layout information of the DIN A4 format. Job-related data, on the other hand, contains control parameters that cause the execution of a specific document processing process. In the present example, this means that actually is printed on a recording medium in A4 format by either the corresponding slot is controlled in a printer, or a corresponding printer is controlled. By contrast, the layout information A4 only describes the form of the print data. This allows the print data during a document processing process in which they are printed on a different format, based on the format allocation DIN A4 be increased or reduced accordingly, so that they match the other format. Control of a document editing process is not performed by the layout information.

Another important group of control parameters are safety-related control parameters that control document printing and document handling in a corresponding manner. Such control parameters set z. For example, note that a document based on a security-relevant template is only available on a specific printer, such as a printer. In a locked, access-controlled room, printed and this document can not be sent by email. Other safety-related control parameters are z. Example, that the documents to be printed are printed only on a system in which the printing device, a Nachverarbeitungsgerät for inserting the printed documents is connected, so that the printed documents are sealed immediately in an envelope and third parties are not accessible without damaging the envelope ,

The sixth aspect of the invention also represents an independent idea of the invention which is also applicable independently of one of the subsequently explained aspects of the invention, ie that the order-related data coupled to the template can be generated by means of an arbitrary method or by a user of Hand registered. Of course, the order accompanying data can also be used with the method according to the explained below aspect of the present invention.

An inventive system for automatically processing document processing data for a document handling operation preferably comprises a computer, which may also include or be formed by specific logical processors such as freely programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

In the embodiments of the invention, printing devices are often referred to as output devices for documents.

Printing devices are special designs of document output devices. Other types of document dispensers include, for example, e-mail systems, archiving systems, and displays, and their associated data processing systems. As far as special output devices are mentioned in the exemplary embodiments, it is generally self-evident that other output devices can also be used in this context.

An advantageous application of the invention in connection with screens can be done, for example, when a document has been printed on the one hand and sent to a person and on the other hand, the document and its order accompanying data was stored in an archive, u. U. previously in another data format such. B. was converted from Postscript to PDF. If the person has a query for this document and the archived document z. If, for example, a call center is displayed by a member of staff on a screen, then it is desirable that the document retrieved from the archive be displayed exactly as the printed document. This is possible due to the analysis, control and provision of the document data, order-related data and data of the screen display according to the invention.

The invention will now be described by way of example in more detail with reference to the drawings. The drawings show in:

1 a network with a printing environment in which a method according to the invention can be carried out,

2 a flowchart of a method for analyzing and generating order-related data,

3 a method for processing and processing data of a job ticket,

4 a method for a pressure data analysis in a flow chart,

5 a section of the procedure 2 in more detail in a further flow chart,

6 a sample page of a document and

7 a method for page breaking a print data stream to form signatures.

1 shows a section of a network 1 , In the network 1 are several client computers 2 arranged. On the client computers 2 Programs for generating print data are stored executable. Such programs are, for example, text programs, drawing programs, DTP programs or other programs for generating print data. These programs may be typical workstation programs that generate print data in one of the common printer languages, such as Postscript or PCL. However, it may also be professional application programs that store print data in a document processing data stream, such as B. AFP or IPDS generate.

The print data should be sent over the network 1 at a printer 3 be printed out. In the network 1 are several printers 3 and post-processing equipment 6 provided their print data via a print server 4 receive. Between the client computers 2 and the print server 4 is a pre-press computer 5 arranged. The prepress computer 5 receives the print streams from the different client computers 2 and prepares the print data for forwarding to the print server 4 in front. The prepress computer 5 can also save print data that will later be merged with other print data for a print job. The client computers and the prepress computer 5 can execute different image processing procedures depending on which print server or which print server they should supply with print data.

According to the invention, the client computers 2 and / or on the prepress computer 5 Computer programs for executing an image processing procedure with which meta information implicitly contained in the print data and job-related data is automatically extracted and that meta-information is used to generate further explicit job-accompanying data.

The method according to the first aspect of the invention is disclosed in US Pat 2 shown flowchart shown. It starts with step S1. In step S2, print data data analysis is performed. A document processing job contains both print data and job-related data. In print data analysis, the print data is analyzed without the job-related data. Print data contains the information describing the print image as well as further layout information. The print data is analyzed according to given print data criteria to obtain job-related data (MI-2; 3 ). In the print data data analysis, the process data describing the subsequent document editing process is taken into account, that is, the print data is analyzed with respect to the subsequent document editing process and job-related data is generated for optimally driving the document decon process. The print data data analysis will be explained in more detail below.

In step S3, an order-related data analysis is performed. The order of print data data analysis and order-related data analysis are specified. The two analyzes can also be carried out simultaneously.

Order-related data analysis analyzes the order-related data contained in the document processing order. In the example according to 3 the document processing job receives a job ticket in which original job-related data (O-1) of the document processing job is contained. These order-related data are analyzed on the basis of the process data by means of predetermined order reference criteria in order to generate further order-related data (MI-1).

After print data analysis and order-related data analysis, there are three sets of job-related data (O-1, MI-1, MI-2). In step S4, these three sets of order-related data are combined and stored in a new job ticket of the document processing order. In the simplest case, the three sets of order-related data are combined by copying the job-related data into a job ticket file. Preferably, however, the three sets of order-related data are analyzed for contradictions in step S4 and linked together according to certain linking criteria. In particular, the order in which the individual control parameters of the job-related data are introduced into the newly created job ticket is defined here. Furthermore, job-related data that drive a similar control function can be matched or selected according to predetermined priorities. This is regulated by means of the linking criteria.

Since the process data has been taken into account in the print data data analysis and the job-related data analysis, the newly generated job-related data are optimized for the subsequent document processing process.

If the job-related data is generated, then the method is ended in step S5 ( 2 ).

The following is the procedure of print data data analysis based on 4 explained in detail. The print data data analysis starts with step S6. In step S7, print data is either from a client computer or the prepress computer 5 read. The print data is divided into segments. This subdivision of the segments can be carried out, for example, such that each pressure side forms a single segment. Often, however, the print data does not contain page-wise subdivision such as For example, a long text that is divided into printer-specific pages depending on the printer being printed on. Since there is often no information about the printer when creating the document data, a print-specific processing of the print files is not always possible in advance. The print data is then divided into segments according to another rule. It may also be that a particular set of incoming print data is treated as a single segment.

Print data having areas of different types of image data are preferably divided into segments, each segment comprising a particular image data type (step S8). Different image data types are for example text data, images in vector graphics or images in pixel graphics or bitmaps. Each area that includes such an image data type is identified as a separate segment.

However, it is also possible to adopt a data structure already contained in the print data and to subdivide the segments accordingly. It is possible that different image data types are provided within a segment.

The individual segments are subjected to an image analysis process (step S9), with which one or more physical variables of the respective image segment can be determined automatically. These physical quantities are z. For example, the brightness, the contrast, the object-dependent resolution, the richness of detail of an image, the sharpness and the color dynamic of the image. "Object-dependent resolution" is understood as the resolution that necessary to display the image content without loss of information. The smaller and finer the individual objects or elements of the image are formed, the greater must be the object-dependent resolution for a high-quality output.

Various methods are available in the prior art for the extraction of this physical quantity (see, for example, Bernd Jähne, Digital Image Processing, 6th Edition 2005, ISBN 3-540-67754-2, Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, III Feature Extraction, page 299-446). In addition to the extracted using the image analysis method physical quantities can also be in the record, z. For example, in the layout data of the print data, inherent parameters may be included as meta-information. Such intrinsic parameters are for. For example, the resolution of a bitmap file that is to be distinguished from the object-dependent resolution and that indicates in which resolution the pixels of the bitmap file are stored. Another parameter inherent in the record is the color depth, which can take on typical values of 1 bit, 10 bits, 12 bits. The data sets also usually contain information about the respective image data type, so that these data can be taken directly from the print data and do not always have to be extracted by means of the image analysis method.

The just described method with image analysis can in particular according to the in DE 10 2006 047 436 described method.

Both the physical quantities and the data inherently contained in the data structure of the data set are information that is not explicitly contained in the print data or in the job-related data associated with the print data. This information is therefore called meta-information. The meta information also includes all information derived from this meta information by further analysis thereof.

Thus, meaning content of the individual segments can be determined by such further analysis. In the present embodiment, meaning contents of three levels, namely a base level, a middle level and an upper level, are distinguished.

The base level includes basic meaning content, such as B. edges and individual objects in the respective segments. Various methods for detecting edges and objects are known.

The middle level of meaning content includes texts, images (except photographic images) and photographic images. Photographic images are images with predominantly grayscale or color gradients and a few individual lines. The other images are images with no or only a few shades of gray or color gradients with small dynamic ranges. Such images often have thin, drawn lines.

In the upper level, the images and photographic images are again subdivided into meaning contents. For example, the images include maps, business graphics, technical / scientific diagrams (graphs), and plans. The photographic images are in the upper level z. B. divided into landscape images, portraits and product images.

There is also a superordinate level of meaning content in which several segments of the print data are combined, which together form a contiguous print data unit called a work. Such works are z. As invoices, personalized sales letters or newspapers. It is Z. For example, it is known to print newspapers of certain foreign-based publishers in limited editions on electrophotographic printers in a special format so that subscribers to this newspaper can also be provided with the corresponding newspaper copies abroad. The quality requirements for such newspaper printing are relatively low, so that this global meta-information affects all segments. For invoices, on the other hand, average quality requirements are demanded, whereas for personalized advertising letters, high quality requirements are placed on the printout so that the sales letter can be successful.

The type of work, also referred to as the target genre, requires predetermined processing methods to which the printer is to be appropriately set. The target genre thus represents a meta-information.

Here are some examples of how to automatically find other metadata.

In the case of maps, the colors blue (seas and lakes) and green usually form larger contiguous areas, whereas the colors yellow, red and black are provided with narrow lines (paths, roads and rails or small areas red for municipalities and cities). This feature structure can be automatically recorded and determined as a map.

Portrait photos are detected in such a way that a head of the portrayed persons is detected as an object. This image object has typical features in form and color. The same applies to business graphics and technical / scientific diagrams.

The analysis of the meaning content can be based on the data formats of the respective objects, if these formats are already suitable for the image analysis or for the respective available analysis tool, for example, the images JPEG or TIFF formats. Otherwise, it can also be provided to convert the formats of the objects into suitable formats. For example, a vector object superimposed on other pixels in the document may first be rasterized, then overlaid with the pixels, and finally analyzed.

Mathematical methods, such as Fourier analysis, expert systems, filters and / or neural networks are used individually or in combination for extracting the physical quantities of the print data and for determining the meaning contents. Furthermore, fractal image analysis methods with which self-similar sections of an image are extracted can be used to extract the physical quantities of the print data and to determine the meaning contents. The Fourier analysis is used primarily for determining frequency distributions with regard to the brightness and / or color of the images. These analyzes are applied either to the entire image or to individual separations. In carrying out these analysis methods, a plurality of feature images of one segment can be generated. Such a feature image is z. For example, an image obtained by deriving the gray levels of the output image. Such an image is often very useful for determining the edges. Based on several different feature images of a segment, the individual display parameters listed above can be obtained.

There are inherent parameters such. The color space (black and white, HLC, full color space) to which meta-information obtained by means of the image analysis, e.g. B. the color distribution, which is the amount or frequency of the respective primary colors in a particular color segment is called.

For example, if the meta-information is the Map parameter, then the blue color can be printed at low resolution, whereas the red, yellow, and black colors that render the streets and captions are printed very precisely at high resolution. Since the perception of the color black is much stronger than for the color yellow, it may also be appropriate to print the color black with higher resolution than the color yellow.

The analysis of the print data can also be carried out such that a set of segments with corresponding display parameters are stored in a database, the meta information being allocated to a segment by comparing this new segment with the example segments present in the database and if so new segment matches a sample segment in the database to some extent, the new segment will be assigned the meta-information of the existing example segment to which it matches. This method can also be performed in combination with the image analysis method described above, wherein if a new segment is not analyzed by such a comparison, since there are not sufficiently similar example segments in the database, then it becomes in the database along with its display parameters added. As a result, the method "learns", whereby the analysis times can be shortened with increasing use of the method, since now more sample segments are available.

The meta-information generated automatically according to the invention is derived solely from the print data and the job-related data associated with it, and is thus fundamentally independent of the printer.

In step S10, the meta-information is analyzed along with the process data. The process data describes the subsequent document processing processes or the potential document processing process classes. The process data includes parameters similar to those on subsequent devices, the pre-press computers 5 , the print servers 4 , the printers 3 and the post-processing devices 6 Characterize the executed document processing process. The print data analysis is ended with step S11.

Hereinafter, the analysis of meta-information and process data (step S10) will be described with reference to FIG 5 explained in more detail. This process starts with step S13.

This analysis thus takes into account the document processing processes downstream of the print data. In this case, the document processing processes which are suitable for the present print data are first selected as a function of the already existing job accompanying data and the meta information determined (step S14 in FIG 5 ). After that will Attempts to match the meta-information and the already existing order-level guidance data with the process data, ie, to check whether the already existing order-related data and the metadata about the process data are compatible (step S15). If it is established in this case (step S16) that the print data for the subsequent processing are complete and suitable but must be processed accordingly for optimal processing in the subsequent document processing processes, then corresponding job-related data are generated from the meta-information (step S17) which supports this processing of the Control print data in subsequent document editing processes. This is the rule, at least if the present method on Druckvorbereitungscomputer 5 is executed, since normally the print data for an expression on a printing device are completely present. They are optimized here with the method according to the invention with regard to the existing installation and application, which are incorporated in the method according to the invention by means of the process data.

However, if it is determined (step S16) that the existing print data is not suitable or incomplete for the subsequent document processing processes, be it that the print data itself is incorrect or corresponding job-related data is missing, a corresponding message is issued to the user (step S18) and the forwarding of the print data is first stopped. The issuing of such a message occurs mainly on such computers on which the print data are generated or to which print data from different sources are combined to form a print job, as z. B. is common at the layout stations. The user is then prompted (step S19) to manually input further job-related data via an input device so that the print data can be further processed. Preferably, a list is displayed with corresponding job guidance data from which the user can select one or more job-related data. This list is automatically generated by the procedure and reconciled with the existing order-related data, meta-information and process data. After the manual entry in step S19, the process flow returns to step S16, in which the print data is again checked for completeness and suitability.

A check of the print data based on the ascertained meta-information for completeness thereof may also already be made without consideration of the process data (without step S15) and executed at or immediately after the generation of the print data. The user can then supplement the print data with corresponding job-accompanying data, which permit a further, optimal processing of the print data in the subsequent document processing processes.

The following is based on the in 6 shown example page 7 explains the effect of the method described above. This sample page has a segment 8th which contains an image showing a tree. In the remaining area of the sample page 7 is text written.

If the order-related data contain the information that this example page is to be printed in a large format (for example, DIN A0), then the method according to the invention results in a print resolution of z. For example, set 300 dpi for the entire sample page. This print resolution is a standard print resolution that can be quickly processed by each processing device. Higher print resolution often makes little sense in large format printing, since it is assumed that the viewer is looking at this page with some distance, so that he is not able to recognize a higher resolution. The print resolution is thus determined from the job guide data "print on large format".

However, if you want to print this example page in a small format (eg DIN A5) for a catalog, it means that a viewer can see the difference between printing with high or low print resolution. Therefore, the available meta information is used to decide which print resolution to choose. In this sample page, the automatic analysis shows that there is a segment with one image and text in the rest of the sample page. The image is recognized as a landscape image with a dominating body, the tree and a uniform background (blue sky). Since the quality of the printed output should be high, the tree becomes 9 with the highest possible printing resolution of z. For example, 1,000 to 1,200 dpi. For the blue background in the picture 8th is a lower pressure resolution of z. B. 500 to 600 dpi. The area with the text is only printed with a print resolution of 300 dpi. Neither the text nor the background in the picture would result in a higher print resolution to increase the quality of the expression, since no fine details are shown here. A higher print resolution would only lead to a significant delay of the printing process, because a high print resolution requires a high computational effort. The tree 9 However, which is provided with many details must be printed with a high print resolution so that it can be printed with the desired quality. When selecting the individual print resolutions are also the Options that the existing installation allows. It only makes sense to select print resolutions that can actually be printed on the corresponding printing device. This information is taken into account in the form of the process data in the method according to the invention.

In addition to the print resolution, various other parameters are determined automatically. Only as one of many other examples, the grid method to be used is called. There are different screen methods that differ in quality and application. So there are raster methods that are better for rasterizing a text and raster methods that are better suited for rasterizing images. The individual raster methods also differ considerably in the computational effort. With the invention, the suitable raster methods can be determined automatically or after consultation with the user on the basis of the already existing order-accompanying data, the determined meta-information and the process data.

The method according to the invention is intended both for use simultaneously with or immediately after the production of the print data and for use in a professional printing environment in which print jobs are composed from a plurality of sources.

With the method according to the invention, print data can be processed from any sources. The method according to the invention also makes it possible to process large quantities of printing data with different contents and / or different job tickets with an electrophotographic printing system.

Conventional methods often discard the job-related data, in particular job tickets, of the print data originating from different sources. With the method according to the invention, these order-related data are taken into account and converted into a new set of order-related data. This new set of order guideline data is usually stored in a job ticket. When creating this new set of order-related data, the existing order-related data are analyzed for contradictions and whether they are sufficient and / or mandatory for the present print job.

The present invention is not limited to the illustration parameters listed above in the example. The illustration parameters explained above are merely illustrative of the invention.

The methods according to the invention have been explained above with reference to digital printing methods. The methods according to the invention are particularly suitable for heterogeneous printing environments with different types of printing devices, since the job-related data are automatically generated or optimized on the basis of the process data. The methods according to the invention can therefore also be used in printing environments which have classical printing devices, provided that the parameters can be read out automatically and added to the process data.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to the automatic generation of job-related data for a print data stream. In conventional print data streams, print data for a plurality of pages in a data unit, e.g. In a file, associated with job-related data. These order-related data apply to the entire data unit and thus to all pages equally. However, it is often the case that individual areas within the data unit or individual pages within the data unit have different shapes and accordingly have to be controlled with different order-related data.

A corresponding workflow is based on an in 7 illustrated block diagram explained.

The incoming print data stream B1 may be an IPDS data stream, a PDF data stream, or a print data stream in another page description language, such as a page description language. AFP, MO: DCA, PCL, PostScript, PPML, VDX, VPS, XML, VIPP, UPDS, etc., which includes a plurality of pages to be printed. However, these pages are part of a common data unit, in particular a common print file, so that the order-related data contained in the print data stream act on the entire data unit and thus simultaneously on a plurality of pages.

The print data stream or the data of the print file are automatically decomposed into individual areas. In the present embodiment, it is automatically decomposed into individual pages (step B2), but the areas can also comprise several pages. In this case, the data unit is not necessarily split, but additional information describing the data unit can be generated, which defines the subdivision of this data unit into the individual areas or pages. This information already represents a first part of automatically extracted meta-information.

In a so-called containerized AFP, MO: DCA or IPDS data stream, z. Legs page-wise decomposition, in particular of PDF pages or Postscript pages or pages in another page description language, which are embedded in the data stream as objects or so-called object containers, easily done. For this purpose only the respective objects need to be examined and from these objects the characteristic information for the decomposition information such. B. the information that the page contains a multicolored element, are determined in a so-called. Parsing process. Since the scope of the object data is relatively small and the format of the respective objects is known, the decomposition can be done very quickly in an analysis and decomposition device and the corresponding information (here color content) of the page are assigned and stored.

Furthermore, an imposition scheme is provided (step B3), according to which the individual pages are assigned to a signature or a benefit, i. H. be imposed (step B4), so-called "impositioning".

A signature is a collection of multiple pages that are printed together on a larger sheet or area of a record carrier web. The signature is selected such that the printing process downstream process steps, such as in particular in cutting and folding devices, arrange the individual pages in the correct order from the printed sheet or z. B. can fold the sheet so that the pages ultimately come in the right page order in a book.

Furthermore, the individual pages of the print data stream are analyzed for meta-information (step B6). In the present exemplary embodiment, this meta information is above all information as to whether the pages contain exclusively a black and white representation, a highlight color representation or a full color representation. Of course, other meta-information can also be analyzed.

The signatures compiled in step B4 are sorted in step B5 according to their associated meta-information. For example, all signatures containing only black and white printing information are sorted together and signatures containing full color printing information.

Furthermore, it can be provided that in step B3, based on the meta information of the pages determined in step B6, an imposition scheme is selected or newly determined from various available imposition schemes (step B10) and the imposition order (step B11) is adapted accordingly. As a result, a high degree of color separation can be achieved in the signatures, so that optimally many signatures contain only black-and-white pages and each of the color signatures optimally contains many color pages.

The automatic decomposition of the print data stream into areas or pages (step B2) and the extraction of the meta information (step B6) represents a print data data analysis, with which a print data stream can be examined area-specifically. The analysis and decomposition of the print data stream are here influenced or controlled by the properties of the printing device (step B9) such that they correspond to the different operating modes "monochrome printing" and "multicolor printing" of the printing device according to the criteria "pure black and white pages" and " Pages with color information ".

On the basis of this meta-information and the signature, job-related data are automatically generated (step B7), which contain control parameters, whether the respective signature is to be printed in single-color printing, highlight-color printing or full-color printing. The signatures are then printed on a printing device in accordance with the corresponding job-accompanying data (step B8), the printing device being set according to the generated job-related data. Here, the individual signatures or areas are printed according to the different order-accompanying data, so that signatures with pages that have only black and white representation are printed according to their sorting in a production cycle with unchanged device setting (on black and white) in single color. If a signature has a single page with a highlight color representation, the entire signature must be printed in Highlight Color Print. The same applies to the case in which a signature has a single page with a full color representation, whereby the entire signature must be printed in full color printing.

Significant benefits are achieved by automatically changing the printing process or printing device used for signatures that can be printed in single-color printing. For example, if a printing machine having a full-color mode as well as a single-color mode is used, such as the so-called color-belt electrophotographic printing machines, then in the single-color printing mode, a substantially higher printing speed (e.g. 800 pages / min) compared to the full color mode (eg 100 pages / min). This can accelerate the entire printout when the monochrome printable signatures are printed at higher print speeds. Such a color belt printing device is sold by the applicant under the name Océ VarioStream 9000 and is explained in "Digital Printing" (loc. Cit.) In chapter 8.4. In this case, successive toner images with different shades are developed on a photoconductor belt, the color separations are collected on a transfer belt and finally transferred to a recording medium.

When using an inkjet printer which is operable in either a single-color printing mode and a multi-color mode, an advantage of the invention is that during the Einfarbdrucks the ink nozzles can be moved to a rest position in which they are covered and protected from drying out. This solves the problem that when printing larger print jobs in multi-color or full-color mode with an inkjet printer, with larger areas are printed in one color only during this printing process, the nozzles of the other colors dry. This is avoided with the present method, since the nozzles for the full color printing are only extended, if there is a need or if a large number of full-color print data are to be printed within a short time.

Preferably, the signatures and the job-related data associated with them are grouped prior to printing in accordance with the job-related data, so that signatures with the same or similar job-accompanying data are printed consecutively, ie, for example. For example, first those signatures containing exclusively black-and-white print data in immediate sequence or in a common black-and-white print cycle and then signatures containing multicolor print data in a second print cycle, e.g. B. full-color printing cycle. This procedure is particularly useful when it takes a considerable amount of time to switch to a printing device between a full-color mode and a monochrome mode in order, for example, to boot up the corresponding printing units. If such a grouping of the signatures is provided during the printing, it is expedient to then sort the groups of signatures automatically by means of an automatic sorting device, which is arranged downstream of the respective printing device, according to the signature order belonging to the finished book.

The method has been explained above with reference to an embodiment in which the pages are assembled into signatures. However, this method is also suitable for printing consecutive pages that are not summarized in signatures. It is essential that the method automatically subdivides a print data stream into pages or areas from which meta information is taken from which job-related data is generated, so that job-related data is automatically generated for specific areas of a print data stream. Even with page-by-page printing, it may be convenient to group the pages as a function of the same or similar job-in-order data and print a group of pages sequentially.

Another advantage of the method described is that in a so-called click-charge user fee model for printing devices, in which a user has to pay different prices for printed color pages and printed black-and-white pages, the billing unit (eg Page counter) can be simplified or relatively easily changed automatically because the corresponding page numbers z. B. block by block for b / w and color can be detected.

In the foregoing description of the invention, the generation and processing of document data streams has been described many times using examples of print data streams. Print data streams are special embodiments of document data streams. However, document data streams may be other formats of documents, such as word processor formats such as Microsoft Office Word "doc" formats, Microsoft Office Xcel "xls", email formats, etc. The invention also extends to such and other document data streams .Document data formats. As far as specific data streams or formats are mentioned in the exemplary embodiments, it is generally self-evident that other data streams or formats can also be used in this context.

The invention can be summarized as follows:
The invention relates to a method and a system for automatically processing print data for a printing operation. With the method according to the invention, job-related data are automatically generated on the basis of an analysis of print data and already existing job-related data, wherein process data are also taken into account, which describe the subsequent document processing process. The order-related data thus contain control commands and parameters for controlling the subsequent document processing process. In particular, the job-related data are generated in which first meta-information from the print data and job-related data are extracted, which are then converted into control commands and control parameters. Based on the meta information, errors or incompleteness in the print data can be detected and the user may be notified.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

network

2

Client computer

3

printer

4

print server

5

Print preparation computer

6

post-processing device

7

example image

8th

segment

9

tree

Claims (41)

A method of automatically rendering document processing data contained in a print data stream, wherein the print data stream is subjected to document data analysis comprising decomposing the print data stream into predetermined areas (B2) and analyzing the predetermined meta information extraction areas (B6), then automatically receiving job-in-order data are generated, which are assigned to the individual areas or groups of areas, wherein the pages to be printed on a sheet of print data stream each associated with a signature (B4) and summarized in the respective signature (B5), and associated with each signature order-related data. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the meta-information extracted in the individual regions is the color depth (monochrome, highlight color color, full color) of the regions. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the individual areas successively to a single output device, in particular printing device, are printed (B8). Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that individual areas and / or individual signatures with the same or similar order-accompanying data are combined into groups and issued sequentially, in particular printed. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that after printing the pages and / or signatures are sorted automatically. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 5 for the automatic preparation of document processing data, characterized in that the document processing data comprise document data, in particular print data, and job-related data, the document data being independent by means of the document data analysis (S2), in particular print data analysis, and the job-related data analyzed by the document data by means of an order-related data analysis (S3) to generate further order-related data, and both analyzes (S2 and S3) take into account process data describing subsequent document processing processes in order to optimize the generated order-related data for a subsequent document processing process, in particular a printing process, and the newly created order-related data and the previously existing order-related data are combined and assigned to the document processing order (S4). A method according to claim 5, characterized in that the summarized order accompanying data are inserted into a job ticket, which is associated with the document data, in particular print data. Method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that in the document data analysis (S2) order-related data are extracted from the document data according to predetermined document data criteria and new order-accompanying data are extracted from the already existing order-accompanying data according to predetermined order-accompanying data criteria during the job-accompanying data analysis. Method according to Claim 8, characterized in that the extraction of the new order-related data from the document data and the already existing order-related data takes place in such a way that first meta-information from the document data and / or order-related data is extracted and the extracted meta-information into control commands and corresponding control parameters for controlling the following Document processing process that represents the order-related data. Method according to one of Claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the document data are print data and the print data analysis and the job-accompanying data analysis are carried out during or immediately after the production of the print data or of a print job containing print data A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the correctness of the subsequent document processing process is checked on the basis of the order-related data generated and possibly a message to the creator or processor of the document data is output. A method according to claim 11, characterized in that the check for correctness is a check of the feasibility of the Document editing process and / or output quality, in particular print quality. Method according to one of Claims 9 to 12, characterized in that the meta-information is determined by comparing different information in the document data and / or in the already existing order-accompanying data. Method according to one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that at least part of the meta-information is obtained by subjecting the document data, in particular in an image data format, to an image analysis process. A method according to claim 14, characterized in that the document data are divided into a plurality of segments and the image analysis method is applied to the individual segments. A method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the image analysis method is the image content, in particular color depth, contrast, sharpness, brightness, color space, richness of detail and / or resolution, analyzing method. Method according to one of Claims 14 to 16, characterized in that a Fourier analysis or frequency analysis for determining the resolution of the print data of a segment is used as the image analysis method. Method according to one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that an expert system, a neural network and / or a fractal image analysis method is used as the image analysis method. A method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that different image analysis methods are applied to different segments of the document data, which are selected depending on the respective data type of the segment. Method according to one of claims 9 to 19, characterized in that a printer selection is determined as meta-information, which is determined on the basis of a combination of one or more of the following parameters: - Resolution - Format information - color space - edition - post-processing parameters (binding, stapling, punching, folding) Method according to one of the preceding claims for automatically processing document processing data, characterized in that the document processing data comprise document data, in particular print data, and job-related data and wherein the following steps are carried out consecutively. Process data describing the subsequent document processing processes of different output devices and / or document processing devices are automatically generated and / or updated, - The process data are compared with document processing data, the document data, in particular print data, and order-related data, selected to select a particular group of output devices, in particular printing devices, with one of these output devices to output the document data, in particular with one of the printing devices to print the print data are and - Job-related data are generated, which are optimized with regard to the selected output devices, in particular pressure equipment. A method according to claim 21, characterized in that a particular output device, in particular a printing device, is selected. A method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that the generation of order-related data according to a method according to one of claims 1 to 22 is executed. Method according to one of the preceding claims for generating a template, characterized in that a template is defined by content and layout information and associated with the template order-related data for controlling subsequent document processing processes. A method according to claim 24, characterized in that at least a portion of the template associated job assignment data according to a method according to one of claims 1 to 25 is generated. Method according to Claim 24 or 25, characterized in that the job-related data associated with the template are processed according to a method according to one of Claims 1 to 25. Method according to one of the preceding claims for the automatic control of document data, in particular print data, characterized in that automatically extracted from the document data, in particular print data, meta information contained implicitly therein, This meta-information is converted into explicit order-related data and, based on this order-accompanying data, a check is made for errors or completeness of the document data, in particular print data, whereby a corresponding message is automatically output in the event of an error in the document data or in the case of incomplete document data. A method according to claim 27, characterized in that when extracting the metadata already existing order accompanying data are taken into account. A method according to claim 27 or 28, characterized in that when checking for errors or completeness of the document data and process data are taken into account, which describe the subsequent document processing processes or document processing process classes. A method according to any one of claims 27 to 29, characterized in that, upon detection, an error or incompleteness of the document data, the method prompting the user to input corresponding job guidance data, eliminates that error or the incompleteness of the document data. A method according to claim 30, characterized in that the suggestion list is displayed with suitable order-related data to correct the error or incompleteness, so that the user can select one or more order-related data from this suggestion list. Method according to one of Claims 27 to 31, characterized in that the checking for correctness and completeness of the document data is carried out during or immediately after the generation of the document data, in particular a print job containing print data. Method according to one of the preceding claims for preparing document data, in particular print data, characterized in that the document data are present in a predetermined first document data format, in particular print data format, and order-related data is added to the document data, in which the job-related data is transferred to an order-line data file separate from the document data which is represented in a second document data format different from the first document data format, and that the job-accompanying data file is incorporated into the document data by means of a macro. A method according to claim 33, characterized in that the document data with the integrated order-level data file in the subsequent document processing process are converted at least once into another document data format. A method according to claim 33 or 34, characterized in that the second document data format of the incorporated order lien data file is the format Postscript, AFP, MO: DCA, IPDS or PCL. Method according to one of claims 33 to 35, characterized in that in the document processing process, the document data is converted into the second document data format, wherein the order level data contained in the order accompanying data file is integrated into the document data. A system for automatically editing document editing data for a document editing operation, comprising a computer on which a computer program for executing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 36 is stored and executable. System according to claim 37, characterized in that the computer is in a network ( 1 ) for transferring document processing data to one or more printers ( 3 ) is arranged. A system according to claim 38, characterized in that the computer is a pre-press computer ( 5 ) or a print server ( 4 ). System according to claim 39, characterized in that the computer is part of a printer ( 3 ) and in particular a controller of the printer ( 3 ). Software product, characterized in that it is designed to carry out a method according to one of claims 1 to 36.

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