EP0465179A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Electronic copying/printing machines
Assignee: Xerox Corp
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Filing: 1991-06-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-06-28
Abstract
Abstract An electronic printer (2) with a scanner (6) for scanning the document pages (22) of a job and converting the document images scanned to pixels, a printer (8) for making prints of the documents from the pixels in accordance with job programming instructions, the scanner and printer operating asynchronously with respect to one another, and in which interruption of a job, to enable processing of a special job, is effected by interrupting the job currently being scanned by the scanner to scan the special job while continuing printing of other jobs in the print queue and, when the special job is ready, interrupting the job being printed to print the special job while resuming scanning of the interrupted job, and then continuing the printing of the interrupted job upon completion of printing of the special job.
Inventors
- 👤 John F. Gauronski
- 👤 Acco Hengst
- 👤 Alane H. Rowold
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 09:06
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32358; H04N1/32443; H04N1/00912; H04N1/00915; H04N1/00917; H04N1/32561; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/0077; H04N2201/0081; H04N2201/0082; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3285; H04N2201/3288
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
113 words
A job interrupt process for an electronic printer (2) comprising, the steps of: (a) temporarily interrupting scanning of the job currently being scanned to commence scanning of a special job; (b) while performing step (a), continuing printing of the interrupted job; (c) when scanning of the special job is completed, or at least sufficient has been scanned to enable printing of the special job to be started, interrupting printing of the job then in process, and starting printing of the special job; (d) resuming scanning of the interrupted job when scanning of the special job is completed, and (e) resuming printing of the interrupted job when printing of the special job is completed.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
286 words
A method of processing jobs input in the form of documents to provide prints with a scanner for scanning the documents and converting the documents to image signals, and a printer for printing prints using the image signals, the scanner and printer operating asynchronously with respect to one another, comprising the steps of: a) providing a job file with processing instructions for each job; b) scanning the job documents to provide image signals for use in making prints; c) arranging the job files in an ordered queue for printing; d) printing the jobs using the image signals in the order in which the job files are arranged in the queue; e) providing a job file with processing instructions for a special job, f) interrupting scanning of the job documents to scan the documents comprising the special job, while continuing uninterrupted printing of the jobs currently in the queue, g) scanning the documents comprising the special job in accordance with the instructions from the job file for the special job, to provide image signals for use in printing the special job; h) placing the job file for the special job in the print queue ahead of the job files of the other print jobs in the queue when the special job is ready for printing; i) in response to step (h), interrupting the job currently being printed, and starting printing of the special job in accordance with the instructions from the job file for the special job using the image signals; j) following scanning of the last document in the special job, resuming scanning of the documents of the other jobs, and k) when printing of the special job is complete, resuming printing of the interrupted job.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method according to claim 2, including the steps of: a) cycling down the printer in response to interrupting the job currently being printed, and b) inhibiting restarting of the printer where the current operating mode of the printer is incompatible with the instructions for printing the special job.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method according to claim 2, including the steps of: a) cycling down the printer in response to completion of printing of the special job, and b) inhibiting restarting of the printer where the current operating mode of the printer is incompatible with the printing instruction for the interrupted job.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
51 words
The method according to any of claims 2 to 4, including the steps of: arranging the processing instructions in the job files with page boundaries between printing instructions for each page; and placing the job file for the special job in the queue ahead of the next page to be printed.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method according to claim 5, including the step of: where the interrupted job is being printed in sets, inserting the job file for the special job in the job file succession at the end of the set currently being printed .
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
51 words
The method according to claim 5, including the step of: where the interrupted job is being printed in blocks of N pages each, inserting the job file for the special job in the job file succession at the end of the last page in the block of N pages being printed.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
34 words
The method according to any of claims 2 to 7, including the step of: arranging multiple special jobs in a first-in-first-out order in the queue ahead of the other job files in the queue.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 8, including the step of: restricting the order in which the special jobs are arranged in the queue to the order in which the special jobs are put into the queue.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
32 words
The method according to any of claims 2 to 9, including the step of: where a special job is in process, inhibiting interruption of the special job by a second special job.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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