Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080243606 | CUSTOMER SATISFACTION METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NETWORK PRINTERS - A method teaches monitoring at least one printing device via a communication network. A usage profile may be received from the printing device. The usage profile may include data that reflects usage of a consumable or a number of clicks by the printing device over a period of time. The usage profile may be compared to a service history profile to create a service-dependent usage profile. If the received service-dependent usage profile satisfies a reward criterion a user of the printing device may be provided with a reward. | 10-02-2008 |
20080266580 | Scaling methods for binary image data - The embodiments describe calculating and store scaling information based on processing input binary image data. By manipulating data that is received in binary format, the most cost effective method for scaling may be chosen. The input image data is scanned, a resolution (e.g., for display or output) is determined and a scaling method is determined. If the input binary image data needs to be scaled down to a smaller resolution, the binary image data is processed and scaled and then converted to grayscale image data. If the image data must be scaled to a larger resolution, the input binary image data is first converted to grayscale image data before processing using a segmentation tag-based scaling method. The scaled image data may then be output to an output device, such as a display, printer, or image output terminal. | 10-30-2008 |
20080292130 | Preserving scanner signature using MRC technology - Systems and methods are described that facilitate encrypting document status information into a scanned image of a document using a mixed raster content document parsing protocol, in accordance with various features described herein. A text string comprising status information can be imaged into a mask layer that overlays the scanned image. Additionally or alternatively, the text string can be encrypted into a binary image that is encoded into the mask layer and overlaid on the image. The image itself is parsed into a background layer and one or more mask layers comprising different portions of the document. The encrypted mask layer comprising the text string and/or binary image can be generated using the same color as the background layer, such that the document status information is invisible and does not cause unwanted artifacts during printing or conversion of the document between formats. The document status information can be scanner signature information, scan-to-file authentication information, object metadata, etc. | 11-27-2008 |
20080320384 | AUTOMATED ADDITION OF IMAGES TO TEXT - After an electronic document that comprises text is input or received, a method embodiment automatically divides the electronic document into sections, such as paragraphs, chapters, pages, etc. The method automatically identifies a “theme” for each of the sections based on an automated analysis of words within the sections. Once the themes and sections are established, the method automatically searches a database of images for images which have identifiers that match the themes of the sections. By automatically matching the themes of the sections to the subject identifiers of the images, the method provides an image that matches a corresponding section of the document. Then, the method automatically adds a corresponding matching image to each of the sections to create a revised electronic document and outputs the revised electronic document. | 12-25-2008 |
20090002761 | Predictive DMA data transfer
- A compression and storage device comprises: a compressor configured to compress data; a central processing unit (CPU) configured to control storage of the compressed data and to perform at least one additional task; an electronic memory organized as storage blocks each having a storage block size; a direct memory access (DMA) engine configured to operate autonomously from the CPU to transfer a current transfer block of compressed data into one or more storage blocks of the electronic memory; and a transfer block size estimator configured to select a transfer block size for the current transfer block based on previous DMA transfers of compressed data, the selected transfer block size being generally different from the storage block size. | 01-01-2009 |
20090092317 | AUTOMATED METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NAMING DOCUMENTS FROM A SCANNED SOURCE BASED ON MANUALLY MARKED TEXT - A method for associating text with image data of documents is herein described. The method includes receiving image data of a document with manually marked text and recognizing the manually marked text. The image data is then annotated (e.g., tagged) using the manually marked text and the image data of the document is stored. When manually marked text is recognized, recognized text may be generated for annotating the image data of the document and used to populate a field associated with the image data. The field may be a name of the document or a subject line of an e-mail message, for example. A method including identifying the location of manually marked text in a first scanned document to automatically identify and annotate text in a corresponding location in a second scanned document is also disclosed. | 04-09-2009 |
20090099980 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF BILLING FOR PRINTING SERVICE COSTS BY EXAMINING THE CONTENT OF A PAGE - A system and method of billing for printing service costs can examine content of a page and apply a cost function to approximate the cost of printing the page. Examining the content of the page may include detecting at least one object in the page and determining an approximate area of coverage of the detected object within the at least one object in the page. The cost function can approximate the cost of printing the page using the detected object and the determined approximate area of coverage of the detected object. | 04-16-2009 |
20090109454 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY PRINTING COLOR CONTENT OF A PAGE WITH A REDUCED COLOR GAMUT - A system and method for selectively printing color content of a page with a reduced color gamut. The system includes a detection module, a printing mode module, and a conversion module. The detection module is configured to detect a color object in the page and the printing mode module exists in at least one mode. The conversion module can selectively convert the detected color object to a converted reduced-colorant object in accordance with the existence of the at least one mode of the printing mode module. | 04-30-2009 |
20090128862 | AUTOMATED METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING DOCUMENTS FROM A SCANNED SOURCE BASED ON TEXTUAL DESTINATION INFORMATION IN THE DOCUMENT - A method for sending image data of a document containing human readable textual destination information to a designated remote destination is herein described. The method includes receiving image data and recognizing, with a processor, the textual destination information designating a remote destination in the image data. The textual destination information may include a predetermined pattern identifying an e-mail address, IP address, or telephone number, or a region to locate such. When the textual destination information is recognized, an electronic routing address is created such that a transmission module coupled to the processor may transmit the data to the remote destination. A method and system including identifying the location of textual destination information in a first scanned document to automatically identify information in a corresponding location in a second scanned document to address and transmit the second document is also disclosed. | 05-21-2009 |
20090161136 | COST EFFECTIVE IMAGE PATH FOR MULTIPLE OFFICE APPLICATIONS - A method and apparatus for configuring an image path of an image processing apparatus is herein described. The image processing apparatus includes at least an input terminal or scanner for inputting or scanning document into image data and an output terminal or printer for printing documents. The method includes selecting one of a plurality of output modes using a selection device associated with the image processing apparatus. Based on the selected output mode, an image path among a plurality of image processing elements of the apparatus is selected among a plurality of image paths. Each image path corresponds to one of the plurality of output modes. After a document is scanned with the scanner into image data, the image data is processed with the processing elements in the selected image path, and output or printed based on the processed image data. | 06-25-2009 |
20090195801 | ESTIMATING AN AMOUNT OF COLOR CONTENT IN A DOCUMENT - What is provided herein is a novel system and method for estimating the amount of color in a document. In one embodiment, a binary CMYK input image is received. Each of the CMYK plane is received at an offset from the previous plane, i.e., the 4 planes are not received simultaneously. Each plane is divided into M×N tiles. Pixel values of all four planes are examined separately and the number of on-pixels is counted for each plane. The number of on-pixel counts for each tile are aggregated for each plane. Total on-pixel counts are used to estimate the total number of white, black, color, and gray pixel counts. The total counts for all planes are used to estimate the amount of color. A document is determined to be color if the amount of color exceeds a predetermined threshold. A color billing strategy is determined based on the estimated color amount. | 08-06-2009 |
20090265286 | CUSTOMIZED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF BILLING FOR PRINTING SERVICE COSTS BY EXAMINING THE CONTENTS OF PRINTED PAGES - A system and method of billing for printing service costs is provided to examine content of a page and apply a cost function to approximate the cost of printing the page. Examining the page may include detecting an object in the page, determining a type of the detected object, and determining an approximate area of coverage of the detected object within the page. A usage profile of each type of detected object that is printed is calculated and stored. The cost function uses the detected object, the approximate area of coverage, and a weight value associated with the type of detected object to approximate the cost of the page. When costs are calculated over a period of time, the weight value of each type of detected object may be adjusted based on the usage profile for each type of detected object. | 10-22-2009 |
20090279145 | IMAGE DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD - The image data processing system and method disclosed, processes intermediate compressed binary data representing images scanned for copy or exporting, thereby enabling storage of the copy or export file to a common memory storage device. According to an exemplary embodiment, the image data processing system comprises a binary lossless decompress module, a binary to contone restoration module, and an export processing module, the export processing module processing multiple bit image data for exporting to an image data receiving device. | 11-12-2009 |
20100005038 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERSONALIZED PRICE PER PRINT/COPY - A method of determining a quality output of a page based on a price input and examining content of a page. Examining content of a page includes detecting at least one object on the page and determining an approximate area of coverage of the at least one object on the page. The method also includes approximating a cost of printing the page based on the approximate area of coverage. The method also includes processing a user selected price for printing the page and comparing the user selected price to the approximated cost of printing the page. The method also includes generating the page based on the comparison between the user selected price and the approximated cost of printing the page. | 01-07-2010 |
20100014123 | ONLINE HARDCOPY REVISION SERVICE - A revision control system (RCS) can maintain document revisions that contain markings. Markings are often hand written notes or drawings added to a physical document. The markings can be isolated from the original drawing and saved in the RCS as difference specifications. A physical document can be produced from a document specification. A person can add markings. A revised document specification can then be produced from the marked up version of the physical document. Finally, the revised document specification can be maintained by the RCS. As such, various document versions of the physical document, including those with hand markings, can be fetched from the RCS. A person can use the physical document to update existing revision and/or query older revisions without any manual steps. | 01-21-2010 |
20100033765 | DOCUMENT TYPE CLASSIFICATION FOR SCANNED BITMAPS - Systems and methods are described that facilitate determining an original document format for a scanned document by analyzing a bitmap thereof. Text objects are extracted from the document, binarized, and segmented to identify text. Page orientation and text size are used to distinguish between a slideshow-type document, and a word processing or spreadsheet-type document. To further distinguish between the word processing and spreadsheet types, text column structure and count is analyzed. | 02-11-2010 |
20100042655 | METHOD FOR SELECTIVE COMPRESSION FOR PLANNED DEGRADATION AND OBSOLENCE OF FILES - A system and method manages a file storage system by defining an arbitration policy, the arbitration policy defining a pre-defined usage level threshold and defining implementation priorities for a plurality of storage management mitigation actions, each storage management mitigation action defining a distinct action to be taken to reduce the usage level of the file storage system and a parameter for selecting which file or files stored in the file storage system qualify for the storage management mitigation action. If a usage level of the file storage system is greater than the pre-defined usage level threshold, a storage management mitigation action is selected from the plurality of storage management mitigation actions. Which files that qualify for the selected storage management mitigation action is determined and the selected storage management mitigation action is applied to the files determined to qualify for the selected storage management mitigation action to reduce the usage level of the file storage system. | 02-18-2010 |
20100046034 | Reformatting Binary Image Data to Generate Smaller Compressed Image Data Size - In various exemplary embodiments, systems include a segmentor to segment text binary image data to a first plane. A subtractor subtracts text binary image from binary image data to generate a non-text binary image data in a second plane. A converter converts non-text binary image data in the second plane into non-text gray scale image data in the second plane. A first compressor compresses the text gray scale image data in the first plane. A second compressor compresses the non-text gray scale mage in the second plane. | 02-25-2010 |
20100088201 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A BILLING STRATEGY FOR DOCUMENTS BASED ON COLOR ESTIMATIONS IN AN IMAGE PATH - Disclosed herein is a method and system for determining a billing structure for outputting documents using an image processing apparatus. If image data of the document includes color pixels, a billing structure is determined based on an estimated total color pixel count. The color pixels of the image data are counted in a device independent space and the total color pixel count of the image data to be output in a device dependent space is estimated. Based on the estimation, a billing structure is chosen. Processing and determining a billing structure based on image data in the device independent space avoids charging a customer for color print job when only a small amount of color pixels are printed. It also encourages determining charges independently of the marking engine or output device. | 04-08-2010 |
20100110468 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIAGNOSING A FAILURE CONDITION IN AN IMAGE PATH OF AN IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS - Disclosed herein is a system and method for diagnosing a failure condition of an image processing apparatus. When a failure condition is detected in an image path during output of a document, a fault code is issued. The image processing apparatus is then capable of performing an internal diagnosis to generate a diagnostic report, and send the diagnostic report and fault code to an operator at a remote location. The system and method allows one to diagnose a problem or failure condition more quickly and efficiently, thereby cutting down on service time and costs. | 05-06-2010 |
20100131428 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERSONALIZED PRICE/FILE SIZE PER SCAN - A method of determining a quality of a file of a scanned page based upon a user selected input including examining the content of the scanned page via detecting at least one object on the scanned page, classifying each object on the scanned page and estimating a file size of each object on the scanned page. A file size of the scanned page is approximated based upon the estimated file size of each object on the scanned page. A user input for the scanned page is received and compared to the approximated file size of the scanned page. Finally, a file is generated from the scanned page wherein the quality of the file is based upon the comparison between the user selected input and the approximated file size of the scanned page. | 05-27-2010 |
20100142853 | ITERATIVE SELECTION OF PIXEL PATHS FOR CONTENT AWARE IMAGE RESIZING - What is disclosed is a method for iterative seam selection in an image resizing system utilizing a seam carving technique. In one embodiment, an importance map is generated for a received source image. Seams are carved through the image from one edge to an opposite edge. An energy is computed for each seam based on pixel importance values. A distance is computed from each seam to a previously selected seam. A weighting for each seam is computed using a defined weighting function and the calculated seam distances. The weighting is applied to the energy of each seam produce a revised energy for each seam. A seam is selected based on the produced revised energy. The image is resized at a location of the selected seam. The process repeats until the image has been resized to a desired target output dimension. In such a manner, unnatural image resizing results are avoided. | 06-10-2010 |
20100153581 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OPTIMIZING NETWORK TRANSMISSION OF RENDERED DOCUMENTS - A method and system for optimizing network transmission of print documents to a rendering device. A document for rendering (e.g., print job) can be received and metadata related to the document analyzed simultaneously. The metadata can then be compared to a number of locally saved files and the document containing matching metadata can be rendered directly from a local storage device, thereby reducing network traffic. Otherwise, the document can be transferred over a network to the rendering device. A record of a number of times the document is being requested for rendering can be tracked by the rendering device in order to retain the document for an extended period of time. | 06-17-2010 |
20100157374 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED COPY QUALITY IN A MULTIFUNCTION REPROGRAPHIC SYSTEM - A method and system reconstructs a contone image from a binary image by first tagging pixels to identify one of a multiplicity of image content types. The tag information and the pattern of bits surrounding the pixel to be converted to a contone value are used to reconstruct a contone image from a binary image. The pattern of bits in the neighborhood is used to generate a unique identifier. The unique identifier is used as the address for a lookup table with the contone value to be used wherein each lookup table corresponds to an image context type. | 06-24-2010 |
20100182653 | ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT UPDATE BASED ON HANDWRITTEN EDITS - An automated system and method for recognizing handwritten edits contained on a hard-copy document, the hand-written edits being made in one of two colors, and creating an electronic version of the hard-copy document with the edits applied, the edits being applied according to the highlighted color of the edit. | 07-22-2010 |
20100201711 | RESIZING A DIGITAL DOCUMENT IMAGE VIA BACKGROUND CONTENT REMOVAL - What is disclosed is a system and method for performing a background deletion that exploits both local and global context to remove background and other white space between objects with the aim of retaining structural relationships between objects in the document. A document image is received and seams are carved through the image. Seams composed of uniform background pixels are identified. Adjacent seams containing background pixels are collected into groups of seams. The background seam groups are classified according to their widths. A target number of seams to be removed for each background seam group is then determined based on the classification. Seam groups which are wider will have at least the same or a greater target number of seams to be deleted therefrom than will seam groups of narrower widths. The document image is then resized by deleting seams from the seam groups based on the assigned target number. | 08-12-2010 |
20100290094 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF BILLING FOR SCANNING SERVICE COSTS - A system and method of billing for scanning service costs is provided to examine content of a page and apply a cost function to approximate the cost of scanning the page. Examining the page includes detecting an object in the page, determining a type of the detected object, determining an approximate file size of the page, and determining an approximate area of coverage of the detected object within the page. A usage profile of each type of detected object is calculated and stored. The cost function uses the detected object, the approximate file size, the approximate area of coverage, and a weight value associated with the type of detected object to approximate the cost of the page. When costs are calculated over a period of time, the weight value of each type of detected object may be adjusted based on the usage profile for each type of detected object. | 11-18-2010 |
20110033131 | METHODS FOR BACKGROUND AND NOISE SUPPRESSION IN BINARY TO GRAYSCALE IMAGE CONVERSION - One embodiment is a method for suppressing background inaccuracies in binary to grayscale image conversion. A binary image is converted to a grayscale image using a neighbor map. An image enhancement function is applied to the grayscale image to suppress background inaccuracies in the grayscale image. Another embodiment is method for converting a binary pixel of a binary image to a grayscale pixel of a grayscale image and suppressing noise in the grayscale image using selective filtering of the binary image. Another embodiment is a method for converting a binary image to a first grayscale image and suppressing noise in the first grayscale image to produce a noise suppressed grayscale image using selective filtering of the first grayscale image. | 02-10-2011 |
20110047505 | OBJECT BASED ADAPTIVE DOCUMENT RESIZING - What is disclosed is a resizing method that utilizes segmentation information to classify objects found within a document and then selects the most appropriate resizing technique for each identified object. The present method employs readily available document parsers to reliably extract objects. e.g. text, background, images, graphics, etc., which compose the document. Information obtained from a document parser is utilized to identify the document components for classification. The extracted objects are then classified according to their object type. Each of classified objects are then resized using a resizing technique having been pre-selected for the object type based on their respective abilities to resize certain types of document content over other resizing techniques. The present method advantageously extends smart or content-based scaling and is especially useful for N-up or variable-information printing. The present method finds its intended uses in enhancing N-up and handout options currently provided in a variety of print-drivers. | 02-24-2011 |
20110255125 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BURSTINESS-AWARE SCHEDULING AND CAPACITY ASSESSMENT ON A NETWORK OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES - A system and method for establishing a burstiness metric is presented including at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium in communication with the at least one processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises one or more programming instructions for performing the steps of: receiving information related to a plurality of tasks performed by a plurality of electronic devices based on input received from one or more users; analyzing the received information; employing an availability model to the information analyzed; and generating a schedule based on the information analyzed and the availability model by redistributing at least one task of the plurality of tasks between the plurality of electronic devices in accordance with electronic device availability and computational loads. Also, an assessment is made based on the information analyzed to determine a proportion of the plurality of tasks to be supported to achieve a required quality of service. | 10-20-2011 |
20120116935 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING COLOR USAGE LIMITS WITH TIERED BILLING AND AUTOMATICALLY OUTPUTTING DOCUMENTS ACCORDING TO SAME - Disclosed is a method and a system for automatically outputting documents based on at least a user's credentials. A highest billing tier for processing the image data from a plurality of billing tiers and which is based on credentials for the specified user is selected, and the image data is processed and output. Alternatively, if the highest billing tier selected is not authorized by a user's credentials, then a next highest billing tier is selected in accordance with the credentials, and the job is automatically processed and then output. The credentials may be based on an available amount of credit in a user's account (e.g., to print at billing cost) or a user's authorization (e.g., to print color documents), for example. The tiers may be based on one or more thresholds, such as a percentage of color content in a document. | 05-10-2012 |
20120287487 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING SCAN LIMITS WITH CONTROL TIERS AND AUTOMATICALLY SCANNING DOCUMENTS ACCORDING TO SAME - Disclosed is a method and a system for automatically scanning documents based on at least a user's credentials. The user's credentials are used to select a highest tier (from a plurality of tiers) for scanning the image data, and the image data is scanned according to the selected highest tier. Alternatively, if the highest tier selected is not authorized by a user's credentials, then a next highest tier is selected in accordance with the credentials, and then the job is automatically scanned. The credentials may be based on a time period (e.g., time of day), bandwidth, or a user's authorization (e.g., to scan color documents), for example. The tiers may be based on one or more thresholds, such as a percentage of color content in a document or scan resolution. | 11-15-2012 |
20130063763 | INTEGRATED PRINTING AND NETWORK ACCESS DEVICE - The present disclosure relates generally to an integrated multi-function device that is capable of both connecting to a wide area network via wired Ethernet or cellular connection and providing network connectivity to one or more devices within an internal network as part of a wireless mesh network. In some embodiments, the multi-function device may be an enhanced multi-function printing device, such as a network printer, scanner, copier, fax machine, or combination of such devices. The multi-function printing device may act as a gateway device by connecting to a WAN, such as the Internet. The multi-function printing device may further provide network access to other devices in a LAN, such as desktop and laptop computers, office telephones, cellular telephones, multimedia devices, and other printing devices, using a wireless protocol, such as the IEEE 802.11 standard. | 03-14-2013 |
20130155442 | REMOTE MANAGEMENT FOR MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES - The present disclosure describe a remote management system for a multi-function device (MFD). The system employs a monitoring module, a cellular interface, and a control. The monitoring module monitors parameters of the multi-function device. The cellular interface provides cellular data connection between the MFD and an administrator or a service centre that is remotely located. In addition, cellular interface offers transfer of monitored information to a remote location, and further receive instructions from a remote location. Moreover, the control module executes the instructions received from the remote location from the remote location. | 06-20-2013 |