Printer ink reduction
AssigneeSoftware Imaging Limited
InventorsAnthony William Harris, Peter Kaplan, Bruno Bouby, Jerry Lim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of printing an image comprises sending a data stream representing the image to a printer driver, generating a stream of print instructions at the printer driver, forwarding the stream of print instructions to a printer, and printing the image in accordance with the print instructions. The data stream or stream of print instructions is intercepted and processed so that the printer uses less ink to print the image than it would if the processing was not performed.
Claims25
A method of printing an image, comprising:
- sending a data stream representing the image to a printer driver;
- generating a stream of print instructions at the printer driver;
- forwarding the stream of print instructions to a printer;
- and
- printing the image in accordance with the print instructions;
- wherein the data stream or stream of print instructions is intercepted by a shell driver before it reaches the printer driver or between the printer driver and the printer and processed by the shell driver so that the printer uses less ink to print the image than it would if the processing was not performed.
A method of reducing the ink used by a printer to print an image, the method comprising:
- using a shell driver to intercept a data stream, representing the image, sent to a printer driver for printing;
- using the shell driver to process the data stream so as to produce a modified data stream still representing the image;
- forwarding the processed data stream to the printer driver;
- generating a stream of print instructions;
- forwarding the stream of print instructions to the printer;
- and
- printing the image in accordance with the print instructions;
- wherein the step of processing the data stream results in a reduction of the amount of ink used by the printer as compared to the amount which would be used by the printer if the processing was not performed.
A method of reducing the ink used by a printer to print an image, the method comprising:
- using a shell driver to intercept a stream of print instructions, representing the image, sent from a printer driver to a printer;
- using the shell driver to process the stream of print instructions so as to produce a modified stream of print instructions still representing the image;
- and
- printing the image in accordance with the modified print instructions;
- wherein the step of processing the stream of print instructions results in a reduction of the amount of ink used by the printer as compared to the amount which would be used by the printer if the processing was not performed.
A system for printing documents from an application, comprising:
- a printer driver arranged to receive a data stream corresponding to a document to be printed and forward a stream of print instructions to a printer to print said document in response to the data stream;
- and
- a shell driver arranged either to intercept a data stream intended for the printer driver, process the data stream and pass the processed data stream to the printer driver, or to intercept a stream of print instructions intended for the printer, process the print instructions and pass the processed print instructions to the printer;
- wherein the shell driver is arranged to process the data stream or print instructions in such a way that the printer uses less ink than it would if the data stream or print instructions was not processed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.