Methods and systems of reconciling sources of print job processing information in a print processing environment

A method of processing a print job in a document production environment, comprising:

• receiving a job ticket for the print job, wherein the job ticket comprises one or more job ticket parameters for processing the print job;
• identifying a process plan template comprising one or more processing instructions for processing the print job;
• performing, by a computing device, a parameter value resolving process for each job ticket parameter to yield a first set of resolved parameter values, wherein performing the parameter value resolving process for each job ticket parameter comprises:
• identifying, from a plurality of sources, a plurality of candidate values for the job ticket parameter;
• identifying a source of the plurality of sources associated with each of the candidate values,
• determining whether one of the plurality of candidate values has a source with precedence over the sources for the other candidate values, and
• if so, selecting a candidate value of the plurality of candidate values whose source has precedence as a resolved parameter value;
• displaying at least one of the one or more job ticket parameters and one or more manipulations associated with the at least one of the one or more job ticket parameters;
• receiving, from a user, a selection of a displayed job ticket parameter and a manipulation of the one or more manipulations associated with the displayed job ticket parameter, wherein the selected manipulation comprises assigning a substring value associated with the displayed job ticket parameter;
• applying the selected manipulation to the selected displayed job ticket parameter in the first set of resolved parameter values to yield a first set of final parameter values;
• processing a first portion of the print job using the identified process plan template and the first set of final parameter values;
• after at least one instruction from the identified process plan template has been implemented, performing the parameter value resolving process for each parameter value that has not yet been resolved to yield a second set of resolved parameter values;
• and
• processing a second portion of the print job using the identified process plan template, the first set of final parameter values, and the second set of resolved parameter values.

A method of processing a print job in a document production environment, comprising:

• receiving a job ticket for the print job, wherein the job ticket comprises one or more job ticket parameters for processing the print job;
• identifying a process plan template comprising one or more processing instructions for processing the print job;
• performing, by a computing device, a parameter value resolving process for each job ticket parameter to yield a set of resolved parameter values by:
• receiving, from a user, an information type associated with a source of the job ticket parameter,
• identifying a plurality of candidate values for the job ticket parameter, wherein each identified candidate value is associated with a source having the information type, and
• determining whether the source associated with one of the plurality candidate values has a precedence over the sources for the other candidate values, and if so, selecting the candidate value whose source has precedence as a resolved parameter value;
• presenting a user with a representation of the set of the resolved parameter values, and permitting the user to modify at least one resolved parameter values of the set of resolved parameter values to yield a user-modified parameter value;
• processing a first portion of the print job using the identified process plan template, at least one resolved parameter value of the set of resolved parameter values, and the user-modified parameter value, wherein using the resolved parameter value in the processing of the first portion of the print job comprises:
• assigning a substring value associated with the at least one resolved parameter value to yield a corresponding final value, and
• applying the corresponding final value to the identified process plan template;
• after at least one instruction from the identified process plan template has been implemented, performing the parameter value resolving process for each parameter value that has not yet been resolved to yield at least one subsequently-resolved parameter value;
• and
• processing a second portion of the print job using the identified process plan template, the set of resolved parameter values, the user-modified parameter value, the at least one subsequently-resolved parameter value.

A system for processing a print job in a document production environment, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a processor-readable storage medium containing one or more programming instructions for performing a method of processing the print job in a document production environment, the method comprising:
• receiving a job ticket for the print job, wherein the job ticket comprises one or more job ticket parameters for processing the print job,
• identifying a process plan template comprising one or more processing instructions for processing the print job,
• performing a parameter value resolving process for each job ticket parameter to yield a set of resolved parameter values by:
• identifying a plurality of candidate values for the job ticket parameter, wherein each of the plurality of candidate values is associated with a source, and
• determining whether the source associated with one of the plurality of candidate values has precedence over the sources for the other candidate values, and if so, selecting the candidate value whose source has precedence as a resolved parameter value;
• presenting a user with a representation of the set of the resolved parameter values, and permitting the user to modify at least one resolved parameter value of the set of resolved parameter values to yield a user-modified parameter value,
• processing a first portion of the print job using the identified process plan template, at least one resolved parameter value of the set of the resolved parameter values, and the user-modified parameter values, wherein using the resolved parameter value in the processing of the first portion of the print job comprises:
• assigning a substring value associated with the resolved parameter value to yield a corresponding final value, and
• applying the corresponding final value to the process plan template,
• after at least one instruction from the identified process plan template has been implemented, performing the parameter value resolving process for each parameter value that has not yet been resolved to yield at least one subsequently-resolved parameter value, and
• processing a second portion of the print job using the identified process plan template, the set of resolved parameter values, the user-modified parameter value, and the at least one subsequently-resolved parameter values.