US 8,861,016 B2Granted

Method of adding value to print data, a value-adding device, and a recording medium

AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation

InventorsTomohiro Kodama, Hitoshi Oyama, Tadashi Furuhata, Akio Takamoto

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Various kinds of value can be easily added to print data output from an existing application without modifying the existing application program. A value-adding method executes a process of adding value to print data output from an application on a computer that has one or more communication ports and executes a specific process by means of an application, and includes a data acquisition step of acquiring the print data at the operating system kernel layer before the print data is received at the communication port, and a data processing step that applies at the application layer a process of adding and/or deleting print content in the print data based on previously registered information, and outputs the data after processing to the specified communication port.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A value-adding device rendered by a computer configured to operate according to an operating system on an operating system kernel layer, to execute a specific process according to an application on an application layer, and to have a first communication port and a second communication port, and to execute a process of adding value to print data output from the application to the first communication port, comprising:

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the application, the print data on the operating system kernel layer before the print data output from the application is received at the first communication port;
and
a data processing unit on the application layer, configured to apply a process of adding and/or deleting print content in the print data acquired by the data acquisition unit based on information previously registered in the computer, and to output the data after processing to the second communication port.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/239,790Filed 22 Sep 2011
Priority: JP 2010-21160122 Sep 2010
Published: US 2012/0069404 A122 Mar 2012
Granted: 14 Oct 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification15 codes

G06F 3/1243
Image or content composition onto a page: variable data printing, e.g. document forms, templates, labels, coupons, advertisements, logos,…
G06F 3/1206
Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management: resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
G06F 3/1244
Print job management: job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
G06F 3/1251
Page layout or assigning input pages onto output media, e.g. imposition: for continuous media, e.g. web media, rolls