Print Job Error Tracking via Output Check List
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for processing print jobs on image-processing apparatuses face challenges in tracing and identifying faulty jobs, especially in unattended printing scenarios where errors lead to incomplete or over-complete documents, making it difficult for users to locate and address issues within large piles of printed materials.
Innovation Solution
The method involves maintaining an output check list by the control unit to track recoverable errors, which automatically creates entries when such errors occur, allowing users to easily identify and address faulty print jobs through notifications and document marking, enabling users to locate and correct incomplete or over-complete documents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the image-processing apparatus continues printing jobs from the queue after a faulty job without stopping, then productivity is improved by avoiding interruptions, but the faulty output becomes difficult to locate among all printed documents
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by creating log file entries that record errors and their corresponding print jobs. When a recoverable error occurs, the system logs the error information and associates it with the affected print job, enabling traceability of faulty outputs even when continuous printing is maintained.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of a log file that acts as a mediator between the printing process and the user. The log file stores error information and job associations, serving as an intermediary data structure that enables users to trace faulty outputs without interrupting the printing process.
2Reliability
If all kinds of events are registered in the log file ordered by time of occurrence, then complete event tracking is achieved, but entries of a certain event kind are scattered and difficult to trace
Solution Approach 1:
The log file is segmented by event type rather than being a single chronological sequence. Errors, warnings, and information events are separated into different sections or categories within the log file, allowing users to quickly access and trace specific event types without searching through the entire log chronologically.
3Reliability
If the log file is used to track print job events, then comprehensive monitoring is achieved, but the log file becomes large and difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
Error information and job associations are extracted and stored in a separate, dedicated data structure rather than being embedded throughout the entire log file. This extraction reduces the size of the main log file while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capabilities through the separate error tracking mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for processing print jobs by an image-processing apparatus includes an output module for receiving output of the print jobs and a control unit configured to maintain a queue of print jobs to be processed. The method includes, for each print job, the steps of printing the print job by the image-processing apparatus, and stacking output of the print job in the output module. The control unit is configured to maintain an output check list and the method further includes the step of, when a recoverable error occurs during processing of the print job, that does not lead to an automatic stop of the processing but is likely to cause faulted pages in the printed output, automatically creating an entry in the output check list, so as to advise an operator to check the possibly faulted pages in the output stack.