Printing Apparatus Differential Thumbnail Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional printing systems lack efficient methods for users to visually identify and selectively print only the differences between updated and original document pages during differential printing, leading to inefficiencies and unnecessary resource usage.
Innovation Solution
The printing apparatus includes a differential print request accepting unit, extraction unit, thumbnail image creating unit, and output control unit, which compares print-target and reference-source image data sets, marks differences, and outputs differential thumbnail images to facilitate user selection of pages to print, thereby enabling efficient differential printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional differential printing is performed without visual indication, then printing efficiency is improved by printing only changed pages, but user convenience deteriorates because users cannot easily identify which pages have differences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color changes by displaying differential areas in a highlighted color (e.g., yellow) within thumbnail images. This allows users to visually identify which pages contain differences between the original and updated documents, making it easy to select and print only the necessary pages while maintaining both printing efficiency and user convenience
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates thumbnail images as simplified copies of the actual document pages. These thumbnails display the entire page content in a reduced format, allowing users to review and identify differential areas before printing. This copying approach enables users to make informed decisions about which pages to print without handling the full-size documents
2Ease of operation
If all pages are printed without differential printing, then user convenience is maintained as users receive complete documents, but resource usage increases due to unnecessary printing of unchanged pages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and highlights only the differential areas (changed portions) within the thumbnail images. By taking out and emphasizing the specific areas that have changed, the system enables users to identify and print only the necessary pages, thereby reducing paper usage while still providing complete information about the differences
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by generating thumbnail images and highlighting differential areas before the actual printing process. This preliminary visualization allows users to review the differences and make informed decisions about which pages to print, preventing unnecessary printing of unchanged pages and reducing resource consumption
3Measurement precision
If detailed comparison methods are implemented, then measurement precision of differences is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional detailed page view to a scaled-down thumbnail view while maintaining the ability to display differential areas. This dimensional change allows for simplified processing and display of differences across multiple pages simultaneously, reducing processing complexity while maintaining sufficient precision for user identification of changes
Data Source
AI summary
The printing apparatus can perform differential printing to print differences between a print-target image data set and a reference-source image data set, and includes a differential print request accepting unit, a differential extraction unit, a differential thumbnail image creating unit, and an output control unit. If the differential print request accepting unit accepts a differential print request, the differential extraction unit compares the print-target image data set with the reference-source image data set and extracts a difference between them. The differential thumbnail image creating unit places a mark on an area containing the difference, which is extracted by the differential extraction unit, in a page of the print-target image data set, and creates a differential thumbnail image which is a thumbnail image of the page containing the difference. The output control unit performs control operations to output the differential thumbnail image created by the differential thumbnail image creating unit.