Printing Control Apparatus Preflight Check Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
In variable printing, the preflight check of manuscript data takes a long time due to the need to examine numerous pages, leading to increased printing costs and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A printing control apparatus and method that identifies and performs preflight checks only on 'object pages' where reusable parts and resources are first used, reducing the number of pages to be checked and thereby speeding up the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If preflight check is performed on all pages of manuscript data, then printing reliability is improved, but processing time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and identifies reusable parts (images and forms) from manuscript data, then performs preflight check only on pages containing these reusable parts. This selective extraction approach maintains printing reliability by checking critical pages while avoiding unnecessary checks on pages without reusable content, thus reducing processing time significantly.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of performing preflight check on all pages (excessive action), the patent applies partial action by checking only the subset of pages that contain reusable parts. This partial checking strategy is sufficient to ensure printing reliability while dramatically reducing the time consumption compared to comprehensive checking of every page.
2Reliability
If preflight check is performed on all pages, then printing quality is ensured, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts pages containing reusable parts from the complete manuscript data set and performs preflight check only on these extracted pages. This ensures printing quality by validating pages with reusable content while improving productivity by eliminating redundant checks on pages without reusable parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial action by performing preflight check on only the necessary subset of pages rather than all pages. This partial checking approach maintains sufficient printing quality assurance while significantly enhancing processing speed and overall productivity.
3Reliability
If comprehensive preflight check is conducted, then errors are detected reliably, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and identifies pages containing reusable parts (images and forms) and performs error detection specifically on these extracted pages. This targeted approach maintains reliable error detection for critical content while reducing checking time by excluding pages without reusable parts from the validation process.
Data Source
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AI summary
A preflight check unit (120) in a printing control apparatus includes a sub-preflight check unit (121), an object page deciding unit (122), a main preflight check unit (123), and a preflight result output unit (124). The sub-preflight check unit (121) obtains resource use information and part use information. The object page deciding unit (122) decides object pages to be subjected to the preflight check, based on the resource use information and the part use information, and writes object page information indicating the object pages in a storage unit (40). The main preflight check unit (123) reads the object page information from the storage unit (40) to perform preflight check to the object pages indicated by the object page information. The preflight result output unit (124) outputs a preflight result.