Object oriented printing system

USRE37258E · kind E · reissue

Assignee

• Object Technology Licensing Corporation · US

Inventors

• Jayendra Natubhai Patel · Sunnyvale, US
• Ryoji Watanabe · Cupertino, US
• Mark Peek · Palo Alto, US
• L. Bayles Holt · San Jose, US
• Mahinda K. de Silva · Sunnyvale, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 14, 1998
• Grant date: Jul 3, 2001
• Expiry date: Oct 14, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC —): General

Abstract

An object-oriented printing system includes objects that provide query, data transfer, and control methods. The inventive object-oriented printing system communicates with the remainder of the operating system by means of a standard interface such as a grafport and printer drivers are provided for each printer type within the operating system. Thus, an application not only need not worry about the particular printer/computer combination with which it is to operate, but also need not have a built in document formatting capability. The printing system includes objects that provide queries for device identification, optimized imaging, and printer status. Other objects are also provided for data transfer to bracket connections prior to sending and receiving information. Still other objects are provided for cancelling a print job, pausing a job, and clearing out a job. Finally, an object is also provided for supporting multiple streams of communication to an imaging task.