Printer with outsourcing capability for color copies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9374495-B2
Application number	US-84747407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2007
Priority date	Feb 22, 2005
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

A printing system includes first and second communicatively linked printers, each including a print engine and a processor which controls the operation of the respective print engine. A scanner, associated with the first printer, scans a hardcopy document and generates image data therefrom. The scanner is for communicating the image data to the first printer. A graphical user interface is provided through which user selections are communicated to at least one of the scanner and the first printer. The first processor has a first mode of operation in which a print job derived from the image data is printed on the first print engine and a second mode of operation in which a print job is exported to the second printer for printing. At least one of the first and second modes of operation is invoked at least in part by user interaction with the graphical user interface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A printing system comprising:
a first printer including a first print engine and a first processor which controls the operation of the first print engine;
a scanner which scans a hardcopy document and generates image data therefrom, the scanner being associated with the first printer for communicating the image data to the first printer;
a second printer, operable independently of the first printer, which is communicatively linked to the first printer, the second printer including a second print engine and a second processor which controls the operation of the second print engine; and
the first printer including a graphical user interface, through which user selections for scanning hardcopy documents with the scanner and for printing the scanned images are communicated to the first processor;
the first processor having a first mode of operation in which a print job derived from the image data is printed on the first print engine and a second mode of operation in which a print job is exported to the second printer for printing on the second print engine, at least one of the first and second modes of operation being invoked at least in part by user interaction with the graphical user interface.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface enables a user to select from a plurality of printing parameters, at least a first of the printing parameters invoking the first mode of operation and at least a second of the printing parameters invoking the second mode of operation.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first printer prints in a first printing mode and the second printer prints in a second printing mode different from the first printing mode.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein one of the first and second modes of printing is a monochrome mode and the other of the first and second modes of printing is a color mode.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein one of the first and second print engines is a monochrome print engine and the other of the first and second print engines is a color print engine.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second operational mode is invoked by at least one of:
a user selection of a color scanning mode;
a user selection of an external printing mode;
a user selection of an automatic mode in which the mode is invoked based at least in part on the hardcopy document being scanned.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second operational mode is invoked when a wider format mode of printing is selected through user interaction with the graphical user interface.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first printer lacks a print engine capable of printing in the second mode of printing.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first processor includes a print driver for the second printer which when the second mode of printing is invoked, generates a print job derived from the image data in a print ready format which is accepted by the second printer.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second printers are linked by at least one of a direct link and a network link.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first printer includes a printer detection component which detects other communicatively linked printers from which the second printer is selectable.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first printer is configured for displaying information on at least one communicatively linked printer on the graphical user interface whereby a user selected one of the linked printers is selectable by a user as the second printer.

13. A printing system comprising:
a first printer including a first print engine and a first processor which controls the operation of the first print engine;
a scanner which scans a hardcopy document and generates image data therefrom, the scanner being associated with the first printer for communicating the image data to the first printer, the scanner being configured for scanning the hardcopy document in a monochrome scanning mode and a color scanning mode;
a second printer, operable independently of the first printer, which is communicatively linked to the first printer, the second printer including a second print engine and a second processor which controls the operation of the second print engine, wherein one of the first and second print engines is a monochrome print engine and the other of the first and second print engines is a color print engine; and
a graphical user interface, through which user selections are communicated to at least one of the scanner and the first printer;
the first processor having a first mode of operation in which a print job derived from the image data is printed on the first print engine and a second mode of operation in which a print job is exported to the second printer for printing on the second print engine, at least one of the first and second modes of operation being invoked at least in part by user interaction with the graphical user interface, and wherein when the first operational mode is invoked, the scanner scans in the monochrome scanning mode, and when the second operational mode is invoked, the scanner scans in the color scanning mode.

14. A method comprising:
providing a first printer with first and second modes of operation, a scanner associated with the first printer and a second printer communicatively linked to the first printer;
invoking one of the first and second modes of operation, the invoking including receiving a user selection on a graphical user interface which enables a user to select from a plurality of printing parameters, at least a first of the printing parameters invoking the first mode of operation and at least a second of the printing parameters invoking the second mode of operation;
scanning a hard copy document in accordance with the invoked mode of operation to generate image data;
when the first mode of operation is invoked, printing a print job derived from the image data on the first printer;
when the second mode of operation is invoked, exporting a print job derived from the image data to the second printer for printing.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein when the first mode of operation is invoked, the first printer prints in a first printing mode and when the second mode of operation is invoked the second printer prints in a second printing mode different from the first printing mode.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first printer is at least temporarily incapable of printing in the second printing mode when the second mode of operation is invoked.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein one of the first and second modes of printing is a monochrome mode and the other of the first and second modes of printing is a color mode.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein one of the first and second printers comprises a monochrome print engine and the other of the first and second printers comprises a color print engine.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein in the first mode of operation, the scanning includes scanning in a first scanning mode and in the second mode of operation, the scanning includes scanning in a second scanning mode different from the first scanning mode.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein one of the first and second scanning modes comprises a monochrome scanning mode and the other of the first and second scanning modes comprises a color scanning mode.

21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second mode of operation is invoked by at least one of:
a user selection of a color scanning mode;
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Assignees

• Sewell Michael B
• Cholkowski Marcin
• Vershinina Natalia
• Rudge Wayne
• Mallaband Rebecca
• Elliston Erroll
• Sosinski Gregory C
• Solcz Edward J
• Midgley Christian G
• Xerox Corp

Inventors

• Sewell Michael B
• Cholkowski Marcin
• Vershinina Natalia
• Rudge Wayne
• Mallaband Rebecca
• Qureshi Asif
• Elliston Erroll
• Sosinski Gregory C
• Solcz Edward J
• Midgley Christian G

Classifications

• H04N2201/0039

  Connection via a network · CPC title

• H04N1/32502

  in systems having a plurality of input or output devices · CPC title

• H04N2201/0055

  By radio · CPC title

• H04N1/2361

  Selecting a particular reproducing device from amongst a plurality of devices, e.g. high or low resolution devices · CPC title

• H04N1/2338

  according to user specified instructions, e.g. user selection of reproduction mode · CPC title