System and method of sorting print jobs for a plurality of print service providers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645778-B2
Application number	US-200913383566-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2009
Priority date	Sep 14, 2009
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed systems and methods of sorting print jobs for assignment to a plurality of print service providers. In one aspect, such a method can include receiving at a print server a plurality of print jobs having a plurality of print parameters from a plurality of users, where individual print jobs have multiple print parameters being represented in a portion of the plurality of print jobs. The method can further include selecting a prioritization factor, identifying a plurality of print service providers having at least partially different printing configurations, sorting the plurality of print jobs into a plurality of print job groupings based on common printing parameters and the prioritization factor, and sending the plurality of print job groupings to the plurality of print service providers to achieve the common print parameters and the prioritization factor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of sorting print jobs for assignment to a plurality of print service providers, comprising:
receiving at a print server a plurality of print jobs having a plurality of print parameters from a plurality of users, wherein individual print jobs have multiple print parameters being represented in a portion of the plurality of print jobs;
determining the print parameters of the received print jobs;
comparing the print parameters of the received print jobs with each other to determine which of the print parameters are common among the received print jobs;
selecting a prioritization factor;
grouping the received print jobs into a plurality of print job groupings according to the common print parameters and the prioritization factor;
identifying a plurality of print service providers having at least partially different printing configurations;
assigning each grouping to a print service provider of the plurality of print service providers; and
sending each of the plurality of print job groupings to the assigned print service provider.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving individual printing configurations from individual print service providers.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving printing availability from individual print service providers.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising printing the plurality of print job groupings by the plurality of print service providers.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving service offers from third parties.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the service offers includes marketing services.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the service offers includes offers for discounted printing materials.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein print parameters include a member selected from a group of print media, inks, toners, adhesives, coatings, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein different printing configurations include a member selected from a group of print job size, print media, inks, toners, adhesives, coatings, print time, cost, sustainability, and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prioritization factor includes a member selected from a group of print job cost, print job time to completion, print job quality, print job size, print job sustainability, printing location, and combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the grouping of the received print jobs into the plurality of groupings, determining if a print job of the received print jobs is not assigned to one of the groupings; and
in response to a determination that a print job is not assigned to one of the groupings, retaining the print job for subsequent assignment to a new grouping.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the grouping of the received print jobs into the plurality of groupings, determining if a print job of the received print jobs is not assigned to one of the groupings; and
in response to a determination that a print job is not assigned to one of the groupings, returning the print job to the print server.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the groupings comprise groupings determined from different sets of the common parameters and different prioritization factors.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grouping comprises:
identifying a first common parameter for at least two of the received print jobs from the comparing;
identifying a second common parameter for at least two other received print jobs from the comparing;
creating a first group for the first common parameter;
including the at least two received print jobs in the first group;
creating a second group for the second common parameter; and
including the at least two other received print jobs in the second group.

15. A system of sorting print jobs for assignment to a plurality of print service providers, comprising:
a print server;
a front end interface functionally coupled to the print server, the front end to receive a plurality of print jobs having a plurality of print parameters from a plurality of users, wherein individual print jobs have multiple print parameters represented in a portion of the plurality of print jobs;
a sorting logic system functionally coupled to the print server; and
a back end interface functionally coupled to the sorting logic system, the back end interface to receive printing configurations from a plurality of print service providers utilizing the back end interface,
wherein the sorting logic system is to determine the print parameters of the received print jobs, compare the print parameters of the received print jobs with each other to determine which of the print parameters are common among the received print jobs, group the received print jobs into a plurality of groupings according to the common print parameters and a prioritization factor, and assign each grouping to a print service provider of the plurality of print service providers.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the sorting logic system is to communicate with the plurality of print service providers via an internet connection.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the sorting logic system is to communicate with third party service providers via an internet connection.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing machine readable instructions that when executed by a processor perform policing resources in a computing utility facility, the instructions comprising instructions to:
receiving at a print server a plurality of print jobs having a plurality of print parameters from a plurality of users, wherein individual print jobs have multiple print parameters being represented in a portion of the plurality of print jobs;
determining the print parameters of the received print jobs;
comparing the print parameters of the received print jobs with each other to determine which of the print parameters are common among the received print jobs;
selecting a prioritization factor;
grouping the received print jobs into a plurality of print job groupings according to the common print parameters and the prioritization factor;
identifying a plurality of print service providers having at least partially different printing configurations;
assigning each grouping to a print service provider of the plurality of print service providers; and
sending each of the plurality of print job groupings to the assigned print service provider.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the prioritization factor includes print job cost, print job time to completion, print job quality, print job size, print job sustainability, printing location or combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the prioritization factor includes print job cost, print job time to completion, print job quality, print job size, print job sustainability, or combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Chatow Ehud
• Simske Steven J
• Dempster Benjamin I
• Hewlett Packard Development Co Lp

Inventors

• Chatow Ehud
• Simske Steven J
• Dempster Benjamin I

Classifications

• G06F3/1262 Primary

  by grouping or ganging jobs · CPC title

• G06F3/1218

  Reducing or saving of used resources, e.g. avoiding waste of consumables or improving usage of hardware resources · CPC title

• G06F3/1211

  Improving printing performance · CPC title

• G06F3/1288

  in client-server-printer device configuration · CPC title