Printer transformation service
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a method, data processing system and computer program product for providing a data stream transform service, for example for transforming a data stream into a format suitable for printing. A data-stream is divided into one or more work units, each work unit is provided to one or more transform engines to transform the work unit into the required format, and each transform engine is monitored whilst transforming a work unit. By monitoring each transform engine details of, for example, resource usage are obtained which may be used to calculate a fee to charge a client for performing transformation of a data stream, and/or failure of a transform engine can be detected and corrective action taken should a transform engine fail.
1. A computer implemented method of providing a fee based print data transformation service to a user, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computer, a first format print datastream from a client device;
creating, by the computer, one or more work units, each comprising a portion of the first format print datastream;
transmitting, by the computer, the one or more work units to a transform engine;
generating a second format datastream by the transform engine by processing the one or more work units;
monitoring, by the computer, the transform engine, the monitoring comprising obtaining information regarding resources used by the transform engine while performing the processing of the one or more work units;
calculating, by the computer, a fee based on the information obtained by the monitoring;
receiving, by the computer, the calculated fee; and
transmitting, by the computer, the second format datastream to the client device in response to receiving the calculated fee.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining that the print data transformation service is not available to directly generate the second format print datastream from the first format print datastream;
generating an intermediate format print datastream at the computer by transforming the first format print datastream; and
generating the second format print datastream at the computer by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the first format print datastream is a Mixed Object: Document Content Architecture (MO:DCA) datastream and the second format print datastream is an Intelligent Printer datastream (IPDS).
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the fee is calculated according to a pricing plan associated with the user.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing at least one of the first format print datastream and the second format print datastream; and
calculating a fee to charge the user for the storage.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein determining the computational resources utilized further comprises:
determining that a failure has occurred while generating the second format print datastream;
providing additional computational resources; and
generating the second format print datastream using the additional computational resources.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 wherein generating the second format print datastream further comprises:
generating an intermediate format print datastream by transforming the first format print datastream, wherein the intermediate format print datastream is generated by the additional computational resources; and
generating the second format print datastream by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.
8. A data processing system for providing a fee based print data transformation service to a user, the data processing system comprising:
a client/server host computer including a processor; and
a memory connected to the processor storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the steps of
receiving, by a computer, a first format print datastream from a client device;
creating, by the computer, one or more work units, each comprising a portion of the first format print datastream;
transmitting, by the computer, the one or more work units to a transform engine;
generating a second format datastream by the transform engine by processing the one or more work units;
monitoring, by the computer, the transform engine, the monitoring comprising obtaining information regarding resources used by the transform engine while performing the processing of the one or more work units;
calculating, by the computer, a fee based on the information obtained by the monitoring;
receiving, by the computer, the calculated fee; and
transmitting, by the computer, the second format datastream to the client device in response to receiving the calculated fee.
9. The data processing system of claim 8 wherein the processor is further operable to determine that the print data transformation service is not available to directly generate the second format print datastream from the first format print datastream, to generate an intermediate format print datastream by transforming the first format print datastream, and to generate the second format print datastream by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.
10. The data processing system of claim 8 wherein the first format print datastream is a Mixed Object: Document Content Architecture (MO:DCA) datastream and the second format print datastream is an Intelligent Printer datastream (IPDS).
11. The data processing system of claim 8 wherein the fee is calculated according to a pricing plan associated with the user.
12. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:
a storage system operable to store at least one of the first format print datastream and the second format print datastream, and to calculate a fee to charge the user for the storage.
13. The data processing system of claim 8 wherein:
the client/server host computer is further operable to determine that a failure has occurred while generating the second format print datastream, and to provide additional computational resources; and
the processor is further operable to generate the second format print datastream using the additional computational resources.
14. The data processing system of claim 13 wherein the processor is further operable to generate an intermediate format print datastream by transforming the first format print datastream, wherein the intermediate format print datastream is generated by the additional computational resources, and wherein the processor is further operable to generate the second format print datastream by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.
15. A computer readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, when executed by a computer system causes the computer to perform the steps of:
receiving, by a computer, a first format print datastream from a client device;
creating, by the computer, one or more work units, each comprising a portion of the first format print datastream;
transmitting, by the computer, the one or more work units to a transform engine;
generating a second format datastream by the transform engine by processing the one or more work units;
monitoring, by the computer, the transform engine, the monitoring comprising obtaining information regarding resources used by the transform engine while performing the processing of the one or more work units;
calculating, by the computer, a fee based on the information obtained by the monitoring
receiving, by the computer, the calculated fee; and
transmitting, by the computer, the second format datastream to the client device in response to receiving the calculated fee.
16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises:
determining that the data transformation service is not available to directly generate the second format print datastream from the first format print datastream;
generating an intermediate format print datastream at the computer system by transforming the first format print datastream; and
generating the second format print datastream at the computer system by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.
17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the first format print datastream is a Mixed Object: Document Content Architecture (MO:DCA) datastream and the second format print datastream is an Intelligent Printer datastream (IPDS).
18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the fee is calculated according to a pricing plan associated with the user.
19. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises:
storing at least one of the first format print datastream and the second format print datastream; and
calculating a fee to charge the user for the storage.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein determining the computational resources utilized further comprises:
determining that a failure has occurred while generating the second format print datastream;
providing additional computational resources; and
generating the second format print datastream using the additional computational resources.
21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein generating the second format print datastream further comprises:
generating an intermediate format print datastream by transforming the first format print datastream, wherein the intermediate format print datastream is generated the additional computational resources; and
generating the second format print datastream by transforming the intermediate format print datastream.