Importance

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Abstract

An on-line automated printing system quickly produces consistent printed materials. The system includes front-end customer setup and product setup modules available on a web server. A Print Ready File is produced embodying the product to be printed. The Print Ready File is compiled and all operations on the file can be completed via reference to the information contained therein. A state flag is associated with each element of the file, the flag having states such as preview, print, both, or none. The file is stored on an asset management file server. The file (unchanged) may be previewed or printed using internal flags and logic built-in to the PostScript language. A batcher service batches print jobs. A plater service accepts the Print Ready Files and outputs a plate file to a print vendor's ordering system. Over the Internet the plate file is sent to a vendor computer. The plate file is sent to a raster image processor (RIP) which outputs a bitmap to be printed. Included within the system are any number of hosted prepress applications, each a subsystem. A client application requests processing of a file by one of the subsystems. The client sends the parameters along with input and output files to a master service. The master service selects a lower-level service for conversion. A prepress application module (with hardcoded parameters) processes the file and outputs the result.

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First Claim