Currently there is no enum registered for a PDF document-format for use
in the Printer MIB, the Job Monitoring MIB, and IPP.
How should a PDF document be indicated in the Printer MIB, Job Monitoring
MIB and IPP?
IPP is part of PostScript level 3, I understand, so that the PostScript
enum langPD(6) with a level of "3" in prtInterpreterLangLevel in the
Printer MIB could indicate a Printer that is capabile of consuming a PDF
file. But what about the Job Monitoring MIB where we don't have level
and IPP where we don't have level?
Also it seems that a Printer might be able to consume PDF, but not any
PostScript level 3. Finally, in a document repository, it would be useful
to know that a document is a PDF file, so that a PDF reader can be used
to image it.
We've discussed at several Printer Working Group meetings the idea of
registering combinations of language family and level in order to give them
distinct enums. So we could register PS1, PS2, PS3, and PDF. Also PCL5e,
PCL5, and PCL4 as separate enums for use when a particular level is important.
And we could keep the current langPCL(3) and langPS(6) for use when level
is not important, or when the level is specified by other attributes,
such as in the Printer MIB.
The advantage of keeping the family separate from the level, is that an old
application would still have a clue that a new level of document is really
an upwards compatible level with the enum that it understands, where as if
we register a new enum for each level, the old application will have no clue
that the document is PostScript.
For IPP, we might have a string, in which the family and level are syntactially
distinguished, so that an old application could separate the family from
the level.
In the Job Monitoring MIB we have the Printer MIB enum. But we might
change to the text string that has both family and level, if that is the
way that IPP goes. Then we wouldn't need to register the different levels
of PostScript and PCL.
However, we may still want to register a PDF enum, since it is such a
common document format these days.
We need some help here from Adobe and HP on what is the best course to
follow for the Printer MIB, Job Monitoring MIB, and IPP.
I'd like to see this issue come up in the PWG agenda, since it affect
all three PWG progjects, if we can't resolve this via e-mail.
Thanks,
Tom
See the current 1.5 or 1.6 IPP Model and Semantics.
Here is the extracted text from that:
5.2.7.1 document-format (type2Enumformat)
This job attribute identifies the document format of this document, and may
be a per-document attribute.
This printer attribute indicates default value. It also indicates the values
of the attribute supported by this printer and the states of readiness for
each value. One possible supported and default value is "auto-sense".
The following standard values have been reviewed with the Printer Working
Group and are registered with IANA as part of the IETF Printer MIB project.
The token value assigned by the PWG starts with the four letters: "lang", in
order to follow SNMP ASN.1 rules that all enum symbols shall start with a
lower case letter. The token values in IPP shall be the same as the IANA
token values, with the "lang" removed. The MIB (integer) value is included
here for reference only, the MIB value shall not be used in IPP; the token
value shall be used instead:
Token Value MIB value Description
other 1
PCL 3 PCL. Starting with PCL version 5, HP-GL/2 is included as part of the
PCL language. PCL and HP-GL/2 are registered trademarks of Hewlett-Packard
Company.
HPGL 4 Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language. HP-GL is a registered trademark
of Hewlett-Packard Company.
PJL 5 Peripheral Job Language. Appears in the data stream between data
intended for a page description language. Hewlett-Packard Co.
PS 6 PostScript Language (tm) Postscript - a trademark of Adobe Systems
Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions
IPDS 7 Intelligent Printer Data Stream Bi-directional print data stream for
documents consisting of data objects (text, image, graphics, bar codes),
resources (fonts, overlays) and page, form and finishing instructions.
Facilitates system level device control, document tracking and error
recovery throughout the print process. Pennant Systems, IBM
PPDS 8 IBM Personal Printer Data Stream. Originally called IBM ASCII, the
name was changed to PPDS when the Laser Printer was introduced in 1989.
Lexmark International, Inc.
EscapeP 9 Epson Corp.
Epson 10
DDIF 11 Digital Document Interchange Format Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard MA
Interpress 12 Xerox Corp.
ISO6429 13 ISO 6429. Control functions for Coded Character Sets (has ASCII
control characters, plus additional controls for character imaging devices.)
ISO Standard, Geneva, Switzerland
LineData 14 line-data: Lines of data as separate ASCII or EBCDIC records and
containing no control functions (no CR, LF, HT, FF, etc.). For use with
traditional line printers. May use CR and/or LF to delimit lines, instead
of records. See ISO 10175 Document Printing Application (DPA) ISO standard,
Geneva, Switzerland
MODCA 15 Mixed Object Document Content Architecture Definitions that allow
the composition, interchange, and presentation of final form documents as a
collection of data objects (text, image, graphics, bar codes), resources
(fonts, overlays) and page, form and finishing instructions. Pennant
Systems, IBM
REGIS 16 Remote Graphics Instruction Set, Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard MA
SCS 17 SNA Character String Bi-directional print data stream for SNA LU-1
mode of communications IBM
SPDL 18 ISO 10180 Standard Page Description Language ISO Standard
TEK4014 19 Tektronix Corp.
PDS 20
IGP 21 Printronix Corp.
CodeV 22 Magnum Code-V, Image and printer control language used to control
impact/dot- matrix printers. QMS, Inc., Mobile AL
DSCDSE 23 DSC-DSE: Data Stream Compatible and Emulation Bi-directional print
data stream for non-SNA (DSC) and SNA LU-3 3270 controller (DSE)
communications IBM
WPS 24 Windows Printing System, Resource based command/data stream used by
Microsoft At Work Peripherals. Developed by the Microsoft Corporation.
LN03 25 Early DEC-PPL3, Digital Equipment Corp.
CCITT 26
QUIC 27 QUIC (Quality Information Code), Page Description Language for laser
printers. Included graphics, printer control capability and emulation of
other well- known printer . QMS, Inc.
CPAP 28 Common Printer Access Protocol Digital Equipment Corp
DecPPL 29 Digital ANSI-Compliant Printing Protocol (DEC-PPL) Digital
Equipment Corp
SimpleText 30 simple-text: character coded data, including NUL, CR , LF, HT,
and FF control characters. See ISO 10175 Document Printing Application
(DPA) ISO standard, Geneva, Switzerlan
NPAP 31 Network Printer Alliance Protocol (NPAP). This protocol has been
superseded by the IEEE 1284.1 TIPSI standard. (ref. LangTIPSI(49)).
DOC 32 Document Option Commands, Appears in the data stream between data
intended for a page description . QMS, Inc
imPress 33 imPRESS, Page description language originally developed for the
ImageServer line of systems. A binary language providing representations
for text, simple graphics (rules, lines, conic sections), and some large
forms (simple bit-map and CCITT group 3/4 encoded).The language was intended
to be sent over an 8-bit channel and supported early document preparation
languages (e.g. TeX and TROFF). QMS, Inc.
Pinwriter 34 24 wire dot matrix printer for USA, Europe, and Asia except
Japan. More widely used in Germany, and some Asian countries than in US. NEC
NPDL 35 Page printer for Japanese market. NEC
NEC201PL 36 Serial printer language used in the Japanese market. NEC
Automatic 37 Automatic PDL sensing. Automatic sensing of the interpreter
language family by the printer examining the document content. Which actual
interpreter language families are sensed depends on the printer implementation.
Pages 38 Page printer Advanced Graphic Escape Set IBM Japan
LIPS 39 LBP Image Processing System
TIFF 40 Tagged Image File Format (Aldus)
Diagnostic 41 A hex dump of the input to the interprete
PSPrinter 42 The PostScript Language used for control (with any PDLs) Adobe
Systems Incorporated
CaPSL 43 Canon Print Systems Language
EXCL 44 Extended Command Language Talaris Systems Inc
LCDS 45 Line Conditioned Data Stream Xerox Corporatio
XES 46 Xerox Escape Sequences Xerox Corporation
PCLXL 47 Printer Control Language. Extended language features for printing,
and printer control. Technical reference manual # TBD. Hewlett-Packard Co.
ART 48 Advanced Rendering Tools (ART). Page Description language originally
developed for the Laser Press printers. Tehnical reference manual: "ART IV
Reference Manual", No F33M. Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
TIPSI 49 Transport Independent Printer System Interface (ref. IEEE Std.
1284.1)
Prescribe 50 Page description and printer control language. It can be
described with ordinary ASCII characters. Technical reference manual:
"PRESCRIBE II Programming Manual"
LinePrinter 51 A simple-text character stream which supports the control
codes LF, VT, FF and CR plus Centronics or Dataproducts Vertical Format Unit
(VFU). language is commonly used on many older model line and matrix printers.
IDP 52 Imaging Device Protocol Apple Computer.
XJCL 53 Xerox Corp.