Per the meeting on 12/6 at Adobe Systems, following is a proposed
charter for the 1394 Printer Working Group.
This message has been sent to both the pwg and p1394 lists in case
some people had not subscribed to the p1394 list.
Follow-up discussion and comments should be sent to p1394 at pwg.org and
taken to the PWG meeting in Albuquerque.
Cheers,
Greg LeClair Phone: (408) 474-0500 x3610
EPSON Research Center Fax: (408) 474-0511
2833 Junction Ave., Suite 200 Internet: greg at erc.epson.com
San Jose, CA 95134
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1394 Printer Working Group (p1394)
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Charter
Current status: Proposal of charter for working group
Chair(s):
TBD
Network Management Area Director(s):
TBD
Area Advisor
TBD
Mailing lists:
General Discussion: p1394 at pwg.org
To Subscribe: majordomo at pwg.org
Archive: TBD
Description of Working Group and it's Goals:
Overview:
=========
The 1394 Printer Working Group is chartered to define a specification
and develop a protocol layer for the IEEE-1394 High Speed Serial Bus to
facilitate the delivery of print data from a source to a target device.
Details:
========
Devices using this interface will cross over between the office equipment,
personal computer and consumer electronics marketplace. The protocol must
address the needs of small memory constrained devices with fixed functionality
up to high speed devices which can handle multiple data types and sources.
Standardization of the print data format may be considered as a
sub-group which would make a recommendation to the main 1394 working
group. In order to remain vendor neutral and support existing data
streams, the protocol will not define a standard data type. The printer
protocol itself should include a provision for identifying the data
types supported which will enable source and target compatibility
checking.
The IEEE-1394 bus has the ability to deliver data as asynchronous and
isochronous data streams. Devices may require one or more of these
streams in some combination along with requirements for interactive
sessions. Implementations for the source may employ a device pull
model where the source will notify the device of data availability
and the device will pull data based on its requirement. The protocol
should identify device requirements in these areas.
Because the IEEE-1394 bus provides multiple physical device connections,
some form of access control must be considered for the target. Bus
management issues such as reconnections across bus resets, power
management and device identification will also be addressed.
Summary:
========
The working group recognizes that the issue of printing is quite
diverse. However, the working group is specifically confined to
defining a protocol that enables data delivery:
- from source to target and target to source
- independent of the data type
- via asynchronous or isochronous streams
- from multiple sources
- over the IEEE-1394 high speed serial bus
- with minimal changes to existing programming interfaces
Goals and Milestones:
=====================
Oct 96 First meeting of a proposed Printer Working Group for 1394
Serial bus at Oct. 1394 TA meeting (Redmond, WA)
Dec 96 First meeting of P1394 Printer Working Group at Adobe
Systems in San Jose, CA.
Jan 97 Review proposed charter for P1394 Group at Albuquerque
PWG Meeting (Jan. 8, 1997) and decide following:
A. What effort is required by PWG
B. How will effort be carried out (1394 TA?)
C. Who is willing to participate and in what role?
Jan 97 If agreement can be reached on Working Group Charter, propose
an agreed upon charter to 1394 TA Steering Committee in Houston
at the 1394 TA Meeting (Jan. 13, 1997).
Feb 97 Meet at PWG meeting, WG Chair to report 1394 TA
Define major classes of support and hierarchy:
A. One very large group covering all types of printer support.
B. One large group establishing guidelines with smaller groups
focused on specific printer technologies.
C. Establish goals (protocol, structures, classes)
D. Establish schedule based on goals
Mar 97 Meet at PWG meeting, WG Chair to report 1394 TA
Establish proposal for implementing first prototypes.
Publish Draft Specification for comment. Begin
implementation of first prototypes. Discuss issues and
resolve problems.
Begin iterative process between Apr 97 and Oct 97 of
releasing latest draft specification, prototyping,
reviewing feedback, and resolving issues.
1394 PWG would meet at PWG meeting, Chair makes report
to 1394 TA.
Oct 97 1394 TA WG approved protocol specification
Nov 97 Public display of 1394 connected printers at Fall Comdex
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