IPP Mail Archive: RE: IPP>PRO - Print by reference

RE: IPP>PRO - Print by reference

THERESA_RHOADES@HP-Boise-om8.om.hp.com
Thu, 5 Jun 97 14:52:08 -0600


Carl,

On 6/5/97 you wrote:
>>an assumed restriction in the use of print-by-reference is that it
would initially only support the retrieval of documents in print ready
formats, such as Postscript or other PDL.

What kind of driver requirements will this place on the source? The
document provider will need to provide documents in every "print
ready" format that may exist at that time- PostScript, PCL, PCL-XL,
PDF, to name a few, and it will need to do this for every printer
because as we know, practially every printer has a different print
region, orientation, color space, etc. for which the specific PDL file
will need to be formatted. This is basically why every printer has
it's own driver or PPD file in the first place. If the owner of the
document is concerned about the fidelity of the document with which
they are trying to communicate information, this will place the burden
on them for determining what and how many print drivers they will need
to use.

This is a somewhat exaggerated example but either way, it seems the
requirement load for print by reference is going to have to increase
(and potentially skyrocket) somewhere, either on the printer, or on
the document provider.

Theresa Rhoades
Hewlett-Packard, Internet Solutions Operation
theresa_rhoades@hp.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: IPP>PRO - Print by reference
Author: Non-HP-cmanros (cmanros@cp10.es.xerox.com) at HP-Boise,mimegw7
Date: 6/4/97 12:26 PM

At 10:00 AM 6/4/97 PDT, Stephen Holmstead wrote:
>Print by reference is REALLY tough for the printer to do. Up until this
>point, the printer only had to do http server capabilities (which can be
>implemented fairly easily). However, print by reference now would require
>the printer to implement http client capabilities (which is HUGE!!, not to
>mention how unstable the client features are and the fact that the printer
>most likely won't ever have a flash upgrade). What about all of the
>embedded graphics files (gif, jpeg, pcx, tiff, etc.)? Does the printer
>have to have code to convert all of these to printable output? What about
>other files (.doc, .prz, .ppt, .xls, .mov, .avi, .pdf, etc.)? Does the
>printer have to have code to handle all of these? What about plug-ins and
>applets? Does the printer have to have a Java Virtual Machine to run Java
>applets? The client (i.e. Browser) is quite large and has too many
>features to be able to support by a printer.
>
>I have to strongly protest print by reference as it causes the requirement
>load on the printer to skyrocket.
>--
>Stephen Holmstead
>Hewlett Packard Internet Solutions Operation
>stephen_holmstead@hp.com
>

Stephen,

an assumed restriction in the use of print-by-reference is that it would
initially only support the retrieval of documents in print ready formats,
such as Postscript or other PDL. Also, like most other features in IPP, a
particular printer does not have to support this functionality. However,
there is an increasing demand for this feature, (for example in print on
demand scenarios) so we certainly want to keep the option in the
specification, for people who may want to implement it. The most likely
protocol for the actual retrieval is more likely to be FTP rather than
HTTP, but we do not see a good reason to put any restrictions in the
standard for this. Does this help you?

Carl-Uno


Carl-Uno Manros
Principal Engineer - Advanced Printing Standards - Xerox Corporation
701 S. Aviation Blvd., El Segundo, CA, M/S: ESAE-231
Phone +1-310-333 8273, Fax +1-310-333 5514
Email: manros@cp10.es.xerox.com