Lexmark International, Inc.

Robert Jerome Borchers

Craig Anthony Rudolph

Eric Andrew Beard

Evan Glenn Goldey

David Keith Lane

John Jeffrey Roberts

Steven Lane Duncan

Howard Charles Cochran

Erik Nils Ackerman

An interface is provided between two or more self-describing devices, each having a data store, or two ongoing processes on the same device sharing a common data store. The interface includes a datastream having at least one metavariable that is indicative of at least two or more parameters associated with a device. The datastream occurs between the data store of one transmitting device to the data store or one or more receiving devices or between two or more processes that may or may not share a common data store. The metavariable references or implies a number of other variables and allows devices to effectively communication without knowledge of the underlying variables. The metavariable can be data indicative of the configuration and settings of a device or can be a command altering two or more setting of a device upon receipt of the metavariable by the device. The metavariable also allows the abstraction of commands encompassing two or more variables such that function and conceptual settings can be communicated in one metavariable.

Self-describing device interface system

A printer is provided which has a special Emulation Manager function as well as a &ldquo;code sniffer&rdquo; function, in which print data received is sent to a code sniffer buffer. A code sniffer function automatically determines the type of emulator that should be called to perform the interpretation or rendering of this print job, and if the code sniffer determines that the correct emulator is PostScript, then the code sniffer scans the data for any &ldquo;special tokens.&rdquo; If a special token is found, the PostScript emulator determines if the special token string data is part of a PostScript comment. If it is in the correct format, then the PostScript emulator sets the &ldquo;mode flag&rdquo; to the &ldquo;MacBinary&rdquo; state, and the code sniffer ceases any further filtering of control characters and disables any change of emulator command that may be received during this print job. The rest of the print job is then interpreted as RAW binary data by the PostScript emulator, until a &ldquo;UEL&rdquo; string is encountered.

Method for automatically detecting and processing binary postscript print jobs

A system and method for manipulating the private settings of a peripheral device where the system includes at least one host computer and a peripheral device in a communication interface. The peripheral device has a data store including setting data for public settings of a peripheral device and private settings of the peripheral device that are implicated in the public settings, and has a variable manager that is in communication with the data store of the peripheral device. The host computer transmits a data packet including one or more public settings for of the peripheral device across the communication interface and the variable manager receives the data packet and retrieves the setting data from the data store in response to receipt of the data to packet. The variable manager processes the data packet and manipulates one or more of the private settings of the peripheral device.

System and method for manipulating device settings across different types of devices

A system and method for providing a virtual operator panel for a peripheral device where the system includes a peripheral device including a processor and a data store that stores public settings corresponding to private settings of the peripheral device, each public setting indicative of at least one private setting of the peripheral device. The peripheral device has a device process and a host process, or alternately, is in bidirectional communication with at least one host computer including a data store, a display and a processor. The host computer or host process selectively transmits a request to the peripheral device or device process requesting public settings of the peripheral device for the generation of a virtual operator panel for the peripheral device. The peripheral device or device process receives the request for peripheral device settings from the host computer or host process, and transmits a response including at least one public setting from the data store of the peripheral device, and the host computer or host process receives the response from the peripheral device and generates a virtual operator panel based upon the response. In one embodiment, the public setting is a metavariable that implicates one or more local variables of the peripheral device. There is also provided a method for generating a virtual operator panel for a peripheral device including the steps of transmitting a request for peripheral device public settings from a host computer or host process to a peripheral device or device process, receiving the request at the peripheral device or device process, generating a response in the peripheral device or device process that includes at least one public setting of the peripheral device, transmitting the response from the peripheral device or device process to the host computer or host process, receiving the response at the host computer or host process, and generating a functional virtual operator panel based upon the public setting included in the received response.

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Florence, KY, United States of America

Robert Jerome Borchers