The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 30, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 21, 1998
Amanda Nguyen, Bothell, WA (US);
Ganesh Pandey, Kirkland, WA (US);
Alvin Scholten, Redmond, WA (US);
Zhanbing Wu, Bellevue, WA (US);
Eigo Shimizu, Seattle, WA (US);
Peter Wong, Woodinville, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A modular Universal Printer Driver is provided which dramatically improves the extensibility of the driver architecture and the support for printer features. This driver operates in conjunction with OEM developed minidrivers which utilize the text based Generic Printer Description (GPD) format of the instant invention. The universal driver allows the GPD text based minidrivers to add and define new features introduced by the printer OEM. The universal driver also allows the GPD minidriver to modify, add, or replace the standard user interface provided by the universal driver. The universal driver and the text based GPD minidrivers are included in a computer system for outputting data to an output device, such as a printer. This system includes an application program which invokes a plurality of graphics device interface functions to control the sending of data to the printer. Within the system, a graphics device interface invokes device driver functions for controlling the outputting of data. The text based minidriver contains a characterization of the output device, and an implementation of device specific device driver functions invoked by the graphic device interface. This text based minidriver outputs this data to the universal driver. This universal driver incorporates the text based characterization passed by the minidriver. The universal driver implements the device specific driver functions and controls the outputting of data to the printer in accordance with the incorporated text based characterization.