This invention relates generally to apparatus for creation and printing of personalized print products and more particularly to a product template for a personalized print product, where the product template incorporates information for controlling the sequence of steps required of an operator of such apparatus.
Apparatus for in-store creation of personalized cards and invitations and similar printed products allow a customer to select a suitable design from among a number of available designs and to customize the selected design by specifying the text content or by inputting an image from a scanned photo or other source. Such apparatus typically store each design as a data template. A data template can include such information as size, background, color, text font, index position for customer photo, optional text areas, and similar information. These apparatus typically store multiple templates in a database of some type, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,765,142 (Allred et al.) and No. 5,056,029 (Cannon).
To operate an existing apparatus of this type, an operator (usually a customer or a store clerk assisting a customer) selects a product design from a set of displayed options on a display monitor. Once the operator selects a design, the apparatus prompts the operator to enter or select the appropriate text to be inserted at predetermined locations on the design and prompts the operator to scan a photo image (or to input an image from some other source) for display on the card, invitation or other printed product. The sequence of instructions to the operator may be determined in a number of ways, as determined by control logic of the apparatus. With some systems, the operator is presented with a set of available options for selection. The operator can then choose specific text fields to select or to re-enter and can input the scanned image at a suitable point during operation. Or, as is the case with some systems, the operator may automatically be required to scan an image after making a product selection, then enter the text later. These apparatus typically provide a preview display that shows how the final printed product will look.
For a product that consists simply of an image and, possibly, associated text, the sequence of operator entry activity may not be important. However, some printed products can be more complex, offering the option to scan multiple images, or to add or edit text in multiple positions on the printed product. For example, a personalized invitation may be printed in duplex mode and then folded, so that the final product has four, six, or more possible surfaces for accepting text and images. For a more complicated product such as this, an inexperienced operator may easily become confused and, for example, omit entry of one or more text fields. Or, an operator may be confused as to the intended placement for a scanned photo or other image input.
An important consideration for companies that market and support systems for preparing these personalized printed products is the reaction of the customer to the system and to the overall experience of preparing the end-product. If a system successfully guides an operator through the preparation steps, there is greater likelihood of success and a higher chance that the customer will return to the system at a later date, to use other products and services.
Conventional systems for preparation of personalized printed products may control the image and text entry sequence directly from the application logic that runs the display, setup, and print preparation process. With such a method, the operator""s workflow sequence is not flexible and is determined by an application programmer. A template designer would be required to specify an entry sequence to the application programmer so that a particular release of the product would incorporate the desired operation sequence. The sequence could then only be changed by an applications programmer, not by a designer. A new release of software for the product would be required if it were determined to be desirable to change the operator workflow.
Or, the sequence of operator activity may be fully controlled by the operator, such as by clicking on the area of interest on the display screen. However, this method can cause some confusion, particularly with a more complex invitation or greeting card.
Other alternate methods known in the art employ a separate file that guides the workflow, controlling the sequence of operations by which an operator proceeds from one screen to the next. Here, however, a separate file must be set up to control the workflow function.
With existing systems, it is not feasible for an end-product designer to easily add a new design and to dictate to the system the sequence in which an operator should be required to enter text or select or scan images. U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,142 describes a complex set of modules that allow setting up a new product and setting up a new sequence for operator entry procedures in order to create this product. However, there are multiple steps required in the ""142 patent and there is no single mechanism provided by which a new product and its sequence can be easily specified or by which the operation sequence for creating an existing product can be readily modified.
Among available methods that can be used to define a product template are a number of page-definition languages and standards for data presentation. The most promising of these standards in current use is XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is the result of an adaptation of the fully featured SGML, specifically adapted to represent data, including documents. XML allows a designer to define specific components for a document, and to define how these components are displayed and to specify valid data fields for each component. To contain the set of definitions for individual data elements, XML uses a Data Type Dictionary (DTD) that defines valid fields. This arrangement allows widespread use of a document published using XML. Using an XML file and its associated DTD, an application can then determine how to publish the XML data.
It can therefore be seen that there is a need for a mechanism that allows a designer to specify a new product for a system that creates personalized printed products and to specify the sequence of operations used for setting up the product.
With this goal in view, the present invention provides a product template that incorporates workflow sequencing for a personalized printed product and a method of using such a product template.
A feature of the present invention is the use of specific fields in a product template that specify, for an individual graphical component of the product template, the preferred sequence of entry of any visual graphical component of the template, such as text, image data, line art (such as circle, polygon, or rectangle) or selection of a graphical component.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it uses a standard page layout definition with customization to incorporate information on the editability and preferred edit order for graphical components.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it allows construction of a page layout definition for a new personalized printed product without requiring modification to the printing application. At the same time, the page layout definition instructs the application as to the preferred entry order for text or graphical components.
It is a related advantage of the present invention that it allows a designer of a personalized printed product a measure of control over the experience of product creation. Products having a measure of emotional value to the end-customer can thus be created using a designed set of procedures that are selected so as to optimize the overall experience of the end-customer in using a system.