CUPID

Consortium for University Printing
and Information Distribution

Protocols and Services (Version 1):

An Architectural Overview

CUPID Printjobs

A CUPID Printjob includes (among other things) the following elements:

• An ordered sequence of zero or more Subdocument Files, each of which is a self-contained and printable Subdocument. The case of zero Subdocuments anticipates, for example, a Printjob whose only purpose is to obtain an estimate based on page count and other Printjob specifications that are independent of the contents of the document(s) that will eventually be printed.

  The acceptable formats for CUPID Subdocument Files are:

  • TIFF, optionally compressed with either CCITT Group 3 or Group 4 (using the recently-adopted IETF image format standard)

  • PostScript Level 1 or Level 2

  • For CUPID Version 2, support for SGML-encoded documents may be added.

  It is not required that all of the Subdocument Files be of the same format, but each must be in print-ready (rather than make-ready) form, and each must be self-contained and self-defining. Additional information about the nature of the File (such as its optimal Tone Reproduction Curve) may optionally be included. In the case of Files in PostScript format, CUPID takes note of the fonts used and verifies (by means of the Printshop Specification Record) that these fonts are, in fact, supported by the target Printshop.

• One or more Printjob Orders (also called Orders). Each Order asks that a single CUPID Printshop carry out a set of Tasks, resulting in the printing of a single Document. (Orders, Documents, and Tasks are described in more detail below.) The different Orders in a given Printjob may specify different Printshops and different sets of Tasks. When a complete Printjob has been placed on an Origination Server, CUPID so informs the Notification Servers associated with all of the Printshops referenced by Orders in that Printjob.

The above two Printjob components are created and placed on the Origination Server by the Publisher's Client. In addition, the CUPID Origination Server itself creates and maintains Printjob-related information, including:

• Status Information, indicating the progress of the Printjob as a whole, as well as the progress of each Printjob Order;

• A Message Queue, containing messages transported by the CUPID System which are to be delivered to CUPID Clients operated by Publishers, Printshops, and Agents. These messages may be generated by internal CUPID System activity, or may be result of interactions with application-specific Clients.

Notification Servers are informed that a Printjob has been submitted only when the Printjob is complete on the Origination Server (in particular, all Subdocument Files must be present) and when all CUPID validity checks and conversions have been successfully performed (including confirming that there is a match between the requested operations and the capabilities at the target Printshop(s)). The Printjob remains on the Origination Server for some amount of time after all Printjob-related activity has been completed (that is, all Printjob Tasks have been completed), although the Publisher may explicitly purge a Printjob or have its retention period extended.

As with all other CUPID Printjob components, the Status Information related to a CUPID Printjob resides on the Origination Server. Status changes are recorded by the Origination Server based on information and commands received from Notification Servers and from CUPID Parties (via their Clients).

A CUPID Printjob also includes a Header, which contains a unique CUPID Printjob Identification Number (CPJIN) which is generated and assigned by the Origination Server at the time the Printjob is submitted. It is presumed that all internal CUPID Printjob-related communication will use the CPJIN as key. The Printjob Header also contains the following items:

• Publisher ID;

• Date and time submitted;

• Job Name, used for Publisher identification purposes, not necessarily the same as the Document title;

• Job Limits (optional), used to extend or reduce the default Printjob retention period on the Origination Server;

• Security Keys (if and as required);

• General free-text comments, intended to be seen by all Parties working on this Printjob.

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Any comments, or feedback?		Last Update:   Wednesday, 03 July, 2002 - 04:22 PM - EDT