Electronic printing system and method

Abstract

A user of an electronic printing system in accordance with the invention may create custom print designs locally and provide those custom print designs to a local or remote printer for printing. Upon a user creating a custom print design, the electronic printing system may store the custom design information until an order is placed by the user. Every order may have associated design files and an order file (for example, multiple items in an order). The design file(s) may describe the initial layout of a print design and may reflect updates to the initial layout based upon the custom design created by a user. An imaging engine resident on the remote server(s) of the electronic printing system may convert the information in the design file(s) into an image file for on-screen representation as well as a “ready-to-print” output file that may be retrieved electronically by a remote or local printer facility. The order file may contain user information and product data, such as a user's billing and shipping address, payment information and the media type desired. When an order is submitted, both the design file(s) and the order file may staged for conversion. The files may be converted into printer specific files and may be retrieved electronically by a remote or local printing facility and the user's order may be carried out by the printing facility and may be sent to the user when completed.

1 - 58 . (Cancelled)  
     
     
         59 . A method for processing an electronic print order for printing custom print design item information by an assigned printer facility on a selected print medium, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a custom print design that includes the custom print design item information;    creating an order file associated with the custom print design;    generating a printer specific file that is associated with the print order; and    storing the printer specific file so that the printer specific file can be retrieved by the assigned printer facility and the print order can be processed by the printer facility.    
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein the order file includes any of pricing information, shipping information and billing information.  
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein the printer specific file includes any of printer identification information and printer specific inventory codes.  
     
     
         62 . The method of  claim 61 , wherein the inventory codes describe product information, ink color information and quantity information.  
     
     
         63 . A method for processing an electronic print order for printing custom print design item information by an assigned printing facility on a selected print medium, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a custom print design that includes the custom print design item information;    creating an order file associated with the custom print design;    generating a printer specific file that is associated with the print order; and    storing the printer specific file so that the printer specific file can be transmitted to the assigned printer facility and the print order can be processed by the printer facility.    
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein the order file includes any of pricing information, shipping information and billing information.  
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein the printer specific file includes any of printer identification information and printer specific inventory codes.  
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 65 , wherein the inventory codes describe any of product information, ink color information, quantity information, and style information.  
     
     
         67 . A method for generating printer specific files for printing of custom print design item information by an assigned printer facility on a selected print medium, comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving a print order;    converting the print order to a printer specific file; and    storing the printer specific file on a server so that the printer facility can retrieve the printer specific file and process the print order.    
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 67 , wherein the converting step comprises the steps of removing any non-printable information from a design file included in the print order; and parsing the design file so that an image file representative of the custom print design item information described in the design file can be generated.  
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein spot printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein composite spot printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein process color printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein composite process color printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein composite process color printing plate information and process color printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         74 . A method for generating printer specific files for printing of custom print design item information by an assigned printer on a selected print medium, comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving a print order;    converting the print order to a printer specific file; and    storing the printer specific file on a server so that the printer specific file can be sent to the printing facility to process the print order.    
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 74 , wherein the converting step comprises the steps of removing any non-printable information from a design file included in the print order; and parsing the design file so that an image file representative of the custom print design item information described in the design file can be generated.  
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein spot printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein composite spot printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         78 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein process color printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         79 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein composite process color printing plate information is specified in the image file.  
     
     
         80 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein process color printing plate information and composite process color printing plate information are specified in the image file.