Print On Demand, Are All Documents the Same?, Future

Print On Demand

Ricoh Aficio MP1350

Market Background Information: Ever since MFPs started including hard drives, manufacturers have looked for ways to offer more and more on-demand document facilities.

The most basic is the ability to store a document on the device for instant reprinting from the walk-up interface. Vir- tually all manufacturers offer this level of print-on-demand capability. Most allow users to store, copy, and print. Some also include scan and fax documents into the mix.

Are All Documents the Same?

The way different document function types are stored and the way in which they can be reused at a later date create some issues due to the file format in which the function operates. Copy is usually done in a compressed proprie- tary format, fax in TIFF, and scan in TIFF/PDF or JPEG as selected by the user.

When users look to reuse the files, they are often limited to the same function as it was created in.

Do All Devices Offer the Same Capabilities?

There is much differentiation between products and manu- facturers in this area. Those interested in print on demand should look carefully at the functionality offered by each manufacturer.

Areas of differentiation include the range of finishing or out- put control the user can place upon a reprint-on-demand job; whether more than one stored job can be combined and treated as a single print file; the ability to view, manage and share stored documents using desktop applications; the complexity of the filing system in place; and the ease at which users can search for documents.

The Future

Increasing security concerns may result in more compa- nies using data overwrite kits. This would put an end to the print-on-demand capability of such devices. For those still looking for a fast reprint capability, the answer may be ex- ternal media ports such as USB memory sticks, digital camera SD cards, or volatile memory storage.

Ricoh has been an innovator and leader in the field of print on demand in MFPs for many years, ever since the introduction of its Document Server technology. The Document Server takes advantage of the large hard drive storage facility providing walk up, desktop, and remote users with the ability to store documents for future use.

While some manufacturers are introducing their first print- on-demand capability, Ricoh is now several generations deep into print on demand. This is a factor that shows as soon as you start to use the feature.

Documents can be stored in any of the four core functions of the device: Copy, Print, Document Server, and Scan. The Copy and Print modes store documents in a proprietary image format that allow the files to be reprinted at the device. The documents cannot be forwarded or scanned to other destinations unless they are converted from the proprietary file format with Ricoh’s file format converter.

Scan, however, stores documents in industry standard TIFF and PDF that allows the files to be forwarded instantly either by a walk-up user or a desktop user. This valuable feature allows commonly used large documents to be sent out without the user having to reprocess the document. This saves time and money.

Documents can be stored with 1) a generic name generated by an automated naming convention by the device itself, 2) a name entered by the user at the time of saving using the QWERTY keypad. Files stored on Document Server can also be renamed at any time after storage using the Web Image Server or DeskTopBinder utilities. Documents can also be stored with a user name, further aiding the search process. Users are unable to store documents with finishing attributes within Document Server. Instead, they must add the finishing features to the job when they choose to reprint the file.

Documents can be viewed and reprinted using the large color touch screen or can be viewed and reprinted from the desktop using either the WebImageMonitor or Ricoh’s desktop utility DeskTopBinder. From any of these access points, users can view thumbnails of the images, thus eliminating printing the wrong document. This is a risk with generic file format processes.

Document Server also allows users to merge multiple documents together to create a single print job that can be printed with finishing applications. Users are even able to create multi-document batch workflows (see batch printing for more details). Permission levels can also be applied to individual documents providing users with no access, read only, or edit capabilities as required.

13 November 2006

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