Subject: PWG-ANNOUNCE> Proposed update to Candidate Standard 5106.1 (Counter Spec)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:27:49 +0000

Greetings:

At the last PWG Face-to-Face meeting, a problem in the approved Counter Spec was discussed. Ira has proposed a solution and a draft of the spec has been reviewed and approved by the WIMS working group.  This revised draft, in mark-up format to point out the changes, is posted on the PWG site at ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/wd/wd-wimscount10-20070212.pdf and ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/wd/wd-wimscount10-20070212.doc.

The PWG steering committee will consider whether the best way to formalize the additions is with a revised spec or an errata. However, The WIMS WG thought it advisable to present the proposed change to the PWG as a whole for comment, and to provide for discussion at the February face-to-face meeting. Note that, in addition to forming the basis for a Counter MIB, the XML-Schema reflecting the Counter Spec elements is intended to be part of the Updated Printer Semantic Model. The Counter Spec also is the first PWG formal foray into the multifunction area.

For those not familiar with the problem being addressed, a brief summary is given below.

Among the various items kept track of by the elements defined in the counter spec are the media used and how they are used (impressed with monochrome image, full color image, etc.). To do this, there must be a way to uniquely define a specific type of media. The Candidate Standard 5106.1, as approved, says in paragraph 5.3: 
"The elements MediaUsed.MediaSizeName and MediaUsed.MediaInfo are used to uniquely identify a type of media. "

The idea was that if all media in a given system, or a given environment, were distinguishable by size alone, then the different media are uniquely differentated by MediaUsed.MediaSizeName. However, if there were different media types of the same size, then some additional element must be used to differentiate between them. MediaUsed.MediaInfo was available, and was sufficiently free form so that any set of distinguishing characteristics could be used (weight, color, letterhead imprint, etc). Problem that Stuart identified with MediaUsed.MediaInfo is that it is intended for human consumption and as such is localizable. This makes it difficult to use reliably as a machine readable identifier.

So the idea was to add another element that was not localizable and not specifically intended for human consumption. Therefore Ira came up with the new element "MediaUsed.MediaAccountingKey". The name is just a cipher; but Ira felt that there was some precedent in using "key" in this context. The intent is to provide uniqueness within the environment that is being monitored, not necessarily universal uniqueness. Therefore, whatever the set of values is used, its meaning must be well known by the the machines and applications using it, but need not (and could not) differentiate all of the possible distinguishing features in media. Ira will provide a reccomendation for the format of this element value in the MIB. 

Another minor change was made a Peter's request, and clarified that "datastream" data included processing instructions (such as a job ticket) as well as the document content,

Bill Wagner, Chairman, WIMS WG

Subject: PWG-ANNOUNCE> REMINDER: Register by Noon Friday for the Feb 19-23, 2007 PWG Meeting Series
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:22:43 +0000