PWG Article Archive

The Printer Working Group recently held a face-to-face meeting on August 12-15, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario. We discussed current and future liaison's with other standards groups, discussed OpenPrinting work including a new implementation of IPP USB for Linux, reviewed several drafts of in-progress specifications, and held our first 3D Printing BOF. What follows is a summary of the proceedings.

Plenary

During the plenary we reviewed the current workgroup and liaison status and had a first look at the new PWG web site at beta.pwg.org. Two of the four 2015 meetings have hosts - please contact the PWG Chair if you are interested in hosting a PWG meeting in 2015.

3D Printing BOF

During the 3D Printing BOF we discussed issues with current generation 3D printers, including the lack of a common network protocol, poor status reporting, and the various document formats, with the determination being that the PWG Semantic Model is applicable and that it can be adapted to the hardware and technologies used for 3D printing. We will be preparing a white paper for presentation to interested 3D Printing vendors and opening discussions with ISO TC261 who is developing the ISO version of the Additive Manufacturing File Format (AMF) standard. Those wishing to participate in the development of the white paper and future 3D Printing BOFs should subscribe to the PWG 3d-printing mailing list.

CUPS and OpenPrinting

During the OpenPrinting sessions we learned about the latest developments for CUPS, CUPS Filters, Ghostscript, GNOME/GTK+, IPP USB support, and MuPDF. Major improvements have been made in the areas of security, performance, color management, and mobile printing support, and GNOME will soon ship with native Google Cloud Print support. IPP Everywhere remains the focus of local and mobile printing.

Cloud Imaging Model Workgroup

During the Cloud Imaging Model session we reviewed the current specification and sequence diagrams. Aside from editorial changes, we identified changes that are needed to address support for hardcopy document images as used for the FaxOut service and document references as used by the Print and FaxOut services. We also decided to add a new notification message indicating that the Cloud services are going away permanently - this will allow for a clean shutdown of the proxy.

The next Cloud Imaging conference call is on September 8, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the cloud mailing list for details.

Imaging Device Security (IDS) Workgroup

We did a joint session with the MFP PP Technical Committee and reviewed the latest IDS Model and IAA drafts. Given the number of MFP PP comments that need to be reviewed, the IDS workgroup will be holding special two hour conference calls on August 18 and 25, 2014 starting at 1pm ET / 10am PT.

During the review of the IDS Model specification, we identified the need for a new operation to support secure negotiation of security credentials through Cloud/infrastructure services. We also discussed changes to the security considerations to address facsimile. The review of the IAA drafts also will result in the addition of elements to the schema to support more kinds of identification and authorization.

The TNC Binding specification is awaiting prototype experience before it can advance to stable status. The IDS Model and IAA specifications will continue to be developed in the coming months.

The next Imaging Device Security conference call is on August 18, 2014 at 1pm ET / 10am PT. Please see the ids mailing list for details.

Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Workgroup

We reviewed the current drafts of the IPP Everywhere Printer Self-Certification Manual 1.0, IPP Shared Infrastructure Extensions, IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, and IPP Scan Service. We also talked about moving IPP to full standard status.

During the review of the IPP Shared Infrastructure Extensions, we decided to change the abbreviation to "IPPINFRA" to avoid the confusion caused by the previous abbreviation "IPPSIX", and to formally reference the Cloud Imaging Requirements and Model specification so it is clear that IPPINFRA is a binding specification. We also identified an issue with printing of document references which will be resolved in the next draft of the specification.

During the review of the IPP Everywhere Printer Self-Certification Manual 1.0 we adjusted some terminology and added an appeals process for failed self-certifications. The IPP WG hopes to have the updated manual, tools, and web site forms available for testing before the November 2014 face-to-face meeting.

During our review of the IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, we discussed standardization of "printer-uri" and "job-uri" values. We decided that the specification should recommend the use of "/ipp/print" for the Print service and deprecate the use of "job-uri" entirely.

During our review of the IPP Scan Service last call comments, we decided to retain the date-time requirement and remove the "destination-oauth-scope" member attribute from the "destination-accesses" operation attribute. An updated stable draft will be posted and reviewed prior to starting the PWG Formal Vote.

Finally, we decided we will start the process of moving IPP/2.0 to full IEEE standard in 2015. We will not be advancing IPP/1.1 to full IETF standard but will instead file the necessary errata reports for the remaining editorial issues.

The next Internet Printing Protocol conference call is on August 25, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the ipp mailing list for details.

Semantic Model (SM) Workgroup

We continued the work on the Semantic Model 3.0 documents and discussed a new representation of hardcopy document images in the model which will require some minor changes to the Cloud Imaging Model and IPP Shared Infrastructure Extensions specifications. We also decided to put the MSPSMAP and CWMP documents on hold until resources are freed up to continue those efforts, and will be reaching out to ISO TC130 about a prospective PDF "job transfer" specification based on the various mapping and transform specifications already produced by the workgroup.

The next Semantic Model conference call is on September 8, 2014 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the sm3 mailing list for details.

Next Meeting

We will hold our next meeting on November 4-6, 2014 in Waltham, MA at Conexant Systems' facilities.

The Printer Working Group recently held a face-to-face meeting on May 13-15, 2014 at Apple's facilities in Cupertino, CA. We discussed current and future liaison's with other standards groups, reviewed several drafts of in-progress specifications, and developed the outline of the three new Semantic Model 3.0 specifications. What follows is a summary of the proceedings.

Plenary

During the plenary we reviewed the current workgroup and liaison status and announced the PWG White Paper policy for new work. A new web page on participating has been created with links to the policy and white paper templates.

Cloud Imaging Workgroup

We reviewed the first half of the Cloud Imaging Requirements and Model specification. The review identified some editorial issues and cleaned up some operation definitions to be consistent with IPPSIX. We also decided to formally define "Local Imaging Service" and "Local Imaging System" to refer to the services and system that are being proxied.

The next Cloud Imaging conference call is on June 9, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the cloud mailing list for details.

Imaging Device Security (IDS) Workgroup

We did a status update of the MFP Protection Profile (PP) and decided to do a joint session with the MFP PP Technical Committee at the August 2014 F2F meeting. We also reviewed the latest TNC Binding and IDS Model drafts, identifying several editorial issues and updating the defined actors and roles.

The TNC Binding specification is awaiting prototype experience before it can advance to stable status. The IDS Model specification will continue to be developed in the coming months.

The next Imaging Device Security conference call is on June 2, 2014 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the ids mailing list for details.

Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Workgroup

We reviewed proposals for new media size names and extensions to the printer-output-tray attribute syntax, and reviewed the current drafts of the IPP Everywhere Printer Self-Certification Manual 1.0, IPP Finishings 2.0, IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, and IPP Scan Service.

During the review of the IPP Everywhere Printer Self-Certification Manual 1.0 we identified several editorial issues, finalized the processes for submission, approval, and exceptions, and identified the tests for which we will grant exceptions. Beta software and tools will be available prior to the August F2F.

During our review of the IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, we discussed potential Client fingerprinting solutions in order to satisfy expectations, deciding that doing so was a bad idea and that we should work to address any inconsistencies in Printer behavior so that Clients can specify their expectations fully. This document is ready to move to prototype status.

During our review of the IPP Finishings 2.0, we determined that a new figure is needed to show the finishing coordinate system and the location of staples, holes, etc. Examples for stapling will also be shown for the "finishings-col" attribute, much as is already provided for folding. Once prototype experience has been reported, this document will move to stable status and enter Workgroup Last Call.

During our review of the IPP Scan Service, we identified a few additional editorial issues, which will be resolved at the conclusion of the Workgroup Last Call for this document. Additional discussion on the requirement for dateTime attributes continued on the IPP mailing list. We plan to move this document to PWG Last Call in mid-June 2014.

The next Internet Printing Protocol conference call is on June 2, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the ipp mailing list for details.

Semantic Model (SM) Workgroup

We reviewed the latest JDFMAP document and identified several elements that either were incorrectly mapped or should not be mapped. Work on JDFMAP will continue in conference calls and at the August 2014 face-to-face meeting.

We also determined that three new specifications will be required for the Semantic Model 3.0 project: Imaging System, Subunits, and Jobs & Documents. An outline for each document was produced, with a copy posted to the SM3 mailing list.

The next Semantic Model conference call is on June 9, 2014 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the sm3 mailing list for details.

Next Meeting

We will hold our next meeting on August 12-15, 2014 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Toronto, Ontario (Canada). This meeting will also host the OpenPrinting group.

The Printer Working Group recently held a face-to-face meeting on February 4-6, 2014 at Samsung's facilities in Irvine, CA. We discussed current and future liaison's with other standards groups, reviewed several drafts of in-progress specifications, and enjoyed presentations from CIP4 and the Mopria Alliance. What follows is a summary of the proceedings.

Plenary

During the plenary we reviewed the current workgroup and liaison status, discussed possible venues for the August 2014 F2F in Toronto, and discussed obtaining an Appointed Membership for the PWG in CIP4 for our ongoing JDF mapping work.

Cloud Imaging Workgroup

We reviewed the current draft of the Cloud Imaging Requirements and Model specification. The review identified some editorial issues, slightly expanded the GetServiceNotifications response data for terminated jobs, and eliminated the GetCloudTerminatedJobs operation that is no longer necessary.

The next Cloud Imaging conference call is on February 17, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the cloud mailing list for details.

Imaging Device Security (IDS) Workgroup

We reviewed the latest TNC Binding draft, identifying several editorial issues, and reviewed the latest comments and responses for the MFP Protection Profile (PP). We will continue to review the MFP PP status at future IDS meetings.

The next Imaging Device Security conference call is on March 3, 2014 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the ids mailing list for details.

Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Workgroup

We reviewed the current drafts of IPP Everywhere Self-Certification, IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, and IPP Scan Service.

During the review of the IPP Everywhere Self-Certification Manual 1.0, we decided to defer WS-Discovery testing in the 1.0 manual and will issue at least one more interim draft before advancing the manual to prototype status. We also decided that self-certification results will be submitted to two PWG officers of the submitter's choice, mirroring the anonymous prototyping process allowed for PWG specifications. Public information of approved products will be limited to manufacturer, product family/models, the version of self-certification completed, a URL provided by the submitter, and a list of any exceptions that have been granted (numbered without specifics).

During our review of the IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, we discussed conformance requirements and prototyping requirements, with the latter showing prototype experience for the recommended operations/techniques. Once the editorial changes have been made, this document will be ready to move to prototype status.

During our review of the IPP Scan Service, we discussed discovery, spooling, and push requirements and updated the names of some attributes. Discussion of the push scan requirements continues on the IPP mailing list. Once the editorial and push requirements are resolved, this document will be ready to move to prototype status.

The next Internet Printing Protocol conference call is on March 3, 2014 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the ipp mailing list for details.

Semantic Model (SM) Workgroup

We had a presentation on JDF from Rainer Prosi representing CIP4 and a presentation from Brent Richtsmeier on the Mopria Alliance. We also discussed specific JDF mapping issues and terminology differences, for example JDF Intent vs SM Intent, and some issues with the current SM schema related to the Scan service.

The next Semantic Model conference call is on February 17, 2014 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the sm3 mailing list for details.

Next Meeting

We will hold our next meeting on May 13-16, 2014 at Apple's facilities in Cupertino, CA.

The Printer Working Group recently held a face-to-face meeting on October 22-24, 2013 at Ricoh's facilities in Cupertino, CA. We discussed current and future liaison's with other standards groups, reviewed several drafts of in-progress specifications, and outlined future IPP System Control Service and Semantic Model 3.0 documents. What follows is a summary of the proceedings.

Plenary

During the plenary we reviewed the current workgroup and liaison status, the recent W3C Workshop on Publishing, and discussed future liaison work with the AFP Consortium, Broadband Forum (CWMP), CIP4, Mopria Alliance, and the W3C. Our AFP job ticket mapping work and CWMP data models are being actively reviewed and worked on. We continue to monitor and investigate possible liaisons with CIP4, Mopria Alliance, and the W3C.

Cloud Imaging Workgroup

We reviewed the current draft of the Cloud Imaging Requirements and Model specification. The review identified an additional de-registration operation that needs to be defined, and other operations have been renamed for clarity. We also discussed methods for asynchronous event notification, both in-band like IPP Notifications and out-of-band like XMPP.

The next Cloud Imaging conference call is on November 18, 2013 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the cloud mailing list for details.

Imaging Device Security (IDS) Workgroup

We reviewed the latest IDS Attributes, IDS Model, and TNC Binding drafts, and reviewed the latest comments and responses for the MFP Protection Profile (PP) in a joint session with the MFP PP Technical Committee (TC). We also reviewed the many ITU specifications that we may want to reference in the IDS IAA specification.

The next Imaging Device Security conference call is on December 2, 2013 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the ids mailing list for details.

Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Workgroup

After a short presentation from the Mopria Alliance, we discussed IPP Everywhere Self-Certification, IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, and the future IPP System Control Service. We also discussed advancing IPP/2.0 to a full IEEE-ISTO standard.

We decided to combine IPP Everywhere interoperability testing with IPP Everywhere Self-Certification since passing the proposed self-certification tests will provide information equivalent to the IPP Everywhere test suite. In addition to clarifying some of the test manual and document tests, the IPP workgroup will continue to investigate possible WS-Discovery testing solutions before producing a prototype draft of the first self-certification manual. Several higher-level tests were deferred for future versions of the manual.

During our review of the IPP Implementors Guide v2.0, we discussed the disposition of Jobs after a failed Send-Document operation and how to support reporting of user-specific Job and Document Template values, which led to the discussion of a new IPP operation tentatively called "Get-User-Supported-Values".

During our discussion of the future IPP System Control Service document, we decided to adopt a new operation aliasing approach to migrate away from IPP's Printer terminology while retaining backwards compatibility with existing IPP implementations. At least one new attribute group will be defined to identify System attributes.

The next Internet Printing Protocol conference call is on November 4, 2013 at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Please see the ipp mailing list for details.

Semantic Model (SM) Workgroup

We reviewed the current mapping document and updated Semantic Model workgroup charter, and discussed maintenance and visualization of the schema.

During our review of the mapping document, we discussed per-page and per-document overrides. IPP uses the overrides attribute to support them, and it is required for IPP Everywhere while the Semantic Model has the equivalent Overrides group. We also reviewed the MSPS mapping and decided to remove the state mapping and shorten the media mapping tables.

The new Semantic Model workgroup charter will create a single new Semantic Model 3.0 document containing all of the job-based services plus the System Control Service. A separate, concurrent Imaging Job Ticket specification will update the current Print Job Ticket specification standard to encompass all of the imaging services defined in the Semantic Model 3.0 specification. Other specifications include Service Orchestration, CWMP Data Model, and Mapping 1.0 and 2.0. The schema will be maintained and published using the Liquid XML software.

The next Semantic Model conference call is on November 18, 2013 at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Please see the sm3 mailing list for details.

Next Meeting

We will hold our next meeting on February 4-6, 2014 at Samsung's facilities in Irvine, CA.

A representative from the IEEE-ISTO Printer Working Group (PWG) attended the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) "Publishing and the Open Web Platform" workshop in September 2013 and participated in the "Standards Bodies: Who does what?" panel.

This W3C Workshop on publishing workflow was the third in a series of industry consultation events on publishing using the Open Web Platform. The specific goal of this workshop was to identify difficulties faced by existing professional publishing organizations in using tools based on the Open Web platform, including the production of printed books, and to find ways to eliminate or ameliorate those difficulties. Some of the topics listed were print-on-demand, color management, ink control, specifying media, binding, trimming, and finishing, all areas of interest to the PWG. The conclusions of these workshops will be communicated to the applicable W3C workgroups, particularly the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) working group to address limitations in CSS design and implementation.

The PWG initially submitted a position paper prepared by Paul Tykodi. Once accepted, PWG representative Bill Wagner gave a presentation outlining PWG credentials as a printing standards body and the PWG position with respect to including PWG Print Job Ticket production specification elements along with content and format information in the Open Web publishing workflow.

The workshop identified areas needing attention that were within the purview of the W3C, possibly in conjunction with other organizations. However, it was observed that the schedule and plans of the CSS working group are very full and that their priorities are dictated by requirements identified by major user communities. Although no specific conclusions were drawn with respect to print production aspects, such as the PWG proposal, one resolution of the workshop was that:

"Liaisons should be established where needed with other standards bodies and industry organizations, and contact maintained in order to avoid duplication of effort or needless competition."

The PWG will support such contact with Digital Publishing Interest Group within the Digital Publishing Activity at W3C and the CSS working group.

This week in Atlanta, a representative from the IEEE-ISTO Printer Working Group (PWG) presented and participated in the Broadband Forum's Q3 meeting to discuss wide-area Internet-based management of printers by telecom providers and how PWG standards can support that effort.

Ira McDonald, PWG Secretary and CWMP Printer Data Model editor, offered attendees an overview of PWG's Semantic Model and how it dovetails into the efforts of the forum. For example, McDonald noted that the forum could add printers and multifunction devices to the list of managed devices in the home and small office, the enterprise and in cloud and other environments.

In the example of telecom/cable/managed service providers, support for the PWG Semantic Model could enable these providers to offer new value-added services to subscribers, enable leasing and supply sales for printers and multifunction devices and increase sales and usage of other devices. In the case of coffee shops, airport lounges and similar sites, additional new pre- or post-paid services could be offered, including printing, faxing and email and thereby increasing sales and traffic. A similar revenue-increasing model could be deployed in small businesses and enterprises as well, enabling new services including document storage, print on demand and more.

McDonald detailed why the PWG Semantic Model (SM) is ideally situated as the basis for such integration and services. As the industry's core printing service, PWG's SM provides the baseline for network print services and secure mobile print, while evolving to support multi-function devices, cloud printing, pay-for-print and document/image format conversions. He continued that by working together in a liaison relationship, the two groups could work together to gather input and requirements from the Broadband Forum experts, incorporate market segment feedback and facilitate rapid deployment of the resulting PWG specifications by the telecom and services providers. And with PWG working on the CWMP Printer/MFD Data Models, comprehensive review is assured given the PWG's public, open process. Printer and OS makers will be engaged early for faster deployment and PWG will offer assistance with usability.

Next steps are completion of a PWG spec for CWMP Printer Data Model. The initial machine translation and prototyping have already been completed.

McDonald's slides can be found at:

     ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/mfd/white/bbf-sp-benefits-from-pwg-cwmp-printer-mfd-20130916-final.ppt

The PWG has announced IPP Everywhere to enable printing from mobile devices without apps or vendor-specific drivers. In our previous post we talked about the advantages of allowing native printing capabilities. Users don't have to download apps or update them. They don't have to create accounts or sign in. Touch "print", choose options, and you're good to go.

But how will this work? IPP Everywhere is the brainchild of the PWG and its members, the heavyweights of printing. It uses Bonjour and ActiveDirectory to integrate into both home and office environments. It lets users print any kind of document securely.

IPP Everywhere builds on the well-understood and widely deployed IPP standard. A number of other standards are incorporated: IPP Everywhere uses the JPEG file format for image printing and the PWG Raster Format or PDF for document printing. Bonjour and WS-Discovery are used for local discovery of printers and LDAP for enterprise printers.

How will IPP Everywhere be used? Users will be able to print from applications using standard UI, selecting IPP Everywhere printers that are available - this list of printers naturally will vary based on their current location - and then choosing options that the printer supports since IPP Everywhere knows what paper is loaded in a printer, whether the printer supports color, 2-sided printing, and other features.

As a result, users now can do all the work they could do on a PC at their desk with a smartphone or tablet - natively, easily, and without any special apps or vendor drivers.

Look for printers with these capabilities in late 2013. Most operating systems are likely to support them as well. More about IPP Everywhere is available on the IPP Everywhere Technology page.

In a previous post, we talked about how printing from mobile devices has moved from a non-starter to a somewhat more complex capability based around vendor-specific apps and with little standardization. Wondering if mobile device users really do want to print something? In February 2013, IDC reported that:

"…according to a new International Data Corporation (IDC) survey of 800 unique respondents, smartphone and tablet users – whom the survey found to be younger, more likely male, have higher incomes, and increasingly hectic travel schedules – are surprisingly more likely than non-users to drive print. Smartphone and tablet users are more likely than non-users to print 16 of 20 business applications from their PCs."

Further, the IDC report found that:

"…(the) percentage of users who printed from their mobile devices increased dramatically in 2012, and the percentage of those who do not print, and do not want to print, will decline from almost 50% in 2012 to just 25% in 2015 according to respondents. However, a large percentage of smartphone and tablet users do not know how to print from their devices, and a large share say their company has not yet enabled mobile printing."

So what now? The Printer Working Group (PWG) has come up with a way to standardize simple printing without device-specific drivers or apps.

The Background

Some years ago, the PWG standardized the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). In a nutshell, "IPP is a collection of open standards that define a high-level network printing protocol. IPP allows computers and mobile devices to query printer capabilities, monitor printer status and other state changes, do printer configuration, and submit, monitor, and control print jobs."

IPP also supports encryption and authentication, streaming and compression, and managed print features ranging from paid printing to color management to duplex printing, stapling and others.

With IPP now supported in pretty much all printers, multi-function devices and enterprise copier systems, it made sense to build on it to enable printing from mobile devices. However, as we know, mobile devices present some pretty interesting challenges when it comes to printing…

First, mobile devices roam from network constantly. Second, the small, lower-cost form factor, including memory size, does not allow for the inclusion of device-specific drivers.

The PWG then looked at how to extend IPP to support these mobile devices. The result is IPP Everywhere, released early in 2013 and announced this week. IPP Everywhere lets users on mobile devices easily select a printer, choose output options, and print securely. No apps, no drivers! Unlike many apps or vendor-specific print tools, IPP Everywhere exposes the full range of printer capabilities such as borderless photo printing, 2-sided printing, stapling, and binding.

How will it work and when? Stay tuned…

According to a recent Forbes blog on the growing use of smartphones and tablets, "Shipments of smartphones and tablet PCs are both on the rise, with the first up 40 percent and the second nearly 100 percent this year, market research firm TrendForce forecasts." What does that mean for printing? Does everyone with a smartphone or tablet want to give up the option to print something from the device?

In the early days of these handy, computer-in-your-hand devices, users basically did just that. They accepted the limitations of the device and emailed themselves links, bookmarked pages and did all sorts of strange things to remind themselves to print that important document, email or website page when they returned to a PC which could connect to a printer.

Eventually, printer makers got smart and created apps that supported their brand devices. An Epson app let users print to their Epson printer and the like. And even Google, of course, has gotten into the game with an ability to print using its cloud services.

So what's the problem, then? Well, for one, we are making it difficult for users to do something they've taken for granted for decades now: click a print button and watch something magically emerge from a printer. We're asking them to install all kinds of apps, which might or might not work well, and to keep updating them, signing in and in general presenting a number of hurdles to doing something that is actually pretty simple.

For printer and other print device makers (multi-function devices, copiers, enterprise printers), we're requiring them to create and maintain apps, make their devices work with these apps and keep up with the treadmill of new operating systems, new capabilities and the like. And in between, we possibly are foregoing security.

Clearly what's needed is some sort of simple interface that is standard. That's where the IEEE-ISTO (International Standards and Technology Organization) Printer Working Group (PWG) comes in. The PWG has labored quietly for years to create cross-industry, open and free technical standards that enable seamless printing.

More later this week as we look at the work of PWG and how it helps users and printer makers.