Print eCommerce Automated Printing Control

Before the Internet existed I imagined an automated printing control process to electronically manage the purchase and production of printing. A driving factor for this discovery was that our three generation old family printing business in Philadelphia was taking more and more of my father’s time. As a teen, I wanted more of it. To this end, in the late 1960’s I envisioned a telecommunications system that not only incorporated the printing designers, buyers and production plants, but also automated communications with field sales and vendors.

Later, in 1989, I was awarded U.S. Patent 4,839,829 for what is today called print ecommerce and a “print smart factory.” The patent went further than my original idea. Not only did the process communicate and manage printing process information, it also automatically set up numerical machine controls to produce the printed work. My fundamental work on this patent is now embodied in printing industry standards such as CIP4, JDF and JMF, to name a few.

Less than one percent of patent holders ever personally see a return from their work, so I consider myself fortunate to be among that one percent. The U.S. Patent Office recognizes my work as a “Pioneering” invention, a designation the Patent Office applies to an invention from which a tree of many other patents grows. Over 135 patents (and growing) reference my fundamental work.

Nearly everymajor manufacturer, developer and inventor’s patents in this area reference my 829 patent.Today all ecommerce print ordering systems incorporate my pioneering invention. This leadership provides clients the ability to leapfrog their competition, optimize their production lines, increase savings and efficiency, and deliver environmental as well as business sustainability

Click here to see a copy of my pioneering 829 patent.      Click here to return to Inventions.