Print Job Control Module

Print Job Control

Components of the Print Job Control Module

Job Control Components Explained

1) Job and Printer Status Panel

The job status panel is in the top left corner of the display screen. It shows information about the current state of the printer or job activities.

• Printer Status

• Job name currently printing

• Total copies, number of printed copies and copy progress

• Overprint progress and number of overprints if more than zero

All incoming jobs go directly into the active job list or job queue.

Selecting a job in the list highlights the job and updates the job information area.

The job information area contains offsets, print mode information, number of copies and overprints, and the name of the ONYX profile used. The image to be printed is also displayed.

Jobs can be moved up or down in the list and can either be printed, held, canceled, or deleted.

2) Printer Messages (or Log) Panel

The printer status panel is in the top right corner of the display. It shows the last four lines of the printer log that contains printer errors, warnings, and information messages. To see more of the log, click on the "show more" link to bring up a new window that allows you to scroll through the log.

3) Ink Status

Ink System Status. Click the icon to open an ink system status dialog that displays ink-related information. This includes, for each color of ink: an expiry date, ink type code, ink bag status, fill status (whether ink fill is active), and whether the reservoir is full. The dialog also shows the current printhead temperature, the meniscus vacuum level, and the purge pressure.

4 & 5) Command Toolbar

The toolbar contains icons that allow you to interact with the printer (icons are listed in the table below in the order they are displayed on the command toolbar). Note that some of the icons have a checked and unchecked state with a different appearance of the icon image to reflect their state.

Command Toolbar

Command Toolbar Icons Explained
Print job	This command can do the following actions depending on context: Activates a selected inactive job by moving it to the active list. Un-holds a held job. Un-holds a job that had an error currently.
Hold job	The command can do following actions depending on context: Puts an active job on hold. Waits until the printer finishes a currently printing copy and puts the job on hold.
Cancel job	The command can do following actions depending on context: Deactivates a selected active job by moving it to the inactive list. Note that Special Prints will not move to the inactive list. Cancels a currently printing job and moves it to the inactive list. Note that the first click cancels the print, but the carriage will continue to apply curing passes so that the ink cures properly. A second click terminates the print job immediately.
Delete job	Deletes a job from the printer. However, you cannot delete a job that is currently printing.
Flatbed	Enables or disables the flatbed print queue. This must be selected to enable flatbed printing when the printer is booted or after re-setting the printer due to an error.
Flatbed Settings	A dialog window automatically appears when confirmation is required. If it is closed before you select Confirm, it can be reopened by clicking on this button. Media Parameters Enter or confirm the thickness of the media. The printer will automatically adjust the carriage height to create the proper print gap for the specified media thickness. Media thickness confirmation is required only for the first copy of a print job, unless it is changed during printing. If the media thickness value is changed while printing, confirmation is requested before printing the next copy. UV LED Power Control Allows the operator to control the power output of each UV LED unit independently. To extend lamp life, use the lowest setting that provides adequate curing for a particular media. Leading and Trailing Edge are relative to the direction of carriage travel. To enable or disable this setting, see the User Interface section of the Settings page "Tie lamp controls together". When enabled, this feature automatically matches the power of the trailing UV LED unit, when power of the leading UV LED unit changes. It is still possible to adjust the power of the trailing UV LED unit individually, when this setting is not enabled.
Roll	Enables or disables the Roll Media Option print queue (this allows you check media parameters before the job actually prints). Roll media print jobs will not print unless this icon is selected. NOTE Roll media print jobs do not require user actions to start the print job once Roll module is initialized (see Roll Media Manager in the RMO). If this icon is selected, and the job status is not on Hold, roll media print jobs will start automatically when the printer receives the job.
Roll Manager	The Roll Manager allows the operator to load and unload media and to initialize the Roll module so that the tension on the roll media is set and the roll is ready to be printed on.
Create Batch	In Batch Mode Operation individual print jobs are sent from the RIP to the printer, and then combined on the printer to create a batch job for flatbed printing. There are two types of batch mode jobs: Composite and Collated. In a Composite batch all images are printed on a single piece of media without interruption. Composite batch mode can be used to efficiently print more than three data layers and/or mix print modes for a batch job. A Collated batch prints a set of individual print jobs on individual pieces of media, and then repeats the number of copies of the set, as required. The gantry moves to the park position between each print job. The media is changed and the media thickness is confirmed. Pushing the start button is required to continue printing the next copy. Refer to Customer Application Bulletin 45 "Batch Mode Operation" on our website https://graphiplaza.cpp.canon for more details and examples.
Ink Temperature Control	This icon switches the ink heater on or off and also displays the ink temperature. The state of the button reflects the status of the ink heater. Status selected means ink heater is on. The printheads must be at operating temperature (45°C / 113°F) before a job will start printing and to perform proper automatic maintenance. This means that the ink heating must remain on at all times! NOTE If this button is flashing, it indicates an error. Click on the Ink Status button to check the ink system.
Table vacuum	This icon controls the table vacuum and duplicates the function of the table vacuum foot switch. The button reflects the actual state of the table vacuum. There is an automatic timeout that will turn the table vacuum off. The actual time is set in the Settings module under Printer. NOTE The XTF table has two icons, one for each zone: Vacuum A Vacuum B NOTE Once turned off, vacuum cannot be turned on again for approximately 5 seconds.
Table settings	Flow table settings Define the vacuum level per vacuum zone.
Move Gantry	Moves the gantry from its parked position to the center of the table.
Start	This icon can be used to start a flatbed print job (same function as the physical button on the table).
Nozzle check	This icon populates the active job list with a job that prints a nozzle check pattern. The nozzle check print is used to identify nozzle dropouts that can cause banding and other print quality problems. If you don't want it at the origin point, you can place the nozzle check print where you want it to appear. This is done by moving it anywhere you wish on the current media in the Job Placement Preview area. NOTE For information on how to use the nozzle check to troubleshoot nozzle dropouts, see the Printhead Maintenance section in the Maintenance chapter.

6) Active Print Job List (Print Queue)

The active job list consists of a list of jobs, a job count summary on top and job order control buttons on the left. A job count summary displays total number of active jobs and number of jobs put on hold. Job order control buttons can be used to change order of jobs queued for printing. The active job list has the following features:

• All incoming jobs issued from the ONYX workflow go directly into the active job list.

• After a job is printed, it automatically moves from the active to the inactive job list.

• The operator can drag and drop jobs to move them between the active and inactive job lists (except for a job that is being prepared to print).

• All the jobs are stored locally on the printer hard drive.

• Selecting a job highlights the job and updates the job information area.

• Jobs can be moved up/down in the active list using the button on the left. Jobs can either be printed, held, canceled or deleted. Jobs canceled from the active list are moved to the inactive list.

• Deleted jobs are removed from the hard drive and are no longer accessible (except for Special Prints, which cannot be deleted).

• The current job being printed can be paused or canceled. A canceled job will move from the active to the inactive print job list.

How to Manage the Appearance and Content of the Print Job List

You can control the order that columns appear on the job list, the width of each column, and also the columns that appear on the display.

1. Control the order of columns by dragging the column header to a different position.

2. Change the width of a column by clicking on the vertical line that separates column headers and dragging to the left or right.

3. Chose the columns to display by right-clicking on a column header and then click on a column name to add or remove it. Columns with a check mark will appear on the display and those with no check will not be seen.

NOTE

Columns can be set back to their original appearance by right-clicking any column head (name) and selecting Reset to default.

This column management can also be applied to the Inactive Print Job List (see 8) below and also to the Batch Mode job list (see Chapter 5, "Batch Mode Printing").

7) Job Placement Preview

The table placement preview shows the print location and a proportional representation of the image in relation to the table. The zoom button in the bottom right corner activates a popup preview window. If a preview image is not available, an appropriately sized white box is used as a placeholder, and the zoom button is not displayed.

The preview image can be positioned by dragging it around the window (this will automatically update the offsets fields).

When an image is out of bounds in the actual table area, that area in the table preview is marked in red.

When an image is out of bounds in the bleed region, that area of the table preview is marked in yellow.

Roll media print jobs will display only the middle part of the image if it does not fit in the window. They can't be repositioned by dragging in the window.

8) Inactive Print Job List (Archive List)

Inactive job list consists of a table and job count summary on top. The job count summary displays the total number of inactive jobs. The list can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate column header. The icons in the first column reflect the job type and status. This can be used to sort the list. The size column is sorted by image area. Date column is sorted by a compound value of date and time. The inactive job list has the following features:

• The operator can drag and drop jobs to move them between the active and inactive job lists.

• Columns can be managed as described for the Active Print Job List in point 6 above.

• Jobs deleted from the inactive list are deleted from the hard drive.

9) Job information and parameters panel

The job information area displays only relevant job parameters of the currently selected job. For example, the Overprints field is not displayed for roll media jobs. Some of the parameters can be modified.

Offsets	To change parameter values, click on the field and this brings up an onscreen keyboard so you can click on the numbers required. You can also use Preview to drag an image to the desired position. Position on media - No: Horizontal distance Vertical distance Position on media - Yes: Media horizontal distance - Enter the horizontal distance of the media Media vertical distance - Enter the vertical distance of the media Media width - Enter the media width (default = Image width + Media horizontal distance) Media height - Enter the media height (default = Image height + Media vertical distance) Image alignment on media - The offset values for the image on the media Horizontal distance Vertical distance
NOTE The table has two origins (the XT has 4 origins, two per zone), one in the left and one in the right corner. Click on the icon to define the left or right origin as reference point. From the left - Defines the distance from the left origin to the bottom left corner of the media or image. From the right - Distance from the right origin to the bottom right corner of the media or image.
Print Parameters	Displays information about the print job that is currently selected: Copies - Use the mouse to increase or decrease. Print Mode - Print modes are selected in ONYX Thrive. See "Print Modes Explained" below for details of each mode. Print Direction - Bidirectional and Forward or Reverse unidirectional. Overprints - If the Overprint count is set to greater than 0 (zero), the printer will re-print the image again many times on the same piece of media.
Job Placement	Origin - Allows selection of either Origin A, Origin B, or Dual Origin (this is available for XT models only) Print Method - Flatbed or Roll. Mirror Image - Allows you to reverse the horizontal orientation. Step and Repeat - Select the number of rows and columns to determine how many times an image will repeat on a single sheet of media.

Print Modes Explained

• High Key mode is the fastest available print mode in the Arizona 2300-Series. It is best suited for the production of images characterized by lower density and limited contrast.

• Express mode provides fast printing but image quality depends on all nozzles jetting ink. It is best with images that do not have large areas of solid color or high saturation.

• Production mode allows a wide variety of printing output. As with high-speed modes on any inkjet printer, there is insufficient nozzle redundancy to produce flawless images all the time on all media. As a result, it may be necessary to print some output in Quality Mode.

• Production Plus mode has the same features as the Production mode but offers a better image quality in uniform and smooth color areas. Available with the Arizona 2380 model only.

• Production Fast mode is a more compactly printed variant of Production mode. It reduces the printing time by approximately 25% but depends on the presence of Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks in pallet to work. As a result, this mode is only available when using the optional eight color ink configuration (CMYKcmWW/WV). Available with the Arizona 2380 model only.

• Quality provides excellent image quality and is suitable for a wide range of image types and looks good with most media.

• Quality Plus mode offers, in addition to the Quality mode, superb quality in uniform and smooth color areas. Available with the Arizona 2380 model only.

• Quality-Density doubles the density for backlit media. For flatbed media that may warp or move slightly from the heat of the lamps, this mode provides better image registration than doing an Overprint because it is done in one gantry pass.

• Quality-Smooth mode is a slower version of Quality mode that features unusually high nozzle redundancy. Although not an excuse for poor maintenance practices, this print mode allows most technically difficult images to be printed successfully, even if the printer is in less than optimal printing condition. It is a slower version of Quality mode that features unusually high nozzle-redundancy.

• Quality-Layered allows you to place multiple layers in one print job. It is most useful when printing with White Ink (see Chapter Manage a White Ink Workflow). You must configure any extra layers in the ONYX software. Not available with the Arizona 2340 model.

  Note: When Quality Density or Layered mode is used, there is a pull-down menu in the Print Job module that allows you to select either Quality-Layered or Quality-Density (the menu allows you to change how it was configured in your ONYX software).

• Quality-Matte provides a matte finish to the entire image. This is helpful on some media such as FomeCore, GatorPlast or Styrene as a glossy image tends to have a matte line at the end of each swath with these media. Quality-Matte resolves this issue. This mode is only available when using the optional eight color ink configuration (CMYKcmWW/WV), which includes Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks.

  NOTE

  Some Quality print modes are also interchangeable at the printer UI. For example, if Quality mode is specified in the submitted job, Quality-Matte or Quality-Density modes may be selected in the Print Job module of the printer UI. This changes how the job will print without resubmitting it from the workflow.

• Fine Art is used when details are important and speed is not an issue. It is a good choice if your image contains text or fine details and also solid colors.

• High Definition provides higher resolution with more detail than Fine Art, especially with very small text or fine lines.

• Varnish (High Gloss). Not available with the Arizona 2340 model.

10) Printer Interface Module Tabs

These tabs allow you to switch between different functional modules of the printer. Click on a tab to display the screen associated with each of the modules available.

11) Software Version Number

Displays the version of the currently installed printer software and the current time.