<s>
PPML	B-Language
(	O
Personalized	O
Print	O
Markup	O
Language	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
XML-based	O
industry	O
standard	O
printer	O
language	O
for	O
variable	O
data	O
printing	O
defined	O
by	O
PODi	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
industry-wide	O
consortium	O
of	O
13	O
companies	O
was	O
initially	O
formed	O
to	O
create	O
PPML	B-Language
,	O
and	O
now	O
has	O
more	O
than	O
400	O
member	O
companies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PPML	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open	O
,	O
inter-operable	O
,	O
device-independent	O
standard	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
2000	O
to	O
enable	O
the	O
widespread	O
use	O
of	O
personalized	O
print	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PPML	B-Language
is	O
made	O
to	O
enable	O
efficient	O
production	O
printing	O
of	O
variable	O
data	O
;	O
rather	O
than	O
sending	O
300	O
copies	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
data	O
with	O
only	O
a	O
name	O
changed	O
,	O
PPML	B-Language
is	O
designed	O
to	O
allow	O
all	O
the	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
sent	O
to	O
the	O
printer	O
at	O
once	O
,	O
allowing	O
for	O
much	O
faster	O
printing	O
,	O
as	O
data	O
does	O
not	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
transferred	O
to	O
the	O
printer	O
for	O
each	O
copy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
third	O
development	O
relates	O
to	O
the	O
rise	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
as	O
a	O
neutral	O
basis	O
for	O
multi-channel	O
communication	O
of	O
documents	O
to	O
fax	O
,	O
internet	O
,	O
e-mail	O
,	O
electronic	O
archive	O
and	O
printer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Personalized	O
Print	O
Markup	O
Language	O
(	O
PPML	B-Language
)	O
is	O
the	O
print	O
industry	O
's	O
answer	O
to	O
these	O
developments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PPML	B-Language
strongly	O
reduces	O
the	O
complexity	O
of	O
the	O
print-job	O
,	O
especially	O
when	O
color	O
,	O
images	O
and	O
personalized	O
elements	O
are	O
being	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Printing	O
On	O
Demand	O
Initiative	O
(	O
PODi	B-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
the	O
concept	O
and	O
development	O
of	O
this	O
new	O
PPML	B-Language
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
platform	O
combines	O
all	O
major	O
suppliers	O
in	O
this	O
market	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
initial	O
development	O
completed	O
by	O
Adobe	O
Systems	O
,	O
EFI	O
,	O
CreoScitex	O
,	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
,	O
Kodak	O
Nexpress	O
,	O
Xerox	O
,	O
IBM	O
,	O
Lexmark	O
,	O
Océ	O
,	O
,	O
,	O
,	O
QuarkXPress	B-Operating_System
,	O
Kodak	O
GCG	O
Inkjet	O
Printing	O
Systems	O
,	O
and	O
working	O
together	O
as	O
members	O
of	O
PODI	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
RIPping	O
can	O
become	O
a	O
problem	O
if	O
one	O
realizes	O
that	O
a	O
page	O
with	O
a	O
color	O
photo	O
and	O
a	O
logo	O
can	O
reach	O
a	O
size	O
of	O
as	O
much	O
as	O
20	O
MB	O
in	O
PostScript	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
PPML	B-Language
was	O
designed	O
to	O
make	O
this	O
reuse	O
of	O
resources	O
explicit	O
and	O
allows	O
the	O
printer	O
to	O
know	O
which	O
resources	O
are	O
needed	O
at	O
a	O
particular	O
point	O
in	O
the	O
job	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
PPML	B-Language
this	O
problem	O
is	O
solved	O
by	O
allowing	O
references	O
to	O
resources	O
via	O
URLs	O
(	O
uniform	O
resource	O
locator	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PPML	B-Language
solves	O
this	O
problem	O
by	O
allowing	O
the	O
producer	O
of	O
the	O
print	O
job	O
to	O
specify	O
a	O
checksum	O
for	O
each	O
resource	O
that	O
is	O
referenced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
of	O
defining	O
new	O
PPML-specific	O
formats	O
for	O
resources	O
,	O
the	O
choice	O
was	O
made	O
to	O
allow	O
any	O
existing	O
format	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
directly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
PPML	B-Language
only	O
describes	O
how	O
existing	O
resources	O
are	O
combined	O
to	O
create	O
pages	O
,	O
documents	O
and	O
jobs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
description	O
uses	O
XML	B-Protocol
to	O
avoid	O
inventing	O
yet	O
another	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
this	O
approach	O
makes	O
PPML	B-Language
very	O
easy	O
to	O
generate	O
,	O
it	O
does	O
complicate	O
the	O
task	O
of	O
the	O
PPML	B-Language
RIP	O
(	O
a.k.a.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Graphics	O
Art	O
Conformance	O
level	O
(	O
PPML/GA	O
)	O
defines	O
a	O
level	O
of	O
PPML	B-Language
for	O
increased	O
interoperability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
conformance	O
level	O
requires	O
a	O
Graphics	O
Art	O
Conformant	O
PPML	B-Language
consumer	O
to	O
support	O
:	O
PostScript	B-Language
,	O
PDF	B-Application
,	O
TIFF	O
and	O
JPEG	O
resources	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
process	O
these	O
files	O
in	O
a	O
standardized	O
manner	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
PPML	B-Language
producer	O
that	O
generates	O
a	O
PPML	B-Language
dataset	O
that	O
conforms	O
to	O
the	O
Graphics	O
Art	O
Conformance	O
level	O
(	O
PPML/GA	O
)	O
can	O
then	O
be	O
printed	O
using	O
any	O
Graphics	O
Art	O
Conforming	O
consumer	O
device	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conformance	O
of	O
a	O
PPML/GA	O
dataset	O
can	O
be	O
validated	O
with	O
the	O
CheckPPML	O
tool	O
(	O
which	O
also	O
acts	O
as	O
a	O
viewer	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
electronic	O
archive	O
can	O
store	O
PPML	B-Language
documents	O
efficiently	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
rest	O
of	O
the	O
PPML	B-Language
based	O
archive	O
consists	O
mainly	O
of	O
structure	O
descriptions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
very	O
different	O
from	O
an	O
electronic	O
archive	O
based	O
on	O
TIFF	O
or	O
PDF	B-Application
,	O
in	O
which	O
every	O
document	O
contains	O
all	O
the	O
page	O
elements	O
and	O
the	O
company	O
logo	O
may	O
have	O
been	O
stored	O
a	O
million	O
times	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
view	O
PPML	B-Language
documents	O
special	O
software	O
will	O
be	O
needed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
if	O
someone	O
wants	O
to	O
retrieve	O
a	O
document	O
out	O
of	O
a	O
PPML	B-Language
archive	O
,	O
the	O
document	O
will	O
have	O
to	O
be	O
converted	O
to	O
an	O
image	O
by	O
a	O
PPML	B-Language
RIP	O
(	O
just	O
as	O
a	O
PPML	B-Language
printer	O
would	O
)	O
This	O
"	O
as	O
printed	O
"	O
image	O
is	O
shown	O
on	O
screen	O
by	O
the	O
PPML	B-Language
viewer	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PODi	B-General_Concept
also	O
provides	O
a	O
viewer	O
which	O
is	O
widely	O
accepted	O
as	O
the	O
reference	O
implementation	O
for	O
testing	O
PPML	B-Language
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
CheckPPML	O
"	O
(	O
the	O
PODi	B-General_Concept
viewer	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
virtual	O
PPML	B-Language
consumer	O
that	O
provides	O
error-checking	O
and	O
PDF	B-Application
output	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
viewing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Xeikon	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
hardware	O
supplier	O
whose	O
printers	O
could	O
print	O
with	O
PPML	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Then	O
,	O
IBM	O
(	O
now	O
InfoPrint	O
Solutions	O
Company	O
)	O
included	O
PPML	B-Language
support	O
in	O
the	O
controller	O
software	O
for	O
their	O
printers	O
(	O
InfoPrint	O
Manager	O
)	O
allowing	O
an	O
enormous	O
installed	O
base	O
of	O
IPDS-printers	O
to	O
process	O
PPML	B-Language
data	O
streams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Today	O
,	O
production	O
printers	O
from	O
many	O
manufacturers	O
support	O
printing	O
of	O
PPML	B-Language
documents	O
.	O
</s>
