# US 12,008,278 B2 · Cloud printing services for printing to different types of printers > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,008,278 B2 - Document ID: US12008278B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/244,706 - Filed: 2023-09-11 - Published: 2024-04-18 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2022-03-28 - Assignees: Ricoh Company, Ltd. - Applicants: Marquis G. Waller; Gerald Donald Boldt; Tadao Yamasaki; Steve Cousins - Inventors: Marquis G. Waller; Gerald Donald Boldt; Tadao Yamasaki; Steve Cousins - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12008278B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/1261: {by using alternate printing} - G06F 3/1206: {resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type} - G06F 3/1207: {resulting in the user being informed about print result after a job submission} - G06F 3/1212: {achieving reduced delay between job submission and print start} - G06F 3/1232: {Transmitting printer device capabilities, e.g. upon request or periodically} - G06F 3/1247: {by conversion to printer ready format} - G06F 3/1274: {Deleting of print job} - G06F 3/1287: {via internet} - G06F 3/1288: {in client-server-printer device configuration} - G06F 3/1292: {Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract System, method, and software of providing a printing service. In one embodiment, a printing system comprises a cloud printing service that stores device capability information for different types of printers supervised by a print server. The cloud printing service receives a print job, identifies a plurality of the printers that are capable of printing the print job based on the device capability information, and transforms printable content and control data of the print job into a plurality of printer-specific print streams. Each of the printer-specific print streams is in a printable output format for one of the plurality of the printers. The cloud printing service provides one or more of the printer-specific print streams to the print server. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A printing system, comprising: a front-end application provisioned on a cloud-computing platform to provide a cloud printing service, and communicatively coupled to a print server that supervises different types of printers; the front-end application configured to: receive a print job comprising printable content that is non-compliant with page description languages supported by the printers; identify a plurality of the printers capable of printing the print job as candidate printers based on device capability information stored for the different types of the printers; transform the printable content into a plurality of printer-specific print streams for the candidate printers, wherein the printer-specific print streams are each in a device-specific format for a different one of the candidate printers; transmit a message to the print server indicating that the print job is pending; and store the printer-specific print streams in a cloud storage location available to the print server. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, wherein the front-end application is further configured to: provide, to the print server, a reference to the cloud storage location of the printer-specific print streams. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The printing system of claim 2, wherein: the reference to the cloud storage location comprises a uniform resource locator of the cloud storage location. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, wherein the front-end application is further configured to: transform the printable content into the plurality of printer-specific print streams in parallel. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, wherein the front-end application is further configured to: wait for confirmation from the print server that the print job has ended; and delete the printer-specific print streams from the cloud storage location after a retention period in response to receiving the confirmation. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, wherein the front-end application is further configured to: provide a portal allowing a user to submit the print job to the cloud printing service. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, wherein the front-end application is further configured to: provide a page to a user allowing the user to provide a file and a job ticket for the print job. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The printing system of claim 1, further comprising: the print server comprising at least one processor and memory; the at least one processor causes the print server at least to: receive the message from the front-end application; select a printer from the plurality of the printers as a selected printer for printing the print job; retrieve a first printer-specific print stream for the selected printer from the cloud storage location; and schedule the first printer-specific print stream to print at the selected printer. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The printing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor causes the print server at least to: retrieve the first printer-specific print stream from the cloud storage location exclusively from among the plurality of printer-specific print streams in response to selecting the selected printer for printing the print job. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The printing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor causes the print server at least to: retrieve multiple ones of the printer-specific print streams from the cloud storage location for multiple printers of the plurality of the printers determined to be available to print the print job. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The printing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor causes the print server at least to: retrieve a print job package from the cloud storage location that contains each of the printer-specific print streams. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The printing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor causes the print server at least to: monitor progress of the print job at the selected printer; select, when an error occurs, another printer from the plurality of the printers as an alternate printer for printing the print job; retrieve a second printer-specific print stream for the alternate printer from the cloud storage location; and schedule the second printer-specific print stream to print at the alternate printer. ### Claim 13 A method comprising: receiving, at a front-end application provisioned on a cloud-computing platform to provide a cloud printing service and communicatively coupled to a print server that supervises different types of printers, a print job comprising printable content that is non-compliant with page description languages supported by the printers; identifying, at the front-end application, a plurality of the printers capable of printing the print job as candidate printers based on device capability information stored for the different types of the printers; transforming, at the front-end application, the printable content into a plurality of printer-specific print streams for the candidate printers, wherein the printer-specific print streams are each in a device-specific format for a different one of the candidate printers; transmitting a message from the front-end application to the print server indicating that the print job is pending; and storing, at the front-end application, the printer-specific print streams in a cloud storage location available to the print server. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing, from the front-end application to the print server, a reference to the cloud storage location of the printer-specific print streams. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein: the reference to the cloud storage location comprises a uniform resource locator of the cloud storage location. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the transforming comprises: transforming the printable content into the plurality of printer-specific print streams in parallel. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: waiting, at the front-end application, for confirmation from the print server that the print job has ended; and deleting, at the front-end application, the printer-specific print streams from the cloud storage location after a retention period in response to receiving the confirmation. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing a portal allowing a user to submit the print job to the cloud printing service. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing a page to a user allowing the user to provide a file and a job ticket for the print job. ### Claim 20 A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions executed by a processor, wherein the instructions direct the processor to implement a method of operating a printing system, the method comprising: receiving, at a front-end application provisioned on a cloud-computing platform to provide a cloud printing service and communicatively coupled to a print server that supervises different types of printers, a print job comprising printable content that is non-compliant with page description languages supported by the printers; identifying, at the front-end application, a plurality of the printers capable of printing the print job as candidate printers based on device capability information stored for the different types of the printers; transforming, at the front-end application, the printable content into a plurality of printer-specific print streams for the candidate printers, wherein the printer-specific print streams are each in a device-specific format for a different one of the candidate printers; transmitting a message from the front-end application to the print server indicating that the print job is pending; and storing, at the front-end application, the printer-specific print streams in a cloud storage location available to the print server.