Remote printing systems and methods for portable digital devices
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsSatoshi Fujitani, Masao Hashimoto, Takashi Shinohara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To facilitate the use of portable digital devices such as cell phones, printer processing stations are proposed for printing the information that is accessible through the portable digital devices. In general, the portable digital devices have easy access to an enormous amount of information but are equipped with a relatively small display screen without an on-board printing capability. To solve the above dilemma, readily available printer stations allow the user to print a selectable portion of the information at one of the predetermined locations and conveniently charge the user for a print fee.
Claims72
A method of printing information via a portable digital device, comprising:
- providing printer processing units at predetermined locations;
- selecting one of the printer processing units for a portable digital device of a user;
- establishing a connection between the portable digital device and the selected one of the printer processing units;
- selecting printable information stored at a predetermined Internet site;
- obtaining the printable information through the portable digital device from the predetermined Internet site;
- printing the printable information at the selected one of the printer processing units;
- and
- charging a fee for said printing to the user.
A system for printing information from a portable digital device, comprising:
- a base station for managing information;
- a portable digital device wirelessly connected to said base station on demand for receiving and transmitting the information including printable information;
- and
- printer processing units located at predetermined locations for establishing a temporary connection with said portable digital device, said selected printer processing unit offering an interface for selecting the printable information stored at a predetermined Internet site, said printer processing unit obtaining a selected portion of the printable information through said portable digital device from the predetermined Internet site, said printer processing unit printing the selected portion of the printable information, said printer processing unit charging a fee for printing the selected portion of the printable information.
A method of retrofitting an existing image duplicating device into a remote printer processing unit, comprising:
- providing an information processing unit to the existing image duplicating device for processing information as well as interfacing inputs and outputs to an operator;
- connecting a communication unit to the existing image duplicating device for inputting and outputting the information to and from another location via a portable digital device;
- and
- adding a charge unit to the existing image duplicating device for processing a charge for a service related to printing a certain portion of the information.
An apparatus for remotely printing desired information on demand, comprising:
- a user interface unit for inputting information indicative of at least a desired location in a computer network and for outputting the information;
- a communication unit connected to said user interface unit for obtaining content data from the network based upon the information;
- a processing unit connected to said communication unit and said user interface unit for processing print data based upon the content data;
- a print unit connected to said processing unit for printing the print data on an image-carrying medium;
- and
- a charge unit connected to said user interface unit and said processing unit for charging a fee for the image-carrying medium according to a predetermined formula.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.