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US 2003/0193687 A1Published application
System and method for facilitating network printing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorTravis J. Parry
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AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorTravis J. Parry
Estimating the term…
A system for facilitating remote printing via a network. The system includes a first mechanism for receiving information with respect to the presence of one or more printers connected to the network and selecting an available printer in response thereto. A second mechanism pulls the document from the first mechanism in preparation for printing via the available printer. In the illustrative embodiment, the inventive printing system is adapted for use with Internet appliances and handheld computers. In a specific embodiment, the first mechanism includes a first software module implemented via a client running on the device. The first software module generates a print broadcast to the one or more printers and includes a second software module for responding to the print broadcast via an availability message that indicates the availability status of the one or more printers. The second mechanism includes is adapted to receive the availability message and provide a list of available printers in response thereto. The second mechanism further includes a mechanism for selecting a printer from the available printers based on predetermined selection criteria and providing a selection message to the selected printer in response thereto. The novel design of the present invention is facilitated by the operation of the third mechanism by which a document to be printed is pulled from its source. By pulling rather than pushing the document, various heretofore unforeseen benefits are obtained. In particular, only available printers are able to pull documents to be printed. This prevents devices from printing to offline printers. Furthermore, printer drivers are more readily implemented directly on the printers or intermediate devices, such as websites, rather than directly on the Internet appliances and handheld computers where devices memory is limited. In addition, by implementing messaging between network devices and printers in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, users may efficiently obtain information about printers on a given network without a priori knowledge of the printers.
A system for facilitating remote printing via a network having access to a document to be printed comprising:
A system for facilitating remote network printing comprising:
A method for facilitating remote printing via a network comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
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Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management: resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic…
Client or server resources management: printing driverless or using generic drivers
Specifically adapted to use a particular technique: printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels
Specifically adapted to adopt a particular infrastructure: remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
Term end not estimated
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to printing systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for facilitating remote printing via one or more devices, such as Internet appliances, and one or more printers connected to a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a first exemplary network printing system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention that includes components installed on devices and printers connected to a common network.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a second exemplary network printing system, which includes components installed on network devices and includes an intermediate printing module running on a server connected to the network.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method according to the teachings of the present invention that is adapted for use with the network printing systems of FIGS. 1 and 2.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the present invention would be of significant utility.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a first exemplary network printing system 10 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention that includes components installed on devices and printers connected to a common network 20. For clarity, various well-known components, such as computer operating systems, power supplies, processors, and so on, have been omitted from FIGS. 1 and 2, however those skilled in the art with access to the present teachings will know which components to implement and how to implement them to meet the needs of a given application.
In the present embodiment, the devices connected to the network 20 include an Internet appliance 12 and a handheld computer 14. The printers connected to the network include a first printer 16 and a second printer 18. The handheld computer 14 includes a user-interface 22 that communicates with a thin client 24. The thin client 24 is wirelessly connected to the network 20 via a wireless modem 26. The second printer 18 includes a document pull module 28 that may communicate with the thin client 24 via the network 20.