Information apparatus and software applications supporting printing of digital content over a network to a registered printer

A method for outputting digital content from an information apparatus to an output device by using one or more application software executable at the information apparatus, the information apparatus includes:

• one or more processors;
• a user interface for interacting with a user;
• wireless communication circuitry for wireless communication;
• a memory or storage component;
• and
• one or more application software stored, at least partly, in the memory or storage component, the one or more application software is executable by the one or more processors to facilitate output of digital content from the information apparatus;
• and
• wherein the method comprises:
• (1) establishing, using the wireless communication circuitry of the information apparatus, a wireless local area network connection to a wireless local area network;
• (2) obtaining, by the one or more application software, output device information related to an output device that is available in the wireless local area network in (1), the output device information includes at least one of identification information, capability information, address information, status information, or attribute information, individually or in any combination;
• (3) obtaining, by the one or more application software, security information or authentication information for accessing one or more servers operated, at least in part, by a service provided over a network;
• (4) accessing, by the one or more application software, the one or more servers based, at least in part, on the security or authentication information obtained in (3);
• (5) registering, using the one or more application software, the output device in (2) with the service, by transmitting at least part of the output device information obtained in (2) to the one or more servers in (4);
• (6) providing, by the one or more application software, a list of one or more registered output devices that are registered with the service for user selection via the user interface of the information apparatus, the list of one or more registered output devices include the output device registered in (5);
• (7) receiving, by the one or more application software, an indication of a selected output device from among the list of one or more registered output devices in (6) provided for user selection;
• and
• (8) obtaining, by the one or more application software, selected digital content for outputting at least part of the selected digital content at the selected output device in (7).

A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded therein software program executable, at least partly, by one or more processors of an information apparatus to perform an output method, the information apparatus includes:

• the one or more processors;
• a user interface for interacting with a user;
• a communication interface for establishing a local area network connection to a local area network;
• and
• wherein the output method, comprises:
• (1) accessing, by the software program, one or more servers operated, at least in part, by a service provided over a network, the accessing of the one or more servers is based, at least in part, on having obtained, by the software program, appropriate security or authentication information for accessing the service;
• (2) discovering, via the communication interface, an output device that is in the local area network;
• (3) receiving, by the software program and via the communication interface, output device information from the output device discovered in (2), the output device information includes at least one of identification information, capability information, address information, status information, or attribute information, individually or in any combination, related to the output device;
• (4) transmitting, using the software program, at least part of the output device information received from the output device in (3) to the one or more servers accessed in (1);
• and subsequent to having transmitted the output device information to the one or more servers, the method further comprises:
• (5) obtaining, by the software program, at least a pointer or reference to selected digital content for output at the output device in (2);
• (6) providing, by the software program, an output item or output function control over the user interface of the information apparatus for user selection, the output item or output function control for outputting the selected digital content in (5);
• and
• (7) receiving, by the software program and via the user interface of the information apparatus, selection of the output item or output function control in (6) for outputting at least part of the selected digital content at the output device.