System and method for collecting printer administration information
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsChia-Chi Teng, Babak Jahromi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An implementation of a computer network which provides the ability for a network client to submit data to a network server for performing a job at a logical endpoint associated with the network server. By way of example, the data may be a print job, the job a printing operation, and the logical endpoint a printer. The logical endpoint is assigned a uniform resource locator (URL) address which allows the data to be routed thereto and the computer network communication messages are formatted into the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). A further implementation of the computer network also provides the network client with the ability to perform system administration utilizing a standard Internet browser application.
Claims16
In a network server including a system print spooler in communication with a plurality of printers each having a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, a method for returning printer administration information to a network client, the method comprising:
- receiving from the network client a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formatted request message including a URL address specifying one of the plurality of printers;
- polling the system print spooler as a function of the URL address to gather the printer administration information of the specified one of the plurality of printers;
- scripting the printer administration information into a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) template;
- and submitting the HTML page template back to the network client whereby the network client may use a conventional web browser to view the printer administration information without the need for any specialized printer communication software.
A computer-readable medium having instructions for returning printer administration information to a network client from a network server including a system print spooler in communication with a plurality of printers each having a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, the instructions performing the steps of:
- receiving from the network client a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formatted request message including a URL address specifying one of the plurality of printers;
- polling the system print spooler as a function of the URL address to gather the printer administration information of the specified one of the plurality of printers;
- scripting the printer administration information into a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) template;
- and submitting the HTML page template back to the network client whereby the network client may use a conventional web browser to view the printer administration information without the need for any specialized printer communication software.
In a computer network comprising a network client in communication with a network server having a system print spooler in communication with a plurality of printers each having a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, a method for performing system printer administration comprising:
- using a standard Internet browser in the network client to forward to the network server a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formatted request message having a URL address specifying one of the plurality of printers;
- receiving at the network server the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formatted message;
- polling the system print spooler as a function of the URL address in the HTTP formatted request message to gather the printer administration information of the specified printer;
- scripting the printer administration information into a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) page template;
- submitting the HTML page information back to the network client;
- causing the Internet browser to display the HTML page whereby the printer administration information is displayed without the need for any specialized printer communication software.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.