Method and system for submitting jobs to a reproduction center

A reproduction system for processing print jobs, a print job including document data and print job specifications regarding processing of said document data, the system comprising:

• a reproduction center including a print engine;
• a client computer having printer driver software installed and connected to the reproduction center through a data network;
• and
• a print server programmed to communicate, as a virtual printer, with the printer driver software installed on said client computer,
• the server being located at the reproduction center's side and including:
• a creation module for creating a job submission form description indicating job specification options currently available at the reproduction center, said submission form description being suitable for electronic transmission via the network to a client and for generating, on the side of the client, a submission form capable of being electronically filled-in by the client with print job specifications,
• a receiving module for electronically receiving a print job request including document data of a document to be printed from the driver software in the client computer through the data network and for storing said document data,
• a sending module for electronically sending said job submission form description to the client computer through the data network in response to said print job request,
• a second receiving module for receiving a filled-in job submission form from the client computer, and
• a linking module for linking the print job specifications in the received job submission form with said stored document data.

An article of manufacture including software embodied on at least one computer-readable medium, the software comprising:

• a first program code segment to cause a computer at a reproduction center's side to create a submission form description indicating print options currently available at the reproduction center, said submission form description being suitable for electronic transmission to a client and for generating, at the client, a submission form capable of being electronically filled-in by the client with print job specifications;
• a second program code segment to, in response to an electronic receipt of a job request including document data of a document to be printed from the client through a network, cause the computer to create an electronic document file upon, to store the document data in the created electronic document file, and to electronically send the submission form description from the reproduction center to the client through the network;
• and
• a third program code segment to cause the computer to store job specifications in an electronic job ticket linked to said document file upon receipt of the submission form from the client with the job specifications filled-in.

An article of manufacture including software embodied on at least one computer-readable medium, the software comprising:

• a first program code segment to cause a computer at a client's side to generate a printer language document for use in generating a printed document when a print function of an application program is activated;
• a second program code segment to cause the computer to establish a network connection with a reproduction center and to electronically send a job request to the reproduction center through the network connection, said job request including the printer language document and configured to trigger the reproduction center to electronically send a job submission form description back to the computer through a network connection with the computer;
• and
• a third program code segment to cause the computer to receive said job submission form description from the reproduction center, to generate a job submission form from the job submission form description, to allow an operator to fill in job specifications in the job submission form, and to send the submission form back to the reproduction center once information has been entered therein.

A method for submitting jobs from a client device to a reproduction center, the method comprising:

• generating, at a client device, a document to be printed;
• automatically transmitting the generated document from the client device to the reproduction center device via a network, in response to a user's print command at the client device;
• storing the received document in the reproduction center device;
• automatically transmitting submission form software from the reproduction center device to the client device via the network upon receipt of the document by the reproduction center device;
• generating an electronic form to be filled by a user, by executing the submission form software, the electronic form being tailored to correspond with capabilities of the reproduction center device;
• receiving, by the reproduction center device, the electronic form filled by the user, and executing the user's print command based on information filled out on the electronic form as an automatic response to the receipt of the filled electronic form.