Interactive printing with a plurality of printer devices

A method of printing digital print files in a network system including a digital network, at least one personal workstation of a user and a plurality of printers, at least a subset of the printers having a local memory and an operator control unit provided with inputting means and a display, said network system further including a print server, a digital print file including metadata specifying job information and print image data, the method comprising the steps of:

• submitting a print file from a workstation of a user to a printer;
• receiving said print file at the printer;
• extracting, by the printer, at least part of the metadata of said print file and storing the same in its local memory as well as storing the print image data of said print file in a logical storage space allocated to said user in its local memory;
• automatically transmitting, by the printer, extracted metadata to the print server;
• receiving said extracted metadata at said print server;
• automatically transmitting, by the print server, the received metadata to at least one other printer, without the print server receiving a request for such transmission;
• receiving said metadata by said at least one other printer and including said metadata in a local print selection mechanism resident in said other printer;
• presenting, on the display of the operator control unit of said other printer, all print files of a user that are in the system in the form of one complete list, wherein metadata of said all print files is locally available in that printer;
• permitting an operator to select a print file from the list and to give a command for locally printing the selected print file;
• and
• fetching the print data of the selected print file from the local memory of the first-mentioned printer and transferring the fetched print data to said other printer.

A network printing system for printing digital print files, said system comprising:

• a digital network;
• at least one personal workstation of a user;
• a plurality of printer devices, at least a subset of the printer devices having a local memory, an operator control unit provided with inputting means and a display, and a printer unit;
• and
• a print service and a print file storage service, in which a digital print file includes metadata specifying job information, and print image data,
• said print service including:
• a receiving module for receiving print files submitted from a workstation of a user,
• an extracting module for extracting at least part of the metadata of a received print file and storing the same in a storage dedicated to the print service,
• a storing module for storing the print image data of a received print file in a logical storage space allocated to said user in the print file storage service, and
• a transmitting module for automatically transmitting extracted metadata of each received print file to at least two printer devices of said subset of printer devices, without the print service receiving a request for such transmission, each of the printer devices of said subset further including:
• a network connection unit, operable for receiving from the print service metadata of a print file and storing the same in a local memory, and
• a management unit connected to the network connection unit for including each print file of which metadata is stored in the local memory, in a local print file selection mechanism it manages in the printer device,
• a presentation module for presenting all print files of a respective user that are in the system in the form of one complete list on the display of the operation control unit of the printer device, wherein metadata of said all print files is locally available in the printer device,
• a selection module for permitting an operator to select a print file from the list and to give a command for locally printing the selected print file, and
• a fetch module for, in reaction to a selection by the operator, fetching the print data of the selected print file from the print file storage service and transferring the fetched print data to the printer unit.

A printer device for printing digital print files, for use in a network printing system, said system including a digital network, at least one personal workstation of a user and a plurality of printer devices, in which a digital print file includes metadata specifying job information and print image data, said printer device comprising:

• a network connection unit, for communicating via the network with the system;
• a local memory;
• a printer unit;
• an operator control unit provided with inputting means and a display;
• and
• a management unit connected to the network connection unit, said management unit including:
• a receiving module for receiving print files submitted from a workstation of a user,
• an extracting module for extracting at least part of the metadata of a received print file and storing the same in a local storage dedicated to the management unit,
• a storing module for storing the print image data of a received print file in a logical storage space allocated to said user in the local memory,
• a transmitting module for automatically transmitting extracted metadata directly or indirectly to at least one other printer device, without said printer device receiving a request for such transmission,
• a presentation module for presenting all print files of a respective user that are in the system in the form of one complete list on the display of the operation control unit of the printer device, wherein metadata of said all print files is locally available in the printer device,
• a selection module for permitting an operator to select a print file from the list and to give a command for locally printing the selected print file, and
• a fetch module for, in reaction to a selection by the operator, fetching the print data of the selected print file from the local memory of the printer device that received said print data and transferring the fetched print data to a printer unit of the printer device.

A method of printing digital print files in a network system, the network system including a server, a plurality of user devices corresponding respectively to a plurality of different users, and a plurality of printers, wherein the server communicates with the plurality of user devices and the plurality of printers via a network, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the server, a plurality of print files of the plurality of different users from the plurality of user devices, each of the print files including metadata specifying job information and print image data;
• extracting, by the server, the metadata from each of the received print files;
• storing the print image data of each of the received print files at the server's side;
• automatically transmitting, by the server, the extracted metadata of all the received print files from the plurality of different users, to the plurality of printers at the same time via the network;
• presenting, by any one of the plurality of printers, a list of all print files of all the plurality of different users based on the metadata received by the any one of the plurality of printers;
• receiving an operator's selection of a print file from the list;
• and
• in response to the operator's selection, fetching, by the any one of the plurality of printers, the print image data of the selected print file from the server's side via the network, so as to print the fetched print image data.