Printing device

A method comprising:

• transmitting, by a printing device, a web page to a client computer remotely connected to the printing device, the web page including a hyperlink having embedded authentication data usable by the client computer to authenticate itself to a server computer;
• wherein the client computer displays the web page;
• wherein a selection of the hyperlink causes the client computer to transmit a request to the server computer;
• and
• wherein the request includes the authentication data.

A printing device, comprising:

• means for receiving a request from a client computer remotely connected to the printing device;
• means for responding to the request by transmitting authentication data to the client computer, the authentication data including at least one of a cartridge identifier that uniquely identifies a print cartridge installed in the printing device or a printer identifier that uniquely identifies the printing device;
• wherein the authentication data is transmitted to the client computer as a web page including a hyperlink having the authentication data embedded therein;
• wherein the authentication data enables the client computer to authenticate itself to a particular server computer;
• and
• wherein the server computer is remotely connected to the client computer.

A print cartridge for use in a printing device, comprising:

• (a) a supply of print material;
• and
• (b) a memory;
• wherein the memory stores authentication data for use by a client computer to demonstrate to a particular server computer that the client computer is an authorized party, wherein the authentication data is transmitted to the client computer as a web page including a hyperlink having the authentication data embedded therein, and wherein the authentication data includes an identifier that uniquely identifies the print cartridge.

In a client computer, a method of requesting access to a resource, comprising:

• receiving, from a printing device, a web page including a hyperlink having embedded authentication data associated with the resource;
• transmitting a request to access the resource;
• and
• wherein the request includes the authentication data received from the printing device.

In a server computer, a method comprising:

• receiving from a client computer a request for a resource, wherein the request includes authentication data;
• using the authentication data to determine if the client computer is an authorized party;
• wherein the client computer obtained the authentication data from a printing device;
• and
• wherein the authentication data includes a printer identifier uniquely identifying the printing device and a cartridge identifier uniquely identifying a print cartridge that is presently installed in the printing device, wherein, for each granted request for the resource, a message history record including the cartridge identifier and the printer identifier is stored in a database, and wherein the using the authentication data to determine if the client computer is an authorized party includes:
• searching the database to locate all message history records having the cartridge identifier of the request;
• and
• determining whether the number of unique printer identifiers in the located message history records exceeds a predetermined value.

One or more computer-readable storage devices containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a printing device, perform the following steps:

• reading authentication data from a memory;
• and
• transmitting the authentication data to a remote computer connected to the printing device as a web page including a hyperlink having the authentication data embedded therein;
• wherein the remote computer uses the authentication data to authenticate itself to a remote computer.

In a printing device, a method comprising:

• receiving, in the printing device, a challenge block from a client computer, wherein the challenge block is generated by a server computer in response to a request from the client computer to the server computer and transmitted by the server computer to the client computer;
• in response to the receiving, generating a response block in the printing device using a private key obtained from a consumable component installed in the printing device;
• transmitting the response block to the client computer;
• and
• wherein the client computer uses the response block to authenticate itself to a server computer.