Apparatus and methods for printing a print job over a network
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for printing print jobs over a communications network. In particular, the present invention enables a user to obtain print jobs at a location which may be unspecified, and which may be remote from the source of the print job. A spooling server is used to store a print job received via the network from a print job source. A printer polling device, which may be used at a location remote from the client device, is capable of polling the spooling server via the network to identify whether any print jobs associated with the printer polling device are available for printing at a printer currently associated with the polling device. The spooling server need not initiate contact with the printer through a firewall, since it is polled by the printer polling device. Thus, network security is maintained.
1. A network printing method comprising:
forwarding a print job to a spooling server;
initiating the print job at the spooling server for printing a document at a designated printer;
automatically sending to the spooling server a polling request for any initiated print jobs from a printer polling device associated with the designated printer; and
forwarding the requested initiated print job from the spooling server to the printer polling device in response to the polling request.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein forwarding comprises forwarding the print job to the spooling server without a predetermined print destination.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the printer polling device periodically polls the spooling server to identify print jobs associated with the printer polling device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises at least one of a local area network, a wide area network, a global network, and the Internet.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the printer polling device is located within a gateway firewall; and
the spooling server is located outside the gateway firewall.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein forwarding comprises forwarding the print job to the spooling server without requiring reconfiguration of the gateway firewall.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a print job source is located at and in communication with a first local area network and forwards the print job to the spooling server;
the printer polling device is located at and in communication with a second local area network; and
the spooling server is located outside of the first and second local area networks.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the print job source communicates with the spooling server via a first gateway firewall which controls access to the first local area network; and
the printer polling device communicates with the spooling server via a second gateway firewall which controls access to the second local area network.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising designating a recipients of the print job, wherein the print job can only be printed by the designated recipient.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a print job source is one of a computer, a personal digital assistant device, an Internet appliance, a facsimile machine, a scanner, a telephone, or a dedicated terminal.
11. A spooling server for network printing, the apparatus comprising:
a receiver for receiving a print job at the spooling server;
a processor for initiating the print job for printing a document at a designated printing device;
a transmitter for forwarding the initiated print job from the spooling server to a printer polling device associated with the designated printer in response to a polling request for any initiated print jobs at the spooling server from the printer polling device, the polling request being automatically forwarded from the printer polling device to the spooling server.
12. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein the print job is forwarded to the spooling server without a pre-determined print destination.
13. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein the printer polling device periodically polls the spooling server to identify print jobs associated with the printer polling device.
14. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein the network comprises at least one of a local area network, a wide area network, a global network, and the Internet.
15. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein:
the printer polling device is located within a gateway firewall; and
the spooling server is located outside the gateway firewall.
16. The spooling server of claim 15 , wherein the print job is forwarded to the spooling server such that reconfiguration of the gateway firewall is not required.
17. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein:
a print job source is located at and in communication with a first local area network and forwards the print job to the spooling server;
the printer polling device is located at and in communication with a second local area network; and
the spooling server is located outside of the first and second local area networks.
18. The spooling server of claim 17 , wherein:
the print job source communicates with the spooling server via a first gateway firewall which controls access to the first local area network; and
the printer polling device communicates with the spooling server via a second gateway firewall which controls access to the second local area network.
19. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein: one or more recipients of the print job are designated, wherein the print job can only be printed by the designated one or more recipients.
20. The spooling server of claim 11 , wherein a print job source is one of a computer, a personal digital assistant device, an Internet appliance, a facsimile machine, a scanner, a telephone, or a dedicated terminal.