Methods and apparatus for requesting and receiving a print job at a printer
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for requesting and receiving 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 method, comprising the steps of:
periodically sending a polling request from a device associated with a printer, to a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer, wherein the server computer comprises any of a trusted or secure server; and
receiving the identified print job from the server computer at the device associated with the printer in response to the polling request.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server computer receives the print job from a print job source.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
printing the identified print job at the printer.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
enabling adjustment of an interval of the periodic polling.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device is one of (i) a stand-alone device connected to the printer via a standard printer port, (ii) integrated into firmware of the printer, or (iii) integrated into software of a network print server.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining a format of the print job at the server computer;
comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer; and
reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
encrypting the print job at a print job source;
decrypting the print job at the server computer;
determining a format of the print job;
comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer;
reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format;
re-encrypting the print job at the server computer; and
decrypting the print job at the device.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a user interface.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
storing each print job on the server computer according to a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the print job;
entering the PIN via the user interface to access a listing of print jobs stored at the server computer associated with the PIN;
authenticating the PIN;
communicating from the server computer to the device the list of print jobs associated with the PIN which are stored at the server computer; and
providing for a selection of a print job.
10. An apparatus, comprising:
means for periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer, wherein the server computer comprises any of a trusted or secure server; and
means for receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the server computer receives the print job from a print job source.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
means for printing the identified print job at the printer.
13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
means for enabling adjustment of an interval of the periodic polling.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the device is one of (i) a stand-alone device connected to the printer via a standard printer port, (ii) integrated into firmware of the printer, or (iii) integrated into software of a network print server.
15. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
means for determining a format of the print job at the server computer;
means for comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer; and
means for reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format.
16. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
means for encrypting the print job at a print job source;
means for decrypting the print job at the server computer;
means for determining a format of the print job;
means for comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer;
means for reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format;
means for re-encrypting the print job at the server computer; and
means for decrypting the print job at the device.
17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the device comprises a user interface.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising:
means for storing each print job on the server computer according to a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the print job;
means for entering the PIN via the user interface to access a listing of print jobs stored at the server computer associated with the PIN;
means for authenticating the PIN;
means for communicating from the server computer to the device the list of print jobs associated with the PIN which are stored at the server computer; and
means for providing for a selection of a print job.
19. A method, comprising the steps of:
periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll;
determining a format of the print job at the server computer;
comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer; and
reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format.
20. A method, comprising the steps of:
periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll;
encrypting the print job at a print job source;
decrypting the print job at the server computer;
determining a format of the print job;
comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer;
reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format;
re-encrypting the print job at the server computer; and
decrypting the print job at the device.
21. A method, comprising the steps of:
periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll, wherein the device comprises a user interface;
storing each print job on the server computer according to a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the print job;
entering the PIN via the user interface to access a listing of print jobs stored at the server computer associated with the PIN;
authenticating the PIN;
communicating from the server computer to the device the list of print jobs associated with the PIN which are stored at the server computer; and
providing for a selection of a print job.
22. An apparatus, comprising:
means for periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
means for receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll;
means for determining a format of the print job at the server computer;
means for comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer; and
means for reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format.
23. An apparatus, comprising:
means for periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
means for receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll;
means for encrypting the print job at a print job source;
means for decrypting the print job at the server computer;
means for determining a format of the print job;
means for comparing the format of the print job to a printer format of the printer;
means for reformatting the print job for the printer if the format of the print job does not match the printer format;
means for re-encrypting the print job at the server computer; and
means for decrypting the print job at the device.
24. An apparatus, comprising:
means for periodically polling a server computer to identify a print job stored at the server computer;
means for receiving the identified print job from the server computer at a device associated with a printer in response to the poll, wherein the device comprises a user interface;
means for storing each print job on the server computer according to a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the print job;
means for entering the PIN via the user interface to access a listing of print jobs stored at the server computer associated with the PIN;
means for authenticating the PIN;
means for communicating from the server computer to the device the list of print jobs associated with the PIN which are stored at the server computer; and
means for providing for a selection of a print job.