Print job tracking and policy enforcement
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus enforce policy on print jobs and track them per users. A computing device has a layered service provider (LSP) and a spooler. The LSP determines whether data coming to it corresponds to print data or not. If so, it extracts user information and determines whether any imaging policies apply to the user. If policy applies, the LSP iteratively acknowledges to the spooler that data is being successfully transferred to an imaging device so the spooler will continue sending a remainder of the data corresponding to the print job. Upon receipt of an entire print job, the LSP enforces policy and notifies the user. It also notifies an accounting server to update its policies. Further embodiments note relationships between the LSP and spooler and their interaction with layers in a TCP/IP model.
1. A method for enforcing policy on print jobs sent to an imaging device from a computing device having a layered service provider configured with an operating system and a spooler, comprising:
determining whether data coming to the layered service provider in the computing device corresponds to a print job intended to be sent from the computing device to the imaging device; and
if so, and if imaging policies correspond to a user initiating the print job that require applying to the print job, repeatedly acknowledging from the layered service provider to the spooler within the computing device that the data is being successfully transferred to the imaging device but without actually sending any of the data in the print job to the imaging device thereby spoofing the spooler of the computing device so the spooler will continue processing a remainder of the data corresponding to the print job.
2. The method of claim 1 , further including directly sending the data from the computing device to the imaging device if it is determined that no imaging policies apply.
3. The method of claim 1 , further including determining an end of the data corresponding to the print job.
4. The method of claim 3 , waiting until the end of the data before applying any imaging policies to the print job.
5. The method of claim 4 , further including notifying the user at the computing device of any enforcement of policy against the print job.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the applying any imaging policies further includes preventing printing or allowing printing with a user warning.
7. The method of claim 1 , further including delaying sending the print job to the imaging device from the computing device until an entirety of the print job has been sent to the layered service provider in the computing device.
8. The method of claim 1 , further including accumulating metadata on the print job and updating the imaging policies for the user.
9. The method of claim 1 , if data coming to the layered service provider does not correspond to the print job from the computing device to the imaging device, further including passing directly the data through the layered service provider to lower layers of a TCP/IP model.
10. A method for enforcing policy on print jobs sent to an imaging device from a computing device having a layered service provider configured with an operating system and a spooler, comprising:
identifying a start marker for a print job in data coming to the layered service provider;
extracting user information from the data;
determining whether any policies exist for a user sending the print job;
upon at least one policy existing for the user, spooling the data of the print job in portions until an end of the data is reached such that the layered service provider repeatedly acknowledges to the spooler within the computing device that the data is being successfully transferred to the imaging device but without actually sending any of the data in the print job to the imaging device until processing all of the data thereby spoofing the spooler of the computing device so the spooler will continue spooling the data in portions; and
waiting until the end of the data before applying any imaging policies to the print job.
11. The method of claim 10 , if no policy exists for the user, passing the print job direct from the computing device to the imaging device.
12. The method of claim 10 , if the layered service provider does not identify the start marker for the print job in the data coming to the layered service provider, further including passing directly the data through the layered service provider to lower layers of a TCP/IP model.