Apparatus and technique for on-demand printing, and on-demand printing services
First Claim
1. An Internet printing apparatus, comprising:
- a home page that can be accessed by a customer over the World Wide Web, said home page comprising instructions of how a customer can request a print job, said home page further comprising a form that may be accessed through a hyperlink, said form enabling a customer to request said print job;
a first memory storing a customer'"'"'s printing parameters and a first draft of said customer'"'"'s print job;
an editor connected to said first memory to edit said first draft of said customer'"'"'s print job creating a finalized version of said customer'"'"'s print job;
a second memory connected to said editor storing said finalized version of said customer'"'"'s print job; and
an output device connected to said second memory via network printing to download said finalized version onto a recording media at a location of said customer'"'"'s choice.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a printing service that can be accessed by a customer through the World Wide Web over the Internet. Such a printing service is suitable for printing letters, illustrations, pictures, manuals, catalogs, text, research documents, images, reports and more. The printing service utilizes network printing to allow for printing of the final document(s) at a location convenient for the customer. The printing service quotes a price for a print job before the customer is obliged to use the printing service. The printing service has an editor to improve document quality before printing. Number of copies, type and size of paper, presence of a cover or a binding, and type and location of the output device are among a few of the attributes a customer may specify before printing. This service is particularly friendly to customers with small print jobs.
43 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. An Internet printing apparatus, comprising:
-
a home page that can be accessed by a customer over the World Wide Web, said home page comprising instructions of how a customer can request a print job, said home page further comprising a form that may be accessed through a hyperlink, said form enabling a customer to request said print job;
a first memory storing a customer'"'"'s printing parameters and a first draft of said customer'"'"'s print job;
an editor connected to said first memory to edit said first draft of said customer'"'"'s print job creating a finalized version of said customer'"'"'s print job;
a second memory connected to said editor storing said finalized version of said customer'"'"'s print job; and
an output device connected to said second memory via network printing to download said finalized version onto a recording media at a location of said customer'"'"'s choice. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for printing text, images and pictures, comprising the steps of:
-
connecting, via the Internet, a customer at a computer terminal to a printing agency;
filling out a print request form by said customer and submitting said print request form over the Internet to said printing agency;
receiving a cost estimate from said printing agency;
transmitting a first draft of a customer'"'"'s print job comprising text, images and pictures from said customer'"'"'s computer to said printing agency over the Internet and storing said first draft in a first memory;
editing said first draft of said customer'"'"'s print job at said print agency and storing a resulting document in a second memory; and
outputting said document from said second memory to a remote output device of the customer'"'"'s choice. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A system for printing a document having text, images and pictures, comprising:
-
a user computer terminal connected to the Internet;
a printing agency accessible via the Internet by said user computer;
an editor connected to said printing agency for editing a manuscript submitted by said user to said printing agency to produce said document having text, images and pictures; and
a first plurality of output devices located at a second plurality of locations distant from said printing agency, each of said first plurality of output devices connected to said printing agency via computer network printing. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification