Direct barcode printing from internet database

• US 20020131071A1
• Filed: 03/19/2001
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Parry, Travis J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,972,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/17 Web printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1204 resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1265 Printing by reference, e.g. retrieving document/image data for a job from a source mentioned in the job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1268 Job submission, e.g. submitting print job order or request not the print data itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server

Abstract

Briefly, the present invention comprises, in one embodiment, a printing method, comprising the steps of: receiving data at a printer; detecting a barcode in the received data; translating the barcode to an external network address; sending on the Internet or other external network an access request for a document to the external network address; retrieving the document from the external network address; and printing the document. In a further aspect of the present invention, the step is provided of printing the document inside a master document.

Claims

1. A printing method, comprising the steps of:

receiving data at a printer;

detecting a barcode in the received data;

translating the barcode to an external network address;

sending on the Internet or other external network an access request for a document to the external network address;

retrieving the document from the external network address; and

printing the document.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the network address is a URL.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein said receiving data step

comprises receiving an e-mail containing said data.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein said receiving data step comprises receiving an e-mail with an attachment containing said data.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein said translating step

comprises translating the barcode to obtain a PIN#;

and

wherein said sending step includes sending the PIN# with the access request to the external network address for determining if the request is authorized.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the detecting a barcode step comprises interpreting a wrapper indicating that a binary sequence is a barcode.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

displaying a menu of print formats for a user to select to print the document; and

receiving a selection of one of said print formats displayed to the user.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

displaying a field for a transmission address;

receiving a transmission address for another device in said field; and

sending the document to said another device.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the translated barcode includes

information on printing the document inside another document;

and

further comprising the step of printing the document inside the other document in accordance with the printing information upon receipt of the document at the printer.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of printing the document inside a master document.

11. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the translation step comprises

translating the barcode to obtain at least one identifier that designates the type of contents in said document;

and

determining a location of the document within the master document based on said identifier.

12. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the translation step comprises translating the barcode to obtain coordinates designating a portion of the master document;

and

determining a location of the document within the master document based on said coordinates.

13. The method as defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of determining a location of the document within the master document based on a rule.

14. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the document and the master document are merged to form a single document in a desired format.

17. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein said receiving data step

comprises receiving an e-mail containing said data.

18. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein said translating step

comprises translating the barcode to obtain a PIN#;

and

wherein said sending step includes sending the PIN# with the access request to the URL for determining if the request is authorized.

19. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein the translated barcode includes

information on printing the document inside another document;

and

further comprising the step of printing the document inside the other document in accordance with the printing information upon receipt of the document at the printer.

20. The method as defined in claim 16, further comprising the step of printing the document inside a master document.

15. The method as defined in 10, wherein said detecting a barcode step comprises detecting a plurality of barcodes;

and further comprising

determining a URL in each of the plurality of barcodes;

sending on the Internet an access request to each of the URL'"'"'s;

retrieving a document from each of the URL'"'"'s;

merging the documents from the URL'"'"'s with the master document to obtain a merged document; and

printing the merged document.

16. A printing method, comprising the steps of:

receiving data at a printer;

detecting a barcode in the received data;

translating the barcode to a URL;

searching for an Internet access device to access the Internet;

sending through the Internet access device an access request for a document to the URL;

retrieving to the Internet device the document from the URL; and

printing the document.

21. A system for printing documents, comprising:

a first component for receiving data at a printer;

a second component for detecting a barcode in the received data;

a third component for translating the barcode to an external network address;

a fourth component for sending on the Internet or other external network an access request for a document to the external network address;

a fifth component for retrieving the document from the external network address; and

a sixth component for printing the document.

22. A program product for printing documents, comprising:

first code for receiving data at a printer;

second code for detecting a barcode in the received data;

third code for translating the barcode to an external network address;

fourth code for sending on the Internet or other external network an access request for a document to the external network address;

fifth code for retrieving the document from the external network address; and

sixth code for printing the document