Portable wireless device and software for printing by reference

• US 20030005330A1
• Filed: 06/29/2001
• Published: 01/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Berkema, Alan C., Morgan, Jeff, Stoltz, Pat, Fischer, Todd
• Granted Patent: US 7,299,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1207 resulting in the user being informed about print result after a job submission
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1259 Print job monitoring, e.g. job status
• 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 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing

Abstract

A portable wireless device wirelessly communicates a reference to a print device causing the print device to use the reference to obtain a desired set of print content and further causing the print device to print the desired print content. The portable wireless device may also wirelessly communicate the reference to a print service which may respond to the reference by obtaining the desired print content, formatting the desired print content for printing, and communicating the desired print content to the print device for printing.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer readable code stored on a computer readable medium that, when executed, causes the computer to:

wirelessly communicate a reference to a print device, the reference identifying a location at which a print content is located on a network, wherein the reference causes the print device to retrieve the print content from the network and to print the print content.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the network comprises the Internet, and wherein the print content comprises Internet content, and further wherein the reference comprises a content locator.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the content locator comprises a Universal Resource Locator.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the reference further comprises billing data.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the reference causes the print device to retrieve the print content from the network by causing the print device to supply the reference to a print service adapted to retrieve the print content from the network and further adapted to format the retrieved print content for printing.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

download the reference from the network; and

,

convert the reference to a format that is compatible with a communication protocol used by the print device, wherein the computer readable code causes the computer to cause the reference to be downloaded and converted before the computer wirelessly communicates the reference to the print device.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to download the reference from the network in response to a user input indicating that a hyperlink associated with the reference has been selected.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

wirelessly communicate a security access code to the print device.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the security access code enables usage of the print device.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the security access code enables access to the print content.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to wirelessly communicate the security access code in response to a security challenge received from the print device.

13. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

wirelessly communicate a discovery signal to the print device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

receive a responsive signal transmitted by the print device wherein the responsive signal identifies the print device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the print device has one or more print capabilities and wherein the responsive signal further identifies one or more of the print capabilities of the print device.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the responsive signal further identifies a physical location at which the print device is located.

17. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to add information to the reference before wirelessly communicating the reference to the print device.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the information added to the reference comprises a locator, the locator identifying a location of a print service.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the information added to the reference comprises a security access code.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the information added to the reference comprises billing information.

21. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the information added to the reference comprises print format data, the print format data instructing the print device to print the reference beginning on a new sheet.

22. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

communicate a request for status information to the print device; and

,

receive status information from the print device.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the reference further causes the print service to convert the retrieved print content to a print ready format and wherein the reference further causes the print service to transmit the converted print content to a print device.

27. The portable wireless device of claim 26, wherein the communication interface is adapted to communicate using a Bluetooth communication protocol.

29. The portable wireless device of claim 28, wherein the second communication interface is adapted to communicate using a protocol associated with cellular telephony.

30. The portable wireless device of claim 28, wherein the processor is further adapted to download the reference from the network via the second communication interface.

31. The portable wireless device of claim 26 wherein the processor is further adapted to discover the location of the print device.

32. The portable wireless device of claim 26, wherein the processor is further adapted to cause the communication interface to communicate a security access code to the print device.

33. The portable wireless device of claim 32, wherein the security access code enables usage of the print device.

34. The portable wireless device of claim 32, wherein the security access code enables access to the print content.

35. The portable wireless device of claim 26 further comprising a memory device coupled to the processor, the memory device being adapted to store the reference, wherein the processor is further adapted to obtain the reference from the memory device.

36. The portable wireless device of claim 26 further comprising a memory device coupled to the processor, the memory device being adapted to store information identifying the print device, wherein the processor is adapted to use the information identifying the print device to cause the communication interface to wirelessly communicate the reference to the print device.

38. The portable wireless device of claim 37, wherein communicating the reference to the print service further causes the print service to format the print content for printing before transmitting the print content to the portable wireless device.

39. The portable wireless device of claim 38, wherein the processor is further coupled to the second communication interface and wherein the processor is further adapted to cause the second communication interface to transmit the print content to the print device for printing.

6. The computer program product of claim l, wherein the computer readable code further causes the computer to:

establish communication with the print device before wirelessly communicating the reference to the print device.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer readable code stored on a computer readable medium that, when executed, causes the computer to:

wirelessly communicate a reference to a print service, the reference identifying a location at which a print content is located on a network, wherein the reference causes the print service to retrieve the print content.

24. The computer program product of claim 232, wherein the reference comprises data identifying a print device and wherein the reference further causes the print service to transmit the retrieved print content to the print device.

26. A portable wireless device comprising:

a communication interface adapted to enable wireless communication between the portable wireless device and a print device; and

,

a processor coupled to the communication interface, the processor being adapted to cause the communication interface to wirelessly communicate a reference to the print device, wherein the reference identifies the location of a print content on a network, and wherein the reference causes the print device to use the reference to retrieve the print content from the network and further causes the print device to print the print content.

28. The portable wireless device of claim 226, wherein the communication interface comprises a first communication interface, and wherein the portable wireless device further comprises:

a second communication interface coupled to the processor, the second communication interface being adapted to enable communication between the processor and the network.

37. A portable wireless device comprising:

a first communication interface adapted to enable communication between the portable wireless device and a print service;

a second communication interface adapted to enable wireless communication between the portable wireless device and a print device; and

,

a processor coupled to the first communication interface, the processor being adapted to cause the first communication interface to communicate a reference that identifies the location of a print content to the print service, wherein communicating the reference to the print service causes the print service to retrieve the print content from a network and further causes the print service to transmit the print content to the portable wireless device.