Computing device and methods for mobile-printing

• US 20050086282A1
• Filed: 10/17/2003
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hall, David M., Anderson, Jeff M., Bunn, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A driver for a mobile-computing device. The driver comprises a communication interface for communicatively coupling the driver to an application executing on the mobile-computing device and a print service wirelessly coupled to the mobile-computing apparatus. The driver further comprises an interceptor and a graphics device formatter. The interceptor identifies graphics device commands and forwards graphics device commands issued by the application. The formatter, when enabled, renders information desired to be printed from the mobile-communication device to an intermediate format communicated to the print service.

Claims

1. A method for printing information at a remote location, comprising:

establishing a network connection at a remote location;

receiving a list of printing devices communicatively coupled to a print service available to a mobile-computing device;

requesting a print device context responsive to a printer selected from the list of printing devices;

using an application resident on the mobile-computing device to render information to the print device context, wherein the application generates a plurality of device commands responsive to the information to be printed; and

forwarding the device commands to the print service, wherein the print service renders the device commands against the printer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

intercepting the device commands;

generating an intermediate format; and

rendering the intermediate format before the step of forwarding.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a common driver from the print service.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a printer status from the print service.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

forwarding the printer status to the application.

6. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an executable instruction set, the instruction set, when executed by a processor, directs the processor to perform a method comprising:

sensing a change of connection status between a mobile-computing device and a wireless access device coupled to a local area network;

establishing a communication session with a print service accessible via the local area network when the change of connection status indicates that the mobile-computing device has established a communication session with the wireless access device, wherein during the communication session the mobile-computing device uses a printer driver configured to generate a generic device context responsive to a designated printer coupled to the print service;

using the printer driver to intercept graphics device commands generated by an application operative on the mobile-computing device; and

forwarding the graphics device commands to the print service, wherein the print service renders the graphics device commands against the designated printer.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein using the printer driver comprises generating an intermediate format and rendering the intermediate format before forwarding the graphics device commands.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein during the communication session, the mobile-computing device receives a common driver from the print service.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a printer status from the print service.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

forwarding the printer status to the application.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying information indicative of a printing device available to the mobile-computing device.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

reporting information indicative of the condition of pending print tasks.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a default device for print requests originating within the mobile-computing device.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising:

reconfiguring the mobile-computing device in accordance with indicia of the default device when the change of connection status indicates that the communication session with the wireless access device has terminated.

15. A mobile-computing device, comprising:

means for responding to a change of connection status between a mobile-computing device and a wireless access device communicatively coupled to a print service;

means for establishing a communication session with the print service when the change of connection status indicates that the mobile-computing device has established a connection with the wireless access device, wherein during the communication session the mobile-computing device uses a printer driver configured to generate a generic device context responsive to a printer coupled to the print service;

means for intercepting graphics device commands generated by an application operative of the mobile-communication device; and

means for forwarding the graphics device commands to the print service, wherein the print service renders the graphics device commands in accordance with the printer.

16. The mobile-computing device of claim 15, wherein the means for establishing a communication session with the print service comprises an application program.

17. The mobile-computing device of claim 15, wherein the means for intercepting graphics device commands comprises a printer driver.

18. The mobile-computing device of claim 15, wherein the means for establishing a communication session further comprises means for receiving a common driver.

19. The mobile-computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

print task initialization means for receiving a user-selected input indicative of content desired to be printed by the printing device.

20. The mobile-computing device of claim 19, further comprising:

monitoring means for observing the condition of pending print tasks.

21. A mobile-computing apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor having stored therein a driver comprising;

a communication interface including;

an application interface for communicatively coupling the driver to an application executing within the processor; and

a print service interface for communicatively coupling the driver to a print service wirelessly coupled to the mobile-computing apparatus;

an interceptor coupled to the communication interface, the interceptor configured to identify and forward graphics device commands issued by the application; and

a formatter coupled to the interceptor, wherein when the formatter is enabled, the formatter renders information desired to be printed from the mobile-communication device to an intermediate format communicated to the print service.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein when the formatter is disabled, the interceptor forwards the graphics device commands to the print service for rendering via a printer driver compatible with a select printer coupled to the print service.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

a message handler configured to receive indicia of a printer status.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the message handler is configured to forward the printer status via the application interface to the application.