CELLULAR NETWORK INTERFACE FOR MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES

• US 20130157617A1
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: PIRATLA, NISCHAL MURTHY, PRASANNA, PRATYUSH
• Application Number:
  US13/329,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20130157617A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/608 Secure printing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and a system for connecting a computing device to a multi-function device (MFD) associated with a cellular identification code and an address. A computing device sends a connection request including an access code over a cellular network to access a MFD. The connection request is processed to identify the MFD. Processing includes, comparing the access code with a pre-populated list of cellular identification codes for validation, and determining the IP address corresponding to the validated access code. On determining the IP address of the identified MFD, a cellular data connection is set up between the computing device and the MFD.

Claims

1. A system for providing connectivity with a computing device, the system comprising:

a multi-function device having the functionalities of printing, scanning, and copying;

a cellular interface, connected to the multiple multi-function device, for assigning a cellular identification code to the multi-function device;

a discovery module, deployed at the computing device, configured to generate a connection request to access the multi-function device, the request including an access code;

a processing module for comparing the access code with the cellular identification code, and determining an address associated with the multi-function device using the access code;

a connection module for providing a cellular data connectivity between the computing device and the multi-function device based on the determined address.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cellular identification code comprises a telephone number.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the access code comprises a telephone number.

4. The system of claim 1 further includes a database having a list of the cellular identification codes and corresponding address.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the connection module provides connection between the computing device and the multi-function device based on access rights associated with the computing device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the cellular interface includes a cellular port and a cellular card.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the cellular card comprises a Subscriber Identity module (SIM) card.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

9. (canceled)

10. A device configured to communicate on a cellular network, the device comprising:

a multi-function device having the functionalities of printing, scanning, and copying;

a cellular interface associating a cellular identification code with the multi-function device; and

a connection module, coupled to the multi-function device, wherein the connection module is configured to;

receive a connection request including an access code;

compare the access code with the cellular identification code;

determine an address associated with the multi-function device using the access code; and

provide a cellular data connection with the multi-function device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the multi-function device includes an Ethernet interface.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the cellular identification code comprises a phone number.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the access code comprises a phone number.

11. (canceled)

16. A method for connecting a computing device to a device, the method comprising:

providing a multi-function device having the functionalities of printing, scanning, and copying;

receiving a connection request, including an access code;

validating the access code, including comparing the access code with a cellular identification code;

determining an address associated with the multi-function device upon a determination that the access code is valid; and

setting up a cellular data connection between the computing device and the multi-function device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the access code comprises a phone number.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein comparison step involves comparing the access code with one or more cellular identification codes associated with one or more multi-function devices.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein determination of the address associated with the multi-function device takes place when the access code matches with the cellular identification code.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the setting up step includes verifying access rights associated with the computing device.