Mobility support for printing

• US 6,288,790 B1
• Filed: 05/15/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yellepeddy, Krishna Kishore, Carter, Keith Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Coles, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): WALLERSON, MARK E
• Application Number:
  US09/080,032
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.13, 358/1.14, 358/1.15, 358/1.16, 358/400, 358/402, 358/407, 358/434, 358/435, 358/436
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• 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 3/1236 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/126 Job scheduling, e.g. queuing, determine appropriate device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing

Abstract

Data processing systems are provided with a mobile print support facility useful for mobile data processing systems such as laptops, notebooks, and the like. When a client data processing system is disconnected from a desired remote print server, or the remote print server is otherwise inaccessible, a local transient printer queue is automatically created and all print jobs submitted by the client data processing system are spooled to the transient printer queue. Once a transient printer queue is created, a mobile print connection manager periodically checks a status of the connection to the remote printer queue. When reconnected, print jobs within the transient printer queue are replayed to the remote printer queue. Print jobs may be replayed in the background or a replay GUI may be spawned to allow the user to manipulate transient printer queues and their contents. The replay GUI allows pending print jobs within a transient printer queue to be redirected to different remote printer queues, print servers, or print devices.

Claims

1. A method of handling print jobs for a currently inaccessible remote print device, comprising:

responsive to detecting a print job submitted by a mobile device to a remote print queue which is currently inaccessible to the mobile device, determining whether a transient print queue associated with the remote print queue exists within the mobile device;

responsive to determining that the transient print queue does not exist, creating the transient print queue;

spooling the print job to the transient print queue; and

providing a user interface to the transient print queue permitting a user to indefinitely suspend replay of the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically checking a status of the remote print queue; and

responsive to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, replaying the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue to print the print job.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the transient print queue exists, spooling the print job to the transient print queue as a second print job within the transient print queue.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after spooling the print job to the transient print queue, providing a user interface to the transient print queue permitting a user to redirect replay of the print job from the transient print queue to a different remote print queue; and

replaying the print job from the transient remote print queue to the different remote print queue selected by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, automatically replaying the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue as a background process.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, spawning a replay user interface to the transient print queue.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible based upon whether the mobile device is connected to a system containing the remote print queue, whether the system containing the remote print queue cannot be contacted due to a network error or fault condition, whether the system containing the remote print queue is shut down or offline, whether a user of the mobile device is logged into a network containing the remote print queue, whether a print requester within the mobile device is running, and whether the remote print queue is shared.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible further comprises:

detecting an error resulting from attempting to print to an inaccessible print queue.

9. A mobile print support mechanism for printing to a currently inaccessible remote print device, comprising:

a network connection for selectively connecting a client data processing system to a network containing a remote print queue for the remote print device;

a mobile print manager executing within the client data processing system, the mobile print manager;

determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible;

determining whether a transient print queue associated with the remote print queue exists within the client data processing system in response to detecting a print job submitted to the remote print queue while the remote print queue is inaccessible;

creating the transient print queue within the client data processing system if the transient print queue does not exist;

spooling the print job to the transient print queue; and

a user interface within the client data processing system to the transient print queue permitting a user to indefinitely to suspend replay of the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue after the print job has been spooled to the transient print queue.

10. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager periodically checks a status of the remote print queue and, in response to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, replays the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue.

11. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager, in response to determining that the transient print queue exists, spooling the print job to the transient print queue.

12. The mechanism of claim 9, further comprising:

a user interface within the client data processing system to the transient print queue permitting a user to redirect replay of the print job from the transient print queue to a different remote print queue after the print job has been spooled to the transient print queue.

13. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager, in response to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, automatically replays the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue as a background process.

14. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager, in response to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, spawns a replay user interface to the transient print queue.

15. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager determines whether the remote print queue is currently accessible based upon whether the mobile device is connected to a system containing the remote print queue, whether the system containing the remote print queue cannot be contacted due to a network error or fault condition, whether the system containing the remote print queue is shut down or offline, whether a user of the mobile device is logged into a network containing the remote print queue, whether a print requester within the mobile device is running, and whether the remote print queue is shared.

16. The mechanism of claim 9, wherein the mobile print manager interfaces with a network independent layer of an operating system to function with any network supporting a network independent API within the network independent layer.

17. A method of supporting mobile printing to a currently inaccessible print queue, comprising:

determining whether at least one transient print queue associated with a remote print queue for a remote print device exists within a mobile device;

responsive to determining that at least one transient print queue exists, periodically checking an accessibility status for the remote print queue corresponding to the at least one transient print queue; and

responsive to determining that the remote print queue has become accessible, replaying print jobs within the at least one transient print queue to the remote print queue by determining whether the at least one transient print queue contains at least one print job not in a held state.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of replaying print jobs within the at least one transient print queue to the remote print queue further comprises:

determining whether a background replay option is selected;

responsive to determining that the background replay option is selected, replaying print jobs within the at least one transient queue to the remote print queue in a background process; and

responsive to determining that the background replay option is not selected, spawning a replay user interface allowing a user to manage print jobs within the at least one transient print queue.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining whether at least one transient print queue is in a held state.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

selecting a highest order transient print queue from a plurality of transient print queues each associated with a different remote print queue;

selecting a highest order print job which is not in a held state from a plurality of print jobs within the selected transient print queue; and

replaying the selected print job to a remote print queue corresponding to the selected transient print queue.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining whether at least one transient print queue is empty; and

responsive to determining that at least one transient print queue is empty, deleting at least one transient print queue.

22. A data processing system, comprising:

a network connection for selectively connecting the data processing system to a network containing a remote print queue; and

a mobile print manager executing within the data processing system, the mobile print manager;

determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible to the data processing system;

determining whether a transient print queue associated with the remote print queue exists within the data processing system in response to detecting a print job submitted to the remote print queue while the remote print queue is inaccessible;

creating the transient print queue if the transient print queue does not exist;

spooling the print job to the transient print queue; and

providing a user interface to the transient print queue permitting a user to indefinitely suspend replay of the print job from the transient print queue to the remote print queue.

23. A computer program product in a computer usable medium, comprising:

instructions within the computer usable medium, responsive to detecting a print request within a mobile client system for a remote print queue, for determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible to the mobile client system;

instructions within the computer usable medium, responsive to determining that the remote print queue is not currently accessible to the mobile client system, for determining whether a transient print queue exists within the mobile client system for the remote print queue;

instructions within the computer usable medium, responsive to determining that a transient queue does not exist within the mobile client system for the remote print queue, for creating a transient print queue within the mobile client system for the remote print queue;

instructions within the computer usable medium for spooling a print job corresponding to the print request to the transient print queue;

instructions within the computer usable medium, responsive to detecting the existence of the transient print queue for the remote print queue, for periodically determining whether the remote print queue is currently accessible to the mobile client system; and

instructions within the computer usable medium, responsive to determining that the remote print queue is currently accessible to the mobile client system while the transient queue for the remote print queue exists within the mobile client system, for automatically replaying print jobs within the transient print queue to the remote print queue or to a different remote print queue selected by a user.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

instructions within the computer usable medium providing a user interface permitting a user to reorder print jobs within the transient print queue by dragging an icon associated with a print job and dropping the icon at a new position within a list of print jobs within the transient print queue.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

instructions within the computer usable medium providing a user interface permitting a user to edit a print job within the transient print queue.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

instructions within the computer usable medium providing a user interface permitting a user to copy a print job within the transient print queue to create a duplicate print job.