Method and apparatus for establishing two-way communication with a remote printer

• US 6,559,965 B1
• Filed: 09/09/1999
• Issued: 05/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Howell, Matt, Simpson, Shell S., Detweiler, Richard, Hodges, Mark E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Evans, Arthur G.
• Application Number:
  US09/393,215
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1, 358/1.6, 358/1.13, 358/1.12, 358/1.14, 358/1.15, 358/442, 700/24, 700/17, 700/99, 710/1, 710/3, 710/7, 710/8, 710/9, 710/15, 710/20, 710/21, 710/36, 710/62, 710/65
• 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 3/1231 Device related settings, e.g. IP address, Name, Identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1236 Connection management
• 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 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration

Abstract

A method for establishing two-way communications between a host system and a device when the address of the device is initially unknown. The host system submits a job to a device with the job including address and other information required for the device to respond with the device'"'"'s address. Once the host system has the device address, the host system and the device can establish bi-directional communications. In a print job, a print job language (PJL) command known as SOCKETPING is used to transmit the information between a print client and a printer. The SOCKETPING command includes fields for host system address family, protocol, address, and port as well as extensions to define job status reporting parameters. The printer responds to the SOCKETPING command with the necessary address information for the printer and job status reports as specified in the SOCKETPING extensions.

Claims

1. In a network system, a method of establishing two-way communication between a host system and a device wherein one-way job submission communication between the host system and at least one device has been provided, the device address being initially unknown, the method comprising the steps of:

submitting a job to a device;

the job including at least one instruction informing the device of an address of a host system which submitted the job; and

the device responding to the host system at the host system address and providing at least the device address to the host system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the host system address includes a sequence number allowing the host system to distinguish between responses from more than one device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one instruction includes an extension for specifying job status reporting for the device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein job status is defined as a series of successive states, the extension instructing the device to send a job status report as the device transitions from one state to the next state of the job.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the job includes a plurality of instructions, each of the instructions identifying a different entity address to receive job status reports from the device.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the extension specifies at least the type of job status reporting desired and the duration of the job status reporting.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network system includes at least one device server, the job being submitted to the device server for further transmission to a device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one instruction includes an extension for specifying job status reporting request for the device, the device server being adapted for responding to at least a portion of the job status reporting request.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the job includes only the at least one instruction.

10. In a network system, a method of establishing two-way communication between a print client and a printer wherein one-way job submission communication between the print client and at least one printer on the network system has been provided, the printer address being initially unknown, the method comprising the steps of:

submitting a print job to a printer;

the print job including at least one instruction informing the printer of an address of a print client which submitted the print job; and

the printer responding to the print client at the print client address and providing at least the printer address to the print client.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the print client address includes a print job sequence number allowing the print client to distinguish between responses from more than one printer.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one instruction includes an extension for specifying a print job status reporting request for the printer.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein print job status is defined as a series of successive states, the extension instructing the printer to send a print job status report as the printer transitions from one state to the next state of the print job.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the job includes a plurality of instructions, each of the instructions identifying a different entity address to receive job status reports from the printer.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the extension specifies at least the type of print job status reporting desired and the duration of the print job status reporting.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the network system includes at least one print server, the print job being submitted to the print server for further transmission to a printer in the network system.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the at least one instruction includes an extension for specifying a print job status reporting request for the printer, the print server being adapted for responding to at least a portion of the print job status reporting request.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the print job includes only the at least one instruction.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the instruction comprises a print job language (PJL) SOCKETPING command.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the PJL SOCKETPING command comprises a sequence of predefined values have the following syntax:

@PJL SOCKETPING

SEQUENCE=<

Sequence#>

FAMILY=<

Family>

PROTOCOL=<

Protocol>

ADDRESS=<

Address>

PORT=<

Port>

.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the printer responds to a received PJL SOCKETPING command with a SOCKETPING reply, the SOCKETPING reply comprising a variable-sized buffer having the following format:

BUFFERSIZE=<

BufferSize>

SEQUENCE=<

Sequence#>

FAMILY=<

Family>

PROTOCOL=<

Protocol>

ADDRESS=<

Address>

.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the PJL SOCKETPING command further comprises a sequence of predefined values and extensions, the extensions defining a print job status report request, having the following syntax:

@PJL SOCKETPING

SEQUENCE=<

Sequence#>

FAMILY=<

Family>

PROTOCOL=<

Protocol>

ADDRESS=<

Address>

PORT=<

Port>

[JOBTRACKING=<

JobTracking>

[JOBTRACKINGLIFETIME=<

JobTrackingLifetime>

]].

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the print job status report comprises a SOCKETPING reply having the following format:

BUFFERSIZE=<

BufferSize>

[SEQUENCE#=<

Sequence#>

]

FAMILY=<

Family>

PROTOCOL=<

Protocol>

ADDRESS=<

Address>

[JOBID=<

JobID>

]

[STATEID<

StateID>

]

[REASON=<

Reason>

]

[STATECODE=<

StateCode>

]

[STATEPARAMETERS=<

StateParameters>

]

[STATE=<

State>

].