Document delivery system for automatically printing a document on a printing device

• US 7,065,497 B1
• Filed: 06/07/1999
• Issued: 06/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Crangle, Kenneth W, Miller, Robert M, Neumann, Edmund B, Roberts, Michael L, Brewster, Jon A, Gupta, Aloke, van Zee, Pieter J
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAMPAGNE, DONALD
• Application Number:
  US09/325,040
• Time in Patent Office: 2,570 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.61
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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 3/1229 Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1279 Controller construction, e.g. aspects of the interface hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/543 Sensing means responsive to work indicium or irregularity

Abstract

A document is operatively coupled to a printing device, either directly or through a network such as the Internet. A print schedule is stored that keeps track of when a document should be printed on the printing device. When the print schedule indicates the document should be printed, the document is automatically transmitted to the printing device without user intervention. The printing device automatically prints the document, again without user intervention. The document can be stored on a electronic device, such as a personal computer connected to the printing device, or can be stored on a document server accessible to the printing device through the Internet. A user profile is stored that contains information about the recipient of the document, such as name, email address, household income, and interests. This user profile is updated when a document is printed on the printing device. This user profile can be used to select specific information of interest to the user to be included in a personalized document. Since advertising can also be included in the document, the user profile can also be used to select advertising likely to be of interest to the user to be included in the personalized document. A product can be subsidized for a user, based on the information contained in the user profile. For example, if a user profile indicates that a specific user has printed a specific number of “preferred” documents, such as those documents containing advertising or otherwise under the control of the document delivery system, a product such as a print consumable, such as an inkjet cartridge or a laser toner cartridge, can automatically be sent to the user. Likewise, printable media such as paper can also automatically be sent to user. Alternatively, coupons for free or discounted products such as those described above can be mailed, sent electronically, or otherwise distributed to the user.

Claims

1. In a document delivery system having a document capable of being operatively coupled to a printing device, a method of printing the document on the printing device comprising the steps of:

storing a print schedule with an indication that the document should be printed at a user requested time;

automatically requesting, without user intervention, the document based on the print schedule;

transmitting the document to the printing device; and

causing automatic printing, without user intervention, the document on the printing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing a user profile.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

responsive to causing printing of the document on the printing device, updating the user profile with an indication that the document printed successfully.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

responsive to the updating step, subsidizing a product for a user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a print consumable to the user.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for a free print consumable to the user.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for a reduced price print consumable to the user.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending printable media to the user.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for printable media to the user.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a second printing device to the user.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for a second printing device to the user.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

including advertising content into the document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of including advertising content further comprises the step of:

personalizing the advertising content based on the user profile.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transmitting the document further comprises the step of personalizing the content of the document based on the user profile.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of:

responsive to the causing printing step, updating the user profile with an indication that the document printed successfully.

16. The method of claims 15, further comprising the step of:

responsive to the updating step, subsidizing a product for a user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a print consumable to the user.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for a free print consumable to the user.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for a reduced price print consumable to the user.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending printable media to the user.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a coupon for printable media to the user.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the subsidizing a product step further comprises the step of:

sending a second printing device to the user.

23. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

a document server inserting personalized advertising into the document from an advertising provider based on the user profile; and

retrieving the document from the document server coupled to the printing device via a network.

24. A method, comprising the steps of:

electronically monitoring by a document server the usage of a printing device; and

subsidizing the purchase of a product, based on the electronically monitoring step.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the electronically monitoring step further comprises the step of:

updating a user profile to indicate that a document has been printed for a user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the updating step indicates that advertising in the document has been printed.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the electronically monitoring step further comprises the step of:

updating a user profile to indicate the amount of ink that was used when a document was printed.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the updating step further comprises the steps of:

updating the user profile to indicate the amount of each of a plurality of different colored ink that was used when a document was printed.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the product in the subsidizing step is a print consumable.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the product in the subsiding step is printable media.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the product in the subsidizing step is a second printing device.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the product in the subsidizing step is a subscription.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein said subsidizing step is funded by advertising revenue.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein said subsidizing step is funded by distribution revenue.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein said subsidizing step is funded by distribution revenue.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of providing information about the document that was printed for the is user to an advertising provider.

37. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of providing information about the document that was printed for the user to a content provider.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising the step of providing information about the document that was printed for the user to a content provider.

39. In a document delivery system having a document capable of being operatively coupled to a printing device, a method of printing the document on the printing device comprising the steps of:

storing a print schedule;

automatically requesting, without user intervention, the document based on the print schedule;

transmitting the document to the printing device;

causing automatic printing, without user intervention, the document on the printing device;

storing a user profile; and

responsive to causing printing of the document on the printing device, updating the user profile with an indication that the document printed successfully, wherein the print schedule further comprises an indication that the document should be printed at a user requested time.

40. The document delivery system of claim 39, wherein the user requested time is a specific day of the week or month.

41. The document delivery system of claim 39, wherein the user requested time is the lapse of a user specified time period.

42. A method, comprising the steps of:

electronically monitoring by a document server the usage of a printing device; and

subsidizing the purchase of a product that is depleted upon the usage of the printing device, based on the electronically monitoring step.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the product in the subsidizing step is mailed to the user.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein a coupon for the product in the subsidizing step is sent to the user.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the product in the subsidizing step is a print consumable.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein the product in the subsiding step is printable media.