Method and system for processing files using a printer driver

• US 7,084,998 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ariba Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Ariba Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Monroe, Robert T., Blair, William R., Tetuan, David J., Turcotte, William E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pokrzywa, Joseph R.
• Application Number:
  US09/952,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20020120792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,783 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15, 358/1.2, 358/1.9, 358/1.13, 358/1.11, 358/1.12, 358/1.18, 715/513, 715/526, 715/527, 709/246, 709/247
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction

Abstract

The method and system of the present invention provides a single interface to process and upload files to a document management system on a remote computer system. The method includes initiating a print driver, accessing the remote server, acquiring metadata, queuing the files with a spooler for processing and transmitting processed files and the metadata to the document management system on the remote computer system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

installing a printer driver in an operating system (OS) of a data processing system as a dedicated printer that appears as a printer available to one or more applications running within the OS;

in response to a print command from an application having a electronic document opened, presenting a first graphical user interface (GUI) to allow a user of the application to choose a printer from a list of one or more printers available to the application including the installed dedicated printer;

in response to a printer selection command from the first GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, the printer driver associated with the dedicated printer connecting the data processing system with a remote document management system over a network and displaying a second GUI having a navigation view of the remote document management system to a user of the data processing system to allow the user to navigate the remote document management system; and

in response to a selection from the user on the second GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, storing over the network the electronic document at a location of the remote document management system selected by the user via the second GUI without printing the electronic document at a printer, including converting the electronic document to a specific format different than a format of the electronic document before storing the electronic document in the location of the remote document management system over the network,

wherein if the electronic document is a PDF compatible document having a link, the method further comprises;

the printer driver converting the electronic document into a raster image;

the printer driver extracting link information of the link from the electronic document to generate a display layer;

merging the display layer with the raster image to generate a RFQ compatible document to be stored in the selected location of the remote document management system, wherein information of the display layer is displayed in addition to the raster image in response to an activation from the RFQ document when the RFQ document is viewed from the remote document management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote document management system is located at a Web server over the Internet and wherein the printer driver connects the data processing system with the Web server using a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation view of the remote document management system is presented in accordance with at least one of a file structure and a directory structure of the remote document management system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the user navigating via the navigation view the remote document management system to identify the location for storing the electronic document of the application over the network.

5. A computer implemented method, comprising:

installing a printer driver in an operating system (OS) of a data processing system as a dedicated printer that appears as a printer available to one or more applications running within the OS;

in response to a print command from an application having a electronic document opened, presenting a first graphical user interface (GUI) to allow a user of the application to choose a printer from a list of one or more printers available to the application including the installed dedicated printer;

in response to a printer selection command from the first GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, the printer driver associated with the dedicated printer connecting the data processing system with a remote document management system over a network and displaying a second GUI having a navigation view of the remote document management system to a user of the data processing system to allow the user to navigate the remote document management system; and

in response to a selection from the user on the second GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, storing over the network the electronic document at a location of the remote document management system selected by the user via the second GUI without printing the electronic document at a printer, including converting the electronic document to a specific format different than a format of the electronic document before storing the electronic document in the location of the remote document management system over the network,

wherein if the electronic document is a CAD compatible document, the method further comprises;

the printer driver converting the electronic document into a raster image;

the printer driver extracting ISO symbol information from the electronic document to generate a display layer;

merging the display layer with the raster image to generate a RFQ compatible document to be stored in the selected location of the remote document management system, wherein the display layer is displayed in addition to the raster image in response to an activation from the RFQ document such that the symbol information is displayed as a CTQ layer in the RFQ document.

6. A machine-readable medium for storing instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

installing a printer driver in an operating system (OS) of a data processing system as a dedicated printer that appears as a printer available to one or more applications running within the OS;

in response to a print command from an application having a electronic document opened, presenting a first graphical user interface (GUI) to allow a user of the application to choose a printer from a list of one or more printers available to the application including the installed dedicated printer;

in response to a printer selection command from the first GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, the printer driver associated with the dedicated printer connecting the data processing system with a remote document management system over a network and displaying a second GUI having a navigation view of the remote document management system to a user of the data processing system to allow the user to navigate the remote document management system; and

in response to a selection from the user on the second GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, storing over the network the electronic document at a location of the remote document management system selected by the user via the second GUI without printing the electronic document at a printer, including converting the electronic document to a specific format different than a format of the electronic document before storing the electronic document in the location of the remote document management system over the network,

wherein if the electronic document is a PDF compatible document having a link, the method further comprises;

the printer driver converting the electronic document into a raster image;

the printer driver extracting link information of the link from the electronic document to generate a display layer;

merging the display layer with the raster image to generate a RFQ compatible document to be stored in the selected location of the remote document management system, wherein information of the display layer is displayed in addition to the raster image in response to an activation from the RFQ document when the RFQ document is viewed from the remote document management system.

7. A data processing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing instructions, when executed from the memory, cause the processor to perform a method, the method including

installing a printer driver in an operating system (OS) of a data processing system as a dedicated printer that appears as a printer available to one or more applications running within the OS,

in response to a print command from an application having a electronic document opened, presenting a first graphical user interface (GUI) to allow a user of the application to choose a printer from a list of one or more printers available to the application including the installed dedicated printer,

in response to a printer selection command from the first GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, the printer driver associated with the dedicated printer connecting the data processing system with a remote document management system over a network and displaying a second GUI having a navigation view of the remote document management system to a user of the data processing system to allow the user to navigate the remote document management system, and

in response to a selection from the user on the second GUI for selecting the dedicated printer, storing over the network the electronic document at a location of the remote document management system selected by the user via the second GUI without printing the electronic document at a printer, including converting the electronic document to a specific format different than a format of the electronic document before storing the electronic document in the location of the remote document management system over the network,

wherein if the electronic document is a PDF compatible document having a link, the method further comprises

the printer driver converting the electronic document into a raster image,

the printer driver extracting link information of the link from the electronic document to generate a display layer, and

merging the display layer with the raster image to generate a RFQ compatible document to be stored in the selected location of the remote document management system, wherein information of the display layer is displayed in addition to the raster image in response to an activation from the REQ document when the RFQ document is viewed from the remote document management system.