Web based creation of printer instances on a workstation

• US 7,213,060 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2003
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Carcerano, Christopher John, Kemp, Devon James
• Primary Examiner(s): DUONG, OANH L
• Application Number:
  US10/413,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20030200292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,477 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709219-222, 709/226, 709/229, 709/245, 719/321, 719/327, 717174-178
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Web based installation of a printer in a printers folder on a workstation for peer-to-peer communication over a network between the workstation and the printer, by downloading a printers html page to the workstation, the printers html page providing hyperlinks of printers that can be added to the workstation, selecting a hyperlink for a printer to be added to the workstation, in response to the selecting step, extracting identification information of the selected printer from the selected hyperlink and executing a component object to install the printer, wherein, the component object calls a function that automatically obtains printer configuration information and print driver information based at least in part on the extracted identification information, automatically configures the printer and installs a print driver based on the obtained printer configuration information and print driver information, and creates a locally managed instance of the printer on the workstation. In a case where the component object is not installed on the workstation, an executable file (CAB) that includes the component object and the function (DDI) is downloaded such that, when the CAB file is executed, the DDI is installed and the component object is executed.

Claims

1. A method of installing a network printer in a printers folder on a workstation for peer-to-peer communication over a network between the workstation and the network printer, the method comprising the steps of:

downloading a printers Hypertext Markup Language (html) page to the workstation, the printers html page providing a plurality of hyperlinks of network printers that can be added to the workstation;

managing a database having corresponding printer identification information, printer configuration information, and print driver information, respectively, for each of the network printers;

selecting a hyperlink from among the plurality of hyperlinks included in the downloaded html page for the network printer to be added to the workstation;

in response to the selecting step, looking for, by a browser on the workstation, an Active Server Page (ASP) referenced in the selected hyperlink and downloading the ASP to the browser, wherein the downloaded ASP contains computer executable scripts;

automatically extracting, by one of the computer executable scripts, the printer identification information of the selected network printer from the selected hyperlink and executing a component object on the workstation to install the network printer, wherein, the component object calls a function that performs the steps of;

automatically obtaining the printer configuration information and the print driver information based at least in part on the extracted printer identification information, wherein the printer configuration information and the print driver information are obtained from the managed database and are determined from the managed database by using the extracted printer identification information as a key;

automatically configuring the network printer and installing the print driver information based on the obtained printer configuration information determined from the managed database and the print driver information determined from the managed database, without further user input; and

creating a locally managed instance of the network printer on the workstation for peer-to-peer communication over the network between the workstation and the network printer,

wherein, when a print operation is performed on the workstation to print to the installed network printer, a print job is submitted directly to the network printer from the workstation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printer identification information is a network address of the printer.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the network address is an IP address of the printer.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printer identification information is a Domain Name Server name of the printer.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printer identification information is a NetBios name of the printer.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printer is a virtual printer.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the function comprises a dynamic device installer.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the function obtains the printer configuration information and print driver information from a remote device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the remote device is a File Transfer Protocol server.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the function further performs the step of automatically creating a port for communication with the printer.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where the component object to be executed is not installed on the workstation, downloading an executable file that includes the component object.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the executable file is a cabinet file that includes the component object and the function, the executable file installing the function on the workstation and subsequently performing the function call to execute the function.

13. Computer-executable code stored on a computer readable storage medium that, when executed, causes a computer to execute a method for installing a network printer in a printers folder on a workstation for peer-to-peer communication over a network between the workstation and the network printer, the code performing the steps of:

downloading a printers Hypertext Markup Language (html) page to the workstation, the printers html page providing a plurality of hyperlinks of network printers that can be added to the workstation;

managing a database having corresponding printer identification information, printer configuration information, and print driver information, respectively, for each of the network printers;

selecting a hyperlink from among the plurality of hyperlinks included in the printers html page for the network printer to be added to the workstation;

in response to the selecting step, looking for, by a browser on the workstation, an Active Server Page (ASP) referenced in the selected hyperlink and downloading the ASP to the browser, wherein the downloaded ASP contains computer executable scripts;

automatically extracting, by one of the computer executable scripts, the printer identification information of the selected network printer from the selected hyperlink and executing a component object on the workstation, to install the network printer, wherein, the component object calls a function that performs the steps of;

automatically obtaining the printer configuration information and the print driver information based at least in part on the extracted printer identification information, wherein the printer configuration information and the print driver information are obtained from the managed database and are determined from the managed database by using the extracted printer identification information as a key;

automatically configuring the network printer and installing the print driver information based on the obtained printer configuration information determined from the managed database and the print driver information determined from the managed database, without further user input; and

creating a locally managed instance of the network printer on the workstation for peer-to-peer communication over the network between the workstation and the network printer,

wherein, when a print operation is performed on the workstation to print to the installed network printer, a print job is submitted directly to the network printer from the workstation.

14. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the printer identification information is a network address of the printer.

15. Computer-executable code according to claim 14, wherein the network address is an IP address of the printer.

16. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the printer identification information is a Domain Name Server name of the printer.

17. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the function comprises a dynamic device installer.

18. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the function obtains the printer configuration information and print driver information from a remote device.

19. Computer-executable code according to claim 18, wherein the remote device is a File Transfer Protocol server.

20. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the function further performs the step of automatically creating a port for communication with the printer.

21. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein, in a case where the component object to be executed is not installed on the workstation, downloading an executable file that includes the component object.

22. Computer-executable code according to claim 21, wherein the executable file is a cabinet file that includes the component object and the function, the executable file installing the function on the workstation and subsequently performing the function call to execute the function.

23. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the printer identification information is a NetBios name of the printer.

24. Computer-executable code according to claim 13, wherein the printer is a virtual printer.

25. An information processing method for installing, a device driver on an information processing apparatus, comprising the steps of:

obtaining a web page for displaying an input dialog;

displaying the input dialog, to input an instruction to request an install program of a device driver program, on a display screen by using the obtained web page, wherein the dialog includes plural hyperlinks that each correspond to one of a plurality of network printers that can be installed on the information processing apparatus;

recognizing an instruction input by a user via the displayed dialog of a selection of one of the plural hyperlinks corresponding to one of the plurality of network printers;

transmitting a request for the install program of the device driver program corresponding to the selected hyperlink of the selected network printer in accordance with the recognition of the input instruction from the user;

managing a database having corresponding printer identification information, printer configuration information, and print driver information, respectively, for each of the plurality of network printers;

obtaining the install program of the device driver program for the selected network printer from a server apparatus based on the input instruction to request the install program recognized in the recognizing step; and

executing the obtained install program to install the device driver program on the information processing apparatus, and to automatically obtain device information from the selected printer without waiting for a user'"'"'s instruction for obtaining the device information, wherein printer configuration information and print driver information are determined from the managed database using printer identification information obtained from the printer as a key, and to set a printer configuration parameter of the printer in accordance with the printer configuration information determined by using the managed database wherein executing the install program comprises;

in response to selecting the hyperlink, looking for, by a browser on the information processing apparatus, an Active Server Page (ASP) referenced in the selected hyperlink and downloading the ASP to the browser, wherein the downloaded ASP contains computer executable scripts;

automatically extracting, by one of the computer executable scripts, printer identification information of the selected network printer from the selected hyperlink and executing a component object on the information processing apparatus to install the printer, wherein, the component object calls a function that performs the steps of;

automatically obtaining printer configuration information and print driver information of the selected network printer based at least in part on the extracted printer identification information, wherein the printer configuration information and the print driver information are obtained from the managed database and are determined from the managed database by using the extracted printer identification information as a key;

automatically configuring the network printer and installing the print driver information based on the obtained printer configuration information determined from the managed database and the print driver information determined from the managed database, without further user input; and

creating a locally managed instance of the network printer on the information processing apparatus for peer-to-peer communication over the network between the information processing apparatus and the network printer,

wherein, when a print operation is performed on the information processing apparatus to print to the installed network printer, a print job is submitted directly to the network printer from the information processing apparatus.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the printer identification information is transmitted to the server in accordance with the user'"'"'s selection of the hyperlink, and wherein the install program of the driver program corresponding to the selected printer is obtained from the server.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein the web page is described by HTML.

28. The method according to claim 25, wherein the web page is described by HTML, and the executing step executes the install program to set port information.

29. An information processing apparatus which communicates with a server apparatus and a network printer, comprising:

a web page obtaining unit for obtaining a web page for displaying an input dialog;

a display unit for displaying the input dialog, to input an instruction to request an install program of a device driver program, on a display screen by using the obtained web page, wherein the dialog includes plural hyperlinks that each correspond to one of a plurality of network printers that can be installed on the information processing apparatus;

a recognizing unit for recognizing an instruction input by a user via the displayed dialog of a selection of one of the plural hyperlinks corresponding to one of the plurality of network printers;

a transmitting unit for transmitting a request for the install program of the device driver program corresponding to the selected hyperlink of the selected network printer in accordance with the recognition of the input instruction from the user;

an install program obtaining unit for obtaining the install program of the device driver program for the selected network printer from the server apparatus based on the input instruction to request the install program recognized by the recognizing unit; and

an executing unit for executing the obtained install program to install the device driver program on the information processing apparatus, wherein executing the install program comprises;

in response to selecting the hyperlink, looking for, by a browser on the information processing apparatus, an Active Server Page (ASP) referenced in the selected hyperlink and downloading the ASP to the browser, wherein the downloaded ASP contains computer executable scripts;

automatically extracting, by one of the computer executable scripts, printer identification information of the selected network printer from the selected hyperlink and executing a component object on the information processing apparatus to install the printer, wherein, the component object calls a function that performs the steps of;

automatically obtaining, from a managed database on the server that has corresponding printer identification information, printer configuration information, and print driver information, respectively, for each of the plurality of network printers, printer configuration information and print driver information of the selected network printer based at least in part on the extracted printer identification information, wherein the printer configuration information and the print driver information are obtained from the managed database by using the extracted printer identification information as a key;

automatically configuring the network printer and installing the print driver information based on the obtained printer configuration information determined from the managed database and the print driver information determined from the managed database, without further user input; and

creating a locally managed instance of the network printer on the information processing apparatus for peer-to-peer communication over the network between the information processing apparatus and the network printer,

wherein, when a print operation is performed on the information processing apparatus to print to the installed network printer, a print job is submitted directly to the network printer from the information processing apparatus.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the printer identification information of the printer is transmitted to the server in accordance with the user'"'"'s selection of the hyperlink, and wherein the program obtaining unit obtains the install program of the driver program corresponding to the selected printer from the server.

31. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the web page is described by HTML.

32. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the web page is described by HTML, and the executing unit executes the install program to set port information.