Method and system to share a printer and print

• US 9,329,807 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hertling, William E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cato, Miya J
• Application Number:
  US12/581,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20110090529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,391 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/1228 Printing driverless or using generic drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1287 via internet

Abstract

In one embodiment, an instruction to share a printer is received at a print service, via a network, from a first user that is a member of a social networking service. A print job is received at the print service, via the network, from a second user that is a member of the social networking service. The print job is sent, via the network, to the printer to print.

Claims

1. A method to share a printer and print, the method comprising:

receiving at a print service executing at a computing device, via an electronic communication network, from a first user that is a member of a social networking service an instruction to share a printer;

presenting, via a web page provided by the social networking service, a browser window provided by the print service to the first user, wherein the browser window provides the first user with a plurality of selectable options to enable sharing of the printer including a first option to enable sharing by following an instruction on front panel of the printer and a second option to enable sharing by downloading, from the print service, a proxy to operate on a computing device attached to the printer;

receiving a print job at the print service;

wherein the print job is received, via the network, from a second user that is a member of the social networking service,

wherein sending of the print job to the print service was initiated by the second user via a user interface provided by the print service via a browser window appearing on a web page provided by the social network service; and

sending, via the network, the print job to the printer to print upon confirmation that the second user is identified as a friend of the first user within the social networking service.

2. The method of claim 1,

further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network, from the first user an address associated with the printer, and

wherein sending comprises sending the print job to the printer at the address.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, via the network, to the second user, information that the printer is available for sharing by the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network from the first user an identification of a friend of the first user within the social networking service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network from the first user capabilities of the printer, and

the method further comprising rendering the print job to a format that is compatible with the printer according to the capabilities.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the print service from the printer or a proxy, a message requesting a print task.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed implement a method to share a printer and print, the method comprising:

receiving at a print service, via a network, from a first user that is a member of a social networking service an instruction to share a printer;

presenting, via a web page provided by the social networking service, a browser window provided by the print service to the first user, wherein the browser window provides the first user with a plurality of selectable options to enable sharing of the printer including a first option to enable sharing by following an instruction on front panel of the printer and a second option to enable sharing by downloading, from the print service, a proxy to operate on a computing device attached to the printer;

receiving a print job at the print service,

wherein the print job is received, via the network, from a second user that is a member of the social networking service;

wherein sending of the print job to the print service was initiated by the second user via a user interface provided to the second user by the print service via a browser window appearing on a web page provided by the social network service; and

sending, via the network, the print job to the printer to print after confirmation that the second user is identified as a friend of the first user within the social networking service.

8. The medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network, from the first user an address associated with the printer, and

wherein sending comprises sending the print job to the printer at the address.

9. The medium of claim 7, further comprising sending, via the network, to the second user, information that the printer is available for sharing by the second user.

10. The medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network from the first user an identification of a friend of the first user within the social networking service.

11. The medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving at the print service, via the network from the first user capabilities of the printer, and

the medium further comprising rendering the print job to a format that is compatible with the printer according to the capabilities.

12. The medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving, at the print service from the printer or a proxy, a message requesting a print task.

13. A system to share a printer and print, comprising:

a catalog engine operable to receive, via a network, from a first user that is a member of a social networking service an instruction to share a printer;

a share enable engine operable to present, via a web page provided by the social networking service, a browser window provided by the print service to the first user, wherein the browser window provides the first user with a plurality of selectable options to enable sharing of the printer including a first option to enable sharing by following an instruction on front panel of the printer and a second option to enable sharing by downloading, from the print service, a proxy to operate on a computing device attached to the printer; and

a job receipt engine operable to receive a print job,

wherein the print job is received, via the network, from a second user that is a member of the social networking service;

wherein sending of the print job to the print service was initiated by the second user via a user interface provided by the print service via a browser window appearing on a web page provided by the social network service; and

a job send engine operable to send, via the network, the print job to the printer to print following confirmation that the second user is identified as a friend of the first user within the social networking service.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the catalog engine is operable to receive, via the network, from the first user an address associated with the printer, and

wherein the job send engine is operable to send the print job to the printer at the address.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the job receipt engine is operable to send, via the network, to the second user information that the printer is available for sharing by the second user.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the catalog engine is operable to receive, via the network from the first user capabilities of the printer, and

wherein the job send engine is operable to render the print job to a format that is compatible with the printer according to the capabilities.

17. The system of claim 13, including a disable share engine operable to:

receive a request from the first user to disable sharing of the printer; and

prohibit a disablement of the sharing of the printer until the first user provides a login identification and a password utilized to access a social networking service webpage.