Identification card printer with client/server

• US 20030090712A1
• Filed: 06/20/2002
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Assa Abloy AB
• Original Assignee: Fargo Electronics Inc. (Assa Abloy AB)
• Inventors: Innes, Robert J., Lenz, Gary A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,339,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1222 Increasing security of the print job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1238 Secure printing, e.g. user identification, user rights for device usage, unallowed content, blanking portions or fields of a page, releasing held jobs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1243 Variable data printing, e.g. document forms, templates, labels, coupons, advertisements, logos, watermarks, transactional printing, fixed content versioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1244 Job translation or job parsing, e.g. page banding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration

Abstract

An identification card printer for printing an image on an identification card, is provided which includes a print mechanism adapted to deposit material on to the card. A network adapter is configured to couple to a network. A print drive module controls the print mechanism in response to a drive module input. A client/server module is coupled to the network adapter and functions as a client on the network to responsively provide data to the drive module input. The client/server module can further function as a server on the network to serve data to the network.

Claims

1. An identification card printer for printing an image on an identification card, comprising:

a print mechanism adapted to deposit material on to the identification card;

a network adapter configured to couple to a network;

a print drive module configured to control the print mechanism in response to a drive module input; and

a client/server module coupled to the network adapter and configured to communicate with the network in accordance with a protocol, produce requests for data from remote servers and receive requested data from the remote servers, receive requests for data from remote clients, and serve data to the remote clients in response to the requests.

2. The identification card printer of claim 1 including a network address in accordance with an Internet Protocol (IP).

3. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the client module includes a data parser.

4. The identification card printer of claim 3 including a data writing device and wherein the data parser directs data to the data writing device.

5. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server serves diagnostic information on the network.

6. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the client is configured to receive data in accordance with an object based data structure which contains data objects for writing onto an identification card.

7. The identification card printer of claim 6 wherein the object based data structure comprises XML.

8. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve data in accordance with an HTML standard.

9. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve a network address of another node on the network, the network address in accordance with the Internet Protocol (IP).

10. The identification card printer of claim 9 wherein the IP address is a pointer to instructions located on a remote server.

11. The identification card printer of claim 9 wherein the IP address is a pointer which points to diagnostic information on a remote server.

12. The identification card printer of claim 11 wherein the client server module serves diagnostic data to a remote client.

13. The identification card printer of claim 9 wherein the IP address is a pointer which points to a card format located on a remote server.

14. The identification card printer of claim 9 wherein the IP address is a pointer which points to a location for receiving software updates from a remote server.

15. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to provide printer status information.

16. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the network adapter is configured to couple to Ethernet.

17. The identification card printer of claim 1 including an operating system to support the client/server module, the operating system providing multi-threaded operation.

18. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server comprises an SNMP server.

19. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server comprises an SMTP server.

20. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server comprises a POP3 email server.

21. The identification card printer of claim 1 including a data parser and a laminator and wherein the data parser directs laminator related data to the laminator.

22. The identification card printer of claim 4 wherein the data writing device comprises a magnetic stripe recorder.

23. The identification card printer of claim 4 wherein the data writing device comprises a smart code encoder.

24. The identification card printer of claim 4 wherein the data writing device comprises a bar code writer.

25. The identification card printer of claim 4 wherein the data writing device is configured to write RFID data to a proximity card.

26. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve an applet.

27. The identification card printer of claim 26 wherein the applet is in accordance with JAVA.

28. The identification card printer of claim 6 wherein data objects are definable by a protocol of the object based data structure.

29. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve audio data.

30. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve video data.

31. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve audio data.

32. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to serve print data to a remote printer coupled to the network.

33. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the client is configured to receive data in accordance with the XML standard.

34. The identification card printer of claim 1 wherein the client is configured to receive security data in accordance with a public/private key encoding standard.

35. An identification card printer for printing an image on an identification card, comprising:

a print mechanism adapted to deposit material on to the identification card;

a network adapter configured to couple to a network;

a print drive module configured to control the print mechanism in response to a drive module input; and

a client module coupled to the network adapter configured to produce requests for data from remote servers and receive requested data from the remote servers over the network in accordance with a protocol.

36. The identification card printer of claim 35 including a network address in accordance with an Internet Protocol (IP).

37. The identification card printer of claim 35 wherein the client module includes a data parser.

38. (New) An identification card printer for producing an identification card, comprising:

a print mechanism adapted to deposit material on to a card;

a network adapter configured to couple to a network;

a client/server module coupled to the network adapter and configured to communicate with the network in accordance with a protocol, produce requests for data from remote servers and receive requested data in the form of data objects from the remote servers, receive requests for data from remote clients, and serve data in the form of data objects to the remote clients in response to the requests.

embedded printer applications configured to operate in response to the data objects, the applications including a print drive module configured to control the print mechanism and at least one additional application selected from a group consisting of a lamination application, a security application, a smart card encoding application, a magnetic stripe recording application, a bar code writing application, a proximity card encoding application, a printer configuration application, a diagnostic application, and a status application; and

a data parser adapted to direct received data objects to the embedded applications to which they relate.

39. The identification card printer of claim 38 including a data writing device configured to receive data from the data parser, wherein the data writing device is selected from a group consisting of a magnetic stripe recorder controlled by the magnetic stripe recording application, a smart card encoder controlled by the smart card encoding application, a proximity card encoder controlled by the proximity card encoding application, and a bar code writer controlled by the bar code writing application.

40. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the protocol is based on an object based data structure.

41. The identification card printer of claim 40 wherein the object based data structure comprises XML.

42. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the client/server module is configured to serve data in accordance with an HTML standard.

43. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the client/server module is configured to serve a network address of another node on the network, the network address in accordance with the Internet Protocol (IP).

44. The identification card printer of claim 43 wherein the IP address is a pointer to instructions located on a remote server.

45. The identification card printer of claim 43 wherein the IP address is a pointer that points to a remote system that is adapted to perform diagnostics on the printer.

46. The identification card printer of claim 45 wherein the client/server module serves diagnostic data to a remote client.

47. The identification card printer of claim 43 wherein the IP address is a pointer which points to a card format located on a remote server.

48. The identification card printer of claim 43 wherein the IP address is a pointer which points to a location for receiving software updates from a remote server.

49. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to provide printer status information.

50. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the network adapter is configured to couple to Ethernet.

51. The identification card printer of claim 38 including an operating system to support the client/server module, the operating system providing multi-threaded operation.

52. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server comprises an SNMP server.

53. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server comprises an SMTP server.

54. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server comprises a POP3 email server.

55. The identification card printer of claim 38 including a laminator controlled by the lamination application.

56. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to serve an applet.

57. The identification card printer of claim 56 wherein the applet is in accordance with JAVA.

58. The identification card printer of claim 40 wherein the data objects are definable by the protocol.

59. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to serve audio data.

60. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to serve video data.

61. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to serve audio data.

62. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the server is configured to serve print data to a remote printer coupled to the network.

63. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the client is configured to receive data in accordance with the XML standard.

64. The identification card printer of claim 38 wherein the client is configured to receive security data in accordance with a public/private key encoding standard.

65. An identification card printer for printing an image on an identification card, comprising:

a print mechanism adapted to deposit material on to the identification card;

a network adapter configured to couple to a network;

a print drive module configured to control the print mechanism in response to a drive module input; and

a client coupled to the network adapter and configured to perform steps of;

requesting data from a remote server in accordance with a protocol;

receiving requested data from the remote server; and

using the requested data in processing of the identification card; and

a server coupled to the network adapter and configured to perform steps of;

receiving a request for data from a remote client in accordance with a protocol;

interpreting the request for data; and

providing the requested data to the remote client.