AUTONOMOUS SECURE PRINTING

• US 20170039007A1
• Filed: 08/06/2015
• Published: 02/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Cao, Lin, Nathani, Venu Gopal, Ingale, Mukund, Wesley, Ian Russell
• Granted Patent: US 10,133,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/608 Secure printing
• 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 3/1267 Job repository, e.g. non-scheduled jobs, delay printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing

Abstract

Methods and systems for virtual printing are described herein. A user may print to a virtual printer via a user device, and the user device may send print creation data to a server. The server may generate a print job based on the print creation data and store the print job in a print queue associated with the user. When the user approaches the location of one or more physical printers, a device handled by the user may detect a location sensor at the location and send a corresponding identifier to the server. The server may identify the one or more physical printers based on the identifier and send the print job stored in the print queue to one of the physical printers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, print creation data from a first device associated with a user;

responsive to receiving the print creation data, generating a print job and storing the print job in a virtual print queue corresponding to the user;

responsive to receiving an identifier from the first device or a second device associated with the user, determining, by the server, a printer corresponding to the received identifier, wherein the first device is configured to determine the identifier from a location sensor when the first device is within range of the location sensor or the second device is configured to determine the identifier from the location sensor when the second device is within range of the location sensor, wherein the first device is configured to determine a distance between the location sensor and the first device or the second device is configured to determine a distance between the location sensor and the second device, and wherein the first device is configured to send the identifier responsive to determining that the distance between the location sensor and the first device is less than a threshold or the second device is configured to send the identifier responsive to determining that the distance between the location sensor and the second device is less than the threshold; and

sending the print job stored in the virtual print queue to the determined printer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a request for permission to send the print job to the determined printer, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

receiving, from the first device or the second device, permission to send the print job to the determined printer,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to receiving the permission to send the print job to the determined printer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the printer comprises a plurality of printers at a same location, the method further comprising:

generating a request for a selection of one of the plurality of printers, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

receiving, from the first device or the second device, a selection of one of the plurality of printers,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to receiving the selection of the one of the plurality of printers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a request to authenticate the user, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

authenticating the user based on user credentials received from the first device or the second device,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to authenticating the user based on the user credentials.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location sensor comprises an optically-scannable code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location sensor comprises a short-range wireless sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device comprises a mobile device associated with the user, the method further comprising:

receiving the identifier from the mobile device,

wherein determining the printer corresponding to the received identifier is performed responsive to receiving the identifier from the mobile device.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first user device, a request to print an item to a virtual printer;

responsive to receiving the request, sending, by the first user device, print creation data for the item to a server, wherein the server is configured to generate a print job for the item to be printed and store the print job in a print queue corresponding to a user of the first user device;

detecting, by the first user device or a second user device, a location sensor;

determining a distance between the location sensor and the first user device or the second user device;

responsive to detecting the location sensor and determining that the distance between the location sensor and the first user device or the second user device is less than a threshold, determining, by the first user device or the second user device, an identifier from the location sensor; and

sending, by the first user device or the second user device, the identifier to the server, wherein the server is configured to send the print job to a printer corresponding to the identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating for display on a display of the first user device or the second user device a request for permission to send the print job to the printer; and

sending, to the server, permission to send the print job to the printer,

wherein the server is configured to send the print job to the printer responsive to sending the permission to the server.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the printer comprises a plurality of printers at a same location, the method further comprising:

generating for display on a display of the first user device or the second user device a request for a selection of one of the plurality of printers; and

sending, to the server, the selection of one of the plurality of printers,

wherein the server is configured to send the print job to the printer responsive to sending the selection.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating for display on a display of the first user device or the second user device a request to authenticate the user; and

sending, to the server, user credentials,

wherein the server is configured to send the print job to the printer responsive to authenticating the user based on the user credentials.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the location sensor comprises an optically-scannable code.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the location sensor comprises a short-range wireless sensor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the second user device comprises a mobile device,

detecting the location sensor is performed by the mobile device,

determining the identifier from the location sensor is performed by the mobile device, and

sending the identifier to the server is performed by the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the distance between the location sensor and the first user device or the second user device comprises determining the distance between the location sensor and the mobile device.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when read by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive print creation data from a first device associated with a user;

responsive to receiving the print creation data, generate a print job and store the print job in a virtual print queue corresponding to the user;

responsive to receiving an identifier from the first device or a second device associated with the user, determine a printer corresponding to the received identifier, wherein the first device is configured to determine the identifier from a location sensor when the first device is within range of the location sensor or the second device is configured to determine the identifier from the location sensor when the second device is within range of the location sensor, wherein the first device is configured to determine a distance between the location sensor and the first device or the second device is configured to determine a distance between the location sensor and the second device, and wherein the first device is configured to send the identifier responsive to determining that the distance between the location sensor and the first device is less than a threshold or the second device is configured to send the identifier responsive to determining that the distance between the location sensor and the second device is less than the threshold; and

send the print job stored in the virtual print queue to the determined printer.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 storing instructions that, when read by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

generate a request for permission to send the print job to the determined printer, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

receive, from the first device or the second device, permission to send the print job to the determined printer,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to receiving the permission to send the print job to the determined printer.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the printer comprises a plurality of printers at a same location, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when read by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

generate a request for a selection of one of the plurality of printers, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

receive, from the first device or the second device, a selection of one of the plurality of printers,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to receiving the selection of the one of the plurality of printers.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 storing instructions that, when read by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

generate a request to authenticate the user, wherein the request is displayable on the first device or the second device; and

authenticate the user based on user credentials received from the first device or the second device,

wherein sending the print job is performed responsive to authenticating the user based on the user credentials.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second device comprises a mobile device associated with the user, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when read by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive the identifier from the mobile device,

wherein determining the printer corresponding to the received identifier is performed responsive to receiving the identifier from the mobile device.