Point-and-print in a distributed environment

Claim 2

In a distributed system having workstations and printers, a method comprising the steps of: providing a print server, said print server being responsible for managing printing requests to the printers; storing printer drivers on the print sewer for the printers for which the print server is responsible for managing printing requests; generating a printing request to print a document on a destination printer at a requesting workstation, that is one of the workstations of the distributed system, said destination printer not yet being installed at the requesting workstation; forwarding a key printer resource comprising a copy of a printer driver for the destination printer from the print server to the requesting workstation; and using the forwarded key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver at the requesting workstation to install the destination printer and to print the document on the destination printer.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of, before the step of using the forwarded key printer resource, spooling the document to a file.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a user interface that allows a user to select the destination printer among the printers to print the document.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of using the forwarded key printer resource further comprises the step of converting the document into a data type that is acceptable to the destination printer.

Claim 6

The method of claim 6 wherein the subset of printers includes printers of different types.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of using the key printer resource further comprises the steps of querying the forwarded copy of the printer driver to obtain information about the printer driver of the destination printer and using the obtained information in printing the document at the destination printer.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing printer drivers on the print server comprises the step of storing printer drivers that are compatible with different operating systems on the print server for the printers for which the print server is responsible for managing print requests.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing printer drivers on the print server comprises the step of storing a first print driver that is compatible with a first version of the operating system and a second print driver that is compatible with a second version of the operating system on the print server for at least one of the printers for which the print server is responsible for managing print requests.

Claim 10

A distributed system, comprising: workstations; printers connected to a print server; a print server for servicing requests to print documents on the printers, said print server comprising a memory for storing key printer resources for the printers wherein said key printer resources include printer drivers; and a retrieval mechanism for retrieving the key printer resources from the print server for a desired one of the printers and for storing the key printer resources on a selected one of the workstations to install the desired printer at the selected workstation when the selected workstation requests to print a document on the desired one of the printers and the desired one of the printers is not yet installed at the selected workstation, wherein the retrieved printer resources include a printer driver for the desired one of the printers.

Claim 11

A distributed system, comprising: workstations; printers connected to a print server; a print server for servicing requests to print documents on the printers, said print server comprising a memory for storing key printer resources for the printers wherein said key printer resources include printer drivers; and a retrieval mechanism for retrieving the key printer resources from the print server for a desired one of the printers and for storing the key printer resources on a selected one of the workstations to install the desired printer at the selected workstation when the selected workstation requests to print a document on the desired one of the printers and the desired one of the printers is not yet installed at the selected workstation, wherein the retrieved printer resources include a printer driver for the desired one of the printers.

Claim 12

In a distributed system having workstations, printers and a print server, a method comprising the steps of: running an operating system on a selected one of the workstations; receiving at the operating system a request from an application program run on the selected workstation to print a document on a target one of the printers, wherein the target printer is not yet installed at the selected workstation; storing a printer driver for the target printer on the print server; via the operating system, in response to the request from the application program, retrieving a key printer resource comprising a copy of the printer driver for the target printer from the print server to the selected workstation and installing the printer driver for the target printer at the selected workstation; and printing the document on the target printer using the key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver that was retrieved from the print server.

Claim 13

In a distributed system having workstations, printers and a print server, a method comprising the steps of: running an operating system on a selected one of the workstations; receiving at the operating system a request from an application program run on the selected workstation to print a document on a target one of the printers, wherein the target printer is not yet installed at the selected workstation; storing a printer driver for the target printer on the print server; via the operating system, in response to the request from the application program, retrieving a key printer resource comprising a copy of the printer driver for the target printer from the print server to the selected workstation and installing the printer driver for the target printer at the selected workstation; and printing the document on the target printer using the key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver that was retrieved from the print server.

Claim 14

The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of spooling the document in a file before printing the document.

Claim 15

The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of converting the document into a data type that is acceptable to the target printer.

Claim 16

The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of, via the operating system, providing a user interface that enables a user to select the target printer among a choice of printers to print the document.

Claim 17

In a distributed system having workstations and printers and a printer server that is responsible for managing printing requests to the printers wherein printer drivers for the printers are stored at the print server, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of: receiving a printing request to print a document on a destination printer at a requesting workstation, that is one of the workstations of the distributed system, said destination printer not yet being installed at the requesting workstation; forwarding a key printer resource comprising a copy of a printer driver for the destination printer from the print server to the requesting workstation; and using the forwarded key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver at the requesting workstation to install the destination printer and to print the document on the destination printer.

Claim 18

In a distributed system having workstations and printers and a printer server that is responsible for managing printing requests to the printers wherein printer drivers for the printers are stored at the print server, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of: receiving a printing request to print a document on a destination printer at a requesting workstation, that is one of the workstations of the distributed system, said destination printer not yet being installed at the requesting workstation; forwarding a key printer resource comprising a copy of a printer driver for the destination printer from the print server to the requesting workstation; and using the forwarded key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver at the requesting workstation to install the destination printer and to print the document on the destination printer.

Claim 19

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises the step of, before the step of using the forwarded key printer resource, spooling the document to a file.

Claim 20

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises the step of providing a user interface that allows a user to select the destination printer among the printers to print the document.

Claim 21

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the step of using the forwarded key printer resource further comprises the step of converting the document into a data type that is acceptable to the destination printer.

Claim 22

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the subset of printers includes printers of different types.

Claim 23

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the step of using the forwarded key printer resource further comprises the steps of querying the forwarded copy of the printer driver to obtain information about the printer driver of the destination printer and using the obtained information in printing the document at the destination printer.

Claim 24

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the step of storing printer drivers on the print server comprises the step of storing printer drivers that are compatible with different operating systems on the print server for the printers for which the print server is responsible for managing print requests.

Claim 25

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the step of storing printer drivers on the print server comprises the step of storing a first print driver that is compatible with a first version of the operating system and a second print driver that is compatible with a second version of the operating system on the print server for at least one of the printers for which the print server is responsible for managing print requests.

Claim 26

In a distributed system having workstations, printers and a print server wherein an operating system is run on a selected one of the workstations, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of: receiving at the operating system a request from an application program run on the selected workstation to print a document on a target one of the printers, wherein the target printer is not yet installed at the selected workstation; storing a printer driver for the target printer on the print server; via the operating system, in response to the request from the application program, retrieving a key printer resource comprising a copy of the printer driver for the target printer from the print server to the selected workstation and installing the printer driver for the target printer at the selected workstation; and printing the document on the target printer using the key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver that was retrieved from the print server.

Claim 27

In a distributed system having workstations, printers and a print server wherein an operating system is run on a selected one of the workstations, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of: receiving at the operating system a request from an application program run on the selected workstation to print a document on a target one of the printers, wherein the target printer is not yet installed at the selected workstation; storing a printer driver for the target printer on the print server; via the operating system, in response to the request from the application program, retrieving a key printer resource comprising a copy of the printer driver for the target printer from the print server to the selected workstation and installing the printer driver for the target printer at the selected workstation; and printing the document on the target printer using the key printer resource that comprises the copy of the printer driver that was retrieved from the print server.

Claim 28

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22 wherein the method further comprises the step of spooling the document in a file before printing the document.

Claim 29

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22 wherein the method further comprises the step of converting the document into a data type that is acceptable to the target printer.

Claim 30

The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22 wherein the method further comprises the step of, via the operating system, providing a user interface that enables a user to select the target printer among a choice of printers to print the document.

Claim 31

A distributed system, comprising: workstations for running programs; printers for printing documents; print servers for servicing requests to print documents on the printers, each said print server servicing requests to print documents on a group of the printers that are connected to the print server and each print server including storage for storing key printer resources comprising printer drivers for the printers of its group of printers; and a transport mechanism for transporting a key printer resource which comprises one of the printer drivers for a destination printer that is one of the printers from the print server on which it is stored to a selected workstation when the selected workstation requests to print a document on the destination printer to install the printer driver for the destination printer at the selected workstation.

Claim 32

A distributed system, comprising: workstations for running programs; printers for printing documents; print servers for servicing requests to print documents on the printers, each said print server servicing requests to print documents on a group of the printers that are connected to the print server and each print server including storage for storing key printer resources comprising printer drivers for the printers of its group of printers; and a transport mechanism for transporting a key printer resource which comprises one of the printer drivers for a destination printer that is one of the printers from the print server on which it is stored to a selected workstation when the selected workstation requests to print a document on the destination printer to install the printer driver for the destination printer at the selected workstation.