MXPA00008170A - Web print submission from within an application - Google Patents

Abstract

A method, computing machine and computer readable medium provides a computer user with the ability to route a print job to a service bureau over the Internet. The computer receives a print command input for printing a document. In response to the print command, the document is routed over the Internet to a service bureau for printing. Routing may involve activating a communications browser program in the computer and transmitting the document to a server associated with the service bureau. An Internet print web page including information identifying print job options and a print order form is retrieved from the server and displayed on the computer screen. In response to ther user's selection of a print job option identified on the print job order form, the print job and order form is transmitted to the service bureau.

Description

SENT FROM A PRINT-FROM THE NETWORK FROM INSIDE AN APPLICATION Field of the Invention The present invention relates in general to sending a print job over the global network to a remote location for printing and, more particularly, to providing a user with an interconnection to send a print job from within a common application. over the Internet to a remote print site.

Background of the Invention Frequently some people or companies want to have professionally reproduced documents. The vast majority of people and companies do not have the facilities to generate high quality or professional quality reproduction of documents. Consequently, large print jobs have been downloaded to a professional print shop or commercial services office, such as Kinko, Ikon or similar. More particularly, in the past, if a user has generated a document such as a report in a Ref.122481 global processing application and wants professional print copies in volume, he would have to either download the document onto a disk or print the Document locally at your home or office and have to supply the document and / or disk to the commercial service office for further handling. Providing documents to the commercial service office requires a trip to the service office location, which in many cases requires time, travel costs and inconvenience, and adds a time delay to obtain documents back from the office of service. In a corporate environment, the person supplying the print job to the service office was typically not the person who applied for the job. Therefore, an intermediary, not very familiar with job requirements, often had to provide special instructions for the job. This creates a significant risk of error, in addition to the time delay for the complement of the desired print job from the service office. Kinko 's has developed a programming package to solve many of these disadvantages. The programming package, referred to as KinkonetSM, allows a user to send documents digitally from their workstation to one or more KinkonetSM printing shops, where the document will be produced and delivered according to the user's specifications. The KinkonetSM program is a standalone package usable with Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh. Therefore, the KinkonetSM program is a group of programs which the user installs on his machine and is then localizable in the user's program manager. The first time the KinkonetSM is run, the user provides personal information about its location, billing preferences, contact information, and a destination or location remote for the print job. When a user wishes to direct or send a print job to Kinko 's, he must open the KinkonetSM application and create an order which includes the identification of the order specifications. Also, the user can modify their client profile and the desired destination. The order is created in what is referred to as an electronic work ticket. When the electronic ticket has been complemented by the user, the user must fix or attach the relevant file (s) to the ticket. To fix the files or records, the user must go back through their directory to find the file in their management program and directory _ .. ^, a,. and / or the folder in which it is located. Also, the user must identify the source of the application, for example, MS Word "5, MS Excel", etc. If the request is not supported by KinkonetSM, the user must save or record 5 their record in a standard format called PostScript, which is recognized by a variety of applications. However, each application performs its task differently and the user must know or deduce how to create such a PostScript file. 10 When the user has completed the necessary forms and set their file or record, they activate a send job button. In response, the KinkonetSM program starts a modem connected to the user's terminal and marks KinkonetSM over the telephone line. The status of the transmission appears at the bottom of the screen and a confirmation dialog box will appear once the document has been transferred via the telephone modem to Kinko 's. There are several disadvantages associated with the KinkonetSM method for sending the document to a printing service office. For example, a user must obtain a copy of the KinkonetSM program package before directing a print job to Kinko 's. Also, whenever Kinko 's adds a new feature or capacity, the user will not know the new one. ? aex & -a? * »Mii! Ajt-afe. *. ' .. Js k-yy? t. ~ ^ - y, - - * - - »< - »J- •» - '"~ - • -" «-' ** '* t. «TM > -fc »» -. > ft feature or capacity and the KinkonetSM program will not support the same. To access the new features and capabilities, the KinkonetSM program would have to be constantly updated to include new features and capabilities. Also, with KinkonetSM, the user may have to navigate through a number of dialog boxes prior to the recovery of the registration folder (s) for the print job. The user without experience or inattention can forget the location in the file. In addition, if the file that requires a print job is in an application not supported by KinkonetSM, the user must refer to a manual for the specific establishment requirements to fix the job to the print order. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a simple, user-friendly methodology for sending a print job to a service office.

Brief Description of the Invention The present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems associated with conventional methods of sending a print job to a service office employing a novel system and method for electronically sending a print job to a service office. Specifically, a system and method according to the present invention allows a user to be within any application (for example, MS ord "3, MS Excel" *, Adobe Photoshop "*, etc.) and send a print job to a service office with the same strength and top-level options that you would expect from a networked printer, local or direct.According to the present invention, one of the printing options defined for an application is the office of services When a user selects the printing option of the service office, the user communications browser is activated to automatically access the URL address (universal resource locator) of the Internet service office. , a print job page from the service office network site is displayed on the screen, whatever specific printing requirements may be defined by filling out a form with the appropriate printing options and a series of dialog boxes when necessary. When the user has supplemented the definition of any particular information in the form, the user can select a button displayed on the web page for sending the print job to the office of . , ..... Go ...... t, L -mu-service. Alternatively, the user can define print options locally on their computer terminal and transmit a complemented form over the network, for example, automatically, during the selection of the printing option of the service office. According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the user selects the printing option of the service office, the user's network browser is activated to automatically access a URL of a site in the intermediate network (e.g. , Xerox). A page of the intermediary network is displayed, which provides a user with links to the service offices that allow a user to select a particular service office to carry out their printing work. A user can select (for example, by pointing and clicking, dragging and dropping, speech recognition, etc.) a service office from the intermediary page based on a number of parameters that include the location of the service office , the type of work of the printer, and many others. When the service office is selected, the print job is transmitted to it over the Internet. In different embodiments of the present invention, the parameters of the print job can be defined by the user prior to accessing the print job. - .. * .. - __M_ < _._ iai _ ^ - i_l the intermediary network site, or the service office network site. According to the present invention, an exemplary method for sending in a document in electronic form to a printing service office includes the steps of receiving a print command entry to a computer to print a document stored in accessible memory to the computer, and in response to the print command, send the Internet document to a service office for printing. The shipping step can include the steps of activating a communications browser program on the computer, and transmitting the document to a server associated with the service office. In addition, the method of the invention can involve the steps of retrieving a page from the recipient's Internet printing network, the Internet printing network page includes the information that identifies the plural print job options, displaying the Internet printing network page on computer, the Internet network page includes a print job order form, and in response to a user selection of one or more print job options identified on the print job order form, transmit the form of the order of print job to the service office.

The present invention can take shape in a computer machine comprising a computer controlled by modules of the program, a first module to detect an Internet print request, and a 5 second module to start a module of the communications examiner to have access to a server associated with a service office at a predefined address, the server provides the examiner with a print order form. The computer machine can include further a third module for displaying the print order form, and a fourth module for transmitting the print order data and a document to be printed, to the server providing the examiner with the form of the order of Print. In one embodiment of the invention, the document to be printed includes the content of the multiple media.

Brief Description of the Drawings The present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to preferred embodiments of the invention, given only by way of example, and illustrated in the appended drawings, in which: t * m l »?? ? *? i > iáßt. . «-. * - * »> - .. - «t. 1 (r. - ?, < f Fig. 1 is an illustrative block diagram showing a communication system for the implementation of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view of an exemplary computer screen display; an environment of the active application in which the present invention can be implemented, Figure 3 is an exemplary file of Printers displayed on a computer screen to assist in the explanation of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flow diagram showing an illustrative Internet printing process according to the present invention Detailed Description of Certain Preferred Modes The present invention is described below with reference to a method and system for sending a print job over the world network to a printing service office. It must be understood, however, that a print job can be routed through the worldwide network to any place defined with printing capacity. | ^ riahHH | Vaa | ^ a¡jgtf | a i. , «- > «-» -.

Figure 1 shows a diagram in which a computer 10 has a modem 20 for converting the binary data into analog telephone data. In this way, the computer 10 can be connected to the Internet 30. The computer 10 is installed and operates on an Internet (or network) examiner (i.e., a program module that works on the computer to interconnect the user with the Internet). Existing browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer "* 3.01a, Netscape Navigator" * 3.01 and others. Internet 30, as shown in Figure 1, represents any packet switched communications system. Currently, Internet access services are frequently provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Typically, an ISP maintains a point of presence (POP) in the user's local telephone system to give the user a local telephone number to call. In this case, the modem 20 is a telephone modem, and under the control of the user the examiner causes the modem 20 to place the call in the POP. The POP is linked to the ISP's main service center by link lines from one form to another. The main service center of the ISP has a modem bank (not shown) to convert the analog telephone signals into computer binary information, and a -a- -dtti__a__aI _? - computer (also not shown) in one form or another is connected to the main Internet network (a digital or binary communications system, also not shown specifically). The main Internet network includes a 5 pillar (ie, a terminal) of the Internet where the digital signals properly formatted from the main service center of the ISPs are routed over the main Internet network. The user, through this analyzer, can access any site about Internet based on a URL (universal resource locator). Anything from POP to the main Internet network is covered by the representation of Internet 30 in Figure 1. Other communication protocols may be used and are equivalent. For example, ISDN (integrated services digital network) is a newer protocol that is still growing in acceptance. Cable telephony systems are establishing special "cable modems" as an alternative to a telephone modem. A cable modem communicates with a head end of a cable system where communication is routed through a link to an Internet pillar, either directly or indirectly through an ISP. These and other protocols can be used to link the modem 20 with the Internet 30. ^^^^^^^^^ h ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ A computer 10 according to the present invention can be any computing device including, but not limited to, a personal computer, a laptop, a computer for the palm of the hand, a wristwatch, or a manual computer. The computer must have sufficient speed and memory capacity to interconnect with the Internet. The user can interact with the computer 10 through any interconnection with the user including, but not limited to, a mouse or slider, a recording needle, a keyboard, a photosensitive pen, a voice recognition circuit or other interconnection with the user. Separated and far from the Internet, an intermediary (for example, Xerox) owns or rents a server 40 connected to the Internet 30 through a modem 50 and a service office owns or rents a server 50 connected to the Internet 30 through a modem 60 The Modem 50 and the Modem 60 each can be connected to the Internet either directly or indirectly through an ISP. The computer 10 contains a file of printers in which the printer drivers can be installed for various destinations of the printer. In accordance with the present invention, a module of _ßu. af sáj ». *. &, programming for at least one Internet printer is loaded on the computer. The programming module defines a printer driver for an Internet print shop printer. The printer of the Internet printing shop is associated with a service office to which the user can direct a print job. Other defined printer drivers may include printers working in a direct or local network, known in the art. In an illustrative embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 2, a user is in an application program such as, but not limited to, a Word processing program (e.g., MS Word "*, a program of the database, a graphics program, a multi-media program, a file manager, etc. A user, eager to have a service office that prints a document, selects the printing option from within any application, in Figure 2, the user activates the "PRINT" button on the screen According to one modality, in response to the operation of the print button, a print dialog box appears on the user's screen. The print dialog box can include typical printing parameters such as the number of copies, the interval of the pages that are going to be printed, the format of the print job, the destination printer and others. The user can change the predefined settings when desired. One of the available destination printers is an external service office, such as Kinko's. In other modes, the user can select the print destination of a print menu bar or toolbar. In another mode, when a user opens the Printers folder on their operating platform such as NT ™, or Windows 98 ™, the printers available for printing are displayed. The user can drag a document that is going to be printed from his office or desktop publishing or from one of his directories and download the document on the icon of the target printer. Referring to Figure 3, to direct a document to a service office such as Kinko 's, the user can drag the document over the icon of the Internet Printing Workshop. During the selection of the Internet printing destination by the user in the manner illustrated above or otherwise, the Internet researcher's program is activated to connect the computer to the server represented by the URL associated with the print destination. Therefore, according to an illustrative mode, the Kinko 's URL is -M > i-H - activated and the Kinko 's Internet printing network page is retrieved and displayed on the computer screen. The Internet printing network page may send the user to other pages within the Kinko 's web site and / or the page may request the user to fill out an order form. The filling in of an order form can encompass the selection of a number of various options of the print job and entering or confirming the information of the customer (ie the user) in the fields occupied or blank on the form. Options can include options for the type of printing of the typical service office including the type and size of paper, one or two sides, stapling or stapling, the number of copies and types of copies, and time of the typical service-oriented options, the number of copies, the types of copies, the supply or collection, and a box of special instructions to explain the unique or difficult options. Customer information may include, name, company, the reference number, the form of payment (credit card or individual or company's account). As noted, additional information can be accessed by the user by pointing and clicking on the hypertext links identified on the page retrieved from the network site of the office of service and browse through the formatted pages of HTLM (language format to upload the hypertext) of the service office site. The HTLM is a form that is widely used to present information on Internet sites. Such other information provided by the service office may include price information and location information of the service office. The user can access the location information of the service office to decide, for example, which division of a service office to direct the printing job. A location page of the service office can access the location information in several ways including the user's request to enter one or more of the following pieces of information pertinent to the desired location: zip code, area code , city and state, etc. In response, the service office can then provide a page with a list of the locations of the service office that meet the user's location criteria. Once all the necessary information has been provided, the user can present the print job by selecting an icon to send the print job, box or similar on the network page of the service office. When this is done, the electronic document stored in the memory of the computer can be transferred to the server of the service office. After receiving the document for printing, the service office can automatically generate an electronic receipt for the print job, which can be automatically sent to the user's computer screen, or alternatively can be advanced by email to the email address of the user. The electronic document can be a text document, an image, a graphic document, a design or engineering document, and other traditional documents. According to one modality, the electronic document may contain multiple media data. In the case of a multi-media document, the service office may be questioned to generate copies of DVDs (digital video discs), CDs (compact disks), ROMs (memories for reading only) or other storage media for information. of multiple media. Once the user has used the service office for a print job, much of the initial information can be stored as a "cookie" on the user's computer. The next time the user directs a print job to the service office, the cookie information can be retrieved when the user requests that the service office display certain pages, for example the customer information page, with the information of the client and 5 the preferences already identified. If desired, the user can modify any information when necessary. Accordingly, the information stored as "cookies" may include the location of the service office, the name and address of the customer, the customer account number 10. According to another embodiment of the invention, when the user selects to direct a print job to a service office, instead of connecting the user directly to the service office, the user can be connected to an intermediary, such as Xerox. . In this mode, the Internet analysis program is activated to connect the computer to the server represented by the URL associated with the intermediary. Accordingly, according to an illustrative embodiment, the intermediary URL is activated and a page of the Internet printing network of the intermediary network site is retrieved and displayed on the computer screen. The intermediate network page may direct the user to other pages on his network site or to a service office site and / or require that ---_ ~? a B * UXl. Y .. . -J-ta .. Y . -you-. «" - «" * ~ - - -the user makes a selection of a series of several locations of the service offices. There may be several advantages using the intermediary. For example, the broker may allow the user to make a selection on more than one salesperson from the service office (for example, Kinko 's and Ikon). Also, specialized service office vendors can be provided such as a vendor with facilities to generate DVDs and CD ROMs. For the most part, if not entirely, the functionality of the form of the order described with respect to the direct link of the user to the service office, without an intermediary, can be carried out instead of this with an order form on the intermediary's website. For example, the options of the print job, the entry or confirmation of the customer information, the location information of the service office and the like can be made by the intermediation site. In addition, additional HTML formatted pages from the intermediary's site with information such as price information may be provided. Alternatively, the broker may provide a page of the order form which collects the customer's information and during the sending of the order form provides a hyperlink to the service office's site with additional information of the customer's request. form, such as customer account information or credit card information. In addition, during the selection of the service office by the user, the broker may direct the user to the Internet printing network page of the selected service office and the control may proceed as described above when there is no access to the broker's network page. In another embodiment, the user may access the Internet Printing network page of the service office or broker during a normal Internet connection through the verifier or analyzer program. During this connection to the page of the Internet printing network, the user can fill in a form of the order that is to be recorded or stored in the user's memory, for example as a cookie and can be accessed when the user chooses to direct a work of printing to a service office. This allows the user to complete sending the print job faster without having to fill out the forms in real time. A flow chart of the main steps in one of the illustrative modalities described above is shown in Figure 4. In step SI, the computer receives a user input command indicating that the user wishes to print a document. Next, in step S2 the user selects a print job destination such as a printer working in the network or the Internet Print Shop (ie, a service office) for the destination of the print job. The steps SI and S2 can be carried out simultaneously. In step S3, the computer 10 determines which printer the user has selected. If the user has selected a printer working in the network, the control goes to step S4 to carry out the printing of the known network. However, if the user selects the Internet Print Shop, the control proceeds to step S5, to start the interleaved or external communications analyzer program to access one of the server 60 of the service office or server 40. of the intermediary by a predefined address. For example, the address could be in the form of: "www.servicebureau.com/print". In step S6, a server 60 of the service office or server 40 of the broker transmits a page of the Internet printing network to the user, which is temporarily stored in the memory of the computer 10 and displayed to the user. In step S7, the computer 10 receives the input of the necessary information for an order form for the print job filled by the user, and in response to a send command the print job sends the order form and the electronic document that will be printed through Internet 30 to the server 60 of the service office. The print job can be sent either directly to the server 60 of the service office or via the Internet 30 via the intermediary server 40. The server of the service office, in response to the receipt of a print job, transmits an electronic receipt to the user's computer 10 by email or otherwise in step S8. Although the particular embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications can be made by persons skilled in the art. The present application contemplates any and all modifications that are considered within the spirit and scope of the preceding invention described and claimed herein. It is noted that in relation to this date the best method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following _ -..- .- .. _- »-., ..- < - - ....,. ..."--to,-..-".--. í "• ---.- > .- «,

Claims (22)

1. A method for sending a document in an electronic form to a service office for printing, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving an entry of the printing command of a computer to print a document stored in a memory accessible to the computer; and in response to the printing command, direct the Internet document to a printing service office.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the sending step or address includes the steps of: activating an analyzer program or communications verifier in the computer; and transmit the document to a server associated with the service office.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that it also comprises the steps of: retrieving an Internet print reading page from the server, the Internet printing network page includes the information that identifies the various print job options; display the print network page of Internet over the computer, the Internet network page includes a form of the print job order; and in response to a selection by the user of one or more options of the print job identified in the form of the print job order, transmitting the print job order form to the service office.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the server is an intermediary server, and the transmission step includes the step of transmitting the order form of the print job through the server, to an office server of service.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the printing jobs include the location of the service office.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the receiving step includes the step of receiving the print command from inside an active application.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the active application can be any of a word processing program, a database program, a program of 10 graphics, or a multi-media program.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises the step of displaying several options of address of the 15 printer, one of the options of address of the printer is the Internet printing workshop.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that another of the address options 20 of the printer is a print that works directly on the network.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises the £ * &üslm »£ (& * * á- - e-. ¿...... ~ Y .. ~ - - ~.. .e .......... -? ^ Hi > - fyjüj m ^ -tii step to receive an acknowledgment that the document has been sent to the service office for printing.

11. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the document includes the content of the multiple means.

12. A computer machine, characterized in that it comprises: a computer controlled by the programming modules; a first module to detect a request for printing on the Internet; and a second module for initiating a communications analyzer module for accessing a server associated with a service office at a predefined address, the server provides the analyzer with a print order form.

13. The machine according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises: a third module for displaying the print order form; and a fourth module for transmitting the data of the print order and a document to be printed to the server that supplies the analyzer with the print order form.

14. The machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the document to be printed includes the content of the multiple media.

15. The machine according to claim 12, characterized in that the first module is 10 to detect printing requests for printers working in the network directly.

16. The machine according to claim 12, characterized in that it also comprises a 15 application module which is active during the operation of the first and second modules.

17. The machine according to claim 16, characterized in that the module of the 20 applications can be any of a word processing program, a database program, a graphics program, or a multi-media program.

18. A medium that can be read on a computer to control a computer, and that has

In the case of modules stored thereon, the medium is characterized in that it comprises: a first module for detecting an Internet printing request; and a second module for initiating a communications analyzer module for accessing a server associated with a service office at a predefined address, the server provides the analyzer with a print order form. 19. The means that can be read on the computer according to claim 18, characterized in that it further comprises: a third module for displaying the shape of the print order; and a fourth module for transmitting the data of the print order and a document to be printed to the server, providing the analyzer with the form of the print order. 20. The means that can be read on the computer according to claim 19, characterized in that the document to be printed includes the content of the multiple means. 25

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21. The means that can be read in the computer according to claim 19, characterized in that it also comprises an application module which is active during the operation of the first and second 5 modules.

22. The means that can be read in the computer according to claim 21, characterized in that the applications module can be any 10 of a word processing program, a database program, a graphics program, or a multi-media program. fifteen twenty 25